Davids Ch. 7-8

I was surprised to read that vocal vibrato is a result of nerve impulses in the larynx. I was always under the impression that vibrato was a natural occurrence in the voice as a result of vibrations related to airflow. I was not aware that it was caused by actual pulsations of the laryngeal muscles. This was a very interesting discovery!

When discussing wobble in the voice-ways to avoid a wobble occurring and ways to improve the wobble if it exists – I feel it is very important to discuss repertoire. This was not addressed in the text.  It is a singing teacher’s responsibility to choose appropriate repertoire for their students, complimenting their technical abilities at a given time. If repertoire is too heavy then it is likely a student will develop technical issues, such as a wobble, in attempt to push through repertoire that is too technically difficult. It is also possible that a student in this case will attempt to mimic or artificially produce a sound they are not yet ready to create naturally.

Register transition is a technical hurdle for many young singers. It may feel as though the voice changes abruptly when passing from one method of vocal production to another. If phonation stops at the point of transition it is possible the sound may stop completely, feeling like a break in the voice.  As singers we strive to achieve a smooth and unnoticeable register transition. Pedagogically this is a complicated process to explain as it involves manipulation of muscles within the vocal tract, vowel modification to avoid the crossover of harmonic and formant frequencies (which can destabilize vocal fold vibration) and changing the mode of vocal fold vibration. I believe to assist in achieving smooth register transition, it is often helpful to first address the larynx. It is important to encourage the larynx to remain in a comfortably low position, rising minimally when ascending through the register. By monitoring the movement of the larynx a singer will have more control over register transitions and fewer breaks or sound adjustments will occur