The vocal cords, or more precisely the vocal folds, are muscles that, like any other muscle in our body, can be trained in different ways to achieve a specific goal. If you want to sing opera, you train your vocal muscles differently than if you want to sing rock, pop, musicals or jazz. Of course, it’s often the case that a voice’s disposition points in a certain direction right from the start. Interestingly, this usually goes hand in hand with the singer’s preference. In my twenty years as a singing teacher, I have never experienced a singer who has a rock voice but really wanted to sing classical music or vice versa. Except for myself. I always wanted to be a rock singer. But I didn’t know opera back then either 😉
Despite these different training methods, the basis for all styles is the same. The muscle must first be prepared, i.e. strengthened. Interestingly, you start with the softest thing a voice is capable of producing: With the rim voice function, also known as the head voice. First the student learns to sing such a soft tone with the pitch l’appoggio (breath support), the adapted palato (soft palate) and the correct position in the upper register sul fiato(on the breath). That sounds incredibly complicated at first. In fact, it is also a very complex process, but with a little patience and perseverance it can be done by anyone who wants to.
There is something very meditative about it and there are indeed overlaps with Tai Chi, yoga and other meditation techniques in which certain energy points, meridians and breathing flows play an essential role. The student enters a meditative state and achieves a very direct contact with his/her body. This way of producing sounds is then effortless in all registers, even in the high register, and is described by most as having the feeling that it ‘sings out of you’ or that ‘the sound comes from outside’. These basic exercises strengthen the vocal muscle to such an extent that the pupil is now ready for the next step. He/she also often notices a gradual improvement in his/her speaking voice. For example, he/she is less hoarse (if there was this problem before) and now has more control over the voice when singing and also more stamina.
The next step is to activate the resonance chambers and strengthen the so-called middle voice. This creates overtones that allow the voice to reach the so-called singer’s formant. This is a frequency range that ensures that a singer can rise above an orchestra and that the voice is heard very well. This work activates the ‘internal microphone’ of the human voice, so to speak. This is particularly important for classical music, where you sing without a microphone. But this is certainly not a disadvantage for other styles either. Once this level has been completed, it gets exciting, because then you have formed your own voice – hence the term voice training – and can move on to pop, rock, etc. or to classical music, which means that you can start working on the corresponding literature.
For me, too, this is definitely the most exciting moment and is tantamount to a revelation. Because only now does the student’s very own timbre become recognisable, which is unmistakable, comparable to a musical fingerprint. I like to compare this process of voice development with the process of a sculptor who works on a stone in secret and then unveils the finished sculpture in public. It may seem boring at first glance that you only do technique up to this point, and it is certainly an unusual approach for singing teachers. But there are a few absolutely decisive advantages.
Firstly, the pupil has enough to do to master the process up to that point anyway. His/her entire concentration and attention is required. Simultaneous engagement with the text or even interpretation is simply not possible and would be completely overwhelming. Secondly, the voice is not yet capable of mastering pieces in a relaxed and therefore healthy way, especially certain passages in the high or low register. Because, and this is the third and most important point: the vocal muscles are only formed in such a way after this process described above that it is effortless for them to sound in all registers. Unsolvable intonation problems, problems with the breath, problems in the passaggio, in the high or low register, in the transitions, problems with the text, etc. are by and large simply not present, or can be corrected very easily. As the vocal muscles are now shaped accordingly, the technique has now been memorised by the body and is largely automatic, you can now throw yourself into the respective aria, song or song with joy, sing and even have the capacity to interpret. And that’s exactly where you want to be as an amateur or professional singer, isn’t it?
Of course, vocal development does not end here, but the foundation has been laid and it is now a matter of further training the voice, building up stamina and expanding one’s repertoire through different pieces, making pieces one’s own, singing ‘into the body’. For me, in addition to being a musician, the singer is also a high-performance athlete for whom the various pieces are like obstacle courses that need to be overcome. And for that you need a suitably shaped muscle. After all, you can only go into deep, wild water unscathed if you can swim and are in the right shape for it.
I explain the most important functions in the folder Tutorials.