Vocal Production Lesson 4
Resonance: Creating Good Vocal Vibes

This series was previously published in The Pitch Pipe during the mid-90s. The series was so popular during its first run we have decided to update it and bring it back for an encore.

By Betty Clipman, past international president, international board of directors, master director, judge specialists moderator, certified judge, 2006 IES chair, Houston Horizon Chorus, Region 10

Resonance is the amplification and enrichment of tones produced by the voice. When we talk about resonance, we’re talking about singing with fullness. Sound judges often use the terms “rich,” “full,” “round,” and “resonant,” indicating that the tones produced by the contestant had (or did not have) body and fullness.

Without resonance we produce a “thin” sound. As a matter of fact, when our tone lacks resonance we sound like little girls rather than women.

The tone we produce should ideally be like a diamond on a black velvet pillow: with the brilliance, sparkle and projection of a diamond and the warmth, richness, body and texture of black velvet. The velvet effect comes through proper resonance.

Sounds good, you say, but how do we produce resonance? What causes the tone to resonate?

The voice has four major acoustic elements: a motor or activator (breath pressure); a primary vibrator (the vocal folds and larynx) that is set into motion by breath pressure; articulators (the tongue, lips and jaw, which we will discuss in the next article); and resonators (the pharyngeal, mouth and head cavities). “Pharyngeal” means “of the pharynx,” which is the area between the mouth and the esophagus.

There are differing opinions on the subject of the resonators. Some authorities say that resonance is created to a degree in the trachea and chest, but most agree that the pharyngeal, mouth and head cavities are the most important areas of resonation.

The amount of resonance in the voice is determined by our ability to keep the pharyngeal, mouth and head cavities open and relaxed while we sing. The result is what we often hear referred to as an “open, freely produced tone.”

To help achieve openness without tension, it is helpful for the singer to invoke mental images.

One image, known to many around the world, is the voice of the late, great chef, Julia Child. Another, from the recent international movie, Moulin Rouge, is the Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of vocal resonance, Nicole Kidman.

In her movie persona as Satine, a beautiful-voiced burlesque queen, Nicole Kidman speaks with a soft, almost intoxicatingly whiny voice. But she has a beautifully resonant singing voice.

Many of us sing in our speaking voices, without opening up the resonating cavities or relaxing the jaw and throat. Our aim should be to open and relax everything, using whatever images help us do that. Think about singing “opera vowels,” if it helps.

There is one danger of concentration on opera vowels, and that is the dark “covering” of the tone that sometimes results. It is what happens when we produce black velvet without the diamond. We must remember to project the tone forward into the facial mask.

Larra Browning Henderson, in her book How to Train Singers, 2nd Edition (©1991, Parker Publishing Company, a division of Simon & Schuster), says that part of achieving resonance is a natural lifting of the soft palate, often referred to as using the “inside smile.” She says (pp. 55-56), “Close the mouth, but not the teeth (feeling an openness in the whole oral cavity), and smile as though you were smiling at someone across the room, a smile you do not wish to be noticed by others. You might feel a slight lifting of the cushions under the eyes and a space opening up over the soft palate — you almost feel as though you are going to break into a yawn. The soft palate goes up. (You have not pulled it up.) Both are extremely important — the cushions under the eyes and the soft palate.” (Editor’s Note: How to Train Singers is currently out of print.)

The inside smile naturally opens the entrances into the head cavities, and raises and opens the cavities themselves, creating larger chambers in which to resonate the tone. An important part of resonance is this natural lifting of the soft palate.

Conscious lifting of the soft palate can create tension in the larynx and throat muscles, so the goal is to lift the face naturally, as if thinking, “ah-ha!” Rather than consciously using specific muscles to get the lift and open the spaces, it is better to use imagery.

Henderson also says (pg. 57), “When you use the inside smile, there is a feeling of ‘dome’ in the oral cavity; there is also a ‘yawning up’ sensation (never a ‘yawning down’ position, i.e., pressure on the back of the throat and larynx). The same sensation comes into the soft palate area when one is expressing surprise with a slight gasp, and the cushions under the eyes lift.”

We are after a natural way of opening up the resonators without producing tension. A related sensation in the mouth will be space. Think of the roof of the mouth feeling like an open parachute or arched cathedral ceiling. Lifting the facial muscles and achieving the inside smile really help that happen.

One other important technique in producing a full, open, resonant sound is to keep the jaw relaxed and slightly dropped at the same time as the face is lifted to open the resonating cavities. Our focus in the exercises presented here is to provide techniques to help develop a relaxed jaw and a rich, round, open sound.

Return to Pitch Pipe main page