Singing

Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight

Singing is the production of musical tones by the human voice with or without words. Singing is a natural form of expression found in cultures and societies throughout the world.

Singing may be accompanied by instrumental music, or it may be a cappella (without instrumental accompa­niment). This article discusses how people sing, the major voice classifications, and voice training for the in­dividual singer. For information on group singing, see Classical music (Choral music).

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How people sing. Singing is produced in the same general way that a musical wind instrument creates sound—by causing a column of air to vibrate. A person sings by drawing air into the lungs and exhaling it past the vocal cords. The vocal cords are two folds of tissue that stretch across the larynx (voice box) in the throat. The movement of the air against the vocal cords and the surface of the throat and mouth causes vibrations that create the sound of the voice.

Because the vocal cords are elastic, the pitch of tones produced when the cords vibrate may be varied, de­pending on the degree of tension. The more tightly the vocal cords are stretched, the higher the pitch. The more relaxed the vocal cords, the lower the pitch. A man's vocal cords tend to be longer, wider, and thicker than those of a woman. As a result, a man's-voice tends to be an octave or more lower than a woman's voice.

Voice classification. Both men's and women's voices fall into three general categories of pitch—high, middle, and low. Within these categories, voices are classified into six basic types. From highest to lowest in pitch, they are soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto for women; and tenor, baritone, and bass for men. Most voices be­long in the mezzo-soprano and baritone categories. See also Opera. (The singers).

Training the voice. Singing is a natural function and it requires no training to perform simple music. But seri­ous singing makes special demands on the voice. There­fore, a singer requires special training to perform opera and other difficult music. Singers study and train to de­velop and improve four basic singing skills: (1) breath control, (2) a broad range, (3) smoothness throughout the range, and (4) good resonance.

Breath control allows a singer to perform long musi­cal phrases in a single breath. The singer learns to breathe freely and naturally, filling the lungs from the bottom upward and expanding the chest cavity so that the lungs take in the maximum amount of air. The singer must learn how to release the air with evenly controlled pressure. The actions of muscles in the abdomen and chest cavities help the singer to achieve this goal.

A broad range allows a singer to correctly produce a wide span of notes from low to high. The singer's range determines his or her voice category. Training helps singers to produce the easy mid-range tones comfort­ably, and also the highest and lowest tones of which they are capable. Most untrained people can sing over a range of about 1} octaves or less. But trained singers usually have a range of about two octaves.

Smoothness throughout the range means that a singer produces no audible breaks in the voice when moving from one tone to another. Some experts believe the voice is composed of either two or three registers (groups of tones within, the range). They believe that the untrained singer whose voice breaks is moving from one register to another at the moment of the break. However, other experts believe that the entire range is composed of only one register, and that breaks result from other causes. All agree that the singer should be able to sing smoothly throughout the range, with no abrupt changes in the quality of the tone.

Good resonance strengthens and beautifies the tone. Resonance takes place as the tone vibrates in the cavi­ties of the throat, mouth, chest, and face. Resonance oc­curs naturally and cannot be directly controlled by the singer. However, to allow this action to take place, the singer learns to open the throat by relaxing the throat muscles. The singer also learns how to relax the jaw and lips and where to properly place the tongue.

Other singing skills. Singers should learn to read music notation (the signs and symbols) and understand music terms. For example, where the term messa di voce appears, the voice must increase the volume grad­ually from pianissimo (very soft) to fortissimo (very loud), and then back again. Singers also learn how to sing trills, whiGh are quick alternations of two adjacent musi­cal tones, and how to control vibrato, a vibrating sound made up of slight, rapid changes in pitch. Clear diction (speech) is important so the lyrics can be understood.

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