Sarah Brenay - Malde - Ch. 5 (part 2)

The muscle of the lips extends all the way up to the nose and all the way down to the 
indentation in the chin. 
Describe the buccinators: include location, attachments, and function and resonance effect. They form the inside of the cheeks. They connect the lips in front, and at the back they connect to the upper pharyngeal constrictor at a tendinous raphe inside the cheekbone. When constricted they pull the lips back laterally. The buccinators also affect the tension of the nasopharynx, the oral pharynx, the palatoglossus, they tongue, the palatopharyngeus, the larynx, and the soft palate. In other words, contracting the buccinator disrupts the entire singing mechanism for classical singing. The resonance effect this causes is called "spread."
What is the tongue’s survival function? To move food around and start to push it down the throat into the esophagus.
What is the function of the tongue for singing? To form vowels and consonants.
How many intrinsic tongue muscles are there? What is their function? 4 intrinsic muscles. They are responsible for fine motor movements of articulation.
How many extrinsic tongue muscles are there? What is their function? 5 extrinsic muscles. These move the tongue forward, up, back, or down.
Where does the tongue have attachments? to the hyoid bone and to the mandible.
What is the septum of the tongue? What is its function? A thin fibrous vertical extension from the center of the hyoid bone. It serves as a point of attachment for the intrinsic muscles of the tongue.
What are ways that singers use their tongues inappropriately? They recruit the tongue to do the work of other muscles. They use it to push the larynx down, they pull it back to try and increase pharyngeal resonance, etc.
What is the only healthy way to lower the larynx? To use the muscles that connect to it from below.
Which four muscles in the neck are the only muscles that can play a positive role in vocal 
resonance? The sternohyoid muscles, omohyoid muscles, sternothyroid muscles, and the stylopharyngeous muscle.
What is the function of the rest of the next muscles? To move the shoulders and neck and arms. In other words, for expression and gesturing.
What are the strongest muscles that pull up on the larynx? The pair of hyoglossus muscles.
Describe the aryepiglottic sphincter (location and function) It surrounds the opening at the top of the larynx over which the epiglottis closes. The sphincter seals off when we swallow so that no food can go into the lungs.
What causes the Singer’s Formant? Lowering the larynx or tightening the aryepiglottic sphincter slightly. The lower potion of the larynx must be wider than the upper portion. To accomplish this, we must either narrow the upper opening, or expand the lower opening.
What is vowel modification?  Altering the vowel shape slightly due to demands on the vocal tract for resonance. Lowering the jaw.
How can we be singing the correct pitch and still be off in terms of intonation? It is likely a resonance problem. The [i] may be brighter than the [a] which will cause the [i] to sound sharp and the [a] to sound flat.