Discover Your Voice: Chapter 2
Emily Cottam
Chapter Summary: It’s essential to learn how to relax any unnecessary muscles surrounding the larynx for healthy singing. First fix problems in the speaking voice before addressing the singing voice. Exercises for release are described by Brown, focusing on spinal position, neck tension, jaw tension, and tongue tension. Stretching or sometimes using the force of gravity to your advantage can help induce bodily release. “Muscles [involved in chewing and swallowing] should not be active in phonation.” If the mind is relaxed, then the body is relaxed (and vice versa). “The better you can think... the easier it will be to let when the times comes.”
Key Concepts: Having a released mental and physical state helps to facilitate healthy singing. Focusing on problems in not only the singing but the speaking voice helps to solve unhealthy singing habits from their source. Good singing is centered around efficiency--using only the structures necessary for singing and not allowing unimportant structures to interfere.
Key Terms: fixative, hyperfunction, release.
Making Connections: This chapter is probably going to be one of the most important chapters for me in the entire book--I’m a hyperfunctional singer, and I know I get tense not only when I’m singing, but when I speak. There are times when I get vocal fatigue because I press on my voice too hard (so it’s a good thing I don’t talk excessively). I’m going to definitely be experimenting with these exercises in the future.
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