19 - Where does the sound come from?

Summary

Singing is rightfully regarded as fine art, producing musical experiences for listeners and performers. However, a substantial amount of research has been devoted to singing in recent decades, which allows a complementary scientific view of singing. A system of solid information about singing has emerged which offers the possibility of supplementing the understanding of singing by physical, tangible facts. These facts may facilitate the use of the voice and make listening to singing more profound and rich. This chapter provides an overview of this research, explaining how voice sounds are generated and controlled by breathing patterns, laryngeal adjustment and resonance phenomena.

Voice production

Three major factors are involved in the production of voiced sounds: the respiratory system, the vocal folds and the vocal tract (the cavity formed by the pharynx and the mouth, which is sometimes complemented by the nasal cavity). Each of them serves a purpose of its own as shown in Figure 15.

The respiratory system compresses the lungs, thus causing an overpressure of air which generates an air stream, if the airways are open. This airstream sets the vocal folds vibrating, and the vibrations chop the airstream into a pulsating airflow, which is a sound called the voice source. It is controlled by two main factors, the air pressure in the lungs (the lung pressure) and the vocal folds, which are themselves controlled by a number of laryngeal muscles.