Want to better understand what professional singers do to preserve voice
February 2, 2025 7:44 PM Subscribe
Some specifics in the thread, but more or less what it says on the tin. More specifically, you hear about singers ruining their voices...but on the other hand, you hear about singers who through work(?) and experience(?) actually improve over time, or at least, can maintain their vocals. I want to understand what physically is happening
An example that sticks out here is opera. I had a friend who worked in the opera and they talked about how certain roles required singers with a lot of experience, because if they did the role too early they would destroy their voice. I guess I'm trying to understand both sides of the equation. First off, what does it mean to destroy your voice in this way? I can think of multiple examples where this has happened, but I'm curious to know physically what is happening.
On the flip side, I'm even more curious to know what the "successful" singers are doing. Physically, what is different between a 25 year old opera singer trying to tackle one of those super ambitious roles, and a 35 year old or 45 year old ones? This doesn't just apply to opera (I follow a lot of japanese rock and idol music and have seen examples of both), I just remembered that example and opera of course is extremely taxing.
But I'm curious what vocalists with powerful vocals do to preserve or even improve over time. What is physically happening/changing? when talking about this stuff people tend to deploy vague metaphors and analogies which has its place, but it's always left me hazy as to what is actually going on.
An example that sticks out here is opera. I had a friend who worked in the opera and they talked about how certain roles required singers with a lot of experience, because if they did the role too early they would destroy their voice. I guess I'm trying to understand both sides of the equation. First off, what does it mean to destroy your voice in this way? I can think of multiple examples where this has happened, but I'm curious to know physically what is happening.
On the flip side, I'm even more curious to know what the "successful" singers are doing. Physically, what is different between a 25 year old opera singer trying to tackle one of those super ambitious roles, and a 35 year old or 45 year old ones? This doesn't just apply to opera (I follow a lot of japanese rock and idol music and have seen examples of both), I just remembered that example and opera of course is extremely taxing.
But I'm curious what vocalists with powerful vocals do to preserve or even improve over time. What is physically happening/changing? when talking about this stuff people tend to deploy vague metaphors and analogies which has its place, but it's always left me hazy as to what is actually going on.
This is maybe the combination of those two things: Jon Bon Jovi is the epitome of an experienced, conditioned singer, but after years of pushing his voice to its limits, he experienced atrophy of one vocal cord.
posted by limeonaire at 9:06 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]
posted by limeonaire at 9:06 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]
Agreeing with the above.
I had 1-to-1 singing lessons for a while.
My voice coach very much tried to teach me 'good form' in terms of how I produced my voice, with a bunch of positioning of various aspects of my throat, where the sound was coming from and kind of resonating, etc. what multiple parts of my body to engage what to relax, where to 'sing from' for different notes and tone, how to stand, how to position my head, how to hold my neck, how to even hold my arms. There was a lot of technical info on how and what, with internal biology, but I don't remember all if it now.
My coach often talked and played professional singers as examples, and he could point out what they were doing that was damaging their voice long term, and how they could modify things just a little to stop that damage.
Similarly when singers had damaged their voice, he had a bunch of ways to help rework and strengthen what needed to stregthen, and relax what needed to relax, etc.
Essentially he was a kind of physio and personal trainer for the voice. And as such I also had exercises to do between the weekly lessons.
I've not had lessons since 2019. Not have I been 'exercising it' (just the occasional vocal equivalent of running for a bus, by blasting out singing along to something on the radio). But my vocal range is still wider than it ever was, as with my ability to hold a continued note / elongated breath is still better than when I used to sing in choirs regularly.
So I'm sure there is info out there to learn from in general terms.
I would recommend a 1-to-1 with a skilled professional if you can find one like mine, to really understand it for your own voice if that was applicable.
posted by many-things at 9:49 PM on February 2 [3 favorites]
I had 1-to-1 singing lessons for a while.
My voice coach very much tried to teach me 'good form' in terms of how I produced my voice, with a bunch of positioning of various aspects of my throat, where the sound was coming from and kind of resonating, etc. what multiple parts of my body to engage what to relax, where to 'sing from' for different notes and tone, how to stand, how to position my head, how to hold my neck, how to even hold my arms. There was a lot of technical info on how and what, with internal biology, but I don't remember all if it now.
My coach often talked and played professional singers as examples, and he could point out what they were doing that was damaging their voice long term, and how they could modify things just a little to stop that damage.
Similarly when singers had damaged their voice, he had a bunch of ways to help rework and strengthen what needed to stregthen, and relax what needed to relax, etc.
Essentially he was a kind of physio and personal trainer for the voice. And as such I also had exercises to do between the weekly lessons.
I've not had lessons since 2019. Not have I been 'exercising it' (just the occasional vocal equivalent of running for a bus, by blasting out singing along to something on the radio). But my vocal range is still wider than it ever was, as with my ability to hold a continued note / elongated breath is still better than when I used to sing in choirs regularly.
So I'm sure there is info out there to learn from in general terms.
I would recommend a 1-to-1 with a skilled professional if you can find one like mine, to really understand it for your own voice if that was applicable.
posted by many-things at 9:49 PM on February 2 [3 favorites]
So when you over use a muscle you produce excessive metabolic waste and you have to wait until you've metabolized these waste products to use it again. ADP to ATP. You need to rest. If you don't do this, you get inflammation. And if you do this too often or too hard you get micro-tears and scar tissue. If you do it right you get stronger more flexible muscles.
Your vocal chords are not muscles - they are actually throat tissue, controlled by vocal muscles, but they can be damaged in a very similar way. Think of the connective tissue in your ankle, and how you can get a strained ligament. There is inflammation, and if it doesn't heal properly, so that the ligament ends up slightly longer or shorter and less flexible.
Laryngitis is inflammation, and the symptom is being unable to produce the sounds you want, either just not getting the note you want, or your sound being hoarse due to the vibration not being perfectly smooth. Vocal nodules are little spots of scar tissue. They often occur in pairs one on each matching vocal chord. They grow on whatever section of the vocal chord has been under the most pressure.
The first thing you do is rest your voice, the same way your stay off your sprained ankle. Then you slowly bring your voice into condition again. If you are lucky there isn't scar tissue. If you are unlucky you have to train your voice control to mask the damage and forever after work around it. You might train to loosen and stretch the shortened scarred vocal chord the way you trained to stretch it gently until you can make that High C, or you might train to close it more precisely to compensate for a pair of chords that have been stretched.
When someone who has never stretched their vocal chords to produce a high B strains their voice to produce it, they are probably stretching their vocal chords too far and too fast, like someone over training for a 5 K when they should still be spending more time walking or warming up. You need to reach high A comfortably before you strain to reach high B.
If you panic when you see an oncoming train and screech, you may force a voice that has never gone above G to high C, and just like the headlong dive you make to get off the tracks, you engage muscles and stretch ligaments that were neither warmed up, not had they ever stretched that much before. So you end up lying panting beside the train, having damaged your vocal chords and so sore from wrenching your muscles that you have to hobble home to take a hot bath to reduce the inflammation.
Now if you sing in smokey bars and drink whiskey, you are increasing the chances of laryngitis and inflammation in your throat tissue. You do it before you even try to make a sound. You know how being around cigarette smoke makes you cough. So does that whiskey shot. And having a shot of whiskey to chase the stage fright and relax is a problem because, like driving drunk, singing requires precise motor control you don't have when you are drunk. Combine that with the fact that alcohol causes acid reflux and makes you likely to raise your voice, since you can't perceive quite how loud you are, and you are looking at having a sexy hoarse voice suitable to sing the blues during your very short career.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:10 AM on February 3 [7 favorites]
Your vocal chords are not muscles - they are actually throat tissue, controlled by vocal muscles, but they can be damaged in a very similar way. Think of the connective tissue in your ankle, and how you can get a strained ligament. There is inflammation, and if it doesn't heal properly, so that the ligament ends up slightly longer or shorter and less flexible.
Laryngitis is inflammation, and the symptom is being unable to produce the sounds you want, either just not getting the note you want, or your sound being hoarse due to the vibration not being perfectly smooth. Vocal nodules are little spots of scar tissue. They often occur in pairs one on each matching vocal chord. They grow on whatever section of the vocal chord has been under the most pressure.
The first thing you do is rest your voice, the same way your stay off your sprained ankle. Then you slowly bring your voice into condition again. If you are lucky there isn't scar tissue. If you are unlucky you have to train your voice control to mask the damage and forever after work around it. You might train to loosen and stretch the shortened scarred vocal chord the way you trained to stretch it gently until you can make that High C, or you might train to close it more precisely to compensate for a pair of chords that have been stretched.
When someone who has never stretched their vocal chords to produce a high B strains their voice to produce it, they are probably stretching their vocal chords too far and too fast, like someone over training for a 5 K when they should still be spending more time walking or warming up. You need to reach high A comfortably before you strain to reach high B.
If you panic when you see an oncoming train and screech, you may force a voice that has never gone above G to high C, and just like the headlong dive you make to get off the tracks, you engage muscles and stretch ligaments that were neither warmed up, not had they ever stretched that much before. So you end up lying panting beside the train, having damaged your vocal chords and so sore from wrenching your muscles that you have to hobble home to take a hot bath to reduce the inflammation.
Now if you sing in smokey bars and drink whiskey, you are increasing the chances of laryngitis and inflammation in your throat tissue. You do it before you even try to make a sound. You know how being around cigarette smoke makes you cough. So does that whiskey shot. And having a shot of whiskey to chase the stage fright and relax is a problem because, like driving drunk, singing requires precise motor control you don't have when you are drunk. Combine that with the fact that alcohol causes acid reflux and makes you likely to raise your voice, since you can't perceive quite how loud you are, and you are looking at having a sexy hoarse voice suitable to sing the blues during your very short career.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:10 AM on February 3 [7 favorites]
A couple of other things to keep in mind are that voice teachers sometimes are guilty of couching style policing in health terms. What I mean is, they associate certain musical genres with healthy singing and others with inevitably bbqing vocal chords, rather than healthy practices being possible with nearly every genre (see melissa cross for healthy practices for sustaining extreme metal cookie monster vocals). I started thinking about this when every single time I taught a unit on the history of Tuvan throat singing students’ first question would be based on the assumption that it was inevitably harmful and unhealthy.
Also, there is a fascinating article “The organ of the soul: voice, damage, and affect” by Laurie Stras about being an opera singer being told her voice wasn’t ‘pure’ enough for opera, so she switched to pop and rock singing, only to be told that her voice was ‘too pure.’ She likens the simulation of vocal damage in rock singing to other kinds of purposeful body modification like tattoos.
posted by umbú at 5:48 AM on February 3 [5 favorites]
Also, there is a fascinating article “The organ of the soul: voice, damage, and affect” by Laurie Stras about being an opera singer being told her voice wasn’t ‘pure’ enough for opera, so she switched to pop and rock singing, only to be told that her voice was ‘too pure.’ She likens the simulation of vocal damage in rock singing to other kinds of purposeful body modification like tattoos.
posted by umbú at 5:48 AM on February 3 [5 favorites]
I once had the opportunity of being present during a voice training session between a high-level professional singer and her highly skilled voice instructor. The singer had a top-10 hit early in her career but had not had much follow-up success. It was now 20 or 30 years later, and she was attempting a comeback. She'd never had formal voice training and she wanted to fix that.
I didn't understand the details but it was astonishing. She sang, and then he would tell her which parts of her throat/mouth/larynx were too tense, which parts were too soft, and what else needed to be adjusted. He heard things, told her about them, and she appeared to understand what he was referring to. It felt like I was in a room with an invisible piece of furniture that everyone else could see and talk about and I was just befuddled.
She told me on the way there that her work with this teacher had completely transformed her singing. She could now sing for hours without hurting her voice. She could sing when she was sick. She could hold notes longer. She could sing day after day. She had total confidence that she could perform what and when she needed to. None of this had been possible before.
I realize that doesn't provide much info on what is actually going on. Maybe a singer or voice teacher can chime in with that inside view. But what was very clear to me that day is that there is a lot going on, and that understanding and applying it can make a big difference in one's ability sing and keep singing.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:33 AM on February 3 [8 favorites]
I didn't understand the details but it was astonishing. She sang, and then he would tell her which parts of her throat/mouth/larynx were too tense, which parts were too soft, and what else needed to be adjusted. He heard things, told her about them, and she appeared to understand what he was referring to. It felt like I was in a room with an invisible piece of furniture that everyone else could see and talk about and I was just befuddled.
She told me on the way there that her work with this teacher had completely transformed her singing. She could now sing for hours without hurting her voice. She could sing when she was sick. She could hold notes longer. She could sing day after day. She had total confidence that she could perform what and when she needed to. None of this had been possible before.
I realize that doesn't provide much info on what is actually going on. Maybe a singer or voice teacher can chime in with that inside view. But what was very clear to me that day is that there is a lot going on, and that understanding and applying it can make a big difference in one's ability sing and keep singing.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:33 AM on February 3 [8 favorites]
Youtube channel The Charismatic Voice (and there was an offshoot specifically about this called The Singing Hole but it petered out because of the next sentence) talks about the anatomy of the throat/larynx and how sounds get made. Zharoff has a particular interest in growl-singing and scream-singing and a) how that noise even gets made b) what voice teachers are currently doing to help singers like that keep their voices safe, and that ended up bleeding over into some studies being done at the University of Utah which she helped Kickstart because apparently that's how we have to fund academic research now.
Any kind of professional singer is likely under the care of a voice teacher at least periodically, from Broadway chorus singers to the scariest Death Metal singers you can find.
There are a bunch of books about this, but I don't know enough to know good from better.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:07 AM on February 3
Any kind of professional singer is likely under the care of a voice teacher at least periodically, from Broadway chorus singers to the scariest Death Metal singers you can find.
There are a bunch of books about this, but I don't know enough to know good from better.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:07 AM on February 3
The woman currently playing Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway occasionally posts about vocal health on instagram, like here, here, and here. I find it super interesting since a Broadway schedule of 8 shows a week for months at a time is just relentless.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:40 AM on February 3 [6 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:40 AM on February 3 [6 favorites]
"Destroying" a voice typically means that the person has caused physical damage to their vocal cords and/or the muscles and nerves that control the vocal cords. "Successful" singers learn singing technique that allows the vocal cords to vibrate in a comfortable, natural way that doesn't impose undue stress on them.
When it comes to opera specifically, the singer needs move air over their vocal cords so they vibrate and resonate in such a way that the resultant sound can be heard over an orchestra without electronic amplification. Orchestras for Wagner, the Romantics, and other, later works are often larger and louder than orchestras for the earlier works of, say, Mozart or Handel. But still, the source of the sound is two little bits of flesh vibrating on the breath and resonating in the person's head.
Whether someone can be heard over an orchestra is a complex function of physiology, technique, and acoustics. A person with the right physiology (size of resonant spaces in their head, structure of vocal cords and musculature) and the right technique (use of the proper volume of breath, having the right muscles properly strengthened through training, and engaged while other muscles appropriately relaxed) in the right acoustic space (a well-designed opera theater) produces a full-bodied sound with overtones that carry the sound over even a large orchestra.
However, if the person's physiology isn't capable of healthily producing a large sound, or they're tired or on the verge of getting sick, or if they don't have enough training, or consistent enough practice to have properly strengthened the involved muscles, they'll need to compensate in some way to attempt to be heard. They'll likely involve muscles of the tongue or throat that aren't under stress in healthy singing, or they'll use too much air, or any of a number of approaches that cause the vocal cords to bang into each other more violently. Over time, this can cause irritation, nodes, polyps, callouses, rigidity, paralyzation, and any number of other problems that may or may not be fixable through speech therapy or surgery. This also affects the quality of the sound. Vibrato gets wider and less pleasing, overtones are lost, the voice can crack (like a teenager going through a voice change in puberty), and the timbre can become "shouty."
posted by davybyrne at 10:04 AM on February 3 [3 favorites]
When it comes to opera specifically, the singer needs move air over their vocal cords so they vibrate and resonate in such a way that the resultant sound can be heard over an orchestra without electronic amplification. Orchestras for Wagner, the Romantics, and other, later works are often larger and louder than orchestras for the earlier works of, say, Mozart or Handel. But still, the source of the sound is two little bits of flesh vibrating on the breath and resonating in the person's head.
Whether someone can be heard over an orchestra is a complex function of physiology, technique, and acoustics. A person with the right physiology (size of resonant spaces in their head, structure of vocal cords and musculature) and the right technique (use of the proper volume of breath, having the right muscles properly strengthened through training, and engaged while other muscles appropriately relaxed) in the right acoustic space (a well-designed opera theater) produces a full-bodied sound with overtones that carry the sound over even a large orchestra.
However, if the person's physiology isn't capable of healthily producing a large sound, or they're tired or on the verge of getting sick, or if they don't have enough training, or consistent enough practice to have properly strengthened the involved muscles, they'll need to compensate in some way to attempt to be heard. They'll likely involve muscles of the tongue or throat that aren't under stress in healthy singing, or they'll use too much air, or any of a number of approaches that cause the vocal cords to bang into each other more violently. Over time, this can cause irritation, nodes, polyps, callouses, rigidity, paralyzation, and any number of other problems that may or may not be fixable through speech therapy or surgery. This also affects the quality of the sound. Vibrato gets wider and less pleasing, overtones are lost, the voice can crack (like a teenager going through a voice change in puberty), and the timbre can become "shouty."
posted by davybyrne at 10:04 AM on February 3 [3 favorites]
To give a concrete example—and with no criticism intended of the people I mention—imagine Bob Dylan trying to be heard over a one-hundred-piece orchestra. He has a "small" voice, not very resonant, and without the broad range of overtones needed to carry over an orchestra. Compare and contrast with the sound a trained opera singer like Luciano Pavarotti makes. Even better, watch a video of Pavarotti singing. Most especially in his early to mid-career, his singing looks (and is) effortless. He's not getting all red faced and shouting. He's gently opening his mouth and letting the stream of (not very much) air pour out.
Compare again with a colicky baby. They'll be heard over the orchestra but if the colic continues long enough, they get vocal damage. This is why Emma Stone has a sort of "husky" or "raspy" voice. She damaged her vocal cords as a colicky baby.
posted by davybyrne at 10:13 AM on February 3 [3 favorites]
Compare again with a colicky baby. They'll be heard over the orchestra but if the colic continues long enough, they get vocal damage. This is why Emma Stone has a sort of "husky" or "raspy" voice. She damaged her vocal cords as a colicky baby.
posted by davybyrne at 10:13 AM on February 3 [3 favorites]
Professional voice user of 40+ years here...
So, fundamentally what you do to preserve your voice is develop a singing technique that allows you to sing a repertoire in which you are competitive with minimal effort in the vocal folds. What do I mean by "minimal effort"? Well, to vastly simplify things, there are fundamentally two different muscular actions that produce phonation: One action activates the cricothyroid muscle without activating the thyroarytenoid muscle, which stretches the vocal folds (called the vocalis) long and thin and produces higher notes. The other action is exactly the opposite with activation of the thyroarytenoid muscle and no activation of the cricothyroid muscle, which makes the vocal folds short and thick and produces lower notes. The words usually used to describe the action of the voice vary tremendously in meaning depending on musical genre, pedagogical tradition, singer/voice teacher preference, sex of the singer, etc., so let's call the former "light" and the latter "dark." For the most part both actions are employed together, resulting in a blended vocal production in which one action is dominant over the other to one degree or another.
So... here's the thing: The "dark" action is pretty hard on your vocal folds. If you look at film of a very dark-dominated production, the vocal folds appear to be crashing together with great force. As you may imagine, this isn't super great for the vocal folds and a lot of forceful "dark dominant" singing can lead to vocal nodes, polyps, thickening of the thyroarytenoid, stiffening of the cartilages underlying the vocalis, scarring, etc. -- all of which can affect the purity of sound, flexibility of the voice, ability to phonate, pitch range, etc. So, if you're an opera singer, one of the things you do is learn how to sing with a blended phonation that consists of the largest percentage of "light" action for the pitch being sung and other considerations such as volume and style, all the while maintaining some percentage of "dark" action. In addition to the foregoing, there are ways the vocal tract can be configured in order to make the phonation appear to have more "dark" action than it actually has. Other musical genres may require phonations that are majority "dark" at all times, and/or may feature a sharp "break" between majority "dark" and majority "light." For the most part these genres use amplification.
So, returning to opera, the history of operatic singing over the course of the 19th century begins with a vocal style that prized agility, high tessituras, plentiful extreme high notes, smaller orchestras and lighter orchestrations, and so on. This gradually evolved into a vocal style predicated upon power, opulence of tone, lower tessituras, fewer/lower but more highly prized high notes, larger orchestras and louder orchestrations. The common repertoire sung today encompasses operas that were composed in the late 18th century all the way to the early 20th century. Part of protecting the voice is to choose and train for a vocal repertoire that confers the greatest competitive advantage and which best fits the strengths and weaknesses of the voice. Have a voice that's light, high and can really move around? Sing Mozart, Rossini, etc. Have a voice that's dark and powerful and works best in a somewhat lower tessitura, sing Verdi and Puccini. Difficulties usually arise when a singer decides to sing a repertoire that's "heavier" than the singer's natural voice instrument, requiring more power in a lower tessitura, etc. than what is ideally suited to the voice. This is usually accomplished by increasing the percentage of "dark" action in the vocal production, which can be exciting to hear so long as the voice holds up but usually leads to the difficulties mentioned above. There is one caveat, however: Some singers naturally have a remarkable healing factor which enables them to abuse the voice instrument and get away with it relatively unscathed. A laryngologist once described Mario del Monaco's vocal folds as looking "battered" after a performance of Otello, but perfectly fine a day or two later.
So, that's opera but, as I said earlier, some genres of music call for a majority "dark" production just about all the time. Singers in these genres protect their voices in a variety of ways. Since they're mostly singing with amplification, one of the smartest things to do is simply not to sing very loud. After all, if you sing louder the guy at the mixing desk is just going to turn down your microphone anyway. There are also ways to produce a tone that seems like it has a lot more "dark" action than it really does. It's also not uncommon for singers in this style that are primarily recording artists to just not sing all that often, and there are any number of examples of this type whose voices worked just fine when used fairly infrequently but wound up with some pretty serious biological voice problem because they went on tour and radically increased their frequency of singing. This highlights the importance of rest, which especially important for singers singing on the "dark" side of what the voice instrument can withstand. Carlo Bergonzi, for example, was known to refrain from phonation entirely, including talking, after performing a demanding role such as Radames in Aida. Recording artists often get some rest during the periods in between making and promoting recordings, because they aren't singing all that often. Even talking too loud over background noise for a period of time can really tire out the voice instrument.
Finally, and sticking to genre, it's worth noting that plenty of musical genres don't necessarily need or even want a voice that sounds pure. Instead, it's better to have a voice that sounds interesting. A little bit of hoarseness all the way to an outright gravely sound, vocal fry, some cracking, wandering pitch, and so on is actually desired in many popular genres. Singing with too much purity of tone is one of the reasons opera singers often sound weird in these genres. All of this is to say that Tom Waits can be far less protective of his instrument than Renee Fleming (or can protect it in very different ways).
posted by slkinsey at 10:42 AM on February 3 [14 favorites]
So, fundamentally what you do to preserve your voice is develop a singing technique that allows you to sing a repertoire in which you are competitive with minimal effort in the vocal folds. What do I mean by "minimal effort"? Well, to vastly simplify things, there are fundamentally two different muscular actions that produce phonation: One action activates the cricothyroid muscle without activating the thyroarytenoid muscle, which stretches the vocal folds (called the vocalis) long and thin and produces higher notes. The other action is exactly the opposite with activation of the thyroarytenoid muscle and no activation of the cricothyroid muscle, which makes the vocal folds short and thick and produces lower notes. The words usually used to describe the action of the voice vary tremendously in meaning depending on musical genre, pedagogical tradition, singer/voice teacher preference, sex of the singer, etc., so let's call the former "light" and the latter "dark." For the most part both actions are employed together, resulting in a blended vocal production in which one action is dominant over the other to one degree or another.
So... here's the thing: The "dark" action is pretty hard on your vocal folds. If you look at film of a very dark-dominated production, the vocal folds appear to be crashing together with great force. As you may imagine, this isn't super great for the vocal folds and a lot of forceful "dark dominant" singing can lead to vocal nodes, polyps, thickening of the thyroarytenoid, stiffening of the cartilages underlying the vocalis, scarring, etc. -- all of which can affect the purity of sound, flexibility of the voice, ability to phonate, pitch range, etc. So, if you're an opera singer, one of the things you do is learn how to sing with a blended phonation that consists of the largest percentage of "light" action for the pitch being sung and other considerations such as volume and style, all the while maintaining some percentage of "dark" action. In addition to the foregoing, there are ways the vocal tract can be configured in order to make the phonation appear to have more "dark" action than it actually has. Other musical genres may require phonations that are majority "dark" at all times, and/or may feature a sharp "break" between majority "dark" and majority "light." For the most part these genres use amplification.
So, returning to opera, the history of operatic singing over the course of the 19th century begins with a vocal style that prized agility, high tessituras, plentiful extreme high notes, smaller orchestras and lighter orchestrations, and so on. This gradually evolved into a vocal style predicated upon power, opulence of tone, lower tessituras, fewer/lower but more highly prized high notes, larger orchestras and louder orchestrations. The common repertoire sung today encompasses operas that were composed in the late 18th century all the way to the early 20th century. Part of protecting the voice is to choose and train for a vocal repertoire that confers the greatest competitive advantage and which best fits the strengths and weaknesses of the voice. Have a voice that's light, high and can really move around? Sing Mozart, Rossini, etc. Have a voice that's dark and powerful and works best in a somewhat lower tessitura, sing Verdi and Puccini. Difficulties usually arise when a singer decides to sing a repertoire that's "heavier" than the singer's natural voice instrument, requiring more power in a lower tessitura, etc. than what is ideally suited to the voice. This is usually accomplished by increasing the percentage of "dark" action in the vocal production, which can be exciting to hear so long as the voice holds up but usually leads to the difficulties mentioned above. There is one caveat, however: Some singers naturally have a remarkable healing factor which enables them to abuse the voice instrument and get away with it relatively unscathed. A laryngologist once described Mario del Monaco's vocal folds as looking "battered" after a performance of Otello, but perfectly fine a day or two later.
So, that's opera but, as I said earlier, some genres of music call for a majority "dark" production just about all the time. Singers in these genres protect their voices in a variety of ways. Since they're mostly singing with amplification, one of the smartest things to do is simply not to sing very loud. After all, if you sing louder the guy at the mixing desk is just going to turn down your microphone anyway. There are also ways to produce a tone that seems like it has a lot more "dark" action than it really does. It's also not uncommon for singers in this style that are primarily recording artists to just not sing all that often, and there are any number of examples of this type whose voices worked just fine when used fairly infrequently but wound up with some pretty serious biological voice problem because they went on tour and radically increased their frequency of singing. This highlights the importance of rest, which especially important for singers singing on the "dark" side of what the voice instrument can withstand. Carlo Bergonzi, for example, was known to refrain from phonation entirely, including talking, after performing a demanding role such as Radames in Aida. Recording artists often get some rest during the periods in between making and promoting recordings, because they aren't singing all that often. Even talking too loud over background noise for a period of time can really tire out the voice instrument.
Finally, and sticking to genre, it's worth noting that plenty of musical genres don't necessarily need or even want a voice that sounds pure. Instead, it's better to have a voice that sounds interesting. A little bit of hoarseness all the way to an outright gravely sound, vocal fry, some cracking, wandering pitch, and so on is actually desired in many popular genres. Singing with too much purity of tone is one of the reasons opera singers often sound weird in these genres. All of this is to say that Tom Waits can be far less protective of his instrument than Renee Fleming (or can protect it in very different ways).
posted by slkinsey at 10:42 AM on February 3 [14 favorites]
For Taiwanese singers, the trick is apparently, drink water. Fei Yu Qing was always seen at performances with a cup of water, and takes sips every couple songs. And he'd been singing for...decades.
posted by kschang at 10:51 AM on February 3
posted by kschang at 10:51 AM on February 3
This book has a lot of information about the physiology of singing: The Structure of Singing.
For something that's a bit more up to date and not fundamentally focused on pedagogy, I'd recommend The Science of Singing by Johan Sundberg.
For science-informed pedagogy, check out Kenneth Bozeman.
For the best, most up-to-date information on keeping your voice healthy, you're going to want Keep Your Singing Voice Healthy! : The Doctor's Guide to Vocal Vitality and Longevity by Anthony F. Jahn and Youngnan Jenny Cho. Dr. Jahn has been a top laryngologist to classical/opera singers in NYC, including me, for several decades.
posted by slkinsey at 11:00 AM on February 3 [4 favorites]
For something that's a bit more up to date and not fundamentally focused on pedagogy, I'd recommend The Science of Singing by Johan Sundberg.
For science-informed pedagogy, check out Kenneth Bozeman.
For the best, most up-to-date information on keeping your voice healthy, you're going to want Keep Your Singing Voice Healthy! : The Doctor's Guide to Vocal Vitality and Longevity by Anthony F. Jahn and Youngnan Jenny Cho. Dr. Jahn has been a top laryngologist to classical/opera singers in NYC, including me, for several decades.
posted by slkinsey at 11:00 AM on February 3 [4 favorites]
« Older What groceries/products/household goods are from... | How to back up my Kindle content? Newer »
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
Making a vocal sound requires something vibrating very fast, very precisely. That is the vocal cords, and they need to be tiny and flexible and muscular and smooth to do that sounding. That's what you don't want to damage.
Often, to sound a certain way, a singer can make the vocal cords tighter or make the air flowing past them more robust. Singing training focuses a lot on breath, because mastering that means putting less strain on the vocal cords.
posted by amtho at 7:52 PM on February 2 [2 favorites]