Healthy Singing and “Pop Music”


All students should be taught to sing with accuracy and confidence. Unfortunately, many vocal music teachers continue to believe that singing is “caught and not taught.” Those who fall into this trap often do so because they were not exposed in college methods classes to the basics of working with child and adolescent singers. Researchii


has shown, however, that


children and adolescents respond positively to vocal instruction that focuses on the active, physiological basis for sound production, when coupled with the psychological processing of pitch.


The focus of this article is on


understanding vocal registers and the proper way to teach vocal registration as it relates to healthy singing in show choirs and Broadway musicals.


Students today hear many vocal models via the media that can be injurious to the voice. I once heard Andrea McArdel, the original Broadway “Annie,” state in a TV interview that singing the role of Annie day after day significantly strained her voice. McArdel said she was never given any vocal instruction during her Broadway performances, and only years later did she understand how “belting” out those songs in “chest” or modal register was harmful to her vocal mechanism.


Keith Hatschekiii states that in 2011 three major


pop singers dropped out of circulation due to poor vocal health. Perhaps the best known is the British singer, Adele, who had to cancel numerous tour engagements because of a polyp on her vocal cords that required surgery. (A polyp is a small sack of blood on the surface of a vocal cord that can interfere with vocal production, and if not attended to can lead to a callous or nodule). Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler was reported to have the same condition, and country singer Keith Urban also underwent surgery to remove a vocal polyp. These singers are known to use a heavier chest voice production throughout the vocal range, which often gives the voice an “edge.” This “edge” gives the sound greater vocal projection and fullness; the “edge” in Adele’s voice is the perfect example. However, chest voice used exclusively concert after concert often leads to vocal strain and vocal cord hemorrhaging (i.e., polyp).


The chest voice is one of three commonly accepted vocal registers used in singing. Cornelius Reidiv


defines a vocal register as “a


group of like sounds whose origin can be traced to a special kind of mechanical (muscular) action.” In this case, the chest or lower voice is produced by the muscular engagement of the thyroarytenoid (TA) muscles located within the vocal cords. When these TA muscles contract,


42


the vocal cords become shorter and thicker, and the shape of the cords becomes more rectangular.


Thus, when air is exhaled and


passes between the two cords, the shape of the cords results in greater surface contact during the vibratory cycle.


A Choral Journal article by Duane Cottrellv relates


the importance of a well-developed chest voice as the foundation for good vocal technique. Cottrell recommends the use of sustained-tone warm-ups to build vocal strength, richer tone, and the elimination of breathiness found commonly among younger adolescent voices. While child-voice specialists often warn against the use of the chest voice by children, this register does have its place when used properly and for the correct vocal range. Even mature sopranos need to have a vocal foundation of solid chest-voice production.


The problem


comes when the chest voice register is taken too high in the vocal range without modification. This is a common occurrence among pop singers who “belt.”


The pitch to remember for use of the TA register is middle c. For unchanged children’s voices and mature females, a shift into this register at middle c and downward to g below middle c results in a warm, rich tone that does not sound strident (contraltos often can sing as low as c below middle c). However, singing higher in only this register, as most pop singers do, increases pressure on vocal cord contact and can lead to vocal edema (swelling), polyps, and nodules. The rectangular shape of the vocal cords in this register allows for more contact of the cords.


Changed male voices make greater use of the chest voice from middle c and downward two octaves. Sometimes boys whose voices change slowly have trouble getting into the TA register and have little strength at pitches an octave or more below middle c. This makes sense because their TA muscles are developing more slowly. While these boys often become tenors, it remains necessary to exercise their voices in the chest register if the lower range of c below middle c and downward is to stregthen.


In order to help students “find” the chest/TA voice sound, I use a lower “wheelie” exercise where the voice is pulsed five times in the lower voice using “yo-o-o-o-o” in imitation of a car with a dead battery. Each phonated pulse is supported by the breath with a strong gentle lift of the abdominal support musculature. When doing this exercise as a group, sampling individual voices helps to insure that the TA


register is engaged.


I was one of those boys whose voice changed slowly. My voice teachers in college never introduced me to singing in a full TA register, and my lower range was always weak. Then in graduate school a voice teacher demonstrated the lower “wheelie” exercise, which I then (to my surprise) imitated. In a short time, as I continued to strengthen the TA muscles using various vocalises,my lower vocal range extended and strengthened. While the quality of my voice remained tenor, my extended lower range (c below middle c and downward an octave) permitted me to sing solo literature with a lower range, and as a vocal teacher, to demonstrate for boys how to make the transition into the full use of the TA register at around g below middle c. How grateful I am that I had one voice teacher who understood the need to engage the TA muscles in order to sing lower into the bass range. This practice also improved the quality of my speaking voice and gave it a stronger projection.


The typical problem of singing correctly using the TA register is not one of singing too low, but rather, singing too high.


As mentioned


previously, the vocal cords make greater surface contact in the TA register because of the shape of the cords (rectangular). As pitch frequencies rise, greater pressure is placed on the vocal cords, and when the singer continues to sing upward using only the TA register (e.g., Adele), the vocal strain can become so great as to cause polyps and eventually, nodules. Surgery is often needed to correct such maladies, but with younger voices, vocal rest can often rectify the problem.


A second major register of the voice, “upper” or “falsetto,” is engaged by the cricothyroid (CT) muscles, which are located at the base of the larynx just above the thyroid gland. When these CT muscles contract, the vocal cords elongate and become thinner. Therefore, the contact area of the vocal cords is lessened, and the possibility of damaging the cords through vocal strain is lessened. All singers need to engage the upper vocal register in vocal exercises, even if changed male voices rarely sing exclusively in the falsetto or male alto range.


An upper “wheelie” exercise can aid in helping students to find the upper vocal (CT) or “head voice” register. Using again the breath-pulsing action, this exercise involves phonating an upper “wheelie” on “yoo-oo-oo-oo-oo.” The sound should be open and free, and not choked as in a falsetto sound. With children, imitating the sound of a “Koo-Koo” bird, or an owl


February/March 2016


Editor’s Note: This article appears as one of a series written especially for Ala Breve by experts in the field of music education. by Kenneth H. Phillips, Ph.D


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