What is Vocal Resonance - Linnea Loves Music

Today we are going to learn about Vocal Resonance.

Vocal Resonance

All sound has sound waves that vibrate the surfaces it comes in contact with. In the body there are a number of cavities that the voice bounces around in like the chest, mouth and nasal cavities. So vocal resonance refers to how the voice resonates and vibrates in the body. Based on where your voice is vibrating it will create a different sound.

Types of Voices

There are three main voices or resonance.

Head Voice – the head voice vibrates in the nasal passage. So if you are trying to boost your head voice you can sing a vocal exercise on a “Nay” sound. As you are singing place your hands on your nose or on top of your head to help you feel the vibrations your voice is making.
Chest Voice – Your chest voice vibrates in your chest cavity. As you sing lower notes you should feel the vibrations in your chest in your lower range.
Mixed Voice – Mixed voice refers to the mix of your chest and head voice.

What are Resonators?

There are three different resonators for the voice.

The nasal cavity or mask: this is located in the nasal cavity. This is used for high notes.
The pharynx which is the space right in the back that connects the nasal cavity to the chest cavity.
The mouth and chest cavity that is used with the lower registers.

Common Problems with Resonating

One of the common problems that men have with resonating is that they will just resonate in their chest and try to pull up chest to the high notes and strain their voice. With women they often struggle with have a strong head voice and no presence at the bottom of their voice.

The way you fix this is for guys working on developing head voice and transitioning to a strong mix on the way up and for girls developing chest voice and transitioning from the head voice to the chest voice smoothly.

How Do You Fix an Unbalanced Resonance?

When you are trying to fixed an unbalance sound you really have to work on over exaggerating your sound in the opposite direction in order to move your mix to somewhere in the middle. So if you have a too nasal voice you need to work on adding more chest voice and if you have too deep and muddy tone you need to add more brightness and head voice.

I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson on vocal resonance. Make sure to check back often for more piano and vocal lessons for your musical adventure.

Linnea Loves Music