Ethan Tampus

Freeing the Natural Voice

My progress in voice class has been evident. The voice seems to be producing

sound more and more effortlessly with each class. There is still a ways for me to go before I

reach the point of what I want my voice to be, but there has always been progress with each

session.

Much of my progress I attribute to the technicalities of producing a sound almost as an

impulse for communication. Linklater’s reading is very effectively educating me on these

technicalities.

It has been emphasized in voice class very thoroughly, but this idea of sighing out the

sound has been vital to my progress, as it allows me not to push. Linklater touches upon it with

great imagery, that sound should be sighed out as one goes higher in pitch, and the image should

be the sound traveling along a horizontal line as opposed to being dropped down on the tongue

and the back of the throat.

Jaw work is also being touched upon in class and I had some great moments in freeing

my jaw in class not too long ago. A lot in the book touches the jaw, but what stood out to me was

the habitual inclination for me to engage it a bit too much on production of certain vowels. For

example, Linklater talked about the sound “hee” and how it can be habitual for one to engage the

jaw hinge too much as a means of producing the sound. Surely enough, I was doing so, and now

I know to be aware of it next time I come across the “ee” vowel sound.
 The tongue is a huge inhibitor of sound I have found in voice class and my everyday life.

Linklater states that the tongue compensates to push sound out in response to weak support. The

way to free the tongue is to think of sighing deeper down. I will start to play with that more.

As a singer, I know the basic understanding of the role the soft palate plays in sound

production. Something interesting I found was that a long uvula can contribute to hoarseness of

the voice. The soft palate’s job is to respond to changing pitch by raising and lowering, but when

body support becomes lazy, the soft palate moves down and actually absorbs the vibrations. Not

even just in singing, but I shall be aware of it in my everyday speaking much less on stage.

Maybe I shall yawn more often to get that feeling of lift!

Humming is so interesting. Especially because I have been doing it wrong all my life.

The tongue and soft palate should never touch as one hums. That’s something new I have to stop

doing. Thanks Linklater!

I tested this out yesterday. The dropping of the head all the way back and releasing

sound. It’s true what Linklater says. It makes it almost possible for the throat to engage. I know

raising my head will probably be a bit odd especially on stage, but I can play with the muscle

memory of that release and absence of throat engagement as a means of more healthy vibration.

I think my favorite part in the reading came in chapter 8 discussing the channel

resonators. Specifically the part about finding the places where the voice resonates dependent on

the vowels being made. It was crazy to produce each of these sounds and really hear how each

vowel sound affected where the voice resonated. If I hadn’t been aware of it all my life, this is a

shock to me now 18 years in.

 Also head placement and its effect on vowel production. The act of putting the neck

forward produces a “hee” sound but a straight neck produces a “huh”. So many strange

discoveries and reminders of how more or less all parts of the body work together.

The voice is always a blend of different resonators, and it’s exciting for me to think how

many different colors I can produce with the voice when I learn the proper technique of engaging

these resonators and placing my voice in certain areas.

For a little while, I had this idea that the voice was as vulnerable as a peach and that even

the littlest amount of strain can damage the voice long term. While true, it was refreshing to read

in the book that things such as strain shouldn’t be shied away too much from in the sense that

there can be new discoveries to be made and possibilities of the voice reaching new heights.

I am still working on the concept of the “mixed voice” and am constantly playing around

with a blend of the resonators, as the book states it is the most vulnerable part of the voice.

I found some amusement when she wrote about the same scenes with altered psycho

physical events taking shape. Reading some of them was so funny because I could literally

picture myself saying the lines those specific ways, almost as if she saw right through me.

Something interesting I have come to realization about was the subconscious taking in of

the right amount of breath. In life, when there is a desire to communicate, the diaphragm

instinctually takes the right about of breath to let an idea be communicated. That is something i

can play with on stage, in terms of not planning my breaths and letting them drop in at the

impulse of need to communicate.

Because I am a singer, I have been trained to engage muscles as a means of supporting

my breath and the diaphragm. However, after reading that conscious engagement of muscles
takes away from true impulse and emotional reaction, I am left with the question of how do I get

to the point where breath support becomes habitual and not forced?

The Feldenkrais reading is important. It helps me go back to that notion that freeing the

voice should include risk taking but at the same time, there should not be constant effort. It was a

good way to reinforce my belief about my progress, that I should continue exploring, but how do

I do it in a way that becomes pleasurable and effortless?

It will be a constant journey in my life to discover my natural voice, but the more I’m in

class and the more I read, the more I understand that freeing is not pushing or manipulating, it is

literally the act of letting the voice go in an effortless yet controlled manner that is based on

impulse and desire to communicate.