Vocal Resonance Tips for Speaking and Singing...

Resonance not only adds vocal character or “edge” to our voice, but also allows us to hit very high notes.  Resonance is a French word which in Latin means “echo”.  We generate resonance in our sinus cavities and mouth.  If you desire to add character or increase your vocal range, I suggest exploring the magical qualities of your own unique vocal “resonance”.

Tongue and Roof of Mouth:
Avoid contacting the roof of your mouth with your tongue. This limits the amount of space for generating an echo in your mouth. So definitely keep the tongue relaxed and low. When the tongue contacts upper palate, resonance is greatly reduced.

Lips forward:
Avoid pulling the corners of the mouth back as this reduces resonance and generally creates tension at the vocal cords.  Both lips should be projected forward and upward, at the same time pronouncing the word “too.” Bring the edge of the upper lip as high forward as possible  toward the nose as possible in practice.  This will open your throat, add more resonance possibilities in the mouth and reduce nasality. The upper lip plays an active role in shaping the vowels, and softening the consonants.  It should extend outward. Refrain from drawing the upper lip tightly against the teeth. Permit a little space between the upper lip and the teeth whenever possible, so the vibrations of the skull can move about freely.

Crunch and Flex Abs:
Do gentle/mild little crunches/flexes while rehearsing songs.  Flexing your guts while singing can move us into the abdominal diaphragm. The abdominal diaphragm and abdominal muscles can be used to pressurize the air, forcing the vocal folds to vibrate regardless of aperture.  Keep chest high by flexing the intercostal whenever speaking or singing.  This will activate the intercostal muscles between the ribs adding further pressurization of your air.  More pressurization generates greater resonance.

Calm Neck:
Avoid gripping at the neck for any reason.  The vocal folds are busy generating pitch. Let them do their job. You can add a yawning sensation, to open the back of the throat.  but that’s all you want to do. People often mistakenly grip at the neck, attempting to pressurize air. Please don’t. This will interfere with your pitch.

Nasal Resonance:
Seek out and pressurize the maxillary sinuses in the face.  This pressurization will feel like a “buzz”.  Buzz on every single pitch you generate.  Over pressurization of this area will generate overtones and never harm the vocal folds.

High Notes Acquired:
High notes are extremely difficult without resonance.  Seek the resonant path to acquire those high notes. Resonance, “echo”, or “buzz”, is how we amplify our sound.  Seek out nasal and mouth resonance and pressurize in order to create and maintain high notes so extreme, they would be difficult to impossible to generate in full voice, chest voice.