Vocal Training & Voice Placement for Performing

Singing Technique and Vocal Exercises for the Student Vocalist

Sep 20, 2009

Learning how to sing involves the shaping of the inside of the mouth and how it affects the resultant sound of the singing voice.

The vocal trainer will be aware that many factors are involved in how the voice sounds when the voice box is engaged and air travels through. Not least the surfaces onto which the vocal sounds hit when the voice box is engaged. The surfaces within the mouth on which the sounds are aimed is called “placement.” The teacher must make the student aware of forward placement in order to achieve the best sounds possible.

Singing Lesson on the Soft and the Hard Palette

The student must be made aware of the soft palette and the hard palette within the mouth. The soft palette is the soft tissue at the back of the throat and can be felt when curling the tongue back into the mouth. The hard palette is the bony structure at the front of the mount including the domed structure above the tongue. Some singers aim the voice to the soft palette, creating a hollow, dark sound. Aiming the voice onto the hard palette amplifies the sound and helps avoids the stifled sound the soft palette causes. A diagram showing the essential components of the mount will heighten the student’s awareness of voice placement.

Vocal Training Exercises

The teacher might encourage the student to emit sounds whilst trying different techniques in order to explore how the shape of the mount affects sounds as it travels through the mouth.

The student will find that the singing voice will be affected by this experimentation. Raising the chin for instance, closes the back of the throat and might cause strangulation of the higher notes. Singing through clenched teeth contains the sound. Aiming the sound to the back of the throat onto the soft palette causes a hollow sound. The student will learn by trial and error that the best route for the voice is towards the front of the mouth onto the soft palette where the domed roof of the mouth provides amplification.

Voice Amplification

Further exploration of forward placement may take the form of an exercise where the student hums until the teeth or the lips can be felt vibrating. The student may take note of this buzz and then to retain the sensation when applying it to sounding vowels.

Voice Lesson on Forward Placement When Singing

Voice training may take the form of voice placement in the mouth and how it affects the resultant sound. The teacher might encourage the student singer to try out different routes for the voice via the position of the jaw, teeth and the chin. Aiming the voice onto the hard palette at the front of the mouth helps avoid the dark, almost strangulated sounds of the soft palette might cause and the contained sounds of singing when the teeth are closed. Aiming the voice onto the hard palette is known as “forward placement.” When the teeth are slightly apart and the jaw is pulled back, is the recommended route for the voice.

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