The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #151927   Message #3551608
Posted By: Don Firth
21-Aug-13 - 10:42 PM
Thread Name: What's an 'Irish tenor' (as in singer)?
Subject: RE: What's an 'Irish tenor' (as in singer)?
Gibb Sahib, perhaps I wasn't clear. By "nasality," people usually mean that someone is singing through their nose, which is generally a pretty unpleasant, "pinched" sound.

But by "nasal resonance," my voice teacher meant "allowing the tone produced by the vocal folds to resonate in the nasal cavities." Using all of the body's resonating chambers. Lots (most) untrained singers sing pretty much with mouth and throat resonance, but a good, ringing tone includes the "mask," which essentially means the sinuses, with the front of your face feeling a bit like a vibrating sounding board.

If you listen carefully, you can actually hear this in Finbar Wright's voice.

The way to find this kind of resonance is to hum an "mmmmmm," feeling the vibration in the front of your face, then open the mouth while sustaining the tone. You wind up singing an elongated "mmmmmmaaaaaaah." Take special note of the feeling and the sound of this vibration, not just in the mouth and chest, but in the sinuses ("mask") as well. And then try to maintain this feeling of ringing vibration when singing other vowels and consonants.

Sometimes you have to experiment a bit. But if you get it right, it can really make a difference in your singing voice. And your ability to project without having to "yell" the tone (which can damage your vocal folds).

All of this presumes good breath support. Breath "all the way down," not just with the chest.

Don Firth