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Vocal Process Reports...
Speech and Language
Therapy in Practice Magazine
reports on a Vocal Process seminar
Avril Nicoll, editor
of the Speech and Language Therapy in Practice magazine, attended
one of our day courses in Aberdeen. Here are some excerpts from her
article, “The Vocal Process”.
Having left what
passed for a singing voice behind with the school choir, I didn’t
expect to find myself driving home retracting, anchoring and half
opening my port (a la Ronan Keating, apparently). Raising the plane
and belting have proved somewhat beyond me but I’ve since also
practised raising and lowering my larynx and going for the top notes
with 'n' and 'ng' together – and my children have enjoyed me
cackling like a witch in pursuit of a twang…
Jeremy Fisher’s
model of a larynx cost 100 – but the one he made himself from paper
and fasteners actually moves and is, therefore, unforgettable. They
may refer to themselves as ‘voice nerds’, but the flexibility of
Gillyanne and Jeremy’s voices inspires you to experiment with your
own voice and to believe you can improve it.
The structures that
can be moved voluntarily are:
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vocal folds and
false vocal folds |
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soft palate |
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pharynx – width;
length |
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larynx – up or down
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head/neck and torso
(‘anchoring’) |
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tongue |
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aryepiglottic
sphincter |
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laryngeal cartilage
– thyroid; cricoid. |
This course was
focused on singers, but there was much for speech and language
therapists too. We spend time teaching relaxation to clients with
voice problems, often working on general body tension and taking the
focus off the larynx. This system rather turns that on its head. As
effort has a tendency to spread, students are taught to locate it,
and to use larger muscles as scaffolding. The tutors suggest getting
people to increase their level of tension so they have something to
work back from, and / or asking them to grade their effort on a
scale of 1-10, getting them to reduce it even down to a half or a
quarter if they still appear tense.
‘Anchoring’ takes
hyperfunction from the vocal folds, and also helps glottic chink.
(The first brave soul to undergo a master class session had quite
dramatic changes in her singing volume through improved anchoring.)
People with hypertension in the larynx often also have it in the
soft palate, so it is worth learning control over it too. These
‘port’ exercises are also recommended for people with swallowing
difficulties.
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