In a documentary film about her work (Where Words Prevail, 2005), the great voice teacher Cicely Berry said: “we are drawn to a voice which vibrates and which has resonance”. Resonance is the process through which the initial vibrations of our voice, created by our vocal folds, are literally ‘re-sounded’ and amplified. In the same way a piano sound board or the belly of a violin or guitar reinforces and reverberates the initial sound produced by the strings of the instrument, the resonating spaces within our body take our initial vocal sound and amplify it.
Resonance adds substance and energy to our voice and helps carry it forward in space, enabling us to be heard. It can also reflect our individual character and personality, and draw people in to listen to what we have to say. We are heard as a person rather than a voice. For an actor, a fully resonating voice that is able to communicate the meaning and emotional sense of a text clearly and distinctly, is a skill that needs to be developed to the highest possible level. For the non-actor or non-professional speaker, developing a warm, resonant voice can often be life-changing. A young student of mine, good-looking, warm, and personable, told me he was fed up sitting round the table in the pub trying to join in the conversation whilst his friends talked over him. And an interesting and friendly lady, whose rather breathy and high pitched voice gathered weight and tone when she spoke about her passion for travel and opera, felt the men in her office (where she held a senior position) neither listened to what she had to say nor took her seriously.
Resonance takes place within the air-containing cavities of our throat, mouth, nasal and sinus cavities. The resonance created in these cavities is known as primary resonance and is air-conducted. The effects of these vibrations, however, can also be felt sympathetically across our chest, and in the bones of our face and skull where it is said to be bone-conducted. These secondary, sympathetic vibrations provide us with useful sensory feedback. If we can feel vibrations across the roof of our mouth, our cheekbones or in the bones of our rib cage as we speak, for example, we can trust our resonators are open and vibrating and that our voice is reflecting this.
Our throat, mouth, nasal and sinus cavities are interconnected and known in the medical literature as the vocal tract. The sound wave released from our vocal folds when we start to speak or sing, is able to flow into all three, disturbing the air molecules already contained within them and setting them off into vibration. These vibrations add volume and texture to our initial sound before it is shaped by our tongue and articulators into the vowel and consonant sounds of speech and language. The vocal tract is malleable and continuously moulds and shapes itself as we speak or sing helping to produce a sound that is totally unique to the individual.
Each resonating space offers a number of very specific qualities to the voice. From the lower throat we can draw warmth, depth and richness, for example, whilst the mouth space brings clarity, definition and brightness and helps our voice to project. The nasal and sinus cavities are smaller spaces which are fixed and therefore less malleable, but the higher frequency resonances produced in these smaller spaces add extra brightness and carrying power to the sound, as well as providing us with useful sensory feedback.
The throat and mouth spaces are our largest resonance cavities and the most flexible. We can change the shape of these spaces in a number of ways producing many different qualities of sound and colour. Lowering or raising our larynx, for example, will make the throat space longer or shorter changing the quality of the sound immediately. Spreading the lips in a ‘smiling’ position and closing the jaw will immediately lessen and diminish the warmer deeper qualities that come from the lower throat, resulting in a sound that is shallow and thin in texture. Releasing the jaw, on the other hand, will open up the lower throat allowing these warmer, darker tones to infiltrate and blend with the clearer, brighter qualities produced in the mouth space.
It is important to learn how to blend and balance the resonators. Too much lower throat resonance will produce a voice that sounds dull and muffled and will also be harder to project. Too little, will result in a shallower, thinner sound. The key is the release of the jaw. When the jaw is released, the throat and mouth spaces open into each other in a way that space is maximised and breath and sound are able to flow through unimpeded. Resonance will then balance itself naturally.
This is especially important for an actor because an effective balance and blend of resonance not only enables the voice to project more easily in a theatre space, but also makes available a wider range of colour and vocal qualities upon which to draw when building a character. For the non-actor, voice and speech become more interesting, varied and expressive to the listener, and more satisfying and pleasurable to the speaker. Our pleasure lies in the sensual physical aspects of speaking or singing whilst the sound of our voice is for our listeners to enjoy.
At this point we can encounter the phenomenon of chiaroscuro. This is a technique used in painting where light (chiaro) is blended with shade (scuro) producing a quality that is three dimensional in effect. Both Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio were known for their use of chiaroscuro and the term has long been applied to classical singing. But it is quite possible to apply it to the spoken voice as well. A balanced blend of all the different resonance qualities, creates a spoken sound that is three-dimensional and, crucially, whole – a sound which vibrates and has resonance and, as Cicely Berry said, one which will draw people to listen to what we have to say.
Fellner Voice 