Vocal Resonance - What the Heck is that anyway?

In the last blog, we talked about how the human voice makes sound with the vocal chords. Today, let's talk about a little more elusive topic – resonance. What is it that makes one voice stand out from another? What quality commands attention and makes you sit up and take notice whether the person is speaking or singing? The warm tone that seems to penetrate right  through your ears and into your very core is called resonance.

Since the vocal chords have a limited space in which to vibrate together to make sound, it is the hollow cavities in the body that must be used for that sound to bounce off of. Just like shouting “hello, hello, hello…” in a big open cave or even in a tiled bathroom, the more space you allow the sound to move in, the warmer and more lovely the sound. We ALL love to sing in the shower… why? Because all that hard surface allows our voice to bounce around and sound better than when it disappears into thin air.

This link is a wonderful exploration into the topic of vocal resonance and offers some great tips to create more open space within your own body to create a better resonance with your voice. It also has some video links to demonstrate. www.squidoo.com/what-is-vocal-resonance

Enjoy!