Voice projection is the strength of

speaking Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

whereby the

human voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

is used powerfully and

clearly Clearly is an online retailer of contact lenses, eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company was acquired by EssilorLuxottica Canada, and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are one of the largest online contact lens retailers in Nor ...

. It is a technique employed to command respect and attention, as when a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

talks to a class, or simply to be heard clearly, as used by an

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

in a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

Breath Breathing (or ventilation) is the process of moving air into and from the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen. All aerobic creatures need oxygen for cellular ...

technique is essential for proper voice projection. Whereas in normal talking one may use air from the top of the

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...

s, a properly projected voice uses air properly flowing from the expansion of the

diaphragm Diaphragm may refer to: Anatomy * Thoracic diaphragm, a thin sheet of muscle between the thorax and the abdomen * Pelvic diaphragm or pelvic floor, a pelvic structure * Urogenital diaphragm or triangular ligament, a pelvic structure Other * Diap ...

. In good

vocal technique Vocal pedagogy is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. It is used in the teaching of singing and assists in defining what singing is, how singing works, and how proper singing technique is accomplished. Vocal pedagogy covers a ...

, well-balanced respiration is especially important to maintaining vocal projection. The goal is to isolate and relax the muscles controlling the

vocal folds In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech ...

, so that they are unimpaired by

tension Tension may refer to: Science * Psychological stress * Tension (physics), a force related to the stretching of an object (the opposite of compression) * Tension (geology), a stress which stretches rocks in two opposite directions * Voltage or el ...

. The external

intercostal muscle Intercostal muscles are many different groups of muscles that run between the ribs, and help form and move the chest wall. The intercostal muscles are mainly involved in the mechanical aspect of breathing by helping expand and shrink the size ...

s are used only to enlarge the chest cavity, whilst the counterplay between the diaphragm and

abdominal muscles The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

is trained to control airflow. A way to improve breathing from the diaphragm is to lie on your back on a flat surface. Your goal will be to fill your lungs from the bottom causing your stomach (and diaphragm) to rise and fall. To increase resistance put a small amount of weight (such as a book) on your diaphragm and repeat this exercise. Try standing up and seeing if you can continue to breathe from your diaphragm. Stance is also important. Actors are taught to stand erect with the feet shoulder width apart and the upstage foot (foot farther from the audience, when not facing the audience) slightly forward. This improves balance and breathing. In

, voice projection is often equated with

acoustic resonance Acoustic resonance is a phenomenon in which an acoustic system amplifies sound waves whose frequency matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration (its ''resonance frequencies''). The term "acoustic resonance" is sometimes used to nar ...

, the concentrated pressure through which one produces a focused sound. True resonance will produce the greatest amount of projection available to a voice by utilizing all the key resonators found in the vocal cavity. As the sound being produced and these resonators find the same

overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

s, the sound will begin to ''spin'' as it reaches the ideal singer's

formant In speech science and phonetics, a formant is the broad spectral maximum that results from an acoustic resonance of the human vocal tract. In acoustics, a formant is usually defined as a broad peak, or local maximum, in the spectrum. For harmoni ...

at about 2800 Hz. The size, shape, and hardness of the resonators all factor into the production of these overtones and ultimately determine the projective capacities of the voice.Titze, Ingo R. (1994). ''Principles of Voice Production'', Englewoods Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, . Republished 2000 by

National Center for Voice and Speech The National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS), is a multi-site research and teaching organization dedicated to studying the characteristics, limitations and enhancement of human voice and speech. The NCVS is located in Salt Lake City, Utah with th ...

References

Public speaking Vocal skills Singing Music education {{comm-stub it:Tecnica del canto#La voce impostata

See also

References