Voice projection is the strength of

speaking Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, su ...

singing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

whereby the

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

is used powerfully and

clearly Clearly is an online retailer of contact lenses, eyeglasses and sunglasses headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company, founded in 2000, is a subsidiary of the French lens manufacturer Essilor, which acquired it in 2014. Essilor mer ...

. It is a technique employed to command respect and attention, such 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. w ...

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

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

in a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

or during

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a drill bit for making holes, or a screwdriver bit for securing fasteners. Historically, they were powered by hand, and later mains power, but cordless b ...

Breath Breathing (spiration or ventilation) is the neuroscience of rhythm, rhythmical process of moving air into (inhalation) and out of (exhalation) the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the Milieu intérieur, internal environment, mostly to flu ...

technique is essential for proper voice projection. Whereas in normal

talking Talking or Talkin' may refer to: * Speech, the product of the action of ''to talk'' * Communication by spoken words; conversation or discussion Songs * "Talking" (A Flock of Seagulls song), 1983 * "Talking" (The Rifles song), 2007 * " Talking / ...

one may use air from the top of the

lung The lungs are the primary Organ (biology), organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the Vertebral column, backbone on either side of the heart. Their ...

s, a properly projected voice uses air properly flowing from the expansion of the diaphragm. 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 singing technique is accomplished. Vocal pedagogy covers a broad r ...

, 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, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through Speech, vocalization. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch of voice, similar to a violin string. Open when brea ...

, so that they are unimpaired by tension. The external

intercostal muscle The intercostal muscles comprise many different groups of muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle ...

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

abdominal muscles Abdominal muscles cover the anterior and lateral abdominal region and meet at the anterior midline. These muscles of the anterolateral abdominal wall can be divided into four groups: the external obliques, the internal obliques, the transversus abd ...

is trained to control airflow. 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 acoustics, 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 u ...

, 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 harmo ...

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.

References

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

See also

References