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Vocal and Performance Terminology!So that when you're talking about a vocal part or a performance element, you'll sound like you know what you're talking about... |
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| Airway | The path that the air travels through the respiratory system. Nose, mouth, pharynx, larynx, trachea, lungs, and aveoli. | |
| Audiate/Audiation | The mental process of thinking a sound/word. The auditory equivilent to visualization. | |
| Articulators | The parts of your mouth that change the shape and structure of a tone. Lips, teeth, tongue, nose, jaw and soft pallet. | |
| Arytenoids | The two cartilaginous pyramids that connect to the vocal ligament and pivot around to stretch, elongate, bring together and relax apart the vocal folds. | |
| Beat (music) |
A pulsation or throb. A steady succession of units of rhythm. A gesture used by a conductor to indicate such a unit. A pattern of stress that produces the rhythm of verse. |
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| Beat (theater) | The smallest division of action in a play. The length of time necessary for a character to play an "Objective" (also called "Intention") from beginning to end. Also a very short pause. | |
| Blocking | A performer's movement around a set, or the notations regarding movement in a performer's script. Also for one performer to get between another performer and the audience (see Mask). | |
| Body Wisdom | Knowledge of the workings of your own body. An understanding of what feelings are normal, and what feelings are abnormal. It comes from practicing, working out, and meditation. It is also very important to know the basic anatomy of the entire body as a whole and how the major parts work together. Your blood sugar level can affect how your voice performs. If you're a female performer, monthly hormone cycles can cause a temporary thickening of the vocal folds, for example. | |
| Diaphragm | A very strong muscle that's whole job is to pull the lungs down so that a vacuum is formed and air rushes inside. | |
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Ear Training | Training the ear to hear chord progressions, chord qualities and inversions, and to be able to sightread and sing a piece of music. It enables you to know the difference between an augmented chord and a diminished chord through an auditory que such as a piano or a guitar. |
| Glottis | The vocal apparatus of the larynx; the true vocal folds and the space between them where the voice tone is generated. | |
| Hygene | Specifically vocal hygene. Taking good care of your voice. Limiting coughing, not smoking, drinking plenty of water and not yelling. Limiting caffiene, alchohol, citrus fruits and getting plenty of sleep. | |
| Back to top | Intention | A single, temporary desire or goal that arises in a character within a scene. (Also called "Objective".) |
| Larynx | A cartilaginous structure at the top of the trachea; contains elastic vocal cords that are the source of the vocal tone in speech. The part of the respiratory tract between the pharynx and the trachea, having walls of cartilage and muscle and containing the vocal cords enveloped in folds of mucous membrane. | |
| Nodules | Vocal fold nodules are benign growths on both vocal folds that are caused by vocal abuse. Over time, repeated misuse of the vocal folds results in soft, swollen spots on each vocal fold that develop into harder, callus-like growths. The nodules will become larger and more stiff the longer the vocal abuse continues. | |
| Objective | The ultimate goal of a character. The purpose of the scene is for each character to attempt to reach their ultimate goal. This is the reason that they are in whatever situation that they are in in the first place. What are they trying to accomplish? | |
| Oxygenation | The level of oxygen in your blood stream. This is also an indicator of your lung function and health of your lung tissues. | |
| Polyps | Polyps can take a number of forms and are sometimes caused by vocal abuse. Polyps appear on either one or both of the vocal folds and appear as a swelling or bump (like a nodule), a stalk-like growth, or a blister-like lesion. Most polyps are larger than nodules and may be called by other names, such as polypoid degeneration or Reinke's edema. | |
| Projection | The secret of speech/voice projection is to use your breath to support your voice as you speak. The more efficiently you breathe, the more air you will have to sustain your voice and project it to all your listeners. | |
| Relaxation | To achieve free vibration of the vocal folds, you need a relaxed throat: a tensed throat can cause your vocal cords to tighten and force the pitch of your voice to go up or can cause damage through a forced phonation. | |
| Back to top | Repertoire | The music within the imediate working knowlege of the performer. Usually, if someone refers to their repertoir its in reference to either pieces that they are currently working on, or that they have in their current body of knowlege and can sing on demand. |
| Restrictions | Tensions within the muscles of the throat, mouth, soft pallet, uvula, neck, jaw or other area that inhibits the movement of the larynx. These tensions can stop motion, create difficult phonation, pull the larynx out of alignment, raise the larynx too high or depress it too low for healthy vocal production. | |
| Resonators | The cavities of your head and neck act as resonators that determine the tone/quality of your voice. The aim is to have a balanced used of all resonators. If there is too much resonance in the throat, you can sound gruff/harsh/strangled and you may find it difficult to project your voice. If there is too much resonance in the mouth, your voice may sound as if it lacks foundation. These spaces are also refered to as your pharynx. | |
| Support | The muscular backup for the airflow to the voice. A well supported voice involves a strong base: Legs firmly planted, a strong core, and flexiblity of the ribcage, a well developed diaphragm. | |
| Trachea | The ridged pathway from your larynx down into the lungs. The passage is reinforced by rings of thin cartilage in order to prevent collapse and suffication. | |
| Visualize/Visualization | To form a mental image of something or someone. To see it clearly in your mind. | |
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Vocal Folds | See picture. They are the folds of tissue that vibrate together and produce a tone directly affected by the tension they are held at by the arytenoids. They move in an almost wave-like motion. See animation. |
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