Articulation in Singing

Katie McCoy and Louise Connaughton

MU4043 Vocal Pedagogy, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick

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What is Articulation?

Essentially, articulation in singing is the process of producing sound in speech and song and clearly pronouncing words, vowels, and consonants through utilizing the different structures of the vocal tract.

Michael Jones from What is Articulation in Music? states that

“Articulation is a musical term that refers to the way a note is played or sung…the articulation of a song is the way in which the words are pronounced. This can be affected by a number of factors, including the tone of voice, the accent, and the manner in which the words are spoken” (Jones, M. 2022).

There are a few terms that are often associated with articulation in singing:

Diction – the use of words and comprehension in a specific language, in an understandable manner or style.

Pronunciation – the act or result of uttering phonemes, syllables, words, and phrases correctly.

Enunciation – the act or manner of pronouncing syllables, words, or sentences clearly.

(Rosine, A. in Vocal Techniques for the Instrumentalist 2021)

How do Singers Articulate?

As singers, it is important to have a general understanding of the vocal tract and how it works. The vocal tract is made up of a number of structures that we use to produce sound, structures like the vocal folds, the larynx, the tongue, the hard palate, and the soft palate. All of these structures determine our pitch, our volume level, and our acoustical space. While these structures are important in articulation, they are also crucial in utilizing when performing the action of singing along with breathing and speaking.

Graham Welch in The Oxford Handbook of Singing states that:

“Creating music by singing requires humans to utilize the same anatomical structures that are used to perform other functions, such as speaking, breathing…A singer cannot customize the structure of the instrument, but rather can only modify, through training and learning the ways in which it is used” (Welch, G. et al. 2019, p. 145).

Articulation in a singer is often influenced by their own characteristic vocal style and their own tone of singing. There are many different aspects that can affect the articulation of a singer. Some examples of this are accent, dialect, vocal range, own tone of voice, and dynamic levels.

Anatomical Structures for Articulation

Melissa Malde in What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body states that:

“In order to move well in articulation, it is necessary to map the structures that are involved in those movements. These articulators are the tongue, the jaw, the velum (or soft palate), the hard palate, the teeth, the lips, and the glottis” (Malde, M. et al. 2020).

The Vocal Folds

The vocal folds are arguably the most important structure needed for articulation, because without them, you can’t talk let alone sing.

The vocal folds are flaps of tissue which are located within the larynx; they are one of the main articulator structures when articulating in singing. When the folds vibrate together during actions such as singing, speaking, or yelling, they produce sound.

Oftentimes, when there is too much airflow through the vocal cord flaps, you will produce a sound that most trained singers tend to know as ‘airy’ or ‘breathy.’

The Tongue

The tongue is a large muscle inside of the mouth that plays a major role in articulation, and it has the ability to move and retract up and down to the hard and soft palates to change acoustical positions and to change vowel sounds.

Malde also states that:

“The tongue arises from the hyoid bone, the same bone from which the larynx is suspended…the vertical part of the tongue forms the from part of the pharynx, one of our principle vocal resonators” (Malde, M. et al. 2020)

The Soft Palate

What is commonly known to singers and professional voice users as the ‘soft palace’ is actually called the velum. It is located back behind the hard palate and just in front of the uvula, and if you push your tongue back enough, you’re able to feel your soft palate. When singing, the lifting of the soft palate is important in determining your acoustical space.

When talking about the soft palate in relation to singers' resonance, Malde states that:

“When the velum is working, it closes off the nasal passages from the rest of the vocal tract, which is important for resonance in some singing styles and less important in others” (Malde, M. 2020).

The Hard Palate

The hard palate is a bone-like structure that is located directly in front of the soft palate. It is actually a “part of the skull and forms the roof, or dome, of the mouth and the floor of the nasal passages” (Malde, M. et al. 2020).

Tip: Push your tongue up to the roof of your mouth to feel your hard palate.

The direction of a singers’ airflow towards the hard palate determines their acoustical resonance.

The Lips

The lips in articulation are responsible for the phonation of vowels, consonants, and many other variables, such as diction, to name one.

“The lip muscles, called the orbicularis oris, is actually a single ring of muscle. The inside edge of the ring is free and forms the opening of the mouth, whereas the outer edge is connected to the bony structure of the face” (Malde, M. et al. 2020).

Vowel Pronunciation

Most commonly, vowels can be classified as |a|, |e|, |i|, |o|, |u|. Singers are able to produce a variety of sounds with these vowels using different mouth and tongue actions. This is also determined by the acoustical space or the resonant space that the singer creates.

Welch explains that:

“Vowels and vowel-like sounds are produced by the combination of a sound source and a sound filter where the source signal is the succession of airflow pulses generated by the opening and closing between the spaces of the vocal folds” (Welch, G. et al. 2019, p. 149)

Vowel Modification

Vowel modification is the action of changing the acoustical position inside of the mouth when you sing up and down a scale in your range.

For example, if you are singing on the vowel shape [a], as you ascend in your range, you will notice more space opening up in your mouth by the soft palate.

"In order for singers to create more space in their mouths, singing teachers will often have their students modify their vowels when singing through their range" (Rosine, A. 2021).

Consonants Pronunciation

Unlike vowels, where they are formed by changing an open vocal tract and acoustical position, a consonant is a basic speech sound produced by a closed vocal tract and a contraction of breath flow when articulating words or songs.

There are different kinds of consonants, some are what singers would call plosives and some are what we would call fricatives. These types of consonants can also be classified as ‘voiced’ or ‘unvoiced.’

Voiced plosives: T, K, and P

Unvoiced plosives: D, G, and B

Voiced Fricatives: S, F, and SH

Unvoiced Fricatives: Z, V, and J

"The difference between ‘voiced’ and unvoiced consonants is determined on whether air is passing through the vocal cords (voiced) or whether air is passing through the glottis (unvoiced)" (Rosine, A. 2021).

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Bibliography

Welch, G. (2005) ‘Singing as Communication’ in Miell, D., MacDonald, R., and Hargreaves, D., eds., Musical Communication, New York: Oxford University Press

Welch, G., Howard, D., Nix, J. (2019) The Oxford Handbook of Singing: Chapter 7: The Vocal Tract in Singing, New York: Oxford University Press, 145-152.

Malde, M., Allen, M., Zeller, K. (2020) What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body, 4th ed., San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing, Inc.

Maestre, E., Bonada, J., Mayor, O. (2006) ‘Modeling Musical Articulation Gestures in Singing Voice Performances’, 121st Audio Engineering Society Convention, San Francisco, CA, October 5-8, Music Technology Group, Institut Universitari de l'Audiovisual, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, available: aes121_maestre.dvi (upf.edu)

Jones, M. (2022) ‘What is Articulation in Music?’, Sennheiser Sound Academy, June 9th, available: What is an articulation in music - SoundAcademy (renownsoundlightsanddjs.com)

Rosine, A. (2021) Vocal Techniques for the Instrumentalist, Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial: PressBooks

ImageQuiz (2017) The Vocal Tract [Diagram] United Kingdom, available: the vocal tract diagram - Bing images

Hodgkinson, M. (2012) Vocal Tract [Diagram] National University of Ireland, Maynooth, ResearchGate, available: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthieu_Hodgkinson2/publication/266589486/figure/download/fig4/AS:668299725651986@1536346479639/Vocal-tract-http-ling-uta-edu-josh-LING-3330-chapter-1-vocal-tract-png.ppm

Mesaros, A., Virtanen, T., (2010) ‘Recognition of phonemes and words in singing’, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, June 2010, available: Recognition of phonemes and words in singing | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore