Terms that come up in lessons.

Larynx

The voice box. Cartilage and muscle at the level of the Adam's apple, housing the vocal folds. It drops during voice building and moves freely during singing.

Vocal folds (cords)

Two muscular bands in the larynx. Their vibration is the source of the voice. Their length controls pitch: shorter, faster, higher.

Approximation

The folds coming together. Required to produce sound.

Sub-glottal pressure

Air pressure beneath the closing folds. Power, not push.

Pharynx

The muscular tube above the larynx. The primary resonator, and the muscle group most voice teaching ignores.

Soft palate (velum)

The muscular flap at the back of the roof of the mouth. Rises during singing to seal the nasal port.

Sympathetic resonance

When a cavity vibrates at the same frequency as the source and multiplies it. The pharynx and mouth tune themselves to the larynx, note by note.

Vowel

A configuration of resonance: a specific shape of larynx, throat and mouth. The five voice-building vowels, U, A, O, EE and EH, are the barbells of the voice.

Constriction

A muscular collapse of the resonant column, usually triggered by a rising larynx. The cause behind most vocal limits.

Open throat

Not an image. Five real muscular positions, one per vowel, built into the instrument over time.

Yawn position

The basic voice-building throat position: mouth open as in a yawn, sound from the back of the throat, larynx down, soft palate up.

Isokinetic

Exercise at constant speed with rising resistance through the full range of motion. In the voice: sliding slowly through a scale at full and rising volume on one vowel.

Passaggio

Italian for "passage". The transition between registers, where untrained voices break.

Register

A series of notes produced with the throat muscles in roughly the same position. Voice building exercises two: lower and upper.

Tessitura

Where a voice sits comfortably and sounds best. Set by the length of the folds. Distinct from range, which can be built.

Falsetto

The lighter male register produced by the edges of the folds with a higher larynx. Never exercised directly; it develops as the natural voice is built.

Chest voice, head voice, mixed voice

Descriptions of where sound feels like it sits. Sensations, not mechanisms. Nothing is produced in the chest or the head.

Mask, placement, projection

More sensations. The nasal cavities are not muscular and contribute almost nothing to resonance beyond m and n.

Diaphragm

The inhalation muscle. Largely passive during the sung exhale, which is why "support from the diaphragm" cannot be acted on.

Bel Canto

"Beautiful singing." A style and an ideal, even legato, clean intonation and expressive phrasing, not a technique.

Vibrato

The natural fluctuation of pitch around a fundamental. A symptom of a relaxed, supported voice, and an artistic device once the voice is built.

Messa di voce

A sustained note that swells from soft to loud and back on a single breath. A test of laryngeal control.

Sottovoce

"Under the voice." Soft, intimate singing on a fully supported instrument, not breathy, not whispered.

Voice conditioning

Shaping a capable instrument for a particular record, room or role: tone, colour, texture, edge.

Vocal production

The producer's work in the booth: conditioning before the session, shaping tone take by take, protecting the voice through the record.

How these fit together: the method.