Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract
What is a Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract?
A Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract (SOVT) means there is some sort of narrowing somewhere along the vocal tract, which
is anywhere from the vocal cords to the lips.
What is the difference between an open vocal tract, a semi-occluded vocal tract, and a fully closed vocal tract?
Here are some examples….
1. Open Vocal Tract:
Open your mouth and say “ahhh”. In this way, there is no obstruction of the vocal tract
2. Semi-occluded vocal tract:
Say the OO /u, V /v, Z /z, J /ʤ, or M /m sounds – notice how your lips and/or teeth come together to shape the sound. This also happens with a lip or a tongue trill – the airflow is “semi” closed off to make a sound.
3. Fully closed vocal tract:
Close your mouth and purse your lips together. Your vocal tract is closed (except for your nasal passage for breathing).
Benefits of SOVT Exercises for singers
SOVT exercises have the power to improve what happens inside the throat as your vocal cords are vibrating. The vocal folds come together with a neutral degree of pressure (not too pressed or too breathy), making this a very gentle way to establish voicing. When you have a semi-occluded vocal tract, some of the airflow is blocked from exiting the mouth, because your lips and/or teeth are closing off the airflow as you say “OO”, “ZZ”, “VV”, etc. This airflow is reflected back towards the vocal cords and pushes back against the vocal cords from the top. This pushing from the top will balance out the pressure that is being pushed up from below from the lungs, and this allows your vocal cords to vibrate more efficiently.
SOVT exercises create a narrowing at some point in the vocal tract, creating a resistance that generates oral pressure while interacting with lung pressure, creating optimal vocal fold vibration.
Here are some SOVT exercises:
1. Saying these sounds: – OO /u/, M /m/, N /n/, NG /ŋ, V /v/, Z /z/, J /ʤ/, ZH /ʒ/
2. Lip trills, tongue trills and vibrational woo’s
3. Using a straw (I personally really like the Singing Straw’s found here (http://Singing Straw)
Benefits of SOVT exercises:
There’s less collision and friction on vocal cords, while still getting them to stretch in a balanced way much like exercising in a pool. They facilitate optimal breath support, engage breathing muscles, more gentle vocal fold collision, and reduces air pressure needed for vocal folds to vibrate. Using a Singing straw that I listed above helps to elongate vocal tract, optimizing the vocal tract and reinforcing the acoustics and air pressure to train the vocal tract to do the same thing without needing a straw. (It builds muscle memory). If vocal cords are weak, it reduces compensatory strain and tension to promote a balanced engagement between thyroarytenoid muscle (the muscle that makes up the bulk of vocal folds use in chest voice) and the cricothyroid muscle (the muscle responsible for pitch changes most actively involved in head voice. Think optimal vocal fold ability without having to pay a hefty price!! That’s a deal you can’t pass up!
THIS is especially useful for transitions in voice and finding strength in the middle part of your range commonly referred to as mixed voice.
What to do with them:
- Almost anything!!
- sustained pitch
- glides on any pitch
- arpeggios
- scale patterns
- skilled singers without injury-more complex scales and patterns from your songs
- for singers with vocal injury or not well trained-less complex is best
The best part of these SOVT exercises is that they are endlessly adaptable and can benefit a singer at any stage. 🙂
Happy Singing and Happy Holidays!!
XoXo,
