About this activity
Eight steps from a hum to conversation: hum and find the buzz on your lips and the front of your face; hum, then open into mmm-ah keeping the same buzz; say many men make money with the buzz forward; count one to ten keeping the front-of-face vibration; read two sentences with resonance and two without and compare how they feel; carry the resonance into a thirty-second conversation.
How to use it in a session
Do not skip a step. The sequence goes hum, hum-to-vowel, word, phrase, counting, sentence, conversation, and each one is a small extension of the last — a student who jumps to conversation loses the placement and has nothing to return to. The compare-how-they-feel card is where the student becomes convinced, and conviction is what makes them use it outside the room. Twenty minutes covers the sequence.
What to listen for
Listen for the transition from hum to vowel, which is where the placement is usually lost. Mmm-ah should keep the same forward buzz, and a student whose ah drops back into the throat has not carried it. Notice the name card — say your own name resonantly then conversationally — since the difference in effort on a word said a hundred times a day is what makes the technique worth the trouble. Resonant voice is a well-established technique and it is still not a first step. A student whose voice has been rough for more than about four weeks should be examined by an ENT before this work begins.
Carrying it home
Humming for a few seconds before a demanding speaking situation is a portable version of the whole sequence. It costs nothing and does not look like an exercise.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Ninth through twelfth grade, for voice therapy with older students.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all eight steps are free to use here.
- What does resonant voice actually change?
- It moves the vibration forward, which lets the voice be produced with less pressure at the vocal folds. The point is a voice that costs less effort for the same loudness.