The great teacher Oren Brown discussed the use of primal sounds that all humans make as a means of discovering optimal voicing that can guide the singer in their vocal development.
In this workshop, I will introduce and demonstrate the use of a “primal vocal gesture” as I have used in the studio for the last 20 years or more. Using a radically closed [o] vowel and an energized pulse of breath to mimic the sounds that primates often make, leads to the establishment of the open throat and a breath column that is capable of producing sounds that are robust, ringy, and most importantly, free of tensions in the throat.,
Refining the form of the gesture into the singing voice leads to easy range extension and opens the door to the proper chiaroscuro timbre balance for bel canto singing when the bright vowel form is combined. The appropriate timbre shifts at traditional passaggi points happen quite passively.