| Abstract | Use of the word placement is a ubiquitous part of vocal pedagogy for many singing teachers. For others, however, the word is much maligned. As far back as 1967, renowned pedagogue William Vennard noted that singers cannot direct a tone anywhere since “every tone goes into all the cavities it can.” But he also allowed that teachers can admit the validity of imagery in using placement, so long as we “avoid the pitfall of literalism and not make the mistake of locating the placement in terms of anatomy.”
One way forward is to acknowledge the difference between—and the roles of—forced resonance and free resonance. As author and pedagogue Scott McCoy describes, forced resonance is the private resonance we feel through internal vibrations in various places in our bodies (like the chest, head, and face). Free resonance is created when sound travels through the open spaces of the vocal tract, giving each of us our unique timbre.
Author Richard Miller acknowledges the importance of self-monitoring the sensations of forced resonance for singers. He emphasizes, however, that those sensations should be the result of coordinated function, not of attempting to “put” sound in places where it cannot go.
In this workshop, we will explore a series of exercises designed to encourage participants to acknowledge the various physical locations where they can experience the sensations of forced resonance. Understanding that sensations are not universally felt, these systematic, vibrotactile, and proprioceptive exercises will help individuals identify where their bodies best support the sensations of sound. Singers can then use these locations as reference points where they can “place” their attention, rather than their sound. Directly applicable to the voice studio, teachers can use the exercises from this workshop to help guide their students to discover where they each feel the sensations of forced resonance most strongly when singing. As a result, teachers can better avoid the trap of asking, or expecting, their students to feel forced resonance—or to place their voices—in the same ways their teachers do.
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