Singing Terms That Changed My Life: Coordinations

If you’re a singer, you know what it’s like to go to a voice lesson, not understand your teacher’s suggestions, and go home with no idea if you improved. The singing world is confusing because we have very little in the way of terms that help us understand the voice, the sounds it can produce, and the mechanics that make it all happen.

Luckily, the One Voice: Singing Evolved community has successfully created a clear, precise language for singing to help understand how the voice works and the changes we can make to produce the sound we want. It is a whole new way of looking at the human voice.

I was introduced to One Voice in 2011, and have never looked back. I hope to introduce singers to the terms used in One Voice that have helped me understand and use my voice, and led to booking gigs in both New York and London as a singer-songwriter.

Disclaimer: I’m not a One Voice Coach, but I am a singing geek. Here is the link to take private lessons with One Voice!

In this blog, we’re going to talk about range. Let’s consider some traditional singing terms that we associate with range: Head Voice and Chest Voice. These terms are based on the physical sensations of resonance in our head and chest when we sing in these ranges respectively. If this is unfamiliar, try placing your hand on your chest and sing a low note - you will feel it vibrate. The same will happen if you sing a high note and put your hand on your head (around your cheeks).

Another popular term is Mix Voice. This is a term that is based on the idea that we can “mix” the head and chest resonance together and create the incredible sounds we hear by pop singers like Whitney Houston belting out I Will Always Love You.

Okay, stick with me for this next part.

One Voice does not define range by where a note resonates because that is an outcome of singing. Rather, One Voice defines range by what your voice is doing when it produces sound. It makes the most sense to define the voice by how it functions instead of the subsequent result. This brings us to the first term, “coordinations,” which refers to the actual muscle coordinations inside our vocal tracts producing sound.

We each have tiny sets of muscles in our larynx. A specific coordination of these muscles can give us access to a specific range of notes. Each coordination produces sound in its own way. There is one familiar singing sensation that can help us understand this concept.

Ever noticed a “break” or a “crack” in your singing voice? If not, a break is an audible marker that signifies the singer is transitioning from one coordination to another. Often in lessons, singers want to know how to “fix” their break. Here’s an exercise to understand what’s actually happening:

1.     Draw a circle on a piece of paper the “default” way we were taught in school.

2.     Try again, doing the “stab hold” (the one where we hold the pen like we are stabbing it).

3.     Okay, now draw half a circle the “default” way, then switch and finish the circle with the “stab hold.”

...Was there a break in between? Of course! Why would you break if you’re using the same muscles in your hands for both methods? Because you’re changing the way you use those muscles, which is exactly how the coordinations work. The creator of One Voice also shows us a visual example of how this works in his TEDx Talk! We use the same set of muscles, but change the way we coordinate those muscles in order to produce different ranges of notes. As we practice and strengthen transitioning between different coordinations, we won’t break as much.

As previously mentioned, each coordination is responsible for a specific range of notes. So the first question is, what are each of these coordinations? Here are the names of each coordination:

Rumble

Chest

Middle

Head

Whistle

Okay, I’m sure you noticed right away that chest, middle, and head coordinations do not look that different from chest, mix, and head voice. It’s not a trick! It’s a shift in mindset. Remember, the coordinations refer to how the sound is produced in the larynx whereas the resonance is a result of that production.

If each coordination produces sound in it’s own way, then “Middle” is not a mixture of “Chest” and “Head”. Middle is its own coordination of muscles that produces a specific set of notes. Rumble is responsible for a set of notes below Chest. Whistle is responsible for a set of notes above Head. Now, what are the specific set of notes for each coordination?

Let’s go back to the “break” for this answer. Research has taught us that the “break” happens at very specific notes in the vocal range. Every biological male “breaks” or starts a new coordination on the note “A”. Every biological female “cracks” or starts a new coordination on the note “F”. Let’s look at it on a piano:

Did you try it? Did you feel a change at those points? To learn more about coordinations, you can visit this helpful video from One Voice. My mind was blown when I first learned that there was something out there besides head and chest voice to more accurately understand singing. I’ll admit that I was even skeptical at first, but once I started using this language, everything became infinitely more clear and singing became much easier.

Don’t forget, I teach as well! Check out my current special - Pay What You Can for 4 Virtual Voice Lessons. Spots are limited! Tune in next week for a new blog in this series of vocal terms that changed my life!

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