Welcome,

 

According to Jeremy Montagu from Oxford University, music can be defined as "sound that conveys emotions". In this case, the sound of a mother humming a lullaby to calm her baby could also be considered music, and most likely this simple form of music preceded the speech.

What is the boundary between music and speech? It is true that controlling rhythm, patterns and pitches is important in music. However, the same concepts come into play when performing a sonnet or speaking with extreme excitement. Therefore, according to Montagu, each of us can say "Yes, this is music" or "No, this is a speech" in our own way.

When did our ancestors start making music? If we consider singing, it is necessary to take into account the ability to control voice pitches. As far as we understand from the skull and jawbone fossils of early hominids, 1 million years ago, the common ancestor of Homo Sapience and Neanderthals had the anatomy that could sing like us. So, did he sing it? We cannot know this.

The first song that can be recorded belongs to the Sumerians and is 3400 years old. The song on clay tablets unearthed in the ancient city of Ugarit in the 1950s was a prayer sung during religious ceremonies. It was interpreted by Assyriologist Anne Draffkorn Kilmer in 1972 by adapting it to the seven-note diatonic scale we use today.

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The basic elements of voice training and various singing techniques help individuals produce bright, clear and energetic voices comfortably with correct phonation. Individuals can use their voices correctly, beautifully and effectively, thanks to voice exercises created taking into account individual differences to teach basic elements and various singing techniques. In voice training, systematic and regular work is required to consciously develop hearing (ear) and voice. During the training process, the person asks himself "how should this tone sound?" Being able to ask and answer questions is an important stage of development. Well; Depending on the timbre, the accuracy of the brightness of each vocal should be adjustable by ear. Accurate, effective and high-quality phonation is possible by teaching basic elements and various articulation techniques. In this way, the individual gets to know his voice better and learns to use his voice more effectively within its limits.

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Basic Elements of Voice Training
Posture: The first factor required for correct breathing is posture. The body should neither be too soft nor too tense, but should always remain lively, upright and balanced. To find the most correct position, it would be appropriate to think of a line as if a line passes through the middle of our body. The shoulders should be upright and back, the head should be facing forward, the weights on the feet should be equal, and the distance between the feet should be at shoulder level.
Breathing: Breathing is the engine of the song mechanism. Without breathing, the human larynx cannot produce sound. Breath management is the process used by air to maintain the voice needed to sing most effectively. While singing, one takes controlled or evasive breathing depending on the situation of the musical phrases.
a) Controlled Breathing: It should be taken slowly, long, wide and sufficiently. Excessive breathing compresses the vocal cords. Controlled breathing can be taken through both the mouth and nose, or both.

b) Evasive Breathing: It should be taken quickly, short, wide and sufficiently. Escape breathing is taken only through the mouth. This breath; It occurs when the abdominal wall contracts in situations such as laughing or fear.

Resonance Studies: Resonance in the physical sense is the phenomenon where the first vibration initiates a second vibration compatible with it. The first vibrations in instruments and human voices generally do not have the quality to create a musical sound. These sounds can gain a musical quality by enriching their vibrations and making them regular and harmonious before they are given out. The sounds produced by the larynx are ready for reflection. After sound emerges from its source, it gains quality by being shaped by the acoustic properties of the environment. This is called resonance phenomenon. The main function of resonators is to extract energy from the vibrating vocal cords and convert it into acoustic energy at a greater rate than the vocal cord does. But the amplification rate of the resonator depends on the frequency of the sound it amplify. Therefore, some frequencies are amplified more and the sound spectrum of the vocal cord is changed. Resonators not only increase the intensity of the sound, but also significantly affect its qualities. In fact, this is how the voice acquires its individual characteristics. In voice training, resonators are classified as chest and head resonators. The trachea and rib cage located in the chest cavity (subglottic region) are the most important thoracic resonators. Head resonators (supraglottic region) are the frequency, oral cavity, palate and paranasal sinuses. “Resonance spaces are divided into two: head and chest:
1. Chest cavities: Especially in deep sounds, the strengthening of the sound occurs in the chest cavities, like the body of a violin. We can feel this vibration when we place our hand on our chest in low sounds.
2. Cranial cavities: They are generally useful in producing high-pitched sounds. These cavities have walls made of hard tissue. Soft tissues prevent sounds from resonating.
In general, low sounds are made from the resonance spaces under the throat, and low sounds are made from the spaces above the dagger. Hence the terms chest and head resonance are used. Head resonance is also called MASK.
Most of the resonance spaces in the human body, such as the larynx and oral cavities, are mobile. It can change shape. Thus, the human voice has the capacity to create various darkness, lightness, brightness and different expressions with the help of vocals and consonants.

Articulation Studies: The speech organs come into play and give final shape to the sound produced by the larynx, thus the sound used for speaking, the "voce-voice", is formed and the speech event takes place. The way of working that occurs as a result of the participation of the speech organs, or in other words, combining letters and syllables and speaking, is called articulation. Articulation is the process of transforming the air flow coming from the vocal cords into meaningful sounds with the help of various organs. “We divide our organs that perform articulation into two: moving and non-moving articulation organs. The first group: jaw, lips, tongue and soft palate are the moving articulation organs. The second group: teeth, gums and palate are non-movable articulation organs. We achieve articulation with the various movements of the organs I have listed above.
Diction Exercises: The way to sing well is to speak correctly and beautifully. The bodies of all people on earth are the same. They breathe the same way and make the same sound. The only thing that changes is the languages they speak. Language-speech is one of the main characteristics that distinguish the leading singing schools from each other. We can explain diction as follows: It is the art of using the harmony of the voice, the pronunciation, the accuracy of the syllables in terms of length, shortness and emphasis, gestures, facial expressions, and attitudes appropriately and beautifully in order to express emotions and thoughts correctly and in accordance with the style while speaking.
Phonation: Phonation is the production of sound by causing the air coming from the lungs to vibrate the vocal cords in the larynx during exhalation.

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Various Vocal Techniques of Voice Training
Focusing Exercises: Focusing/Focusing, this English word means “focus” or “to focus”. As explained before, the tone begins to resonate in the middle of the head, on the palate, at eye level, behind the root of the nose. The tone here forms the core of the timbre and expands towards the mask. This timbre core, which is formed in the place we call the center of the sound, is the tone that is focused, correctly located and projects well.
Intonation Studies: We call the melody line (sound fluctuation) drawn when a phrase is uttered intonation. Various feelings and thoughts in a sentence, such as doubt, surprise, and anger, can be reflected to the listener through intonation. When the change in our voice tone is added to these utterances, the expression becomes even stronger. Professional or amateur artists may experience intonation problems at some periods of their lives and experience lows and high pitches in the melody they sing. Although intonation disorder or incorrect singing, which we call out-of-tone, generally indicates the singer's lack of ear memory and technical inadequacy in terms of singing, intonation disorder sometimes occurs as a temporary condition. This situation may occur due to many reasons.
Nuance Exercises: Increasing the flexibility of your voice pitch depends on being able to change the frequency of your voice in a controlled manner. The exercise required for this is called "messa di voce" in Italian. This definition can be explained as "placing the sound". In this exercise, the vocal instructor selects a mid-tone note for his student that will not strain him too much, starts singing this note in a soft and low voice, gradually increases and raises the frequency of the voice, and then returns to singing it in a soft and low voice. This exercise teaches you how to make comfortable high and low frequency transitions on any given note.

Legato Exercises: Legato means to tie in Italian. Singing legato means singing beautiful flowing sounds without dividing them with consonants (consonants). This is the essence of the Italian Bel Kanto school. Legato is the singing of sounds and words that form sentences in a vocal work by connecting them together.
Staccato Practices: Staccato, which also comes from Italian, means singing the notes one by one, separate from each other in our language. Staccatto means that the tone creates concentrated tone circles-drops at certain points on the root of the nose and palate, with the conscious support of the diaphragm, like a ping-pong ball on a racket. We can also call this the joint work of the nasal root-palate and diaphragm.
Glisssando Studies: This word is of Italian origin and means "to slide or slide". Glissando exercise is performed by shifting the voice from a high and comfortable pitch to a low pitch without interruption. Then, apply the same method from low to high and vice versa.
Trill Exercises: Trill is the rapid oscillation, or more accurately rising and falling, of the tone between half and one interval without losing its tension.

Vibrato Exercises: Vibrato is the regular vibration of tone/pitch, produced with a good breathing adjustment, in a tension-free position of the neck, jaw and tongue muscles, without any change in the volume and color and quality of the sound. It is formed to a degree that gives flexibility, softness and richness to the tone.