Vocal Science - "Fifty Shades" Of Voice: What Do We Mean By This?

What we mean by this is that the human voice possesses a ‘rainbow of colours’, so to speak. It also possesses different varieties of voice performance. 

Singers always say that sometimes they really have ‘good days’ with their voice, i.e., their voice obeying their commands and give them the right tonality, bright tone and perfect pitch; whereas some other times, they refer to the ‘bad days’, i.e., when the voice sounds dark in tone and the pitch and projection also suffer.

Objectively, the latter, in this case, depends on the mood of a singer, the weather and, perhaps, the personal circumstances prevailing the performance. 

All of the above is somewhat good, but wouldn’t it be even better if the singer did not depend on the outer factors; but would mostly depend on the professional training and proper vocal technique, pertaining to the vocal performances and studio recordings. 

After all, we are talking about the human being and the human voice he/she possesses. Even the acoustic piano reacts on the weather conditions and the inner environment. 

If the place is too dry, the wood, hammers and strings of the piano will sound different, as opposed to the place which is in a balanced climate (not too hot, not too dry and not too moist either). 

So obviously, the human voice is much more sensitive then any musical instrument and it also has to be ‘balanced’ with the ‘inner physical body’, outer weather and other outside factors - like clean or polluted air, for example..

I had always been saying that the voice is a reflection of the state of one’s being and identification of who that person really is. 

I always refer to the voice as a human spirit, which with certain manipulations, flies away from the physical body (however, supported by the physical body components) and soars “like an Eagle” to the place where the sky(in a manner of speaking) is the limit! 

So there are a lot of “shades” (probably more then fifty) which the human voice possesses. And there are a lot of variations within which the voice performs.

The difference between the amateur and professional singer is such that the professional singer feels and knows predominantly what would actually come out of his/her mouth. 

He/she is able to control the colour of the voice, the intonation, the vibrato (on or off, depending on the style), and most importantly, the pitch (which he/she has to stay within). So no weather or various moods would shake that performance. 

On the contrary, the amateur singer who does not possess the proper training and/or technique will react on different conditions such as weather, his or her own mood, and some other turbulence and tribulations which could occur on the day of their performance. Any other (even little) nuances could throw that singer out of “vocal balance”, so to speak. 

The excessive emotions, lack of endurance, poor physical state of their body, could ruin that performance which the singer (usually, nevertheless, keeping his/her “fingers crossed”) was desperately trying to deliver. 

So, in a side by side perspective, there are many shades and colours to both adequate and inadequate vocal performances. 

The knowledge of the above of what to do and what not to do could save somebody’s career, and mainly their main instrument (their voice). 

The lack of knowledge of the above, (in other words; musical, anatomical and physiological ignorance of how to properly use one’s voice) could bring the performer to the voice damage which (unfortunately, sometimes) may not be curable or even treatable.

So, before any of you call yourselves a singer or a vocal performer, please obtain the right knowledge of what it entails which, in turn, will save you from a lot of troubles with yourself and your voice. 

For the greater clarity - Please do not allow your voice (and thus, your spirit) to get fifty shades darker…