Comments on: Onset

By: Vocalise: Onset Variations Feb. 20,2009 | Ian Sidden

Vocalise: Onset Variations Feb. 20,2009 | Ian Sidden — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:53:41 +0000

[...] Onset Variations Feb. 20,2009 As I have said before, I believe in onset exercises. This week’s vocalise is one I developed to eliminate breathy [...]

By: Vocalise of the Week: Onset Variations Feb. 20,2009 « Life of a Beginning Singer

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:08:48 +0000

[...] of the Week: Onset Variations Feb. 20,2009 As I have said before, I believe in onset exercises. This week’s vocalise is one I developed to eliminate breathy [...]

By: Vocalise of the Week: Onset Variations Feb. 21,2009 « Life of a Beginning Singer

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:07:46 +0000

[...] of the Week: Onset Variations Feb. 21,2009 As I have said before, I believe in onset exercises. This week’s vocalise is one I developed to eliminate breathy [...]

By: Ian Sidden

Ian Sidden — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:40:27 +0000

Yes. It’s called prephonatory tuning. It is something that a singer becomes better at over time because a lot does go into it, such as:

1) Sub-glottic breath pressure (the glottis is where the vocal folds reside, so this is the breath pressure level before the air interacts with the folds).
2) Adjustments of the length and thickness of the vocal folds.
3.) Resonator tuning (pronunciation on a slightly bigger scale).

If you are thinking about the pitch you will need to sing, your throat will make most adjustments it needs to unconsciously. You can try this in front of a computer. Think about yourself singing a pitch, and just pay attention to what your throat does in response. Of course, some pitches are harder than others, but they will get better over time.

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:15:06 +0000

A very interesting peice. I do also wonder how the onset really affects the pitches that follow it. Is it possible to control pitch and such before air even comes out?

By: Ian Sidden

Ian Sidden — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:17:24 +0000

Ah! Thank you for that question. I will adjust the post to explain it.

“Vocal onset” means the beginning of sound. There are several coordinated actions that happen every time your voice sounds. Learning about and adjusting these actions is important when training the classical voice because the voice is more easily influenced at this moment than when sound is already happening.

By: jean

jean — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:52:30 +0000

for us lay people, when you say onset, do you mean ‘warm up’?

By: Ian Sidden

Ian Sidden — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:44:36 +0000

Craig, thank you for the supportive comment. If you find anything useful, please share it. I looked over your site, and I was especially impressed by how clearly you stated your goals and general lesson plan. That’s great for new students. The resources page has some very useful links too.

By: Craig Tompkins

Craig Tompkins — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:06:43 +0000

Ian, I just discovered your site via MTH. With your permission I’d like to use some of your writings and ideas with my own students. I especially like the list of things we can do in addition to practising! So many music students at college/conservatory get caught up in the practice/attend class/practice cycle that they forget the importance of eating well, exercise, sleep and friends!

Looking forward to more interesting and useful posts!

Cheers,
Craig