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We live in a time of great innovation with respect to new techniques for teaching

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people how to improve their singing. In fact, I believe we are experiencing a
kind of “renaissance” in vocal technique around the world. No longer do
students of singing have to train exclusively with a traditional voice teacher on

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Classical techniques, ideas and attitudes. And the advent of the internet, as
well as the emergence of highly rhythmic genres like rock, metal, pop, and the

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like, are combining to “push the envelope” in terms of what the human voice
can do.

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One revolutionary innovation in voice instruction developed during the last few

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decades has been what I would call “vocal mode pedagogy”. It depends on

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what school of though your discussing this with, but roughly, vocal mode

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pedagogy is a way to categorize specific physiological and acoustic
properties of singing, for the purpose of identifying and understanding

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key elements for singing. It involves identifying physiological or acoustic

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elements of singing that are unique, identifying the attributes that makes them
unique and then giving them a name and assignment to a group of “modes”.

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When physiological and acoustic elements of the singing voice are
identified, named and categorized, it makes teaching and learning about

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the voice easier. Vocal mode pedagogy appears in different forms. Some

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vocal training programs focus primarily on physiology to achieve the desired
result. Others tend to focus more on the acoustics. TVS vocal modes

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include both physiological and acoustic groups.

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h Two Kinds of TVS Vocal Modes
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T PHYSICAL MODES

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UNIQUE LARYNGEAL CONFIGURATIONS THAT PRODUCE A UNIQUE SOUND COLOR AND HAVE

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UNIQUE BENEFITS. THE EIGHT TVS PHYSICAL MODES ARE; SPEECH, OPERA, SOB, BELT,

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TWANG, QUACK, DISTORTION AND FALSETTO. EACH HAS UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS IN

REGARDS TO THE LARYNX AND GLOTTAL POSITIONING.

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e wACOUSTIC MODES

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GROUPS OF SINGING VOWELS OR FORMANTS, THAT SHARE SIMILAR RESONANT PLACEMENT

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CHARACTERISTICS AND THEREFORE, SOUND COLOR. THE THREE TVS ACOUSTIC MODES ARE;

EDGING (FORWARD RESONANT VOWELS), NEUTRAL (CENTRAL RESONANT VOWELS) AND

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CURBING (BACKWARD RESONANT VOWELS).

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Vocal modes may seem a bit overly detailed, but it really is a great way to learn

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more about how the voice works and when you understand theses vocal

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modes, what they can do for you, you can apply your knowledge of them and
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trouble-shoot singing problems and sing better. They are particularly important
for other voice teachers.

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The Two Kinds of Vocal Modes – The Four Pillars of Singing

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