The Nose in Singing: Understanding the Nose, Nasality, and Nasal Resonance
The Vocal System
The human voice is a marvel of biological engineering, capable of producing everything from a gentle hum to a powerful, expressive song. This amazing vocal system springs into action as moving muscles and moving air sync up to create sound waves. These sound waves are shaped, resonated, and amplified as they travel into the spaces of the neck and head cavities.
The vocal system combines respiration, phonation, and resonation into a complex coordination.
Respiration: when you breathe, the vocal cords open and oxygen flows into the lungs. The oxygen provides energy for movement. The lower ribs and upper abdomen expand with the diaphragm descending. The vocal cords close for a split second. As you begin to sing, the breathing musculature supplies airflow.
Registration: the larynx sits at the top of the trachea and houses the vocal muscles (closers and stretcher) and vocal cords. The vocal muscles adjust the vocal cords for pitch, volume, and vowel. Air from your lungs passes through the vocal cords, causing the adjusted vocal cords to vibrate and generate sound waves.
Resonance: sound waves travel through the vocal tract, a series of interconnected spaces including the throat, mouth, nose, and sinuses. These spaces contribute to the sound in unique ways through shaping, amplification, and projection. Complex coordination creates and shapes sound into consonants and vowels that form words which are linked together in phrases to become songs.
Nose and Nasal Cavity
What role does the nose play in this complex coordinative process? The nose and nasal cavity is a part of the resonation system. As such, the nose and nasal cavity plays a unique and significant role in resonance. As air moves through the nasal passages, the nasal cavity acts as a non-adjustable resonator; meaning that its structure is fixed and does not change shape. Though the nose and nasal cavity cannot be adjusted, they do contribute to resonation through the action of the soft palate.
The raising of the soft palate shuts off the nose and nasal cavity from the resonance mix. The lowering of the soft palate brings the nose and nasal cavity into the resonance mix. When the nose and nasal cavity are added to the mix, then certain nasalized tone qualities appear. These nasalized tone qualities are evident when singing nasal consonants like M and N or when the sound has a “twangy” brightness.
Without the nose and nasal cavity sometimes being active in the resonance mix, the singer would lose their ability to create certain sounds needed for both function and artistry. As the nose and nasal cavity are allowed to participate through the action of the soft palate, then a wider array of colors and resonant qualities are available to enhance healthy functional movement and artistic expression.
Nasality: Good vs. Bad
A bit of nasality can go a long way - like when forming nasal consonants for singing French songs or adding stylistic effects such as the “twang” found in country music. However, if the sound becomes stuck in the nose, the result can be an overly nasal sound lacking clarity and depth - a common challenge for many singers. An old maxim says, “The nose must be in the tone, but the tone should not be in the nose.”
When the tone is “in the nose” it normally indicates constriction in the throat with the larynx rising up too much and the soft palate being lowered and not able to move. The tone then enters the nasal cavity and feels like it gets stuck in the nose. There is trouble singing notes because the larynx is unstable which inhibits the movements of the vocal muscles and the adjustments of the vocal cords. With a constricted sound, notice that vowels also become distorted. Thus, the ability to sing words that can be understood is diminished. The sound that gets stuck in the nose is pinched, narrow, and shallow. A constricted overly nasal sound negatively affects function and vocal quality.
Obviously no one wants the tone getting stuck in the nose with the result being an unhealthy excessive nasality. However, the nose and nasal cavity does play a vital role in both function and artistry when added to the resonance mix to produce healthy nasality. The nose and nasal cavity is part of the space in your head cavity through which sound waves can travel to add interesting tonal colors. The nose and nasal cavity is a part of your unique body structure that causes your sound to be different from another person’s sound. The nose and nasal cavity also plays a role in artistry that enhances expression through a healthy nasality useful in stylistic effects, the articulation of nasal consonants, and feelings of forward and bright vibrations.
Nasal Resonance
The term “nasal resonance” might lead one to mistakenly assume that resonance is all about the nose all the time. However, the wider resonance reality is much more complex. The nose and nasal cavity should sometimes be added to the resonance mix to create certain nasalized consonants and “twangy” tonal colors utilizing healthy nasality. That said, your resonance involves not just the nose and nasal cavity, but all of the spaces in your neck and head. When you sing, air flows from the lungs through the vibrating and adjusted vocal cords to be shaped and resonated within the throat, mouth, nose, and nasal cavity, plus all of the sinuses. The unique shape and size of the spaces of your neck and head affect how the sound waves are modified and which frequencies are emphasized. When the sound waves move up into your head cavities, the bones in your face and skull actually vibrate in sympathy with the moving and shaped air molecules. These vibrations that appear are called sympathetic resonance - which is active whether or not the nose and nasal cavity are added to the resonance mix. Thus, you can think of nasal resonance as being one part of the overall resonating system that can be added to the mix when needed - and the rest of the time you experience sympathetic resonance which enhances your sound with a rainbow variety of colors and tones from bright to dark and biting to sweet. As a singer, you need both nasal resonance and sympathetic resonance so that your voice will reverberate with a more full and vibrant expressive quality that brings songs to life!
Putting It All Together
As one can see, the human voice is truly a marvel of biological engineering. Through understanding the anatomy of the vocal system, singers are empowered to make informed choices about technique and style. These choices involve how singers utilize the nose and nasal cavity, healthy nasality, and nasal resonance to enhance both function and artistry. By learning how to mix and balance resonance across the various cavities and passages, singers can achieve greater clarity, resonant projection, and expressiveness in their practice and performance. It all begins with a solid grasp of vocal anatomy - and when this head knowledge is turned into body awareness, then you will be able to create a wide range of vocal colors, from deep, rich tones to bright, ringing sounds. Practically speaking, exercises that focus on registration, airflow, resonance, vowel clarity, and articulation of consonants guide you in discovering your natural voice. So, whether you’re working on reducing unhealthy nasality, increasing volume, experimenting with “twangy” brightness, or exploring your vocal range, the tools of technique can set you free to sing songs using all of your mind, heart, body, and soul.
At VoiceLessons.com, our expert teachers help students of all levels master these techniques, using innovative online tools to provide personalized feedback and support. With the right guidance and a deeper understanding of your own vocal system, you can unlock the full potential of your voice - no matter where you are on your singing journey.
