Blandine Calais-Germain - Anatomy of Voice: How to Enhance and Project Your Best Voice

This book is dedicated to Laurent,
king of vocalizations, and to all of his
Downs syndrome brothers and sisters,
who bring nothing but sweetness
to this earth.

Foreword in Three Voices...

There is a time for the voice, and for some, there comes a time when its necessary to understand the mechanisms behind the voice.

How, though, does one approach the Ariadnes thread of vocalizations while offering anatomical descriptions of the vocal apparatus? This is the challenge facing authors who need to make complex anatomical concepts accessible.

To accomplish this, Blandine Calais-Germain applies the effective approach she has used in her previous works, offering multiple drawings to show the anatomical structures from a variety of angles. To these she adds text that often acts like a virtual finger, tracing the structure and reinforcing the readers understanding.

We find in this written work the same clarity of presentation that we experience in her workshops: all concepts are linked not only to the physiology of the vocal apparatus, but to movement as well. In many cases, Franois Germain elaborates on complex physical concepts while keeping the information accessible to a nonspecialized audience.

Its a pleasure to see how these two authors have presented the wonder of the voice and the anatomical structures that make it possible. This work gives us a glimpse of natures capacity to produce a world of sounds.

Vicente Fuentes, Director; head of the Department of
Voice and Language, Royal School for Dramatic Arts, Madrid;
advisor to the National Theater of Spain

Dr. Guy Cornut, speech pathologist;
former head of the Department of Phoniatrics, ENT Clinic,
Faculty of Medicine, Lyon, France; choir director of the
Vocal Ensemble of Lyon

Annie Trolliet-Comut, speech pathologist, Lyon; voice teacher specializing in vocal therapy for speech and song

Preface

Anatomy of Voice presents anatomical information and concepts as they relate to use of the voice. It is intended for those who regularly use their voices, sometimes in very extreme ways: singers, actors, lecturers, lawyers. It is also intended for anyone with an interest in the subject, for personal or professional reasons. Its purpose is to give readers an understanding of the anatomy of the vocal structures and the way these structures produce sound, so that they can then adapt and refine the way they use their own voice. This goal explains some of the technical choices and practices that are detailed here.

This book follows the structure of Blandine Calais-Germains Anatomy of Movement: the text is often woven around the simple illustrations that it elucidates. This visual approach makes the subject easily accessible.

Also in the spirit of accessibility, in the anatomical descriptions the focus is on only those elements that pertain to the voice or that will be helpful in a vocal practice. Some structures, such as vessels and nerves, are not shown. Pathologies are not included either. Similarly, this book does not use the International Phonetic Alphabet when describing phonemes because this would have entailed a detailed description. Instead, it uses the common English alphabet.

The colors used in the illustrations were selected to facilitate easy reading. To this end, sometimes those colors arent realistic, but they are consistent with the color code used throughout the book.

1. As in many anatomy books, bones are presented as beige because it is easier to see against a white background than ivory, which would be more realistic.
2. When bones and muscles are represented in a drawing together, bones are presented in gray.
3. Cartilage is presented in light blue to represent the vitreous appearance of hyaline cartilage, although in reality much of the cartilage presented in the book is actually yellowish in color because of the fibers it contains.
4. Muscles appear simply as solid or crosshatched red.

In order to keep the anatomical vocabulary accessible to a nonmedical audience, in many cases we have used the common nomenclaturesuch as shoulder blades for scapula. At other times we have used the scientific terminology, such as apophysis to describe certain bony prominences.

Some structures of the vocal tract have been described in other books by Blandine Calais-Germain: Anatomy of Breathing, Anatomy of Movement, The Female Pelvis, No-Risk Abs. In order to avoid repetition, we often refer the reader to these books for more detail.

There are many highlighted text blocks that present a detail regarding voice practice or the anatomy of the vocal apparatus. Among these, some explain how to palpate an area to find a specific anatomical structure. When you are asked to palpate an area, remember that this isnt a massage courseyou need use only the lightest touch.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the people who assisted in the development of this book, those who posed for the drawings, and those whose debates, sometimes endless, helped bring it to fruition.

Pierre-Yves Binard
Bernard Coignard
Franoise Contreras
Anne Debreilly
Odile Dhnain
Benjamin Duluc
Gloria Gastaminza
Brigitte Hap
Francis Jeser
Allison Liddiart
Ibai Lopez
Jose Luis Marin Mateo
Etoile Mechali
Nicole Nussbaum
Julia Roux
Simone Ushirobira

Thanks as well to designers Marie-Luce Dehondt and Florence Penouty for their endless enthusiasm.

Introduction