08 January, 2026

Sometimes what we tend to think of as linear processes may be better understood as non-linear, interconnected, and intricately responsive wholes (or gestalten).

From Singing — Field Notes

I never understood the hype around “vowel shaping” or “resonance” in singing, beyond their aesthetic impact.

I had always thought of singing as this linear process whereby air is gently operated on step by step until the sound we want emerges on the other side. Each part of the vocal tract working to shape the sound, but more or less independently of the parts preceding it.

To me, things like the pitch you were singing, the texture of your voice, what kind of support you were using—these were all things that happened before the sound arrived at your tongue to be shaped into a vowel or placed into a particular resonance.

So, when trying to refine the texture of my voice, or expand my range, or work on using better support…it never made sense to examine how vowels and resonance might be affecting these things, because to me all of my problems lay upstream (or so I thought).

But today, I’m discovering that the entire vocal tract can rather be thought of as one shared, resonant space—from the diaphragm to the tip of the nose—and the shape of that space influences (top down) all the little “parts” of the process that I hitherto considered to be more or less separate from each other, and linear in fashion.

…something you think that 14 years of playing the clarinet might have clued me in on earlier.

On the clarinet, it’s not as though the reed just produces sound and then the tone-holes are used to shape its pitch and so on. If the tone-holes aren’t covered properly, the reed may not even speak at all (or produce instead a horrible squeal appreciated by only the most forgiving of musician’s parents worldwide).

Your embouchure, the reed, finger placement—even the humidity—they’re all part of one resounding whole; intimately connected in subtle and not so subtle ways. However convenient to do so, it’s too simplistic to flatten these relationships out into a one-dimensional chain of independent links.

…I’m finding that by shaping my vowels differently and playing with their resonance, I’m able to more fluidly move about my range and do so with a greater sense of power as well.

Who would have thought?

(thousands of vocal teachers around the world, for centuries, actually)

But I took the long way around.

(with a smile)

To You

In an age of such technology and engineering, we often implicitly assume that all things must operate like machines do, in the way that we conceptualize them. But more often than not the truth is far more interesting (and mysterious) than this view of the world will allow.

If you’re trying to get better at something and seem to keep coming up against an invisible wall of sorts, try looking for a fingerprint of linearity in your conception of things.

There’s usually more than one.

All the best,

—David Kennedy