Beyond…and Back: The Neutral Voice

Welcome to the second installment in this series, as we delve into the technique aspects. Again, I say, none of us has all the answers, so take this series as it is presented: my observations from my experience of 30+ years of teaching and singing. If it doesn’t resonate, scroll on by!

Today, let’s talk about what I call “the neutral voice”. What do I mean? This is what I call your voice in its underwear. And, what do I mean with that? The style and genre you sing is not adding to the technical behavior in neutral voice, so you are able to find the core of voice and how it aligns and weaves together without that genre information. Neutral technical behavior is needed and necessary to find and return to constantly.

Taking off the layers of the voice to get to this neutrality can be tricky, and yes, it can be vulnerable. It requires a safe place to explore and permission to simply be messy and experiment.

I truly believe (and teach) the individual voice so there is no “one size fits all” approach. Here, I am now going to make a huge generalization, only as an observation working with many voices in several genres:

In theatre, the neutral voice tends to be tight - often too tight. This can manifest in nasality, lack of overtone & color and a dry & brittle quality.

In opera, the neutral voice tends to be loose or almost non-existent. This can manifest in a woofy quality with no true core of tone or tonal center, and an unstable vibrato.

Given the demands, and end game, and final result, neither of these is surprising. However, neither is sustainable. Tight gets tighter; loose gets looser. A no-win situation.

Let me give you an analogy: If your shape wear doesn’t fit well, what you wear over it will not fall properly or fit correctly. Same with your neutral voice: this is what shapes what you wear vocally. Neutral voice shapes, it influences, it reveals.

So, what do we do? How do we do it?

Well, I can’t tell you that because every voice is so different (thank god!). Physicality informs EVERYTHING.

You need to find a teacher who understands what neutrality is and gives you individual specificity for your voice.

However, here and now, these are my personal ideas and how I work with a singer, so if they don’t resonate with you, ignore and continue to explore for yourself!

I want a singer to know how their lower register can stabilize and cushion the tone, and the larynx itself. Yes, there is “chest voice”, “chest dominance” and it needs to be healthy no matter what you call it! And yes, you need it, no matter what and no matter what genre you lean into. This lower anchoring and stability is not about projection in neutral voice. It is about finding physical anchor in the body and the larynx as you vibrate evenly.

I want a singer to access their middle registration without fuzziness or huskiness. This demands a sense of “cinch” in the tone - not COLOR. It isn’t about making it brighter or making it bigger, it means making it buoyant and balanced and allowing the acoustic to rotate so it doesn’t get heavy. This is about balancing the fundamental pitch with fluidity and then allowing the chiaroscuro to be rotating from within, not pressing from outside.

I want a singer to stretch through upper passaggio, recognizing it’s often stiff or tin-foil like initially, simply due to the physicality of balance and resonance. When we stretch the mechanism and the edge of the folds to balance this passageway, this transition, comfortably, so you aren’t squeezing in order to release above it.

Neutral Voice means discovering balance in the exhale. It means balance in sub-glottal pressure. It means anchored pitch centers.

Neutral Voice means balanced vocal cord closure. It means registration balance of weight, overtone & undertone without stylistic color. YOUR neutral.

Neutral Voice means balance of resonance throughout registrations.

Neutral Voice means weaving transitions together to create ease and release throughout the voice.

It is through Neutral Voice that we can then discover further technical behavior!

Neutral Voice is what we must address, and it starts from the inside out, not the outside in. It starts INSIDE the body. Your body is your cathedral. Vibrate into that cathedral FIRST. Don’t worry about projection, size, dark/light. These are further development as the Neutral Voice stabilizes. Figure out how you sense these intangibles of vibration and breath and make them tangible in your body.

Explore, experiment, get curious, don’t be afraid to make a choice and if it doesn’t work or feel comfortable, just make another choice!

Don’t get stuck with “good/bad” or “right/wrong”. Find the best choice. FOR YOU.

What does it feel like? What do you sense? Is there ease? Is there effort? Is there physicality? Is there balance? Where? How?

Take the pressure off of “sounding like” with neutral voice. Start getting curious about how it feels to run around in your neutral voice shape wear and find the freedom in that!

with fondness & fierceness,