“Registration:” This is the leg of the triune balance that has received the most conjectural and argumentative attention over the roughly 350-year history of Western vocal theory. I won’t rehearse here my reactions to all the many elaborations of that oeuvre, except to repeat that in my view the best theory of singing is the simplest one that accounts for all audible phenomena; that when it comes to “registers” we are dealing with two easily perceived families of sound throughout the extension of the human voice; and that the area in which the essential qualities of those families changes is centered around the E above middle C (modern tuning), with only modest easements for the different vocal types and even more modest ones for individual voices within each type. According to this view, therefore, while the area of transition (the “register break”) falls toward the bottom of even the lower female voices and toward the top of even the higher male ones, the two families must nevertheless be brought into balance in voices of both sexes, not only in regard to pitch range, but with respect to the contributions of each to the other as to timbral quality, “support,” and navigability as well. Key concepts are: the singer’s proprioceptive sense of positional stability, of connection with “support” (see below), and of the more rugged, “masculine” elements of tone, is associated with the lower family (“chest register’); that of a released freedom of movement and of lovelier, more “feminine” timbral qualities with the upper (“head register”)—voice is a secondary sexual characteristic. Ultimately, registral integration must take place from the top down, from the soft to the loud. But it cannot be sealed before the families have reached an equality of strength and extension; otherwise, we have only glued together an imbalanced system.

Without doubt, the most important muscular movements involved in “registration” occur inside the larynx, with the muscles that bring the vocal “cords” (the edges of the glottis) into position for phonation and keep them there through the changes in the rate of vibration that account for pitch. These movements, incidentally, are more complex than the simple front-to-back stretch most commonly cited, and have to do with altering the mass of vibrating tissue desirable for the production of any given pitch. Furthermore, they are acted upon by reciprocal responses from below and above the larynx. Below it lies the entire respiratory chain, which must operate in accordance with the natural workings of a basic life reflex, yet with an extension of those workings necessitated by the peculiarities of the singing situation. Above the larynx is the acoustical complex responsible for “resonance,” which term is inseparable from that of vowel formation, as well as from the creation of shapes whose maintenance feeds back on both “respiration” and “registration.” Let’s look down below first, at the second leg of the longed-for three-in-one poise.

“Respiration:” The principle is simplicity itself: an exchange of air pressures. When the pressure inside your body (in the lungs) falls below that outside of it, the air seeks to go into the relative vacuum, like water finding its own level. When the relative pressures are reversed, it seeks to go out. (Think of the effects of changes in barometric pressure on your physical and mental state of being.) The “life reflex” I mentioned is initiated by a message from the bloodstream to the relevant brain center that a refreshment—not of air per se, but of oxygen—is necessary, followed by the return motor command to start a new breathing cycle. The essential action here is the descent of the diaphragm, which creates more room for the lungs, and thus a drop in internal air pressure. Other important muscle groups are affected by this action, and co-operate with it, but the downward flex of the diaphragm is the core movement.