in the last part i got a little into the basic principles of the voice itself. i simplified, of course, but it’s enough to understand and work with the things that i’ll write about in future entries. if you want to have more detailed information on this subject, look it up in a medical encyclopedia or talk to a speech therapist or logopedia-ist or however those guys are called in english. but knowing and dealing with the basics can already go a long way…

anyway, what about the candle? and the efficiency for that matter?

the candle experiment simply shows how much of the air is transformed into sound and how much gets through ‘unhindered’. think about the vocal cords again – they’re pressed together in order to create sound from the air coming through, remember? now what would happen if they’re not really closed or if they’re closed but not really tight? right, only some of the air could be transformed into sound, the rest would stay ‘normal’ air. by the way, that’s how whispering works: the vocal cords are pressed together but a small opening in form of a triangle remains on one end of the vocal folds. there’s even a word for this, directly translated from the german term would be whispering triangle or something similar.

maybe you have already guessed so, whispering is not good for the flame of our candle. to make sure, hold your hand in front of your mouth. first say ‘hello’ in a normal way and then whisper it. it’s possible to create sound and even sing with the vocal folds not closed completely. this gives the voice a somewhat breathy sound. but it’s not efficient at all. it requires a lot more air and tends to dry out the vocal cords or better: the layer of fluid surrounding them. this again makes singing harder because dry vocal folds aren’t as airtight as moist ones. so you would need more air to create enough pressure to create a tone. that’s why you should drink a lot during singing… more air means more effort, more struggle, more work and less control, shorter passages between breathing spots, less stamina etc. in a nutshell: no good. moisture however may not be good in your basement but in singing it’s one of the only friends we’ve got (sniff).

with this kind of background light up your candle once more and try again…