Are "Mask" "Pharyngeal" & "Twang" all really the same thing?

[DDisNow]

Question is pretty self explanatory.

You often hear/ read these terms when talking about resonance and "directing" the sound to the front of the face.

Are there any differences whatsoever between the three or are they all pretty much describing the same thing?

[Felipe Carvalho]

Depends on the descriptions associated with them. Mask, forward placement, focus and covering are all connected in classical technique. Not only the sound and sensations produced, but how it is done. A piercing sound done without support and that cant be applied to all vowels with ease and comfort is useless in this perspective.

[VideoHere]

also don't think that all singers have to "apply" twang, or "apply" mask. it can be in some singers naturally. it can also be a byproduct of placement.

[VideoHere]

when you use twang with a lowered larynx you'll trade high range for beautiful chiaroscuro tone.

[Danielformica]

Great now the next question someone will ask will be"whats chiaroscuro"? And should I twang curb and overdrive that with a side of squeezing my sphincter.:P:P:P

[Felipe Carvalho]

Daniel, thats the only easy one. Listen to a classical singer, its that.

Now how to do it? 10+ years of trainning may help. Squeezing sphincters is not enough hehe.

[DDisNow]

Thx for the replies guys.

So seems to me they are all pretty much referring to the same thing. it's just that different teachers/techniques call them by different names but they are interchangeable.

TVS has Twang

KTVA/Bel Canto has Mask

SLS has Pharyngeal

[ronws]

You had me at sphincters.

[Felipe Carvalho]

Basicly despite of what was said you are making everything equal because you want it to be the same. Well I can play along, yes its all the same. GL

[MDEW]

"Twang" is way to direct the voice to resonate in the "Pharyngeal" space(Area behind tongue and softpalet"

It can result in a feeling of vibration in the "Mask" (Cheak bones, Nose,eye sockets, Brow ridge).

They are not the same thing but they are connected.

"Twang" is also used as the sound produced when you direct the voice to resonate in the "pharyngeal" space.

I am not a teacher. What I write is the way I have come to understand things. If a teacher is to contradict my statements you would be better off to listen to them.

[DDisNow]

Basicly despite of what was said you are making everything equal because you want it to be the same. Well I can play along, yes its all the same. GL

I read all the replies and I see more posts suggesting they're all pretty darn similar and not enough good explanation as to how they differ from one another in such way to be worthy of referring to them as 3 different techniques.

Again, it seems to me people just use different terms to describe the same or very similar sensations. It's nothing new in this whacky world of the forum.

Also, you know how they say, there's no such thing as a bad student, so....

[breakin]

They touch on the same type of subject (placement/sympathetic vibration etc). Depending on the word [twang/mask/...] and the person/methodology that uses it [tvs/ktva/cvt/...] the term they use might mean slightly different things, even if they sometime have the same name.

For instance some want the larynx high when twanging, if not it is not twanging. Some things the larynx can be wherever while twanging.

[Steven Fraser]

Question is pretty self explanatory.

You often hear/ read these terms when talking about resonance and "directing" the sound to the front of the face.

Are there any differences whatsoever between the three or are they all pretty much describing the same thing?

DDisNow: Sorry that I missed this post when it first appeared. I have been doing a lot of driving in the past few days, and I don't browse while driving :-)

Here is my perspective on this, as a voice teacher and singer:

'Mask', 'Pharyngeal' and 'Twang' are not the same thing, but related to each other.

'Mask' is a vibration sensation experienced by many (but not all) singers, in the front of the face. It is the effect of singing with good vocal fold closure, and with strong high-frequency content in the tone.

'Pharyngeal' voice is a term for vowel pronunciation which was originally conceived of as being midway between the classical 'chest' voice and 'head' voice vowel forms.

'Twang' is a component of tone quality produced by a narrowing of the epilaryngeal space, the area immediately above the larynx. When performed with a low larynx, the result will be strong resonance in both the lower and higher frequencies, what has been termed here a classical Chiarroscuro. Tone quality becomes less dark (oscuro) as this is done with a progressively higher larynx, and there is a general reduction in the intensity of the vowel formant peaks.

The reason I say that these are related is that its possible to sing with 'Mask' while using an overall Classical tone quality, which will not be Pharyngeal for most voice types. Similarly, if one sings with vowels well-tuned with the harmonics of a note, overall sensations of placement, including 'Mask', become more distinct in many singers. This is further intensified when epilaryngeal narrowing is used, as this increases the overall power of the voice (up to 18 dB), especially increasing high frequency content.

As a side-comment: Its not actually possible to 'direct the sound to the front of the face'. What teachers and singers mean by this is to 'sing in such a way that vibration is felt in the front of the face'. To accomplish this, also sometimes termed 'bringing of the tone '"forward", 'forward placement' or 'singing with focus', the singer does three things simultaneously: 1) shapes the vocal tract to well-align itsvowel resonances with the harmonics of the sung tone, 2) brings the breath and laryngeal musculature into balanced operation, and 3) narrows the epilarynx.

I hope this is helpful.

[DDisNow]

Thank you Steven, appreciate the detailed explanation!