1.1.1.b Voice, Where to Begin

Mar 10

Voice, Where to Begin

The human voice is one of nature's greatest marvels. Our breathing, the valve of the larynx, the suspensory musculature that supports it, the coordination of breathing with the larynx to produce sound, the vocal tract, the lips, palate, and tongue—all these structures form a remarkable system whose sensitivity and control is hard to fathom. The number of muscles involved, the complexity of adjustments, and the nervous control of all these muscles to produce vocalized sound—the voice comprises a nervous and mechanical structure hardly paralleled by anything in the human body.
—from Your Body, Your Voice by Theodore Dimon

My copy of Your Body, Your Voice transformed my work as a voice teacher. On one level, it unlocked ideas I sensed intuitively but didn’t fully understand; on another, it revealed massive blind spots that caused both me—and by extension my singers—real frustration. I don’t agree with every word, but no single work has influenced my core philosophy more: singing is a core, human function. Many books and courses on this subject skip or dispute that idea, which I believe is a mistake of incalculable magnitude. We can see why by linking two statements from Dimon’s introduction:

Most children are born with a vocal mechanism that functions perfectly; without having to think about it, they are able to use the ribs, larynx, and throat in such a coordinated, effortless fashion as to be able to produce the most piercing and magical sounds with absolute ease and without tiring the throat.

and

Most singing concepts come from traditional training methods based on what exercises tend to help singers improve. While this practical knowledge is valuable, it fails to address more fundamental questions about how the voice is naturally designed, how we develop habits that interfere with that design, and what steps we can take to restore proper vocal function.

Taken together, these quotes outline a clear process for addressing vocal issues, captured in a single word: restore. Many of the singers I’ve worked with over the years have voices that resemble a beautiful piece of vintage furniture—perfect when originally built but later worn down by misuse and clumsy repairs. Restoration begins as a process of excavation rather than construction. As Dimon states:

The first prerequisite in vocal study isn't to train or improve the voice, but to identify what's interfering with it and how to restore its naturally coordinated state.

The goal here is to explore how humans learn to make sounds from that “naturally occurring state.” Every vocal journey begins with a baby’s first cry—no pre-birth lessons, no voice coach in the birthing room. We arrive in the world with everything we need, so it makes sense to begin our exploration of the voice at the very beginning.

Babies

Listen to these two examples. Don’t worry about what’s being said; just listen as if you had never heard humans speaking, like a baby thrust into an unfamiliar world.

[example one: spoken Mandarin Chinese; example two: spoken American English]

You probably noticed many differences in pitch, contour, and rhythm. Now, imagine you’re an infant in an early call-and-response game. I’ll play a couple of new, shorter examples. Don’t think too much—just repeat what you hear as best you can.

Some might feel easier than others. Having completed this little exercise, consider how a real baby experiences call-and-response play. Sometimes a parent is involved; sometimes it’s with the wider environment. Either way, from the infant’s perspective, they’re exploring a new sound universe—human voices, musical instruments, airplanes overhead, or the monster on TV. Logically, the sounds they attempt will mirror the sounds they hear.

You, with an established voice, might judge certain vocal imitations as easier or harder. The baby’s voice, however, is a blank slate. Everything is equally new, so these playful exchanges have a very different impact on the infant.

A Hyperbolic Oversimplification

To illustrate this, let’s imagine two scenarios. Fair warning: this is an extreme oversimplification, but it makes the point.

In scenario 1, we have a baby and his father. The baby calls out with a long, descending “Baaah!” Dad responds the same way: “Baaah!” They continue in a duet of sustained, lyrical sounds—a pattern closer to singing. Thanks to this “song-like” vocal play, scenario 1’s baby will obviously enjoy a future full of vibrant, joyful music.

(Yes, it’s hyperbolic.)

On to scenario 2, featuring another baby and another father. Baby 2 also starts with a long, lyrical “Baaah!” But this dad replies with a short, blunt “Bah.” Baby 2—undeterred—naturally adjusts and answers back with a short, blunt “bah” of his own. Their call and response trends toward more speech-like patterns. Of course, in our cartoonish scenario, this second dad’s gruff vocalizations mean his child is destined for a monotone, song-deprived existence.

A Sprinkling of Science

Those scenarios are clearly exaggerated, but they highlight two truths:

Every human is born with a global phonatory potential.
A child’s environment and early play help shape and develop that potential.

Let’s explore some of the underlying science behind each.

Global Phonatory Potential

Infants enter the world with remarkable vocal flexibility—what researchers call a global phonatory potential. In the first months of babbling, babies everywhere sound surprisingly alike, experimenting with a broad range of noises. One study notes a “small core of consonants” in the babble of children learning many different languages, reflecting a universal starting point before experience narrows their phonetic range.

Shaping Speech by Environment: As babies grow, exposure to their native language prunes that initial, wide-open repertoire. A child in a Mandarin-speaking environment, for instance, begins to mirror pitch-based patterns (the distinct tones of Mandarin). Studies show that Mandarin-acquiring infants start shifting to language-specific tones during babbling—producing significantly more high-pitched sounds than their English-learning counterparts. In short, the surrounding language environment molds the child’s early vocal experimentation into the particular set of sounds needed for fluent speech.

A Natural, Playful Process

Babies don’t just babble; they initiate “musical dialogues” that parents can nurture. From gentle lullabies to lively nursery rhymes, the sing-song tones adults use encourage babies to imitate and join in, which helps them match pitch and explore vocal range. Infants are born with a wide vocal range and can begin imitating pitch around three to four months old. The more parents sing, the faster a child’s musical precision develops, and these playful early exchanges pave the way for better melodic accuracy. In short, infant-directed singing is a powerful form of vocal and linguistic stimulation—it enhances musical development while reinforcing language learning.

Impacts on Future Singing

One of the clearest examples of how early auditory experiences can shape musical aptitude is tonal language exposure and absolute pitch. In languages like Mandarin or Vietnamese, pitch changes a word’s meaning, training infants to discern subtle pitch shifts from the outset. This innate awareness of pitch often translates into musical skills; tone-language speakers are far more likely to develop perfect pitch than those raised with non-tonal languages. Essentially, a baby babbling in a tonal language is already doing ear training. Early language input thus “tunes” the brain for both speech and song.

Wrapping up

This glimpse into the earliest stages of human vocal development reveals a few key insights:

The voice is a core human function with global phonatory potential.
Environmental soundscapes shape that potential from the start.
Playful, call-and-response interactions are crucial to vocal development.

These seemingly simple ideas can easily get lost in the complicated language surrounding vocal technique. Now that we’ve explored how the infant voice naturally flourishes, let’s see how our definitions of singing and speech can become tangled—turning something instinctive into a source of confusion and debate.

LESSON SUMMARY

The lesson emphasizes that the human voice is a core, innate function, operating initially from a “naturally coordinated state.”
Infants start with a broad “global phonatory potential,” demonstrated by their universal babbling sounds.
Early vocal play (call-and-response) and the surrounding language environment shape how children refine their vocal abilities.
Exposure to tonal languages often enhances pitch perception, showing how early linguistic input can strongly influence musical and vocal development.
The core message: singing and speech both arise from a playful, instinctive process that can be nurtured by engaging with a rich sound environment.

ACTIVITY: “Soundscape Exploration & Imitation”

Record or Observe Everyday Sounds
- Spend a day consciously noting various sounds in your environment (e.g., a ringing phone, a passing car horn, a bird’s call).
- Pick two or three distinctive sounds to record or remember clearly.
Attempt Vocal Imitation
- Revisit your chosen sounds and try to replicate each one vocally—much like a baby would experiment with new noises.
- Don’t worry about perfect accuracy; focus on matching pitch, rhythm, and general character.
Reflect on the Experience
- Note which sounds felt easier or harder to imitate and why (pitch range, intensity, etc.).
- Consider how this mirrors an infant’s open-ended approach to vocal exploration and how your “established” voice might inhibit or help the process.
Discussion or Journaling
- Share your experiences with a friend or write a brief entry about how it felt to play with your voice in this way.
- Reflect on how early vocal “play” could shape a person’s long-term singing or speaking habits.