Soft Palate

Hello Camille,

So I noticed that we wanted to keep our soft palate raised when singing classical music. Now, I want to make sure I know the reason why. We want to lift the soft palate when we sing because it helps us project right?

That and it creates a rounder, richer, more open tone! From Voice Science Works: "If it is raised, acoustic information stays in the pharynx and oral cavity. If it lowers, acoustic information is dampened by the wet nasal cavity resonator. The nasal cavity is not considered a ‘viable resonator’ when it comes to creating maximum volume." 

 Okay! I have more question though. I know nasal resonance helps with high notes, because it takes the pressure off the vocal cords. Now, when I sing in my falsetto/head voice and lift the soft palate I feel it is much harder then when it is lowered which I think is because it is the oral cavity too much and not in my head resonance and nasal cavities. So lets say, I want to sing high and classical, how can I mantain the lifted soft palate while still being able to hit the high notes?

Try singing an EE vowel, and play with the height of your soft palate! It doesn't need to be 100% lifted or 100% lowered - perhaps you'll find a "sweet spot" that will help you. 

Okay. Thanks. This has cleared up a lot of questions in my head about the soft palate.

Glad to hear that and happy to help!