Adding mask resonance drops uvula

Aressahk

I MIGHT have the wrong idea of mask, but here's how it sounds.

First with mask, then no mask, mask, no mask. Or what I think mask resonance is..

Is it mask, and why does it drop the uvula, whatever it is?

https://youtu.be/F5fXcdOnnMo

highmtn

Your uvula hangs around in front of the velopharyngeal port, that passage between the top of your throat and your nasopharynx.

So when you raise or lower your uvula, that can cause more or less air to pass through the port and into your mask (sinuses, nasal cavities). You usually don't want to go too far one way or the other. A little bit raised is fine. You don't have to eliminate all air through the nose, and likewise you don't want all of your air to go through the nose.

Raising the uvula, or the entire soft palate can also change the size of the area at the back of the throat, which can create or defeat throat resonance, depending upon the pitch combined with the varying size of the vocal tract.

When we do vowel modifications, we are changing the size/pitch correlations in the vocal tract, which also varies resonance.

So just experiment around with the raising and lowering of the uvula and find the nicest tone that YOU like. You may want a little more mask sometimes and a little less mask at other times.

Bob

Aressahk

Thanks for the answer bob! By this time I already watched a couple of vids on the mask and I understood how it works. And exactly what's happening with my tone also, when I let the resonance into the sinus cavities it becomes much easier to control and sing on pitch, it seems to have no effect on tone, though. At least when I record, I can't hear the difference.

In most mask demo vids people use different vowels, but an Ah with or without mask, to me, sounds exactly the same.