Common Tone Production Errors

Although there are numerous undesirable colours  and “shades” of tone, (such as “pinched”, “sharp-“ or “shrill-sounding”, “flat-sounding”, “shaky”, “thin”, etc.), I tend to divide the most common tone production errors into three general categories: breathy, nasally and throaty. In this article, I have also included a fourth tone production error, pressed phonation, because it is also relatively common amongst untrained or incorrectly trained singers. Each of these errors in sound or tone production is a product of poor singing technique and results in a failure to create optimal resonance, which is an important part of good singing. These faulty tones all tend to hamper loudness ability and limit range, control, stamina and volume. Furthermore, since improper tone production is created through improper use of the vocal apparatus, it can also lead to vocal fatigue, strain or injury.

In some cases these tone production weaknesses may indicate the presence of a medical condition (e.g., vocal fold dysfunction or other glottal incompetence, etc.) that is preventing the vocal apparatus from functioning optimally. It is always in the singer’s best interest to have a doctor examine his or her vocal tract in cases where the singer finds that he or she is unable to make improvements in singing tone after a reasonable length of time working with a qualified vocal instructor, or where persistent pain or discomfort is present during either singing or speech. A correct diagnosis and proper treatment of such medical concerns can save the voice from (further) injury, and save the singer from years of frustration and discouragement when he or she remains unable to produce desirable tone.

It is important to understand that many singers may demonstrate these tone production errors only at certain times, in certain places within their range, on certain vowels or at certain pitches. Also, the voices of some singers may be described in more than one way. For example, some singers are both nasally at points and throaty at other times during a song.