Calling
Quick Definition
A vocal exercise or concept using the natural coordination of calling out (as if to someone at a distance) to find efficient, projected chest voice production.
Factual Definition
A teaching concept utilizing the instinctive laryngeal and respiratory coordination used when calling to someone far away. This coordination typically involves optimal subglottic pressure, thyroarytenoid engagement, some aryepiglottic narrowing, and efficient breath use.
Full Explanation
The ‘calling’ exercise draws on an innate human vocalization – the call. When we naturally call to someone across a distance (like calling a child in from the yard), we instinctively find an efficient coordination that projects without strain.
This coordination typically includes appropriate breath support, good cord closure, some degree of twang/AES narrowing, and a speech-like resonance balance. By accessing this instinctive pattern, singers can bypass overthinking and find healthy, powerful chest voice production.
Teachers may use calling exercises to help students find belt coordination, reset from pressed or breathy phonation, or establish the sensation of efficient power. The key is accessing the instinctive pattern rather than ‘performing’ the call artificially.
How Different Methods Define This
This term may be used differently across vocal pedagogy traditions: