Most of the time, when people
are speaking of musicians, they rarely consider a vocalist one. Why, because
they don’t carry big amps and set up a physical instrument? I sis because they do not play a
man-made stringed, wind, or percussive instrument that they have to load in the
car and set-up hours before a musical engagement?
When a jazz event is being
spoken of, it often says quartet, excluding the singer which if included would
be a quintet. So why isn’t the singer
considered a musician when a singer actually is one?
The vocal cords are the only
hand-made by God instrument on this earth. It is internal and is carried around
inside of the human body.
The vocal cords are “a pair of
folds of tissue that extend across the inside of the larynx and that produce
the voice when air exhaled from the lungs causes them to tighten and vibrate”
(Merriam Webster). They are primarily
responsible for voice production.
“The vocal cords are shorter
and thinner in women and children, accounting in part for their higher-pitched
voices” (Britannica). In men, the vocal cord is the size of a nickel and in
woman, the vocal cord is the size of a dime.
The human voice is one of the
most powerful instruments. It produces speech and enables communication. If you
have a voice to speak, you have power to create change. If you have the ability
to use your voice in other ways like singing, you have the ability to affect the
ears of listeners with your word usage and the outpouring of emotion that you
release when you free your voice.
It uses air to release sound,
so like a horn, the human voice is a wind instrument. It can run scales in different keys of
the solfege or other musical scales like a piano, so it can also be considered
a stringed instrument. And there are times when the human voice makes you feel
all warm and tingly inside, producing that thump that drives your heartbeat,
which can make the human voice percussive.
Now here is a big difference
between a physical instrument and the vocals. If dust falls in between each key
of a piano or one of the keys go out of tune, you either spray it with dust
remover or get it retuned and it is fine. Pull a string on a guitar or bass, and
you simply unplug and restring it. Should a piece of dust get on the vocal
chords, now you have limited usage of your voice because you now have an upper
respiratory infection. Should you pull a string on your vocal cords, you may
have to consult an ENT physician and consider surgery to remove nodes on your
cords.
So though, the vocal cords
might very well be inside of a human body, it is very much an instrument which makes a vocalist a musician. The human voice is
the only instrument that God made by hand. It is the most powerful instrument in
the world. And it is the one easiest to let a message out musically that can
affect thought.
Perhaps my song, “Breakthrough”
which was originally written and produced by Stephanie Jeannot and Armand
Collins, will affect your day positively. It is an inspirational tune and it was performed live at Resorts World Casinos
in Queens, NY. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/B4fJ-8SswqQ
