Creighton University

If you're a baseball fan, you've heard about the "sweet spot" of a bat— that magical spot where the balance of mass, density and velocity combine to send a baseball flying mercilessly over the center field wall. Certainly, hitting the ball towards either end of the bat isn't going to produce the same result (not without cork, at least), and batters spend a great deal of time finding that balance and incorporating it into their swing.

What can be said about the venerable baseball bat can also be said about your head (and I mean no offense in saying that). The throat, mouth cavity and nasal passages are crucial in forming and projecting vocal sound; and finding your own "sweet spot" of vocal production can make a world of difference to your vocal quality, pitch, strength, and stamina (and can even save your voice in the long run).

Finding your center of energy
The first step might be the hardest— figuring out where in your head your singing voice is resonating. For those of you who are very concrete, I ask you to be open-minded about this. Imagine that there is a "bouncing point" in your head, where the energy of your singing seems most intense. Now, sing an easy "ah" on a comfortable pitch for about 6-7 seconds. Could you feel the energy of your voice concentrating somewhere between your larynx and nostrils? If not, try again: it's there, trust me. What you are feeling is the resonation and amplification of the sound waves you are generating. You are your own amp, your own loudspeaker. Where that sound is resonating, however, makes all the difference.

Resonation
There are two areas in the head that singers will typically find themselves resonating from. Glottal resonation takes place in the throat, right around the larynx. A common temptation, especially for young singers, is to sing from the throat deliberately, so as sound "more mature." The problem here is that it is extremely difficult to sing from the throat without creating a dark and hollow character in the voice, lacking depth and clarity. The bigger problem, however, is that concentrating your energy in the throat puts an added stress on the larynx, which is already vibrating at a rate of several hundred times each second. Such excessive tensions can really wear a singer down in a hurry (does your throat hurt after more than 30 minutes of singing?) or, worse, lead to abrasions and bruising of the vocal cords, which can scar (forming nodes) and cause severe damage to the voice (which even surgery may not be able to reverse). Nasal resonation is the other end of the spectrum, taking place in the nasal cavities. Not many people strive to sing directly from the nose, but there are some whose vocal production leans toward it, resulting in thin and lackluster tonality.

Sinal Resonation
The ideal spot to amplify one's vocal sound is found in everyone's favorite holes in the head: the sinuses. These congestion-prone cavities are far from the intensity of the furiously flying vocal chords, but far more open and ambient than the nostrils. The result is a well-amplified, rich and dynamic vocal quality, with much greater control and (in some cases) better range for the singer. Being a bone structure (as opposed to cartilage or membrane) means far better durability and no pain after extended singing (unless a sinus infection is present, in which case you might not feel up to singing anyway.)