Day 6 – How Sound Begins

Ever feel like your phrases always start with a whisper—or like you have to punch every note to get going? That comes down to how sound begins: the onset. And it shapes everything that follows.

The way you start a sound shapes everything that comes after it. Today, you’ll explore how that beginning—called the onset—affects your tone, ease, and vocal health.

While each onset tends toward a phonatory style, that’s simply the default—it doesn’t have to define what follows.

There are three main types of vocal onsets:

Try This: Explore Each Onset

Use a comfortable pitch and speak or sing a simple syllable like “ah” or “ee.” Try each version below. Practice slowly, and focus on awareness:

1. Aspirate Onset

Add a soft “h” before the vowel. It sounds breathy: “haaah”

The vocal folds come together after air has already started flowing.
Common in soft styles or emotional phrases. Common only in amplified settings.
Can feel easy, but too much use may fatigue the voice.
Tends to lead to a breathy or airy quality.

2. Glottal Onset

Start the vowel with a distinct pop or catch: “ah!”

The vocal folds are closed before air pressure builds and bursts them open.
Can sound percussive or aggressive.
Often used in speech, contemporary music, and classical.
Often leads to a stronger, more pressed sound, typically associated with chest voice or thyroarytenoid (TA) dominant production.

3. Smooth (Coordinated) Onset

Start the sound gently, very gently—no burst, no breathiness: “yah”

Air and vocal fold contact begin at the same time.
Clear, efficient, and sustainable.
Often the most versatile for singing.
Tends to lead to a light, clear head voice, often with less vocal fold mass.

Try each multiple times. Notice how your tone shifts.
Each onset type naturally leads to different sensations and tonal qualities—aspirate may feel breathy, glottal might feel punchy or tense, and smooth may feel light or even effortful at first. This exercise helps you recognize how each start influences your tone and ease—no need to judge, just observe.

Reflect: What did you notice?

Take notes in your notebook or notes app:

Which one felt most natural to you—and why? Did it match a singing habit, speech pattern, or genre preference?
Which was hardest to coordinate—and why? Was it timing, sensation, or control?
Which one made you feel more in control—and how did that sense of control impact your vocal confidence or sound quality?
Did one feel too tight or too loose—and where? Try to localize the sensation. Was it in the throat, jaw, breath, or somewhere else?
How did the tone change? Did it match the emotional or stylistic intent of the phrase?

Try it in Action

Choose a short, familiar line from a song you know well.
Sing it three times—once with each onset (aspirate, glottal, and smooth). Pay attention to how each one affects your tone, comfort, and expression.
Now, sing it again using your default onset—the way you’d normally sing it without thinking. Does it match one of the types above?
Finally, sing it again using the smooth onset. How does that feel in comparison—easier? Harder? Clearer?

Every choice you make at the start of a phrase sets the tone—literally—for what follows.

What This Builds

Awareness of how vocal sound begins and how it affects what follows
Control over vocal attack, tone, and ease of onset
Flexibility to shift vocal style or expressive intent
A starting point for improving vocal comfort and reducing unintentional breathiness or tension

Tomorrow, we’ll take a moment to reflect on the past week and revisit anything that felt tricky. It’s a great chance to reconnect with the work—and to bring questions or thoughts to the Discord community if you’d like support.