Finding One's Formant August 14, 2021

One of the few reliable pleasures of my pandemic experience is the semi-weekly vocal workout offered by San Francisco voice teacher Julia Nielsen. On Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 pm, I and other home-bound singers join Julia for a thirty-minute journey through imaginative exercises designed to improve our range, control, flexibility, and consonant production. 

Last week Julia introduced “vocal formants,” a concept that was new to me. The idea is that parts of our vocal tract – the mouth, the pharynx – resonate at certain frequencies depending on the vowel we are trying to form, because the formation of the vowel itself determines the size and shape of the cavities. When the chambers’ resonant frequency matches the pitch being produced by the vocal folds, we generate a richer and more focused sound. 

It occurred to me that the formant could serve as a metaphor for success in many of life’s endeavors. It is as though we are each producing our own pitch, but in order to really be successful, we need to find a formant that supports and amplifies our effort. Perhaps the formant lies in a parent or a partner, who is a receptive to our needs and ambitions and who supports our growth. Perhaps it rests in our education, where a certain teacher or class inspires and challenges us, or in a job that matches our abilities and propels us to a new level of expertise. 

In many aspects of life, our success is supported by another type of formant – as the old saw says, “being at the right place at the right time.” Knowing this encourages us to raise our antennae, to be aware of what is working for us, to look elsewhere if it isn’t, and to seize wholeheartedly on the gift that occasionally comes our way. 

A young person strides through school and college, meeting an enormous number of people along the way. Job opportunities are myriad for the youth, energy is high, the world lies like a smorgasbord of opportunity for the younger person. 

But in my experience, as we get older, formants are inherently harder to find. There is no NSF program for “old” scientists, no “way-past-emerging” artists program at the art school. And so I’m struggling to find my formant, especially during COVID. Like all of you, I’m dipping my toe in many waters, looking for that vessel that will support my needs, resonate with my values, and nurture my abilities. Oh formant, where art thou?