Podkopaev, M.I. System Voice Function Organization

M.I. Podkopaev

Voronezh State Academy of Arts

SYSTEM ORGANIZATION OF VOICE FUNCTION

(Podkopaev, MI System organization of the voice function / / Questions of vocal education: Methodological recommendations for university teachers and secondary special educational institutions., M. - St. Petersburg, 2003. - P. 80 - 88).

One of the main and amazing functions that nature has awarded to a person is sound speech, in particular, its specialized form - singing or vocal speech (a term used in cases when the phenomenon of singing is viewed from the angle of physiology or acoustics).

It is known that the voice function, which forms the sonic component of vocal speech, does not have its own specific anatomical system of organs, which in the strict sense could be called phonetic organs. To realize this function, a person uses breathing organs, swallowing, ie, Bodies originally intended for priority and more important in biological functions; They act as if by chance. The totality of these organs has long been called the voice apparatus. The latter for the singer is not only an instrument of his professional activity, but also an object of direct pedagogical influence in the process of vocal training. Today few people dispute the thesis that knowledge of the basic principles underlying the activity of the voice apparatus is one of the necessary conditions for successful work on its creation. In his "School of Singing" (1840) A.Varlamov wrote: "In order that in order to learn singing, it is not unconscious to act, it is necessary to base it on accurate knowledge of the respiratory and vocal mechanism and draw the basic rules from the physiology of these organs."

Usually anatomical and physiological ideas about the vocal apparatus are obtained by vocal students in the framework of the basic discipline of the pedagogical cycle - the vocal technique course. At the same time, in a short time period, allocated by the program, students should receive and assimilate a lot of factual data from anatomy, physiology, acoustics and make out an idea of the structure and laws of the activity of the vocal apparatus. At the same time, the quality of this knowledge should correspond to the goals of forming an educated and qualified specialist, especially if the vocalist links his professional activity with pedagogy. According to the established tradition, the study of this section of the curriculum is built from the position of classical (organ) physiology, based on a structural or analytical approach. From his position, the human body is traditionally considered as a set of various organs united by nervous and humoral (hormonal) regulation. Any textbooks on anatomy, physiology, etc. Are built on the principle of an organ and include sections on individual anatomical systems, namely, cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, endocrine, etc. Following this likeness, since the time of M. Garcia, the voice apparatus is considered to consist of the following components: the "generator" of sound - the larynx, the supernatant (resonator) part - the pharynx, the nasal cavity with the paranasal sinuses, the "energy" apparatus - the trachea, bronchi, , Respiratory muscles, articulatory apparatus - oral cavity. Tongue, teeth, lips, hard and soft palate. It is stated that "all parts and functions of this organization are interrelated and regulated by the central nervous system" (cited in: Dmitriev LB, Tellyaeva LM, Taptapova SL, etc. Phoniatrics and phonopedy. - M., 1990, pp. C.20). But what unites these bodies that do not have background specificity and belong to different anatomical systems, into an integral organization, what are the mechanisms of such unification and ensuring the integrity of the functioning of the voice apparatus? Organo-structural approach of answers to these questions does not give. In this connection, the application of this method to the study of the voice (vocal) function is limited and to some extent insolvent for the reason connected in this case with the restriction of the formation in students of the whole organization of the voice apparatus.

A fundamentally new approach to understanding physiological functions postulates a systematic approach that has been widely used in the methodology of sciences in recent years. In physiology, the system approach is based on the theory of functional systems (further TSF ), developed by the student I.P. Pavlova - Academician P.K. Anokhinym and received a modern development in the writings of his pupil - academician of the RAS K.V. Sudakova.

As a pedagogical experiment at the vocal department of the Voronezh State Academy of Arts, the author of this work attempted to introduce the elements of the TSF as a methodological basis for teaching the vocal technique from the viewpoint of a systematic approach. The main goal in this case was the task of educating the student's creative thinking, one of the most important features of which is systemic.

In the present paper, we shall confine ourselves to presenting, in a general form, the experience of applying the main provisions of the TSF to studying the principles of the systemic organization of the person's voice (vocal) function.

Instead of classical physiology of organs, following anatomical principles), TFS proclaims the systemic organization of functions. PK Anokhin was the first to draw attention to the fact that the systems of living organisms do not simply order the individual elements entering into them, but unite them for the sake of obtaining a certain concrete result of activity, namely, for the implementation of certain necessary functions. Therefore, such systems are called functional. According to Anokhin, the system in physiology is a set of organs connected by a specific function. Hence the result of the activity organizes the system, unites the individual parts into a whole, thus being the leading system-forming factor. It is to achieve a certain result that functional systems (FS) are formed.

The voice function, like all other human functions, is based on a systemic organization. As the starting positions of the interpretation of the system organization of the voice function, we use the basic postulates of the TFS. Being common for all FS of the body, they are typical for FS of voice formation and vocal speech. In general, the content of the basic postulates of TFS is reduced to the following. The organization of all FS of the body has the same type of structure, which is also characteristic for PS of voice formation. This structure includes central and peripheral nodal components and mechanisms:

Ÿ the result of the activity as the leading link of the FS (its "visiting card") - for the sake of which the FS is created;

Ÿ the device that perceives the properties (parameters) of the achieved result of the activity - the result receptors;

Ÿ feedback channels that transmit information to the central nervous system about the result of the performed action and the parameters of this result, which enables the body as a whole to assess the degree of success and the quality of the action performed by it;

Ÿ the central part of the FS, ensuring its coordinated work and representing the unification of elements of different levels of the central nervous system;

Ÿ executive mechanisms of the FS.

The initial result of the activity as a system-forming factor of the FS of voice formation and vocal speech is the formation of an acoustic signal in the speech tract, which serves as the basis for the final results of the activity-a separate singing tone, a phoneme, a sung word, a phrase. Both the pre-finite and the final result of the FS activity have a number of independent variable parameters, i.e. Are multi-parameter. Some of them carry information about the acoustic structure of the voice (acoustic parameters) - height, strength, spectral composition (presence or absence of high and / or low singing formants, etc.). Other parameters contain information about phonemic sound composition - articulatory (or kinesthetic) parameters. Being closely related to acoustic parameters, the latter allow us to distinguish and describe the place and method of sound formation, i.e. Determine the pronunciation characteristics of vowels and consonants.

It is important to note that the parameters of the result differ not only between the voice and singing voice, but also within the various vocal genres - academic singing, singing, folk singing, etc. All the parameters of the result of activity are determined by those physiological and biophysical processes that ensure its achievement, namely: 1) phonation, which ensures generation of the voice and its corresponding acoustic structure, and 2) articulation, which ensures the formation of speech sounds and determines the phonemic structure of sound. Accordingly, two functional subsystems are organized - FS background and FS articulation.

At the same time, selective mobilization of various organs and tissues belonging to different anatomical systems takes place in the corresponding FS. Inclusion of various organs, the aggregate of which is called a voice apparatus, is performed in vocal FS on the basis of the principle of selective association of organs in various FS. At the same time, the same body can be included in different FSs, in addition, different FSs or subsystems of the same FS (as in the case of PS of voice formation) can be used by different or the same organs to achieve the end results. In this regard, any organ of the vocal apparatus participates in the performance of many functions associated with voice formation and is in this sense polyfunctional. Depending on which FS or subsystem the organ of the voice apparatus belongs to, different requirements are made to it, but only those properties with which it manifests itself in this FS are acquired.

From these positions, the same organ in various FS vocal speech acquires special distinct properties. For example, the trachea and bronchi included in the FS sound generation perform other functions, in comparison with the same trachea and bronchi included in the FS of the background breathing. Or, the vocal folds show their functional properties in different ways, including, for example, in the articulation of the FS where they have a phonemic function, or in PS sound generation, where they act as a source of acoustic energy. Similarly, the respiratory muscles enter into different FS, associated with voice formation, namely: in the FS of the background breathing, they perform a pneumatic function, and in the FC, the articulations are involved in the mechanisms of libration.

PS of voice formation also selectively includes nerve and hormonal levels of regulation. The latter are represented by a kind of "arrangement" that selectively includes the thyroid, the sex glands, and the adrenal glands from the endocrine system. The nervous mechanism is represented by the selective inclusion of various nerve centers.

Each of the elements selectively included in the FS voice formation. Interacting with other elements of the system, actively contribute to the achievement of the FS of its final result. Such interaction of the elements of the FS in TPS was called the interaction (PK Anokhin). The interaction of the components of the system is ensured by the presence of nutrisystem bonds, and the interaction itself determines the regulation processes of the system.

Any FS, including PS of voice formation, is a self-regulating system. Self-regulation in the FS is provided by the presence of a controlling apparatus that evaluates the final result. Such apparatus are the peripheral nerve endings perceiving the outcome parameters-receptors located both in the voice apparatus itself and distantly from it. The coded information on the parameter of the achieved result from the receptors enters the corresponding nerve centers (cerebral cortex, limbic system, providing the emotional component of speech and singing, the centers of the medulla oblongata). On the basis of incoming information, selective involvement of structures of different levels of the central nervous system in the FS of voice formation and vocal speech is used to mobilize the executive organs and systems (reaction apparatuses). According to the nature of information entering the central nervous system from the receptors of the vocal apparatus, there are at least five kinds of sensitivity: auditory, vibrational (which, as shown by VP Morozov, resonant nature), muscular, pneumatic (due to air pressure in the resonant tract and Work of the respiratory muscles), visual. In sum, they provide a specific complex of singing sensations and ideas about the internal workings of the voice apparatus, or, as they say, form a vocal-bodily scheme in the singer's consciousness - a system of individual internal sensations arising during singing phonation. With her help, the singer controls his sound formation every moment. As R.Jusson has precisely specified. "Each kind of vocal technique generates a specific vocal-bodily scheme, the presence of which in turn stabilizes this technology" (3. p. 109).

Thus, the sensor system of the voice device (the so-called "vocal analyzer" of the singer) performs a controlling and regulatory function. At the same time, the PS of voice formation and vocal speech has a leading feedback channel: it, as shown in the works of VP Morozov, with the resonant singing technology is a vibratory channel that in coded form carries information about the activity of singing resonators that are least exposed to masking influence External influences (acoustic conditions of performance, etc.).

An important position of the TFS, which is of practical importance for vocal pedagogy, is the question of the presence of a management apparatus in the FS. Here the following is of fundamental importance. In FS of voice formation in her The central part - the brain has a complex of cortical-subcortical Nerve structures, which are a device foresight ("advanced modeling") and evaluation of the achieved result. This apparatus (the "acceptor of the result of action" According to Anokhin) "anticipates" the final properties of the result, determines the appropriateness and The effectiveness of choosing an action program aimed at achieving the final result, and directs human behavior through a constant comparison of information on the parameters of the result achieved through the feedback channels arriving at the central nervous system. It creates, as it were, an "image" of the goal, which the singer is associated with the maximum activity of the resonators and the feedback channel reflecting this activity - vibrational (resonant) sensations (Morozov, 2002, 2008). The vocalist's choice of singing sounds in the process of vocal-pedagogical interaction between the teacher and the pupil has a primary role in the formation of the apparatus of foresight and the evaluation of the final result. Also of great importance in enriching the foresight apparatus are properly formed vocal skills in the process of teaching, teacher's verbal instruction aimed at the formation of resonant singing technique, and also the presence of a pronounced motivation for the vocalist to master exactly the resonant singing technique that provides the real art of singing.

Much attention in the study of the architectonics of FS of vocal speech is given to the consideration of the executive mechanisms of voice formation, representing a combination of acoustic and Physiological processes aimed at achieving the final results of the FS and providing the necessary professional qualities of the singing voice, corresponding to the parameters of the standard of academic vocal. Of great importance in the study of executive mechanisms are the fundamental studies of R.Yusson, Fanta, Sundberg. LBDmitrieva. A special place in this field is for its scientific-theoretical And the practical value of the work carried out by domestic scientists - professors VN Sorokin and VP Morozov, whose ideas were embodied in the theories developed by them - the theory of speech (VN Sorokin, 1985) and the resonant theory of singing (B .P.Morozov, 2002, 2008). The latter is of prime importance for vocal-performing and vocal-pedagogical practice. The resonance theory of singing, together with the theory of functional systems, radically changes the existing ideas about the nature of the executive mechanisms and the functions of the voice apparatus.

The main executive mechanisms providing vocal speech are background and articulation, which are provided by appropriate FS. At the same time, these systems include the same peripheral actuating components, but they have different levels of central regulation. The biophysical basis of all the executive mechanisms of the voice-forming system is the resonant mechanism . It is the resonance that serves as a bridge between phonation and articulation, forms the basis of sound generation, and also through changing modes of operation and acoustic attunement of resonators, serves as a way of controlling and regulating the larynx's register attitude and associated timbre formation mechanisms. This is due to the presence in the resonance FS of the voice formation of a special type of feedback between the resonators and the sources of acoustic oscillations having an acoustic (resonant) nature.

This reverse acoustic connection allows us to include the protective mechanisms of the larynx (the protective function of the resonators according to Morozov), and also facilitates its work, relieves the excessive tension of the laryngeal muscles (this function of the resonators can be defined as a helper function, from English help - help, help).

A distinctive feature of the voice apparatus as a system organization is the presence of direct and inverse connections between the executive components of the system (larynx, resonators, breathing) of a polymodal nature (acoustic, pneumatic, neural-reflex) (Morozov, 2002, 2008). The presence of direct and feedback connections both vertically (between the central control and control apparatus and the executive components) and horizontally (between the elements of the executive apparatus-the larynx and respiration of the resonators) that enter the system on the basis of the principle of mutual interaction determine the activity of the PS of voice formation and vocal speech as Complex integrative system. For any, including pedagogical effects, it reacts as a whole, and the impact on any of its parts immediately affects the work of others. (Morozov, 2002, 2008)

Conclusion

1. The voice function and closely related to it vocal speech (singing), like all other human functions, has a systemic organization, is the end result of the activity of a specialized functional system of voice formation, which is a cyclic, self-regulating organization that selectively combines various organs and levels of nervous and humoral regulation To achieve its final result - the formation of the sound component of vocal speech - voice, as well as phonetic units of vocal speech, forms The optimal parameters of singing voice formation, corresponding to the parameters of the standard of academic vocal (or other vocal genres) and providing professional qualities of the singing voice.

2. In the vocal FS, relatively independent but interconnected subsystems can be identified that are the executive components of the key effector mechanisms of vocal speech-the delivery of the "substance" of sound-air to sources of acoustic vibrations, sound generation, Articulation. From the system positions refracted in the light of the resonant theory of singing, it becomes incorrect to assign the larynx to the "generator" system (department) of the vocal apparatus. The latter, in the first place, includes the entire resonator path of the voice apparatus, and the larynx is only one of the sources of acoustic energy due to the modulation of the airflow by oscillating vocal folds.

3. The voice device is only an element of the FS, performing the role of the executive (effector) apparatus of this system.

4. The universal principle of building an organism's FS, as well as a knowledge of their general structure and properties, is a kind of "key" for constructing the FS of voice formation and vocal speech, filling the architectonics of this FS and its subsystems with appropriate content.

5. Application of the principles of the theory of functional systems When studying the regularities of the vocal function in the course of the methodology, experience has shown that it contributes to the development of system thinking in certain students and certain algorithms in constructing mental activity, as well as the fundamentalization of the formation of modern ideas about the activity of the system of voice formation and vocal speech as a functionally integrated whole.

Literature

1. Phoniatrics and phonopedy / Dmitriev LB, Tellyaeva LM, Taptapova SL, Ermakova II - M., Medicine, 1990.
2. Morozov V.P. The art of resonant singing. Fundamentals of resonant theory and technology. - M., 2002 (2nd ed. - M., 2008).
3. Sorokin V.N. The theory of speech formation. - M., 1985.
4. Husson R. Singing voice. - M., 1974.