The Feeling Ear

Your ear feels. It just doesn't perceive sound. It feels it.

Your ear knows where you are in space at every millisecond. It knows where your larynx is, how your breath feels, and what’s going to happen with your voice before it happens.

How is this possible?

Because of semi-circular canals sitting behind your cochlea. Their job is to orient you in space.

Have way too much to drink and what happens? The functioning of the canals is impaired. Go too far and your head will be spinning!

You know what I’m talking about.

Singing teachers tell students to stop listening to themselves and feel their voice, right? There’s a lot of truth in that; however, feeling is listening—which I am forever saying on this page because this is what the semicircular canals do: they feel sound and your body!

I constantly ask students, “How does that feel?” or “What do you feel, and where do you feel it?” This nuance goes deeper the more the student investigates it, which is how real mastery is achieved.

Good and bad are highly informative perceptions, but they lie on the surface. How the body feels and what it feels is as important as where it feels it. This triune counsel gives the singer the information necessary to become her own teacher, providing she possesses tools and techniques that actually work.

What do practical tools and techniques engender in those with ears to hear?

Feeling!