The Hard Palate: What Does It Mean?

In the last article, we discussed the soft palate. Similar to the diaphragm article, we covered some of the good and bad and nasal aspects of using the soft palate during singing. Today’s article picks up with the other part of the palate, the hard palate. 

Disclaimer: the “What Does It Mean?” series is meant to demystify some of the commonly used lingo in the voice studio and beyond. I will give evidenced information and cite sources so you can dive deeper. 

So, what is the hard palate?

Right behind your top teeth on the roof of the mouth is the hard palate. This bony structure separates the mouth cavity from the nasal cavity and connects to the soft palate as you run backward along the top of the mouth. The bone is covered by an epithelial layer (think skin) and is seen as the roof of the mouth. From Kenhub.com, 

“The hard palate plays functional roles in both feeding and speech. Before modern surgical treatments were developed, infants with defective palates were unable to suckle and often died. During suckling, the hard palate is used to create a vacuum that forces liquid into the mouth so that it can be ingested. Along with the tongue, the hard palate is also essential for creating certain phonetic sounds.”

So, how do we use the hard palate in singing?

The hard palate is vital for specific phonetic sounds. The tongue can press upon the hard palate to construct consonants. Certain palatal (palate) and alveolar (the part where the top teeth meet the hard palate) consonants and glides are made against the hard palate like /t/ as in toy, /d/ as in dean, /s/ as in sip, /z/ as in zebra, and /j/ as in yellow. Slowly articulate those words and be conscious of the location of your tongue. Without the hard palate, there would be fewer possible consonant sounds as well as a place to “perceive” vibration. 

While not as treacherous a topic as volitional use of the soft palate, many ideas in the voice studio engage the hard palate and the alveolar ridge. Due to bone conduction and vibratory sensation, many teachers will say to “send your sound through your hard palate” or “feel the hard palate buzz” or “make sure the text is on the hard palate.” While none of these create distinct functional issues, because every singer has a different internal singing experience, the prompt can be misleading and cause extra force being placed on “placing” the voice. Rather than focus on “forcing” vibration to happen (or to feel like it’s happening), gently articulate a /d/ to get tangible sensation in the area.

Useful hard palate ideas stem from linguistics and the location of the bone. On the linguistics side, the singer’s language, Italian, has a great deal of emphasis on finding a sound that tends to sympathetically vibrate on or near the hard palate and front of the face. The use of quick single and energized double consonants in Italian activate the hard palate as a tangible location to allow vibration to move toward. Additionally, it generally receives some vibrations from singing because it is located very close to the front of the mouth and lips. These ideas can help singers further balance their resonance and authentically care for the text they are singing. One personal exercise is to use a /d/ before pitches to quickly initiate energy to the front of the face and articulate clearly. If you have a fast passage or a place where you are having trouble connecting, use a /dɪ/ “dih” to easily focus sound energy to the front. Any choral members will know what I am talking about.

What’s next?

Please reach out for any article term suggestions! Always remember that the goal of singing is ease and effectiveness!