How Your Voice Works

Learn How Your Voice Works with Vocal Lessons Online & Roswell, GA 3007

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THE LARYNX FOR KIDS (AND ADULTS TOO!)

This is how your vocal folds work in the lower register. Air coming from the lungs creates a vibrational wave, from the bottom of the fold to the top. The folds open and close rapidly, releasing puffs of air every time they open. When you sing a middle C, this happens 256 times per second (Hz).

Vocal fold falsett animated

When you are singing higher notes in your upper register, this vibratory pattern begins higher on the vocal fold. The folds are also stretched longer and thinner due to the action of the cricothyroid muscle (CT) tilting the thyroid cartilage forward and down. Since the folds are attached to the arytenoid cartilages in the back of the larynx, when the thyroid tilts forward and down, the folds are lengthened, like rubber bands stretching. The combined result is less vocal fold vibrational mass employed in the upper register.

If you attempt to hold on to the vocal fold mass of the lower register when singing higher pitches (in other words, yelling on high notes) you will experience strain and ultimately, vocal abuse. Most singers try to do this, in the beginning, because the “chest voice” is our speaking voice and feels familiar. It’s hard to let go of what you know! But once singers discover the ease and power of the mix with vocal training at SLaS, they never go back to pushing the chest voice too high.

TRICIA’S VOCAL FOLDS ON LOW AND HIGH PITCHES

Rigid Stroboscopy

HOW THE LARYNX PRODUCES SOUND

THE LARYNX

VIBRATION OF THE VOCAL FOLDS, PROCESS OF PHONATION

ROLES OF THE MUSCLES OF THE LARYNX

LOOKING AT A VOICE

VOCAL FOLDS ON LOW AND HIGH PITCH

VOWEL DEMONSTRATOR- HOW CHANGING THE RESONATOR AFFECTS VOWELS

THE CRICOTHYROID (CT) MUSCLE- RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGH NOTES, POSTERIOR CRICOARYTENOID (VOCAL FOLD ABDUCTION), LATERAL CRICOARYTENOID (LCA) (VOCAL FOLD ADDUCTION)

INTERARYTENOID (IA) MUSCLES, THYROARYTENOID (TA) (VOCAL FOLD ADDUCTION)

EXTRINSIC MUSCLES OF THE TONGUE

MOVEMENT OF TONGUE AND LIPS DURING SPEECH

TONGUE POSITION IN VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

NG

ADDUCTED ONSET

RESONANCE

HOW VOCAL RESONANCE OCCURS: STANDING WAVES IN A CLOSED TUBE

RESONANCE AND THE SOUNDS OF MUSIC

THE SOUNDS OF MUSIC

GREAT MIX VOICE WITH VIBRATO- ARIANA GRANDE

DR BASTIAN- HOW TO CHECK YOUR VOCAL FOLDS FOR EARLY DETECTION OF TRAUMA

DUKE VOICE CARE CENTER- SAVE YOUR VOICE, SAVE YOUR CAREER!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHyU-I8fbOo

Dr James Thomas explains vocal trauma: NODULES, POLYPS, HEMMORHAGE

Other Sources Recommended by SLaS:

www.ncvs.org.

Dr Ingo Titze is the world’s leading vocologist and vocal scientist. This site contains a wealth of information about the voice.