Do you experience throat tightness when singing or speaking?
In this video, I will explain what exactly is happening in your throat when you experience
tightness and I will demonstrate exercises to relax throat muscles.
So, don’t go away because we are starting right after this.
Hi!
I am Katarina, speech language pathologist from How 2 Improve Singing and here on this
channel, I share practical tips about using your voice in a healthy way.
So, if this is a topic that interests you, consider subscribing to this channel and hitting
that bell notification icon so that you don’t miss any of my videos.
Now, let’s talk about throat tightness.
In this video, I am talking about throat tightness when singing but the same principles can be
applied to a speaking voice.
Actually, the exercise that I will introduce later in this video, has been used in voice
therapy by speech-language pathologists for a very long time now.
And because it is an effective method at releasing throat tension, it was adapted into singing
practice.
So, whether you are a singer or speaker who experiences throat tightness, stick around.
It is very common to experience throat tightness when you are learning to sing.
If you never experienced throat tightness while singing, you haven’t tried enough.
This may happen especially when you sing in your higher vocal range, when you sing louder,
or even when you are anxious or stressed.
But the goal of a singer is to learn how to eliminate this throat tension and free your
voice of any vocal strain to allow your voice function optimally.
Why is this happening?
Whether you speak or sing, throat tension generally happens when there is involvement
of too much muscle force or too much physical effort in the systems of respiration, phonation
and resonance; so in the systems of breathing, which includes your breathing muscles and
lungs, sound production, which is at the level of vocal folds, and resonance, which includes
the rest of the vocal tract above the vocal folds.
If you notice this definition, throat tension can come from any system of the vocal mechanism,
not just from the vocal folds themselves.
You may experience throat tension because your breathing is insufficient in supporting
the voice during demanding vocal tasks.
You may experience tension because your vocal folds squeeze too much.
Or you may feel tense because there is too much constriction in the pharynx, tongue or
jaw.
In other words, you experience throat tension because you are engaging muscles that are
not necessary for sound production or you engage muscles intended for sound production
with too much force.
For example, as you are ascending in your range, you may feel the need to control the
muscles of your throat to produce high notes and you end up engaging extrinsic muscles
of the neck instead of letting the intrinsic muscles of the larynx do the job.
So, what exactly is happening in your throat when the throat feels tight?
Well, I cannot really tell exactly what is going on in your throat but research tells
us that the hyoid bone and the larynx are elevated in people with throat tension.
The hyoid bone is a U-shaped bone in your neck right under the chin and your larynx
is a complex structure inside your neck that houses the voice box or the vocal folds.
The larynx is suspended from the hyoid bone so when the hyoid bone is raised, the voice
box moves up too.
When larynx is elevated, your vocal tract is shorter and your pharyngeal space, which
is your throat, decreases too.
This affects the resonation properties of your voice.
Practically, it means that your voice loses richness or volume.
It is also believed that the decreased space in your throat directly affects the vocal
folds, which press more against each other like in pressed or tight phonation resulting
in rigid and harsh sound.
So, the logical treatment for throat tightness would be an exercise or action that improves
the laryngeal position and opens up the throat, which releases tension from the throat muscles.
Let me show you a series of exercises that speech-language pathologists have been using
for a long time now to release throat tightness in patients with hyperfunctional voice disorders,
muscle tension dysphonias and similar problems.
It’s called yawn and sigh exercises.
Singers may be familiar with the use of yawn in singing as it opens up the throat.
But a full-blown yawn brings more tension than muscle release.
I am sure you know what I am talking about because it is difficult to talk when you yawn.
Instead, the exercise uses the beginning of a yawn to achieve throat relaxation.
The muscle action at the beginning of a yawn is in direct opposition to throat tightness.
So, let’s do the exercise.
Step 1 Place your hand gently on the throat and start yawning with your mouth open.
You can see on my neck how the larynx is moving down.
Step 2 With your hand still on the throat, start yawning but this time, keep your mouth
fairly closed.
Imagine you are watching a very boring presentation and you don’t want other people see you
yawning.
But only do the beginning of a yawn.
Notice how the larynx moves down and maybe you can also feel how your throat widens.
Step 3 Sigh with an open mouth in a comfortable vocal range.
The sound produced on sigh should feel and sound relaxed.
Try to keep the larynx in a lowered position when you start the sigh.
You want to produce the sound with released muscles that you achieved during the yawn
phase.
If you feel the larynx move up as soon as you start the sound, try again.
Maintain the relaxed and low larynx position.
Step 4 Once you know how to do the previous 3 steps consistently, then use the sigh to
initiate singing or talking.
For example, sing a 5-note descending scale on the vowel “oo” with the yawn sigh technique.
Like this.
Or if you want to practice speech, say words or sentences that with the letter H after
on the yawn and sigh.
Like this.
“Hay, hi, house, Homer was a happy hamster.”
Do this exercise daily, either as a stand-alone exercise or as a part of your warm up vocal
routine before singing to release throat tension.
Bonus tip Add self-administered laryngeal massage to
your daily routine to release muscle tension in your larynx and throat.
This massage is good for reducing laryngeal tension or just for resetting your larynx
after a long day of vocal use.
I made a video about laryngeal massage that you can watch by clicking this link or a link
below this video.
Laryngeal massage may not be for everyone but I highly recommend that you try it.
It took me several tries to really like it and now it became a part of my regular routine.
Now, in the comments below, let me know how you did with the yawn sigh exercise.
Were you able to release muscle tension from the throat?
I would love to hear from you.
Also, if you have any questions, post them below and I will make sure to answer them.
If you found this video useful, click the like button and share it with people who may
benefit from it.
Subscribe to my channel because next time, I am talking about preventing vocal strain
and you don’t want to miss that video.
Thank you for watching and I will see you in my next video.
Bye.