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Hi everybody!
My name is Justin Stoney.
I'm the founder of New York Vocal Coaching
here in New York City.
Welcome to the fourth episode of
Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to answer your questions
from all around the world,
and help you guys as singers to have great vocal technique.
Today's question comes from
Paul K. in Phoenix, Arizona.
And Paul says, "Dear Justin, I was told I need to keep
my larynx down at all times when I sing.
Is this true?"
Paul, I gotta tell ya, the question couldn't be better.
They don't get better than that one.
And, this is a very controversial topic.
So today's episode is gonna be called
"Larynx and Style".
Now since this is so controversial,
I want everybody to keep a really open mind.
Because people feel very, very strongly about
their vocal method or their vocal technique.
And that's totally fine.
But if we can keep an open mind,
people on both sides of the coin
are going to have a better experience.
Whether you come from a traditional background,
classical, or whether you are into more contemporary sounds.
Everybody keep a little bit of an open mind on this topic
because I know it's a controversial one.
But, we can get some new ideas here.
So Paul, it's true that we don't want to
raise the larynx as we go higher.
We don't wanna squeeze the larynx up to get high notes.
We also don't want to jam it down
to give ourselves a darker, fuller, or richer sound.
However, if you only sing with one larynx,
if you only sing with a high larynx,
if you only sing with a low larynx,
or any kind of larynx really,
you're not going to be able to sing a multitude of styles.
And let me show you why that's true.
The position of your larynx is going to facilitate
you being able to sing lots of different styles.
How I'm gonna do it is I'm going to take two songs.
One of them more of a traditional or
classical kind of sounding song,
and one of them more of a rock sound.
I'm gonna start with my larynx all the way down
and then move it all the way up,
so that you can hear the difference
of what different laryngeal positions sound like.
So the first song I'm going to do
is a little clip from, "If I Loved You", from Carousel.
And I'm going to start with the
lowest possible larynx that I can do.
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♪ If I loved you ♪
♪ Time and again I would long to say ♪
Okay, that's pretty low.
Let me raise it a touch.
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♪ If I loved you ♪
♪ Time and again I would long to say ♪
Now that might be about right.
Let me raise it up a touch.
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♪ If I loved you ♪
♪ Time and again I would long to say ♪
Not too bad either.
I'll raise it up a touch.
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♪ If I loved you ♪
♪ Time and again I would long to say ♪
Not really appropriate for the song.
I'll raise it all the way up.
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♪ If I loved you ♪
♪ Time and again I would long to say ♪
Now that sounds insane.
So that's the classical, or traditional, example.
Now I'm gonna do more of rock song.
We'll try, "When September Ends", by Green Day.
Now I'm gonna start with the lowest of larynxes again.
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♪ Summer has come and passed ♪
♪ The innocent can never last ♪
♪ Wake me up ♪
♪ When September ends ♪
Now that sounds ridiculous.
Now let me raise it up a touch.
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♪ Summer has come and passed ♪
♪ The innocent can never last ♪
♪ Wake me up ♪
♪ When September ends ♪
It still sounds a little bit weird.
I'm gonna raise it up.
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♪ Summer has come and passed ♪
♪ The innocent can never last ♪
♪ Wake me up ♪
♪ When September ends ♪
Starting to sound a little better.
Let me raise it up.
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♪ Summer has come and passed ♪
♪ The innocent can never last ♪
♪ Wake me up ♪
♪ When September ends ♪
Now we're gettin' into the zone for rock.
I'll raise it all the way up.
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♪ Summer has come and passed ♪
♪ The innocent can never last ♪
♪ Wake me up ♪
♪ When September ends ♪
And depending on how much
grit and edge you want in the sound,
maybe that would be appropriate.
So as you can see, when I do the more traditional sounds
the lower larynxes are gonna sound better.
The higher larynxes sound insane.
When I do a rock sound, the lower larynxes
sound just crazy but the higher larynxes sound about right.
Now here's the thing.
I'm not really squeezing,
I'm not really pinching or straining,
I don't feel any damaging kind of feelings.
There's a lot of singers that sing any of these styles.
But the point is, you can sing them all.
But if you're limited by one larynx or one thinking,
you're not going to be able to do that.
And maybe you don't want to.
But I do encourage classical singers
to sing a few pop songs.
And then if you're a pop or rock singer or R&B,
maybe sing some classical songs.
It's not going to hurt you.
It's going to give you more possibilities.
And, especially if you keep your mind open
to the fact that the larynx can do more than one thing.
You're gonna get coordinations, sounds, and colors and ideas
that you've never had before.
So, like I said keep the mind open on that one.
But Paul, that's the answer to your question.
Do you have to keep your larynx down the whole time?
I would say, no.
But again, for all people,
don't squeeze your larynx to get the high note,
and don't depress your larynx down to try to have good technique
or to try to sound big and robust.
So I hope that's been helpful for you guys today as singers.
If you have questions that you'd like to
see us answer on the show,
you can send an email to
Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com [♪]
[♪]
We encourage you to keep that open mind [♪]
and also to never lose the joy and the passion. [♪]
Never let anybody tell you that you can't sing, [♪]
because as you know, that is not true. [♪]
If you guys are in New York City [♪]
you can check us out at [♪]
www.NewYorkVocalCoaching.com. [♪]
Get with a great voice teacher in your area. [♪]
And if you like these videos [♪]
you can check out www.VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com. [♪]
I'm Justin Stoney. [♪]
See you next time. [♪]
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