As a singer your larynx is critical to your success.
Inside this video I’ll explain what the larynx is and explain how you can train the
larynx for singing success - 4 tips!
Hi!
I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
The larynx is commonly called the voice box.
It’s made of cartilage, tendon and muscle and it contains your vocal cords, sometimes
called vocal folds.
The larynx is in the middle area of your neck and connects our lungs to our mouth and nose
so we can inhale and exhale.
It also helps send food and water to our stomach and keeps it out of our lungs.
The larynx is important to speaking and singing because it protects and controls the vocal
cords.
As air from the lungs passes through the vocal cords they vibrate and produce sound waves.
The sound waves resonate in various spaces in our bodies, including the mouth where we
form words for speaking and singing.
Generally we don’t need to help this process just to speak.
But when first learning to sing, we might add different things to help our singing.
For example, to hit a high note we might stretch our necks upward.
Or we might sing louder, or add an extra squeeze to push the pitch higher.
Notice that with speaking we don’t add anything.
But with singing we add reaching, loudness and squeezing.
By adding these things, we’re using muscles outside the larynx to try and help the vocal
cords hit high notes or sound stronger.
Bad things happen when we add these things.
The outside muscles pull the larynx higher, which squeezes and adds more tension on the
vocal cords.
The added squeezing and tension makes it harder for the vocal cords work their very best.
Your voice gets hoarse, it cracks or breaks, the pitch is flat or sharp, it stops at a
certain point and won’t go any higher without breaking into falsetto.
You have to sing really loud or really soft to sing higher or lower.
You might think guys that all you can do it this.
[Demo] Or you might think the only thing you can
do it this.
[Demo] Or you might think the only thing you can
do it this.
[Demo] Actually you can do this.
[Demo] The same principle applies for the women.
How can the Larynx help me become a great singer?
This is like asking how how can my arms help me become a great swimmer?
Arms are a part of a whole system which make up a “swimming machine”.
The larynx is part of a whole system too, part of your “singing machine”.
The “swimming machine” is made of many things including arms, hands, legs, feet,
breathing and physical and mental conditioning.
All this needs training if you want to swim well.
It takes discipline and work if you want to excel.
The same is true with singing.
The singing machine is made of many things including, breathing, vowels, pitch, the larynx,
mouth and tongue, hearing, physical, mental and emotional conditioning, and performance
skills.
All this needs training if you want to sing well.
It takes discipline and work if you want to excel.
Here are 4 tips to train your larynx so you can excel as a singer.
First, part of your training is to learn what’s possible.
This is important because many singers have no idea of their potential.
Did you know you can sing higher past what seems to be the top of your voice (guys) or
past the middle (girls) without breaking into falsetto, while using a strong, powerful head
voice?
Did you know that everyone can develop vibrato?
These things are related to the larynx.
I guarantee if you watch the videos I’ve posted on this youtube channel and my website,
PowerToSing.com you’ll begin to discover your immense potential as a singer.
Second, learn to allow your larynx to remain at speech level when you sing.
That means your larynx stays where it does when you're having a normal conversation.
You don’t reach up or down for high or low notes, you don’t tense or squeeze to make
louder of softer tones.
Third, focus your training on the larynx in the first bridge of your voice.
This is also known as the passaggio, or break area, or middle in your voice.
For many men this is the area of the voice you think is the very top.
For men and women it’s where you have to break into falsetto to go any higher.
Ladies this is about the lower third or middle of your voice.
Fourth, it’s not as easy as talking because you have to match pitch to a melody that moves
crazy high or low.
Breathing is more challenging because you hold out words and phrases much longer than
when you speak.
There’s more emotion, feeling, performance and artistry in singing than when speaking.
We must do all this while keeping the larynx free from tension.
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Have you make progress training your larynx to stay at speech level?
Let me know in the comments section below.
If you know your vocal type, you can do exercises that will train your larynx in the first bridge
of your voice.
Do you know your vocal type?
I’m NOT referring to whether you are soprano, alto, tenor or bass.
Your vocal type is what you tend to do when you sing through the first bridge of your
voice.
Visit PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test, which I call the PowerTest.
Take the quiz and discover your vocal type.
Visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type.
Download the free exercises for your vocal type and start working on them.
These exercises are designed to train the larynx to stay at your speech level, eliminate
tension and squeeze and sing through the first bridge of your voice into head voice without
straining, breaking or breathiness.
I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and power.
I’ll see you inside the next video.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community