Did you know that ‘phonation’ (producing sound) is not the primary feature of your larynx (voice box)?
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Yes, that’s right, the primary function of your larynx is for breathing – allowing air to enter/exit your lungs through inhalation and exhalation - a process that happens 24/7 that we do not even think about it. The larynx also protects our windpipe when swallowing food or drink to ensure that nothing enters our lungs that shouldn’t. Again, this happens automatically. We don’t think to ourselves, right I need to open or close my larynx as I am about to eat a sandwich…..we just do it!
Our body is amazing - our larynx actually has a three-tiered ‘door system’ – and each door closes when we swallow to prevent food and drink from entering the lungs. The ‘doors’ are the epiglottis, the false vocal folds (FVF) and the true vocal folds (TVF).​​​
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Anatomy of Larynx
Anterior view
Lateral view
Posterior view
Vocal Folds
Jo Estill
Did you know that you can over-ride some of your natural biological mechanisms at a more conscious level to control your voice and voice production?
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So much of our everyday breathing, speaking and singing is done on a subconscious level…..as we have already said, we don’t even think about it. Much of the time we pay little attention to how we are breathing or how we are sounding, or even what our bodies are doing when we involved in these processes…….but it is possible to observe and alter these natural systems and consciously change things on a physiological level to inform our breath capacity, our breath control, our phonation (the sound waves that are produced by our TVFs opening and closing, and our resonance (the amplification of the sound waves within our vocal tract). All these things influence our voice timbre (quality) and how we are heard by others.
A deeper understanding of how our body produces sound, gives us the opportunity to find our true voice, undo/adapt any potential long-term habits and create new ones.
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Liken this to a car. When we are learning to drive, we must consciously think about the balance between releasing the clutch and pushing on the acceleration to shift gears. At first this process can be a bit clunky, and we may stall at times……we are looking for that smooth transition between gears…. a balance that takes time and precision. Once we know what pedal/s to press and release to create that smoothness, our muscle memory kicked in and then we don’t even have to think about it.
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It is the same for our voice. Maybe you are frustrated that your voice breaks at certain times? Maybe you feel you don’t have enough power, that you often run out of gas or maybe you feel comfortable speaking or singing in gear 1 or 2 but want to shift up gears and speak or sing comfortably in the 3rd, 4th or 5th gear Just like a car, the voice is mechanical. It has all the components to drive smoothly, we just need to know how to use these components.