3. High Larynx – Finding the Balance
Some “Technical stuff” explained
Recent scientific study performed by such voice scientists as Johan Sundberg, Ingo Titze and John Large verify the long-standing teaching of the Italians. In fact the production of varying pitch is reliant on muscles within the larynx structure. The efficient adduction and vibration of the vocal cords housed within the larynx as breath pressure is applied for the onset of phonation is dependent largely on setting the mechanism up for freest use by good posture, and good thought patterns—thinking the desired pitch, tone, dynamic and mood. The muscles of phonation cannot be controlled directly in the way one depresses a valve on a brass instrument or presses a string to the finger board of a violin. What the Italians found through aesthetic and kinesthetic evaluation is now verified in scientific study, namely that tone is most efficiently, freely and beautifully produced when the body works as the entire instrument through good posture and good coordination. Tone accompanied by the greatest amount of overtone reinforcement, often called “ring” in the voice and identified in the literature as the “singer’s formant,” is produced with efficient phonation, well-tuned resonation together with the least amount of negative physical stress in the body—including in the neck and head. The applicable part that directly affects the voice is the neck, throat and head.
When one considers the acoustic qualities of any object, room or instrument and describes those qualities that enhance and enrich sound, the discussion centers around size, shape, texture of the surfaces, thickness of the walls, etc. It makes sense then that for phonation to be enriched and amplified, the sound must immediately move into a space that is open so as to enhance rather than inhibit the sound. This optimal position for the voice has been found to involve the maintenance of a loose open jaw, freedom of the articulators to move, a raised soft palate, a slightly widened or opened pharynx and a slightly comfortably-lowered larynx. This avoids the tensions and instability of upward excursions of the larynx or the depressed larynx.