High larynx singing (a major vocal fault in college freshmen)
Introduction
I have taught singing—voice production—to students of both sexes ranging in age from sixteen to sixty-plus for thirty-five (+) years. However, the two last decades, and more particularly the last ten years of college voice teaching, has exposed two recurring issues observed on the college scene. The first abnormality is the oft-recurring practice among college entrants of singing with a raised larynx. The second observation (which will be addressed elsewhere) is the predilection among college voice teachers of classifying the voices of their students long prior to their full development. I will attempt to explain the first anomaly and hopefully demonstrate the benefit or danger of the practice and propose appropriate measures to singer and teacher within the context of teaching and learning.
My Foundational Assumptions
As a Christian musician, one of the primary implications of my Faith is that we are not our own, we belong to God. It then follows that our cultivation and use of the voice is to be as good stewards of it, for God’s sake. Secondly, the study that has taken place over a period of centuries in the art and science of vocal singing technique is also understood as a result of God’s common grace to those who have studied and pursued the art of singing with the rigors of a context of health, economy of means and the identification of beautiful tone–aesthetics. Teaching voice then includes the hope of passing along the best information for students of singing.
Tags: singing and the learning process, Vocal faults, Vocal problems