Vocal Music Advice

Brief review of historic preferences

The vocal cords are ensconced within the structure of the protective housing of the thyroid cartilage, commonly known as the Adam’s apple.(1)   Attached to this housing are extrinsic muscles that originate above the larynx—supralaryngeal muscles—and below the larynx—infralaryngeal muscles.   These are the muscles that pull the larynx upward, as happens while swallowing, and those that pull the larynx downward as experienced while yawning.  The reader should note at this point that historically there have existed perspectives on vocal production that have favored a tendency to use these muscles to the extreme while singing.  The French school seemed to reflect a general support for a “traveling larynx,” allowing for a high larynx position “when necessary.”  The German-Nordic school of vocal production favored a depressed laryngeal position, producing a dark dull tone, according to Richard Miller.  As in other avenues of living, balance has been found to be best over time; best for consistent tonal beauty with economy of means, and best in maintaining the health of the voice.  The Italianate school has for centuries chosen the balance, advocating a “stable laryngeal position.”
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(1)  Detailed discussions on the skeletal framework of the larynx can be found in any number of anatomical resources, including material devoted to the subject within the works of voice pedagogues, William Vennard, James C. McKinney and Richard Miller being among the foremost.