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Do We Need A Low Larynx To Sing?

August 25, 20245 min read


Do We Need A Low Larynx To Sing?

If you ever got confused about the question… do you need a low larynx to sing? Keep on reading – and watch the video! 

Do we need a low larynx for singing? In this video, we will find the answer!

In this video, we are going to talk about whether or not you need a lower larynx to sing, how you sound when you have a lower larynx, and how to choose.    

 

Do you need a low larynx for singing? Video transcript (adapted to suit blog post format)

Do you need a low larynx to sing?

Firstly, do you need a low larynx for singing?   Yes and no.

For singing, you do  need to have the ability to develop a stable yet mobile larynx.  What I mean by this is you need to develop the ability of not having the larynx fixed in a position,  because when you fix the larynx, you are doing so from muscles that are not too good to interfere with singing.

And remember if you saw some of my other videos, I always talk about the difference between training your voice and singing different styles and genres. We all need both. When we’re singers, you need to train vocal technique and you need stylistic training as well.  Those are not, fighting with each other and they need to go together.

 When you’re doing vocal training, you do need to work with a low larynx.   This is necessary for you to work a little bit more with the internal muscles of the larynx and get a nice and stable voice. As well as starting to cross the bridges and connect your voice registers.

However,  when you are practicing vocal styles, when you’re singing different music genres, the specific position of the larynx is going to change depending on the sounds you want to do.

But yes, what you don’t want is to have the larynx super up as we do when we sing without training. We tend to bring the larynx up to sing like this (demonstrates) and that is not good for any genre.

 

How does your voice sound when you have a low larynx position?

Secondly, let’s talk about  how the sound is when you have a low larynx. So when your larynx is lower, you are going to have more bass frequencies in your voice.

 So I’m going to do the same sound with my larynx a little bit lower and my larynx a little bit higher (demonstrates – watch the video!).

The low larynx sound, it’s also very connected to more of classical singing.

 Yes, so you need that if you are singing classical singing.  When we sing contemporary singing, however, the sound is different. And if you sing contemporary music with a low larynx, very low larynx, as if you were singing classical, you’re going to sound classical. That brings us to the next point…

 

How to choose how to sound!

how to choose how to sound… Well, that depends on you. I know that, of course,   there are certain ‘rules’ for different music genres, but I am not too worried about that. What I mean by this is, if you want to sing contemporary music and you want to sound classical, nothing is stopping you from doing that.

 In fact, some singers do it and it sounds really nice (Mr. Dimash!!)

 It really comes, down to what your preference is, and my suggestion would be that you choose based on what you like and how you want to feel, rather than doing it by default in the only way you can do it. Just having that in mind. When you have a lower lower larynx, you’re gonna have more bass frequencies boosted.

When you bring the larynx up, the energy is going to be boosted a little bit more in the higher frequencies.

 If you want to sing contemporary music, you need to bring the larynx just a little bit higher than if you were singing classical, but not as up as if you were singing with a bad technique like this (demonstrates) .  You still want that balance. You still want vocal health.

What kind of singers do you like as well? That is also a good starting point to decide  how you would like to shape your voice. And of course that can change over time. You can have a very versatile instrument.

 Now one more thing I would like to say about this is that having a lower larynx doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a healthy voice.   Because I can bring my larynx down with a lot of tension. I can be force my larynx down like this (demonstrates). I can feel my rectus abdominis, my abs tensing and this is not what we want for singing.

So we also don’t want that. It’s about having, as I said at the beginning, a stable and mobile larynx that is available for you and functional to the way you  sound healthily.

Now, as I said at the beginning, I  have a resource for you to download if you want to start getting some more movement developing your larynx movement, and getting in control of your singing. Go to the description below and download my three super amazing exercises to expand your voice range.   These are three exercises that anyone can do and you can go ahead, download them for free today, and get started with that. 

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Jorgelina Perez

Jorgelina is a professionally certified vocal coach, artistic coach and singer/songwriter. ATM teacher trainee certified - Feldenkrais® Method. Functional vocal training online and in person (Auckland, NZ)

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