Where is the larynx
How to Control the Larynx when Singing: Benefits and how to Exercises
learning to control the position of your
larynx it's really beneficial in getting
some of those higher notes you're
working on and balancing out your vocal
tone so in today's video we're going to
look at well what is the larynx and how
does it move and then of course we're
going through some exercises to get you
in control of your larynx let's go hi
singers and welcome to sing geek my name
is Ronnie Peterson and as always I'm
here to geek out on your voice so
Larry's control is one of those big eye
openers and singing because once you
learn to control the movement of your
larynx it really helps your singing a
lot so it's something that we talked a
lot about in the vocal community I say
we just jump right in so first I'm
answering the question what is the
larynx then I'm answering well how does
this guy move and then of course we're
going to do some exercises to get you in
control of your larynx movements if you
already know all this awesome geeky
stuff about what the larynx is that's
totally cool you can jump right to the
exercises starting at this time so what
is the larynx the larynx is also known
as the voice box and that is because it
can be kind of seen like this little box
that houses your vocal folds it's made
out of cartilage and bone and ligament
and it sits right here at the top of
your windpipe and when you sing and your
breath comes through your vocal folds
they vibrate to make the sound that is
your voice now here inside the larynx
when you vocal all stretch they make
higher pitches and when they relax they
make lower pitches now you know what the
larynx is so you might be wondering well
how does the lyrics move it is so that
there's these muscles outside the larynx
called the extrinsic muscles and these
muscles can either pull the layers up or
they can pull the larynx down you can
feel it pretty easily if you place a
hand on your larynx and you swallow
let's try that together yeah first it
goes up and then it goes down many
singers tend to subconsciously use these
extrinsic muscles to move their larynx
in accordance with their pitch meaning
so when they sing higher the learns
moves up and when they sing lower the
lyrics move down you can try to see
right now
that applies to you so place your hand
here again and sing a higher note maybe
go e see if you felt it go up and then
sing something lower like the no it's
not you can think of actually sing
really low go did you feel like it lower
that's pretty crazy right now it is so
that moving the larynx up when you sing
can choke up the books and what this
means is that the vocal folds are no
longer free to stretch to make those
higher pitches and this is usually when
a lot of singers will then start forcing
more air through to get those notes
anyways and that's when your sing with
that lump in the throat feeling and
you're feeling like you just can't get
it out and it's restricting and
straining your voice so that's what
happens there and you can see the
conundrum then right because well if
we're you wanting to sing these higher
notes but the legs and subconscious are
going up and keeping us from doing it
what do we do so join the club this is
why you see so many people talk about
how can i neutralize my larynx not gonna
dampen my larynx I can lower my larynx
it's because people want to learn to
control where this guy is so that they
can manage those higher pitches so
before we move on to the exercises for
that you might also be wondering well
what happened with the lower notes why
is it important to control the lyrics on
the lower notes you can use this a lot
if you're singing lower notes and they
have that go sound like I'm singing here
it sounds like that if I just go
that's just my larynx movement same
pitch but my larynx went from here to
here so you can see why that's super
useful when you sing want to sing
something low and beautiful okay so now
you know all about the larynx I bet you
just super excited to get controlling
yours and get all the benefits let's get
into the exercises so if you look at my
legs right here you'll see me moving it
down and we'll right now if you're super
cool you just saw me do with that am I
you're able to do it good for you but if
you're anything like I was you need some
exercises to even start feeling well how
does it feel to control this larynx so
we're going to do three imitation
exercises and the first one is going to
be a yawn it's a very common one to
practice lowering your larynx so let's
put a hand on your larynx and do a nice
big yawn oh really go down one more time
oh very nice so you might have heard
vocal teachers also saying sing like
you're singing with a yawn or sing with
a yawn and that's also another way to
like lower they tell you to lower the
larynx while you're singing and it opens
up your throat it also raises your soft
palate a little bit so many benefits to
the yawn the second exercise to help you
lower your learnt is a o sound it sounds
a little funny but it's like this just
think that sounded like meat your larynx
go down you can also say it without
having an open mouth with a closed mouth
so you can go sort of like the end of a
swallow when you're swallowing and it's
really funny actually because the sound
of goofy if you know that cartoon
character it kind of he speaks like that
a little bit and I actually really use
that a lot when I was learning how to
lower my larynx I have a sound example
of it on my website I'll put a link to
that in the description that really
helped me the third and final sound that
we're going to imitate
to help you lower your larynx it's that
we're going to speak in a low voice so
in like a low like Oh like very hard
like go sound we're just very fitting
because the loom is coming up it's my
favorite holiday Harry Potter sound
check it's on repeat and pumpkin spice
everything but anyways ghost sound gets
too much Bloods be aware it is midnight
so speaking in this very low scary voice
also helps you lower and dampen your
larynx I hope you were able to lower
your larynx using one or several of the
exercises that we just did let me know
in the comments below which one is your
favorite it actually really nice to know
which one is the most helpful for you
guys don't be upset if you don't get
this right away it really is very varied
amongst my students some people they get
it on their first try maybe they as a
kid they were experimenting with making
fun sounds and they just have access to
this muscle group already and some
people it's just so new for them and it
takes them quite a while we have even a
few months of just practicing it to
really get it down so don't be upset if
you don't get it right away just keep
working at it okay so now that you have
some feeling for Larry's control you
might be wondering well where should my
larynx be when I'm singing so there's
some debate about this in the vocal
community actually there's a classical
school and the contemporary school and
in general the classical school they
want more dampened and more lowered
larynx when you're singing than the
contemporary school they want a more
narrow sort of sound so what you should
get from this is that your larynx will
move when you sing for most people it
moves a little bit up on the high notes
a little bit low on the low notes but
what you can do is that you can balance
out your sound and you can help yourself
sing some of those higher notes without
strain from learning to control your
larynx so what you really what I
recommend that you do is that you put
your hand here when your sing your songs
sing through a song and when you get to
the peseta passages where you have
having a hard time check if this guy is
moving
excessively and then if it is start
practice so it could be that you were
singing ooh-ooh
just fillies flying up and then now try
lowering it a bit so it's not that it
was the larynx was here and now you're
going all the way down here is that it
was here and then maybe started moving
up and you're just keeping it low right
so we instead of going oh big difference
right oh now I consider myself to be
more of a contemporary singer I was also
educated in the contemporary style of
singing but it doesn't mean that we
shouldn't use from the classical school
like dampening our larynx to help us get
a fuller and an easier time singing next
week I'm starting a playlist with lyrics
control exercises and you can get it
right here or you can just subscribe
right here and get the notification when
it comes out Jonas up sing geek every
week when we continue to geek out on
your voice to create the sound that you
want
