Tongue leveraging, larynx lowering, and also, Hi everyone!

[Dixon]

I had an immensely helpful lesson with Robert the other day. In it, I really got hung up on lowering my larynx properly on higher notes. I started to make some progress, but not a terribly large amount.

With fingers on larynx, I didn't feel it lower when I engaged the muscles in my tongue against the teeth. We did this a few times and I kind of felt like I got it, but it was subtle and I didn't get much further in the exercises. If anything my larynx seemed to raise or a slight tilt (which i guess may actually be what is meant by lowered?).

I understand it is possible to leverage the tongue without lowering the larynx, I just don't know what I'm doing that prevents it, or if it is happening and I just can't tell.

Is it likely that I've got other muscles couneracting this effect? I am fighting a lot of tension when I phonate. Am i just not doing i right? I'm just pushing the top of my tongue against the back of those bottom teeth and not worrying about arching my tongue, or am I using them as the fulcrum of a lever to get my tongue to do acrobatic contortions?

This (the tongue leveraging and lower of the larynx) is the element of my onset that I will be focusing on until my next lesson with Robert, and I wanted to get multiple perspectives on this element.

Look forward to perspectives from anyone!

Thanks,

Dixon

[D.Starr]

Hmm I'm not sure, my larynx drops when I press my tongue against my bottom teeth.

My only problem is keeping it there and phonating, I tend to lock my jaw and tense the tongue which kinda hinders articulation when singing.

[Dixon]

Is this a noticeable drop or just a slight shift? Maybe I'm just expecting too much.

[Asim]

I asked Robert a similar question a week ago. I was anchoring too much and deliberately dropping my larynx with each note, but I realized my problem was that I was not covering going up and not dropping my jaw correctly.

"The intrinsic anchoring continues on a gradient.. the higher you go, the more you anchor, yes… but I suspect your taking it too far… chill out… we are talking about small , micro movements here… if your just pushing your tongue against your teeth and covering, its dumping enough."

Larynx tilting? Sounds like twang to me.

[Dixon]

Well, my larynx certainly tilts when I actually make sound (due to twang) but this is just doing it silently or with a dopey, unwanged uh sound, you know, just experimenting.

[ronws]

I'm working through some of the same stuff. I watched myself in the mirror doing the siren from G3 to G4. And my Adam's Apple barely moved. Here's the thing. And this is an anatomical fact that can't be denied. The root of the tongue is connected to the same muscle as the front of the larynx. Let that sink in for a moment. Are ya getin' it, to quote Def Leppard?

Now, my perspective is a little different. I am not really concerned with the position of my larynx, though intrinsic anchoring asks me to be. I am following the resonance, which is slightly different than resonance tracking. So, as I siren, I am looking for the ring, which makes me raise my soft palette and let the notes get into the head space (lift up - pull back).

Now me, I have a different voice than Robert's. Even in head-voice with a relatively stable or even low larynx, I simply sound lighter than he does. That is, my boomy G4 sounds different than his, or someone else's. Which is fine. What's important is that you have a strong tone, whatever your tone is. Leveraging the tongue helps stabilize that and keep it out of the way of the note while, at the same time, creating a format. What can choke of a note is tongue movement too far to the back.

Anyway, when you drop the jaw, it also has the effect of holding the front of the larynx down. Just don't lower so much that you squash down on the larynx, which can happen.