Jump to content

Beneftis of Lowering Laynx

Rate this topic


Guest

Recommended Posts

Hey all, are there any benefits to lowering the larynx (or dopeyness) nearing the passaggio? I read recently that the lower registers true sound is bright (high chest tones) and the higher registers sounds are truly dark (low head tones). Assuming the upper register is underdeveloped, it makes sense to me that one would darken the tone to make it more similar to natural dark sound of a low head tone and thus assist the covering process.

How has lowering the larynx near the passaggio helped you? How do you moderate excessive vs advantageous lowering? When do you feel that lowering the larynx is most critical or helpful?

Feel free to share your thoughts! :D

Note: It is easily noticeable that the LOW HEAD TONES seem apparently dark in nature, as if you are mourning. Therefore someone who has not developed these notes to their fullest strength, would seek to dampen the notes slightly below them in order to maintain registral consistency. Makes sense to me! Combined with some healthy twang it feels much easier to bridge into those same low head tones.

If you want to feel exactly what I'm trying to explain, try some basic twang exercises, a quack or a nyaa. Remember that feeling, then lower the larynx slightly and siren straight through the bridge on your preferred vowel. For someone with a less developed higher register it should feel WAY easier to bridge & connect... it feels as if I am not changing modes at all. Make sure to lift up pull back, instead of push through

Thanks for your replies!

- JayMC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey all, are there any benefits to lowering the larynx (or dopeyness) nearing the passaggio? I read recently that the lower registers true sound is bright (high chest tones) and the higher registers sounds are truly dark (low head tones). Assuming the upper register is underdeveloped, it makes sense to me that one would darken the tone to make it more similar to natural dark sound of a low head tone and thus assist the covering process.

How has lowering the larynx near the passaggio helped you? How do you moderate excessive vs advantageous lowering? When do you feel that lowering the larynx is most critical or helpful?

Feel free to share your thoughts! :D

- JayMC

JayMC: The words 'true sound' sit together in my imagination right next to the word 'should'... they are part of a musical aesthetic... a value system, being applied to qualities of vocal production. I love those aesthetic-based references. :-)

However, it does not directly follow that that 'natural' sound of the head voice is 'dark', unless the definition of 'dark' is filled out more, and the quality is defined in terms of sound energy. Then, we can go from the world of terminology to the world of terms which apply to our experiences of sound.... 1 step closer to the objective reality of the sound in the air.

The use of 'covering' (a form of vowel modification) is to accomplish 3 things in the voice: 1)move the passaggio lower, 2) increase the inertive reactance (acoustic cushioning) of the vocal tract, easing laryngeal effort in the passagio, and 3) lower the 2nd vowel resonance so that it can align with harmonic 3 or 4 lower in the scale than would happen otherwise.

The effect of this is to cause a transition into the passaggio lower in the scale than would otherwise occur, and to also cause the singer to arrive in a head-voice resonance configuration lower in the scale. To put this in contemporary terms, it helps in a 'bridge early' strategy, and leads to less strain and more consistent tone quality in the transition to the top voice.

Its not the only strategy that can be used. In some schools of thought ( with differing tone quality objectives) the passaggio is allowed to be avoided by changing the vocal tract configuration to cause the location of the 1st vowel resonance to rise, principally through the use of the rising larynx and embouchure, so that the alignment of H2 (the 2nd harmonic) with the 1st vowel resonance (usually described as the 1st formant, incorrectly) will be maintained. This strategy produces a 'belt', and sustains that belt in the ascending scale.

Apart from an aesthetic preference, these two qualities (covered, and belt) are not good or bad... they just are.

As to your question about 'what is too much lowering', that is the realm of preferences among competing approaches and resuls. I am interested to see how others think about this.

I hope this is helpful to your request.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Near what passaggio? the only two major passaggios I can tell that I have, are a vocal shift at d4/eb4(assuming it's my chest to mix), and a shift into head voice at, c5/c#5.

Owen and Robert seem to know how to apply this in the proper manner and know how to train with it, but in my opinion, it's absolute vocal suicide for actually developing the upper registers(without the right guidance).

Try lowering your larynx while singing a high falsetto note and you will understand how impossible it is to do. It's also physically impossible to take a high chest voice with no head voice support whatsoever, and put it into a normal head voice note. I.E. me trying to push out a chest dominant d5, which just turns out into a breathless note.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...