Techniques for a low larynx.

Indirect Strategies

1. Place a finger on the larynx to track its position during inhalation. Exhale and inhale several times without allowing the larynx to rise.

2. Inhale with a relaxed throat and tongue. Without raising the larynx, make a gentle glottal stop as if someone had suddenly interrupted you just as you were beginning to speak. Maintaining the position of the throat, gently release the pressure with a sung tone.

3. Imagine widening the neck at the collar, i.e. “fat neck.”

4. Yawn while keeping the tongue in an “n” position.

5. Imagine the sound emanating from the suprasternal notch - the indentation in the throat below the larynx and above the clavicle bones. Couple this with a feeling of increased space between the clavicle bones with inhalation.

6. Hold your breath with puffy cheeks. Allow a tiny stream of breath to escape your lips and phonate loudly on a low pitch. The sound will resemble a foghorn. Release the cheeks and sing a neutral vowel in the middle voice.

7. Inhale and prepare to burp. Suppress the burp and sing with the larynx in the anchored position. You can also speak on your burp, the words “excuse me” are a good choice. Apply that sensation to singing.