Breathing the larynx free
/Breathe your larynx (LAIR-INKS) free–You need to know what happens in there as you inhale.
Our emphasis on breathing over the 2018-2019 term is nearly complete. We have located and raised awareness of what happens at the bottom of your support, the top of your support, and your back. We have talked about how to add power to your singing without adding stress in your larynx. Thank you, Al Hawkins, for sharing links to the teaching of Michael Trimble in Seattle, WA. Mr. Trimble has a long and fruitful resumé of performing, recording and teaching experience that he graciously has granted me permission to share through my website.
Please acquaint yourselves with Mr. Trimble’s website before you start working through my blog. He deserves our respect:
https://www.trimblevocalinstitute.com/
Check out the anatomy of the human larynx online. There is an amazing amount of information about everything out there-including the larynx. Your larynx is encased in and supported by a framework of cartilage: the Adam’s Apple (thyroid cartilage), the top ring of your trachea (the cricoid cartilage), and the tiny, swinging ‘gates’ at the back/top of the cricoid cartilage that open and close your vocal cords from the back (the arytenoid cartilages). That framework is suspended in a network of outside muscles that originate directly around the cartilage, but also muscles originating in your tongue, your airway, even muscles that originate under the base of your skull in the back (the occipital lobe) and from the bones around your jaw and ears. Inside your larynx are tiny systems of muscles that open and close your vocal cords/bands. It is all woven together in an intricate design that defies intellectual understanding. Charles Darwin wrote that he couldn’t think of the eye or it made him feel ill. When I contemplate the voice, I marvel at what appears to be an infinitely integrated design of tissue and electrical impulses.
Since we have been called to sing, it is our honor and our responsibility to learn to operate that marvelous machine to the standards for which it is intended!
There are so many explanations of how to prepare the larynx for vocal onset. Here are but a few:
•Prepare the vowel in your larynx and breathe through it
•Lower the larynx and inhale
•Hold the larynx still during inhale
•Open the larynx during inhale
•Inhale as if you have a soft boiled egg in your throat
Regardless of how you have been taught in studio or directed in choir, the important thing is that your larynx should be completely free as a result of inhale.
There is no ‘position’ to hold. There is neither a pre-determined size of opening in terms of diameter nor a perfect position in the vertical aspect of your neck. There is no sensation of pressurization in the larynx as air flows through it on its way to your lungs. In short, the larynx and the immediate surrounding area are better characterized as inert regardless of the force or duration of your inhale.
As Mr. Trimble points out in the video linked below, the only movement of the larynx during inhale is caused by airflow. There should be no willful, conscious muscular effort in or around the larynx as you breathe. The larynx needs to hang absolutely calmly as if it were a hammock suspended by soft, pliable rubber bands. It needs to be free to be drawn down by the downward force of the thoracic diaphragm pulling air into your body. Your vocal cords will open on their own. You need not force them wide apart to make a larger opening. Let them open naturally and in response to other factors involved such as tongue release and soft palate movement. We will talk about Michael’s demonstration of Corelli’s inhale exercise that DOES include a muscular movement inside the larynx during inhale, but during your lessons or studio classes.
Yes, you will have questions about soft palate during inhale. That will be addressed in future blogs.
As you may expect, the degree of relaxation in the larynx can vary a great deal from one individual to another. It also varies within an individual depending on health, physical fitness, emotional intensity and many other variables.
Beginners, Mr. Trimble reminds us, are not able to let go deep into the complex of muscles of the larynx. They haven’t identified them yet and don’t feel the sensations of relaxation as desirable. New singers are often more concerned about controlling the larynx than freeing it. It is scary to simply let it hang there helplessly! My dear Audrey Stottler would say, “Your larynx should balance precariously on top of the trachea.” It really should feel as if it could fall off in any direction without warning. That is very challenging when you see high notes approaching.
The longer you study, the more aware you become of tiny sensations that can help you feel safe and comfortable about ‘breathing your larynx free.’ Here are a few things I can share from my experiences:
•Feel the temperature and humidity of the air as it passes down your airway. How deep into your throat and/or trachea can you imagine you feel that?
•Imagine that the trachea is separated behind the clavicular notch (between the tips of your collar bones at the top of your sternum). ‘See’ the severed end of the trachea dangle loosely from the bottom of your Adam’s Apple as you inhale. Feel how that effects the back and vertical shaft of your tongue. Your tongue should swell up and forward. Its muscle fibers should feel very soft and lazy.
•Check for ‘cueing’ from the back of your neck. Your head should feel loosely balanced (like a bobble-head) on the top of your spine deep under your skull. Let your neck help to relax your larynx as you inhale.
•Mr. Trimble actually manipulates his larynx as it hangs to check for possible resistance.
Now you are ready to enjoy Michael Trimble on his Youtube channel as he explains “Breathing the Larynx.” Please contemplate his comments on the strength of the thoracic diaphragm and its effect on a free larynx. We will be looking into that! Take notes as you watch it numerous times. Bring your questions and observations to lessons and studio class.
You will hear him talk about leaning breath energy to the front of your thoracic diaphragm (sternal arch). We will explore that together as we learn to understand ‘appoggiare.’ There are LOTS of questions to explore from Michael’s vocabulary. I am challenged in a very positive way. I trust you will be as well.
Lastly, have hope. A free larynx is very possible to achieve. I challenge each of us to experience what Audrey experienced as an international career singer: “In the end all you have to think is breathe and sing, breathe and sing.’’
“Breathing the Larynx” by Michael Trimble