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rest Seeing this will make you question how often you unknowingly tense the muscles of your
vocal apparatus in anticipation of speech even when you are not speaking In reality we are
constantly bracing our vocal musculature in neurotic preparation for highpitched speech
Ilustration A Side view of vocal cords B Vocal cords open from above C Vocal cords closed D Exterior
throat anatomy with the voice box in the center
Chapter Release Vocal Tension
When you go to a loud party or concert and your voice is frazzled the following day it is not
because you were yelling too loudly Rather it is because you yelled with strained vocal cords
and then braced them for the remainder of the evening while breathing thoracically Our vocal
apparatus was designed for shouting but not for shouting combined with shallow breathing
That is a very different type of muscular stress and one we are not well equipped to endure
Most people hyperventilate when they speak often needlessly doubling their intake of air
The discomfort of hyperventilation is a major contributor to the widespread fear of public
speaking This tendency causes us to speak in an even shallower tidal range than the one we
breathe in The breathing exercises from Chapters and will expand this range allowing you
to continue speaking when your lungs are nearly empty That greater range adds depth to your
voice Any speech expert or vocologist will tell you that practicing diaphragmatic breathing
is one of the best ways to achieve a bettersounding voice As you will see in the next exercise
breathing diaphragmatically while vocalizing is even better
Vocal Exercise Sing Loudly without Gasping
Sing from memory or along to a song Dont let yourself gasp When it comes time to inhale
do so completely without singing even if the vocalist in the song you are listening to is
singing Once you have taken in a full breath resume singing until you have no more air left
to exhale You might do this in the car or with headphones on
Select songs that make you feel powerful Pull up the lyrics online and read along if it helps
Sing your heart out Singing loudly will make your voice stronger very quickly and doing it
with passion will produce endorphins and confidence Bring your voice to a healthy state of
fatigue over and over taking breaks between songs to let it go completely limp The more
you do this exercise the closer your standard social voice will come to that audacious singing
voice
The next exercise will ask you to make several types of vocalizations including yelling
while breathing diaphragmatically Coupled with distressed breathing these exercises would
wear out your voice or even damage it But diaphragmatic breathing protects it by disallowing
vocal bracing and the activation of the sympathetic nervous system After several minutes of
practice this will allow you to start vocalizing with and rehabbing muscles that were
previously stuck in partial contraction These exercises will also train your vocal muscles to
coordinate more efficiently resulting in more sound production with less energy expenditure
Vocal Exercise Diaphragmatic Vocalization
Perform the following vocalizations after taking a deep smooth inhalation Once your lungs
are full vocalize until you are almost out of breath Repeat Choose a location like a closet or
a carsomewhere you wont be apprehensive about being overheard Let loose The real
work of these exercises involves paying attention to the wavering and instability in your voice
and using repetition to smooth out such weaknesses Fullrange vocalization repeated over
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
and over will tune up the voice by teaching your diaphragm to provide your vocal cords with
constant unfaltering air pressure
Take a deep breath and sing a single note or a scale until you are out of air Do this
loudly Bellow Keep singingexhaling until you have absolutely no air left The last few
seconds will be uncomfortable but it will start to feel good after completing the
exercise a few times over the course of a week Focus on making your voice ring like a
bell pure and unflinching and it will become one If you prefer you can also perform
this exercise with humming or vocal sighs
Yell loudly without straining projecting as much as you can comfortably Alternate
between a roar a howl and a bark Try yelling at different registers and frequencies
You can yell the vowels A E O and U one at a time Keep it up until you have
emptied your lungs of air Repeat this over and over in an effort to increase your
volume at the end of your expiratory reserve
Sing using vibrato Vibrato is a vocal technique that involves shifting the voice quickly
between two pitches An example of vibrato would be wavering back and forth
between C and C with regular pulses around six times per second To hear a good
example listen to Johnny Mathis sing Chances Are It is commonly used by
professional singers but is very difficult to achieve unless the vocal cords are relaxed
Start by switching between two notes that are very close together Go back and forth
slowly and easily and then gradually speed this up to achieve vibrato Practicing
vibrato will improve your voices melody and prosody while building vocal relaxation
and agility
Practice vocal fry The vocal fry register is the lowest range of tones available to the
human voice It involves a rough creaky sound and is produced by loose glottal
closure which permits air to bubble through slowly creating a rattling effect at a very
low frequency If you are not familiar with creating vocal fry use an internet search to
listen to some examples Once you get the hang of it practice producing vocal fry that
is as loud and smooth as possible Find the tone that feels the itchiest and scratchiest
and concentrate your efforts there Rehabbing it will renovate the substructure of
your voice
After completing the exercises lie down and focus on the sensations in your vocal tract You
will be bracing it Find the throat posture that allows the tension you created to subside This
is your most relaxed vocal posture and the one you want to hold all the time
If you are nervous before an important meeting a big presentation or a hot date chances
are much of the nervous energy will be concentrated in your vocal muscles Much of your
anxiety stems from knowing that the tension leakage will be audible the moment you open
Chapter Release Vocal Tension
your mouth However if you sing along loudly and deeply to a few songs you know by heart
during the drive there you will push your vocal muscles through a full contraction This will
wring out the stiffness from those muscles and prime them for use Also singing loudly with
energy is one of the best ways to improve your mood because it causes the release of
endorphins
If after singing you then spend the second half of the drive breathing to a breath
metronome those same muscles will get a full chance to relax and regenerate ensuring that
the exercise they got didnt push them into spasm and activate latent trigger points You will
arrive at the event with the most powerful version of your voice
To acquire a more fully faceted voice and deep resonance you must reestablish the
muscles responsible for growling The need for this kind of rehabilitation comes from a lifetime
of disuse We suppress any hint of a growl concerned that others will interpret it as adversarial
But by avoiding even minor tonal suggestions of anger we repress the vocal muscles needed
for dominant vocalizations Whole sections of our vocal tracts are cramped and dormant as a
result The next exercise addresses this
Vocal Exercise Activate Your Aryepiglottic Folds
Vocalize using the breathing method in Vocal Exercise above but this time growl loudly
Create the guttural vocalization of a husky character with a gruff voice This will force unused
portions of the vocal cords including the aryepiglottic folds to get involved in producing