Singing with Balance: The Balance of Air and Muscle

PARAMETER FIVE:  BALANCE OF AIR AND MUSCLE (GLOTTAL CLOSURE) 

Singers often begin lessons at Sing Like a Star Studios with the idea that they need to work on breathing because they can’t get through a phrase without running out of breath. Some teachers focus exclusively on breathing technique initially.  While breath management is an important foundational step, a more important issue is that of valving.

Valving refers to the closure or adduction (approximation) of the vocal folds at the onset of phonation, and how close the folds remain during phonation.  

Most singers need to improve vocal fold adduction (how approximate the vocal folds are at the onset or initiation of phonation), and closed quotient (how long the folds remain closed during the cycle of open/closed of the vibrational wave).

If the folds are not appropriately adducted to begin sound and adequate closed quotient is not maintained during phonation, excessive air escapes through the folds. This means the singer will run out of breath and the sound they are producing will be breathy and anemic.

The glottis controls air pressure, rather than the other way around.  If the vocal folds are not appropriately adducted, no amount of breathing or breath support is going to improve the sound.

Subglottal air pressure is determined by how well the folds adduct and how long they stay together during the vibrational wave (closed quotient).

The intrinsic muscles of adduction are the TA (thyroarytenoid), LCA (lateral cricoarytenoid), and IA (interarytenoid). The TA helps adduction by bulging the fold toward the midline.

The LCA and IA muscles draw the vocal folds together when the arytenoid cartilages swivel and approximate.

Good singing requires appropriate vocal fold adduction- not too much (hyper adducted) and not too little (hypo adducted).

Excessive air pressure is damaging to the voice. However, a lack of physical energy in singing produces a breathy, weak vocal sound. Each singer comes with different habits and skills; some need to increase breath pressure for efficient sound and others should decrease it.

Learning to use just enough and not too much air pressure is essential.

Subglottal air pressure must balance with firm glottal closure for healthy singing. This is the balance of air and muscle.

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