Dear Mike:
Thanks for your comments. I have used the creaking door concept for
over 40 years. Its origins, for me, were the teachings of Alan
Lindquest and its common usage in Scandinavia in the 30's - 50's. It
is a valuable tool but it has a different functional basis than does
the yodel.
It is my understanding that the creaking voice process places the
vocal folds together with a minimum of vocal medial compression and a
thinning of the vocal folds such that only their very edges are
oscillating and touching each other (the mucosal membrane only?). In
this way, the threshold pressure necessary for phonation is
substantially reduced and for this reason it is possible to sing a
wide excursion of fundamental pitches (as in an extended glissando)
with little vocal effort. I must add, however, that it requires a
refined skill and some patience to achieve and it seems to be more
difficult for the low men's voice than for the higher men's voices
and the female voice.
In contrast, the yodel is, by definition, a quick change from one
vocal fold configuration (in falsetto, long vocal folds) to another
configuration (in chest, short vocal folds). This tends to teach the
singer how to relax the vocal folds to obtain a more released series
of low notes and, perhaps, a slight extension of the lower vocal
range. This was the intent of my original e-mail.
>In a message dated 7/14/2001 11:18:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>lloyd.hanson@n... writes:
>
><< However, I have difficulty with the idea that the yodel is caused
>only, or even primarily, by the change from "something that has
>compression (chest) to something that does not (falsetto)" The yodel
>from falsetto into chest has been described in the literature as
>being caused by the quick change from a lengthened vocal fold to a
>greatly shortened fold which implies that the rapid change of muscle
>mass has a primary causative effect. >>
>
>lloyd,
>
> in imitating a door creaking (actually a valuable exercise seth riggs
>has his students doing) covering the same range as a yodel, at the same
>speed, there is no break as there is in a yodel. as the change in
>longitudinal tension is roughly the same (i assume) in door creaking and
>yodeling, the break in yodeling would have to be a change in medial
>compression not longitudinal tension.
>
>mike
>
>
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--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy, Emeritus
Director of Opera-Theatre, 1987-1997
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ
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