randy wrote:
<< This is not true Mike. Maybe certain individual's can get away with this because of their constitution but a high laryngeal position creates excessive medial compression, even much more than effortful closur.
High laryngeal position is mentioned in the literature under misuse and puts excessive strain on the folds in the area where the anterior one third and posterior two thirds of the folds meet, aka the nodular junction. >>
randy,
a high larynx occurs during swallowing so, it is not a high larynx that creates excessive medial compression nor does it put excessive strain on the folds. it would be the application of breath pressure in the effort to create sound that creates these problems.
not all literature agrees that a high larynx position should be mentioned under misuse. jo estill's research indicates that a high larynx is required for certain types of singing and maintains that it is safe if done correctly.
in the literature you are alluding to, how large was the sample group or groups? what other conditions were examined (i.e. other muscular involvment in the face, neck, shoulders, torso)? what was the level of vocal expertise in those singers in the sample group exhibiting a high larynx?
in my experience with my own singing and in the singing of others, from good, experienced singer to lame beginner, when the singer just 'let it happen' (that is, let his/her larynx raise) and not care about the sound (a key point), singing became easier and the larynx postition lowered, not to speech level but, just above it.
i believe it is the nasty ass sound that is sometimes the product of a high larynx that causes singers to create tensions, in an effort to improve the sound, that causes problems and, that the high larynx, in and of itself, is not the problem.
certainly, if a singer has a high larynx and is unable to sing without a high larynx, that singer will have to sing with that high larynx until he/she learns to lower it, if you accept the idea that a high larynx is bad. a singer who does not know how to lower his/her larynx will find it easier to sing with that high larynx until he/she/it learns to lower it as lowering it until then, is impossible for them. in singing with a high larynx, it would be easier for that singer to let it happen rather than fight it with ineffective actions that are not only useless but, probably counter productive as well.
mike
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