The Key To Unlock Vocal Freedom
In this episode of MoveMedics TV, Voice Physio, Selina, breaks down why your voice is more than just your vocal folds in your larynx and how other structures in your body affect your singing.
She discusses what your MyoFascial Voice™ is and why that is the key to unlocking vocal freedom for singing.
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’Til next time, Be Free In Your Movement.™
x
Selina
B. Phty
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Singers, if you only train vocal technique, you are only training half your voice and you are potentially missing out on having total vocal freedom. Here’s why.
Let me first say that vocal technique is super important, you absolutely should learn good technique, use good technique and keep refining your vocal technique.
But your voice is more than just your vocal folds in your larynx.
There are myofascial connections that connect your voice from head to toe. Your voice is literally a musculoskeletal instrument in the centre of your body.
To fully represent the entirety of your voice, I call ALL the structures involved in your voice your MyoFascial Voice™
Here’re 5 parts of your MyoFascial Voice™ beyond your larynx that are essential for singing and how they can affect your voice.
The first and probably most influential one is your core. Your core is the source of your Breath Support. Without adequate Breath Support, it could impact your pitch, tone, limit your range and how you execute your technique.
Now your body is very clever, when you lack capacity somewhere, it will compensate, borrow, do whatever it takes to make it work.
When your core is weak, one common compensation is to go borrow from the obliques, when you over-brace with your obliques, it makes the base of your ribcage rigid, and this restricts your rib expansion and affects the efficiency of your breathing.
A quick side note on breathing: I believe a good inhale sets you up for success when you then exhale to sing, you want to be able to easily inhale the correct volume of air you need, to finish singing the next line without running out of breath, and also to use the technique you want to use. So anything that compromises your inhale puts you on the back foot before you even sing a single note.
The second part of your MyoFascial Voice™ outside of your larynx that can affect your singing is your thoracic spine and ribcage. This is where your lungs live, where your air is. If you lack mobility in your thoracic spine and your ribs are stiff, then your intercostal muscles have to work harder to expand your ribcage when you breathe. Any muscles that have to work harder than normal fatigue faster.
A classic compensation here is to use your neck to help you breathe. Your neck muscles are accessory muscles for breathing, they can absolutely help but they should only help you breathe when you’re desperate for air, like after you’ve sprinted flat-out to get away from zombies. You should not rely on your neck muscles for regular breathing or singing, this leads to overuse.
Overusing your neck muscles causes them to hold excessive muscle tension and as singers we know neck tension means vocal tension. More on that shortly.
The third part of your MyoFascial Voice™ outside of your larynx that can affect your singing is your back extensor muscles.
Your back extensor muscles attain and maintain an upright torso, and an upright torso is the Ideal Voicing Alignment because it is the most efficient position for the following 5 things.
First, it’s the most efficient position for your transversus abdominis, your main core muscle, to work.
Second, it is the most efficient position for your diaphragm and pelvic floor to coordinate their action for breathing.
Third, it is the most efficient position for your ribcage expansion on all sides.
Fourth, it allows air to come out of your lungs in the smoothest, straightest way with the least resistance.
Fifth, it allows your head and neck to sit on your torso in the most neutral position, which then allows your larynx to also be in the most neutral position.
If your back is not strong or have sufficient endurance to maintain your alignment the whole time you sing, you may well start off well but then struggle later in your set and start to compensate.
If you regularly feel exhausted after singing and everything feels tight as, it is highly likely that your body is not strong enough yet to support the demand of your current singing schedule.
Now I know not everyone sings standing upright, maybe you play an instrument, I do. Maybe you have choreography, or you are in character. These are all relevant, all great, all fun, what I encourage you to do is to make sure your body is strong in all the positions you have to sing in.
If you want me to break this down some more for you, let me know in the comments.
The fourth part of your MyoFascial Voice™ outside of your larynx that can affect your singing is your Pelvic Floor.
Your pelvic floor is a part of your core and breathing, it is also what supports your bladder, your bowel and keeps your continent so you don’t pee your pants when you sing.
Side note, it is not normal to pee your pants when you sing. If your teacher told you it is ok to leak pee when you sing high or belt, find another teacher.
If pee does come out when you sing, even if it is just that once or one drop, please see a pelvic floor physio as soon as possible to start rehab before it gets worse.
Your pelvic floor is deeply connected with your jaw. Excessive muscle tension in one feeds excessive muscle tension in the other.
Many things drive jaw and pelvic floor tension, the more drivers you have, the more it drives tension up in both areas, they can keep feeding one another and you might not even be aware that both are getting tighter and tighter.
And that’s the thing about excessive muscle tension, it sneaks up on you unawares!
Excessive tension in your jaw directly affects your voice, so if you’re confident with your vocal technique and you know your vocal folds are healthy but you have random issues with your pitch, tone, resonance, can’t easily access your regular range, or you struggle with chronic tongue root, neck and shoulder tension, it could be from excessive muscle tension elsewhere in the body and it’s definite worth looking into.
The fifth part of your MyoFascial Voice™ outside of your larynx that can affect your singing is, of course, your neck.
Your neck is where your larynx lives, your larynx sits directly in front of and in the middle of your cervical spine. The position of your neck directly affects the position of and muscle tension around your larynx and your jaw.
And you already know this, excessive tension in these areas can affect the quality of your sound, your range, it makes singing more effortful, which then contributes to vocal fatigue and drives even more excessive muscle tension.
Your neck, jaw and voice are intimately related. If your neck is not happy, your voice and your jaw won’t be happy either. This is why I say neck care is a priority for all singers.
I want to reiterate that learning, using and refining your vocal technique is super important, but as you now know, there’re lots of non-vocal-technique factors affecting your voice as well.
It doesn’t matter how good your vocal technique is, it will not magically give you a strong core, it cannot improve mobility in your spine and ribs, it won’t strengthen your back muscles, vocal technique can’t help you relax your pelvic floor and coordinate it properly with your breathing, and it certainly won’t alleviate your chronic tight neck.
What you need to address these MyoFascial Voice™ issues is a fit-for-purpose movement solution that helps you develop the Mobility and Strength required to manage the physical demands of singing. I have a program coming out soon for exactly that so stay tuned.
If you’re keen to start nurturing your body for singing today, I highly encourage you to start by making sure you’re using your core properly because your core is the foundation for your movement, your posture, your Breath Support and most people don’t use their core properly. My FREE mini course “Introduction to Breath Support” is the perfect place to start learning about your core.
Inside the training, I walk you through how to correctly engage your core and pelvic floor, and also how to coordinate your core with your breathing for singing. You can grab the free training using the link in the description.
I’m Selina, a physio and a singer. I help singers build strong bodies to augment their vocal technique and unlock vocal freedom, if that is your vibe, please subscribe.
This is a playlist I’ve made just for singers so make sure you check it out.
Until next time, Be Free In Your Movement.™
And as singers we know, neck muscle means vocal ten…
Hahaha, neck muscles, that’s funny…