The Listenary

The vocal cords are specialized muscles. Like other muscles in the body, they can be strengthened by exercise. Like other muscles in the body, they can atrophy and get flabby so they can't hold a tone or timbre the owner demands from them.

By exercise, I mean not just talking more or singing more. For a long time I wondered how a person would go about actually working out with those muscles in the larynx. Here I will give a few tips that make sense to me and have made a difference for me. I gleaned them from various musician friends.

So before I begin to apply the exercise principle of "slow and hold" to the muscles called the vocal cords, would you please go to this page to read about my "slow and hold" method of exercise? Thank you. Perhaps you'd like to read the entire set of four articles about this exercise, listed here.

Given these principles, you want to find ways of putting "slow and hold" exercises to work with your vocal cords. You can do these exercises in the car, the shower, or the woods. You can also do them with your choir or other group.

1. Do your five- or eight-note exercises without the "Ha" or "La"; slide rather than stop on each "note"; and go SLOW. Your aim here is to build consistent change power. Listen to yourself and watch for any places where your voice wants to skip or break the flow of change. Then work that spot more. Do not tire or strain the voice. Go here to read other principles of voice care.

2. When exercising in your lower range, use "ah"; when in your higher range, use "ee." Listen to make round, full sounds in both positions. The "ah" drops the jaw and lets the vocal cords thicken or bunch up to make the lower sounds more fully and reliably. The "ee" juts the jaw forward to stretch and strengthen the cords in order to make the higher shounds more firmly and accurately.

3. Do these exercises sometimes with your head thrown back and your chin up in the air. Don't strain. It's just a way to gradually build your workout for those vocal cords.

4. Do not neglect slow and hold exercises with the tongue, lips, cheeks, neck, eyes, and soft and hard palates. Practice very SLOW range of motion movements, or isometric pressures holding at least for ten seconds. I'm told that ten seconds is sort of the first goal, where you actually begin building muscles.

In my experience, muscles matter. Building muscles as described here may have many happy side effects, like younger-looking face and neck, better eyesight, increased gum and soft tissue health, less cold and flu, and clearer sinuses, besides better resonance, better diction, and better tone control.

As with any workout, some benefits will be realized almost immediately. Others will require time and consistent attention. I did not know but learned by experience that the actual bone structure will change over time according to the stresses put upon it by the muscles attached. This is powerful news!