What is the larynx? The larynx is the housing of our vocal folds. It is also commonly referred to as the voice box, but the scientific term for it is the larynx. Now the larynx is in our adam’s apple. Women don’t really have an adam’s apple, but we have the same structure. Feel for it in the top middle of your throat. For women, you’ll feel a small bump and find the little V notch in the front. Your vocal folds are right behind that. The soft bone that you feel is the cartilage that protects them and the vocal folds are right behind that. If you put your finger gently on it and swallow, you feel it pop up. It’s popping up because your epiglottis has to fold over your larynx when you eat or drink something.

The way that we make sound right is that air is coming up through our trachea. Then it goes a little bit forward in through the larynx, right? Whether or not we’re singing, it’s also happening if we’re just silently breathing. The air is always passing up through that way. Now, when we hold our breath, we’re actually doing that by closing our vocal folds together.

Obviously by now, you guys have noticed that your larynx is movable. Your larynx can move up and it can move down. Generally speaking, we want it in a resting position that’s a more low than high. So while we’re singing, it’s going to be moving. It’s going a little bit up a little bit down, but where we get into a lot of trouble is when it’s really, really low or really, really high. So that’s why I said we really want it in a balanced position. So when you guys hear voices like Kermit the frog, or if you hear somebody whose larynx is really high. We don’t want that. No matter what kind of music we’re singing, we do not want that. When we’re belting our larynx will be slightly higher than normal, but every other time we need to have it in a really balanced position.

It’s important to be aware of this because a lot of times when people are expressing that their throat feels really tight or that their throat hurts while they’re singing, this is why. It’s because of these throat muscles are tightening and your larynx is skyrocketing into your throat. Also one other sensation is if you’ve ever feel like you’re choking yourself while you’re singing, that could also be from a very high larynx.

Okay, so now let me show you guys a couple of ways that you can feel your larynx lower. Now, a really good place to start is just feeling where larynx is when you’re speaking. If you have a very low, like a very low, low sultry speaking voice, you might have a little bit of a lower larynx while you’re speaking. I have a very a medium place larynx while I’m speaking. Some people that have a little bit more twang in their voice, or like a lot of I grew up in the Midwest. A lot of people in the Midwest speak with their larynx pretty high in their throat as well, so it’s interesting to explore that.

Vocal Folds Exercise No. 1

One exercise I like to do that really lowers the larynx is you’re going to have to bear with me for a second, because I’m going to require you to use a little bit of your imagination.

So I want you to imagine that your throat is a straw that not only can suck in downward, but it can also suck open. When you feel yourself taking the air in and your throat is going to open you’re going to feel everything lower. Okay. So gently place your hand in your throat. Exhale first then slowly inhale. When I do that, my larynx goes from being up to down. Did you feel it?

Vocal Folds Exercise No. 2

A really good, slow breath where you’re thinking about everything relaxing and releasing, that’s a great way to feel it lower. Now for the second way that you can feel it lower, you can use the “gah” sound. It goes, gah, gah, gah, gah, gah. You get that? Now, remember I’m not doing this really loudly that’s not going to work. It’s a gah, gah, gah and you feel it come down. Make sure you’re feeling everything meet, remain relaxed as well.

Vocal Folds Exercise No. 3

So now the last exercise that I really like to do to feel the larynx lower is do a downward siren. Now this is going to be a much more relaxed siren than our high ones. You’re just going to start in the middle of the voice and then go, OOOoooo….. Did you feel it lower? There you go. Now your larynx is low and it’s relaxed.

Lastly, something that you can do to kind of relax these muscles is very, very gently, gently take your two fingers on your throat and massage these muscles downward, that kind of helps just the surrounding muscles, but doesn’t necessarily lower your larynx. Sometimes everything is so connected that these muscles get tense too and then you can just get a little relaxation downward. Remember everything in your throat is really sensitive, so be gentle.

Lastly, I just want to say that while you’re singing, your larynx is moving a little bit up and a little bit down. It’s going to be tough to notice at first if your larynx is too high or too low, but while when you do these exercises, you’re going to become more acquainted with what your larynx actually feels like. You’re going to be able to ask yourself, okay, is my larynx skyrocketing when I’m singing? Is it too low? Or do I feel like I have pretty good control over it? If most of the time you are feeling no control, the answer is going to be that it’s way too high. That’s when you can go back to these exercises to get it to lower, to get it to settle and to be in a more relaxed position where it will feel much more comfortable to sing.

So I hope this answers some of your questions about the larynx. I know that this kind of a topic has a lot of question marks around it. If you want to learn more about the larynx, just let me know in the comments.