Learn how to sing better right now with our free report - "5 Tips To Sing The larynx, commonly known as the “voice box”, houses your vocal cords. Keeping your larynx neutral when singing is one of the most important things you can do. For most people, the resting position of the larynx is its neutral position. To find your larynx, simply follow these steps:
1) Take your finger, press the flat side under your chin and run it down your neck.
2) When the feel the bump in your neck (for guys it is easy (Adam’s apple), girls a little tougher), congratulations! You have found your larynx!
Now I just want you to imagine your larynx rising in your throat. Swallow for a moment and feel it rise. See how far up in your throat it is? When your larynx rises, it constricts the vocal cords and cuts off a lot of resonance space for your sound. What you end up with: tension, and a lot of it.
In fact, I would muse to say that this is the most common cause of tension when people try to sing high notes. Their larynx rises high because it falsely gives the “feeling” that it will make the high notes easier. You then discover that it just plain hurts to sing the notes. You also begin to wonder why you feel like there is a lump in your throat. Guess what? There is a lump in your throat – your larynx!
In order to neutralize your larynx, you must train your larynx. What I personally have to do is place my finger on top of my Adam’s apple when it is in the resting position. Then, when I go to sing, I make sure that my larynx does not rise above my finger. Warning: it sounds much easier than it actually is. If you have never worked on neutralizing your larynx before, this little trick may be difficult at first. But no worries, with time and training, you will have your larynx in a neutral state in no time!
Exercises that help keep your larynx neutral are “mum”, “buh”, and “guh”. Be sure to keep a dopey sound underneath your tone as you practice them on scales. Singing these phrases automatically lowers your larynx. Be sure to place your finger on top of your Adam’s apple when doing these exercises as well.
It will take time to train your larynx to stay neutral when singing. However, if you really focus and take the time to intentionally train, you can speed up the process dramatically.
When you have successfully trained your larynx to stay neutral, you will notice a freedom in the voice that you had not felt before. Less tension. More power. Isn’t this what every singer desires?
As always, sing on my friends!
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Hey really nice tips man!
@Amogh – Thanks! I hope you find them helpful and informative! Please let me know if you have any questions about anything.
it’s very nice, really lovely
@juna neupane – Thanks! Enjoy the vocal tips!
here dude i use my digastric muscles while talking i have been singing a lot everyday 1-4 hours daily. So i have developed a decent vibrato and i have increased my range but i still cant sing without my digastric muscles going tight and coming down . It feels as though iv been practising and improving everything except singing without tension so i feel i should not have begun singing while i didnt correct this problem please help me with your knowledge and what you feel i could try i will put the hours in ill do anything
@gwilym – Thanks for the comment! I hope my response will be helpful for you!
First of all I just want to make sure you have read over the article I wrote on the digastric muscle in particular. If you haven’t read it, click on the link above and give it a read – it may be highly beneficial for you.
As for disengaging this booger of a muscle, I would suggest to you this:
Practice singing with your thumbs pressed firmly under your chin. Don’t press so hard to where it hurts, but apply moderate pressure to keep them from tensing up. Also, practice singing in a very light state with your thumbs under your chin to keep the muscles disengaged. A lot of times the digastric muscles are engaged because we are singing with too much breath pressure, so try vocalizing lightly with your thumbs under you chin and see if that helps.
Also take time to practice thin edge exercises with your thumbs under you chin. Training and strengthening your the thin edge of your vocal cords automatically reduces the need of tension from your digastric muscle. I also gave an example in the article on the digastric muscle about thin edge exercises. I hope this helps! Let me know if it doesn’t and I will work to find another possible remedy!
thanks dude for your reply
i have read all your articles which i think are great but yeah iv been trying for months to sing tension free all exercises and its not as though i sound terrible but it feels sore sometimes and i know i tense all the time. Singing is so important to me i would practice all day if i felt i had the correct technique and had no tension but obviously im afraid of damaging my voice if i sing with tension iv been told im a good singer with nice tone and vibrato from singing teachers but i dont know how i can be good when i sing with tension i really want to fix this so much so thanks for your time and hopefully youll reply to me
@gwilym – No problem dude! Can you record yourself singing? I’d like to take a listen and see if I can maybe pinpoint some things in your voice and offer some exercises tailored specifically to you. Tension is definitely no fun, and while you always have some, having a lot of it is not good. If you can record yourself, make a copy and send it to me through an email. You can contact me at thomas@foreversinging.com
Also, have you tried massaging your neck muscles and your jaw? Sometimes you jaw can create a ton of tension as well. Try massaging your jaw thoroughly before you sing. Move it sideways, up and down and massage the area where it connects to your head (usually right beside of just below the ears). Also massage the jaw muscles that are right outside of the cheeks to help relax them.
Continue practicing some with your thumbs under your chin and continue to build your thin edge muscles.
Send me a clip if you can! I’ll try to help as much as I possibly can!
ill try do that but i dont know how i have a web cam if thats the process to do it
but its just a use them while speaking aswell so i feel like i have major tension i have discovered my mix but i feel as though i shouldnt try to improve while i still have tension. Its sometimes i can sing with a nice tone but other times it just hurts to sing i can go up into my whistle note easily when im warmed up like when i use it relaxed and softly i still feel the tension in my digastric muscle when i put my finger there. It doesnt hurt when im warmed up only sometimes but i still feel it all the time when i sing notes thanks again for listening
@gwilym – You should be able to do it through a webcam. You could just record a video of you singing and then send it to me in a .wmv format. Experiment on finding ways to talk without using your digastric muscles. You will use it some when you speak, but you shouldn’t use it so much that it hurts when you speak.
It is good that you sometimes sing without tension because it means you are training your vocal cords to do the work. I think with more focused practice you will continue to disengage the digastric muscle and sing with less and less tension.
i will try to send a video to you and be honest with me about how bad it will be
and can you tell me what my voice will do when its tesion free like will my tone become very nice and should i actually sound good and should it sound free and should there be no tension at all on high notes
@gwilym – I will be honest and critique you so that it will hopefully help you become a better singer.
I can’t exactly pinpoint what your voice will sound like when it is free of tension, but I do know that a voice free from tension is very smooth, rich and clear. The tone is quite pleasant and it will sound very effortless.
As for high notes, make sure distinguish between tension and vocal compression. Vocal compression will occur to help keep you connected when singing those high notes, but it will not hinder you from singing those high notes. Tension, on the other hand, will keep you from singing the high notes. Some people associate vocal compression with tension, but the truth is that everyone must use some vocal compression in order to stay connected.
ok well thank you i will send it within a few days
today iv done about 3-4 hours of the tension free exercises and well i noticed that when i go into my head voice it sounds too operatic and my larynx just naturally goes low and i think theres a little tension but its definetly not as much as when i sing in chest but i heard that when your head voiceis effortless and sounds operatic that its bad for some reason i dont know if its true or not
how much do you think i should be training daily
@gwilym – wow you train a lot in one day! It will be vitally important that you work on tension free stuff if you train that much each day. Try to keep your larynx as neutral as possible when singing the high notes.
I haven’t heard the thing about effortless, operatic head voice being bad before, so I’m not really in a position to comment on that. However, effortless head voice is a good sign, so it can’t be completely bad.
At maximum I practice 2 hours a day. I prefer quality over quantity. You can practice for more, but be sure you are resting your vocal cords plenty and are trying to sing without tension. Dropping vocal weight and singing with a neutral larynx will give you longevity when practicing.
well yeah your correct singing hours with bad techique isnt good but singing minutes with correct technique is brilliant i wish i could just fix it. I mean i have hopes to win a singing competition and no one has any faith in me which i dont blame them but my own family laugh at the idea and think im insane iv wanted to quit so many times but i want it so bad i just cant. I feel if my tension left i would become quite good i dont know if it would happen but i feel as though my voice would be good if there was no tension.
@gwilym – I’ve got faith in you. Just keep practicing the exercises correctly, experiment to find ways to sing without tension, and be sure to rest your vocal cords. Your voice will come around with time and patience!
yeah i do an hour of lip rolls of warm up and today i noticed i could control it not to tense if i go gentle but when i go louder i cant control it is that how to progress starts or is it not that good. yeah and im taking your advice on experimentation i hope i can find my voice within
what changes happened for you when you lost your tension
@gwilym – Like Chris Keller from Singing Success says, “Light and right is better than strong and wrong”. So keep practicing those exercises with a light edge and neutral larynx, and once you are able to control it well, gradually start adding volume. That way you build into your voice and you won’t be forcing anything.
When I got rid of a lot of excess tension in my voice, I noticed a power and clarity that I had not had before. More power in my voice was the biggest difference for me.
My struggle now is taking the weight off my voice as I go into my mix and head voice, so I have to constantly practice light exercises to keep myself from bringing up so much weight. It also removes tension from my voice and makes singing much, much easier.
well yeah i use the singing success program im on cd 10 but since i still have tension i guess i did something wrong so iv gone back to the first cds to do them properly should that help
so what program do you have i want to buy the mastering mix and mastering vibrato and the 3 package deal by brett chris and dave
but i want to get rid of my tension first do you think its best to buy them after my tension is gone or not cause i try to use my mix but i dont know if its my mix cause i think it might just be belting up chest voice
@gwilym – Going back through the disc and paying careful attention to how you do the exercises should help.
I also purchased the Jesse Nemitz Top 7 program and it has worked extremely well when coupled with Singing Success. I would suggest looking into it and maybe purchasing it. You don’t have to get rid of tension first to purchase this program. It will help you get rid of the tension as you go through the lessons. You can click here to head to the site and get the program if you would like!
yeah i will be doing the exercises all again but trying to pay attention to doing it tension free ill try to get 4- 6 hours of quality training done should that speed up my tension free singing voice as long as i do it tension free
yeah i want to get that jesse nemitz program and the chis top 7 comericial secrets and brett mannings top 7 exercises you can get the 3 for 100
so in the jesse nemitz program helped your tension reduce really i thought that seeing as though it was a super high mix program that it would be impossible to do it with tension but im taking your advice and im going to purchase it thank you
did it really help your mix a lot cause i would love to get my mix up to standard
@gwilym – Jesse’s program really helped out my mix a lot. It is not perfect yet, but it is on the right track. Just keep practicing tension free – your tone will come with time and patience!
ok thank you for all your help ill be using all your advice wisely and i want this so bad so i really appreciate what you have done
i will give you a text soon on my progress hopefully i will have good news. Of course thats if you want me to tell you
well anyway i hope both are voices get to where we want them to go
@gwilym – No problem! Just keep me updated via the contact form on the contact page. I hope to hear good things too!
Nice looking blog you have here. The theme is awesome, great color combination.
@Bianca – Thanks for the compliments! Glad you like the layout.
Thomas thanks for being so passionate about teaching and taking the time to explain things.
-Ken
@Ken – Thanks Ken! I’ve got a passion for helping people learn how to sing better and I’m glad it is showing.
thomas man how are you i have some good and bad news
first i am using way less tension on vowels sometimes it feels like im using no tension on vowels when i put my finger under my digrastic muscles, sometimes they come down but theres definetely less tension. so my 1st question. from what i said, is that the way it happens like iv got way less tension so does it mean eventually the tension will vanish.
and heres the bad news i still cant speak without tension so that why i can sing with less tension only on vowels i cant sing a song because when i speak i tense so when i sing words i tense but vowels are ok. do you have any sugestions that might be benificial to my case thanks again mate cant wait to hear from you
@gwily – Hey man I have been doing well..singing away! Good to hear you are using less tension overall..that is an excellent first step to freeing up your voice. The tension will gradually begin to disappear (like you are experiencing now) the more your train your vocal cords to do the work by disengaging the digastric muscles. As for speaking with tension, I wouldn’t worry so much about that. Just focus on speaking with a neutral larynx and keep your voice steady and smooth. Even if there is some tension when talking, it shouldn’t affect you when you are singing because your vocal cords will be able to truly kick into gear and do the work for you!
thanks man.Yeah i noticed that my digastric muscle was soft on my vowels and i was sohappy cause i thought that i was going to improve so much but then i went to sing but i noticed i still was using the digastric muscle even relaxed. It was like anytime i tried to sing a word i would tense so it got me thinking that if i cant speak without using it that i couldnt sing words without using i think its a problem with my tongue. Anytime i try to sing with the tip resting on the lower teeth it tensing a lot, so i dont position my tongue. Do you think thats my problem or tell me what you think is thanks again dude
@gwily – Unless your tongue is retracted way back into your throat, I doubt that is your problem. However, your tongue should be resting at the front of your mouth in order to provide ample space for your sound the resonate. It is hard to say without actually hearing your practice and/or sing. You should send me a clip sometime soon so I can help you diagnose your voice some more.
i tried to send you a video but i couldnt figure out how to. I went into one of my web cam videos and i clicked send to and the message board came up and i said send to info@foreversinging.com and i typed in an email address for cc which i dont know what it is. It said not enough memory but i know i did something wrong could you specifify how i operate the sending process.
and should my tongue but resting on the back of the lower teeth always while singing
@gwily – That’s odd. How big is your video file? It should be able to be attached to an email unless is it a very large file. If it is a large file, you may have to upload it to YouTube and then send me a link to the YouTube video via email.
My tongue is always resting on the back of my bottom front row of teeth. You always want your tongue forward in your mouth in order to maximize the amount of resonance space for your sound.
i dont think its very large. ill try to figure it out.
whenever i put my tongue resting on the back of the bottom row of teeth i get more tension on my digastric muscle so i get confused cause i know your right about the tongue position but it creates more tension did you have this problem
@gwily – It didn’t cause any extra tension because that is my normal resting position. Your tongue will obviously move some as your are vocalizing words, but it should never retract back into your mouth.
hello thomas thank you for everything i have lost a lot of tension but not completely yet but i still havent improved in my singing i dont know what to do my tone my vibrato its all the same
and i noticed that i find it hard to sustain a long scale in my head voice i just run out of breathe
i want to be a pop singer i used to have a nice tone but it was too squeezed but now i hate the sound of my voice because its getting to deep like jazz and i want a pop sound so im really fustrated i purchased the master mix and on the head voice scales i cant suistain from oo to o to aw then ee to a to ah in one breathe chest is fine at suistaining long scales but my head voice runs out breathe fast please help me again thank you aswell
i recorded some new clips of me singing im trying to get them to you
@gwily – If you find yourself running out of breath, make sure you are breathing from your diaphragm and not your chest so that you get the maximum amount of breath support from each breath that you take. It’s good to hear that you have lost tension.
As for your tone, if you want to lighten up your tone, you should work on the edgy exercises from the SS program and do exercises like ‘wee’ and ‘goo’ and ‘gwee’. They are more heady in nature and will help give you a softer, more poppy voice.
Keep working on cord closure as well. Solid cord closure will give you a more sweet and pure tone.
i know it is very basic but how can i determine everytime i take a breathe that it is from my diaghram. Its just the sound in my head voice sounds breathy and operatic but not breathy as in falsetto, its strong but breathy aswell.
yeah when i try to put sweet tone to my voice it sounds really squeezed and not natural but i feel i sound better when i squeeze but i wish to just get a beautiful sweet natural tone with no strain.
yeah i did 6-7 hours 2 days ago and my voice is still feels like it needs rest
@gwily – You breathe from your diaphragm when you are using your stomach and not your chest to breathe. Basically your stomach needs to poke out when you breathe. Check out the posts I made about how to breathe properly and breath control to get a better idea of breath support.
http://foreversinging.com/archives/2010/03/how-to-breathe-properly/
http://foreversinging.com/archives/2010/03/breath-control/
Also, I would definitely rest your voice. Practicing that long is just too much for your vocal cords (unless you’re Brett Manning and have done it for 20+ years). Give your vocal cords a few days rest and then go back and work on technique some more.
yeah i do breathe from my stomach and it comes out when i breathe in but i only started doing this back in november but i feel when i breathe with my stomach sometimes i dont know if im right but it feels that my shoulders and chest rise a little and i know thats wrong
man i read all your article im serious about my singing so i read everything that can help me become what i want
i know brett is amazing i thought i could sing high pitch but wow when i saw him i was amazed and so effortless i can use my whistle voice but his is amazing especially for a man
yeah iv been resting my voice for 5 days now and i still dont feel ready to do the exercises
when i do the mum buh and guh my larynx need to be low or in it resting position ?
explain that please and ill be forever thankful
@mel – If you struggle with a high larynx, then keep your larynx low for now. Once you feel confident that your larynx is settled and that it doesn’t move up when you ascend in your range, work on keeping it in the resting (neutral) position. Hope this helps!
if my larynx moves up and down when im speaking but just slightly sould it be the same when im doing the excercise ?
or when u say neutral u meen my larynx need to be not moving at all not even slightly ?
@mel – Your larynx will shift some when you sing, but it should not shift so much that it begins to cause tension. The goal is to keep your larynx as neutral as possible throughout your entire range.
@thomas will it takes alot of training to make the larynx stays at is neutral position ?
cause im doing this excercise (without a vocal coach) every day and im kind of frustrated
will it takes more than a month ?
@mel – It does take a lot of training to get your larynx to stay in the neutral position. I still struggle with it at times today. But over time (it took me..2-3 months of serious training) and paying careful attention to myself before something finally clicked..and then I no longer had to pay too much attention to my larynx. It just automatically knows to stay neutral now. So just be patient and you will see results – I promise!
THANK U SOO MUCH I FINALLY FOUND SOMEONE TO ANSWER EVRYTHING I NEED
(im gonna keep asking every now & than )
@mel – No problem man! Glad I could help!
Hey Thomas thanks for your help i finally found the exact solution to my problem! No other help seemed to fix this and i could not find a situation that matched my problem. Thanks Again!
Max
Hey thomas, i’m 16 years old, can i still do this exercises?
Hey there! I am 16 years old and I have soooo many questions for you!
I have been a sopranno all my life. I am pretty good, but the problem is that because i have always been a sopranno i only knew how to sing in my head voice. So this year i have been trying to train my chest voice, and i feel like i have to push in order to keep myself from slipping back into my comfortable head voice. I have noticed that now everytime i sing (in either head or chest voice) i feel tension in my neck, throat and gigastric muscles. I feel fatigued super quickly too!
I have also found out that i have been using my outer larynx muscles instead of my inner larynx muscles and this is apparently a really bad thing. So i have been practicing the lip roll in both my head and chest voice but my outer larynx muscles still move up and down when i do this. I thought this excercise is supposed to stop the larynx from moving up and down, so i’m not sure if i’m doing it wrong, and would that comletely defeat the purpose of the excersize?
And to top it all off, though i have always had alot of control over my head voice, but i have also always been extremely quiet in my head voice. I have a nicely developed vibratto and high notes have always been easy but i could never, for the life of me, ever project in my head voice! This drove me insane and is why i started to train my chest voice in the first place. I can sing loud in my chest voice (i don’t over sing, no worries.) But i feel like there is just so much i need to fix, please please help me! I don’t know how to fix all these problems!
(I already strech and massage my throat and neck muscles, and i do the lip rolls, and scales. I try to drink a lot of water, and i excercize all the time. I try not to scream of whisper, and i already do the silent breath.)
Hey I bought the singing success programme a while back and after disc 4 I noticed a lot of tension had gone away and I could sing notes effortlessly. But lately, I’ve noticed my range has increased but notes are no longer effortless. It’s like I forgot how t sing like that. Maybe my voice is tired because I can sing notes like F5-G#5 effortlessly for a little bit but then it like goes away and good ole strain is back. So I’m resting my voice today by not singing (but I’m not not talking because I heard it’s bad for the voice) because I sing alot and I go to bed kinda late like around 10-12. So I’m trying to get in more sleep.
Do you have any specific tips, or excersises to help me relieve myself of the tension?
Oh, is it ok if you larynx moves a little bit when you sing or should it just stay put when you sing? PLEASE HELP!
Hey, Thomas! I’ve read your posts and some of the comments. I read that you asked gwilym to send you a clip of her singing, do you mind if I send you one as well? I sing a lot and hit the high notes but after you posted rules on how to sing properly, I’m still not confident about my singing and I’m not sure if I’m doing it right since being taught personally is still different from just reading the rules. It’s okay if you don’t have the time, I just wanted to know. Thank you!
hi im jean i was wondering if i was to do those larynx exercises with a low larynx because of the dopey sound would my voice get deeper and when i sing will it only allow me to sing low notes and how long should i do these exercises for thank u
hey Thomas, thanks for ur valuable tips…..I just wanted to ask whether I should obstruct my larynx from coming up by keeping the finger above it or should I think of not letting it go above…in short I jst want to ask if I have to force my larynx or try to keep it low jst by thinking…….pease help…!
hey thomas….i posted a question but it hasn’t come on your website since it went for moderation…please help…
Hey Dude,
I really want to start singing, I dont think im that bad but my voice is rather weak. I sing quite low, but I really dont know where to start. Im a bit embaressed to go to a teacher incase they say I am too bad!!
Some background, I am grade 8 flute, sax and grade 7 piano, so I do have musical background, with grade 5 theory.
I really want to sing operatic stuff, or classically. I dont know where to start, and ideas on how gauging how good or bad my voice is?!
Thanks
Hello this is to put your finger on the nut took him 3 minutes and mother practicing hard time I hope that when you take weeks and ahh thanks and best known as the larynx gulped up me up I can not help: S
How do I know if I am doing falsetto right?