Operation ‘Deep Throat’

If you want a harmonious relationship with someone – you must treat them well. If you want to get beautiful sound out of your instrument – then treat that instrument well – with respect, love and care. Unfortunately, we mistreat our voices because we don’t understand how sound is made. We think the throat is the source of the sound and that a lot of breath is needed to fuel that sound (and give us volume and control). Nothing could be further from the truth.

We need to open our throats as deep and wide as we can when we sing and use the barest minimum of air (enough to gently stroke the vocal cords as they start to vibrate). Sadly though, we tend to tighten the throat and force/squeeze the sound out like we’re making sausages…. or other things that look like sausages. This produces a ‘tense and small’, rather than ‘resonant and big’ sound

A tight throat brings the whole system down. In this column, I’ll guide you through a miraculous cure-all for whatever is ailing your vocal production – a silent giggle to open the throat.

Given that the primary function of the throat is to protect the lungs by shutting out any substances from going down the windpipe, it is hard for the throat to let it’s guard down (and neglect what it sees as it’s important responsibilities!). We open our throats naturally when we feel safe, and are defenceless – when laughing, love-making or doing tequila lay-backs!) Listen to how much more peels of laughter project over and above ordinary conversation. We are going to harness that wonderfully powerful release when we sing.

In order for our bodies to make a big sound, we need to open as much space inside the body to resonate as possible. We are acoustic vibrators not brutal wind-bags. Opening the throat allows the sound to go wherever we welcome it – to all the places we’ve created space for it (in much the same way that water automatically finds its way into any available cavity). The sound then takes on the shape and tone of the space it inhabits (a guitar sounds like a guitar because of its guitar-shaped body. Put the sound into your nose and it sounds snotty, put it in the forehead and it sounds amazing!).

By opening the throat with a silent giggle, we allow the sound to flood the primary amplifiers of the sinus cavities. This gives us complete control over the voice by using the forehead as a steering wheel or control panel for the sound.

So, put your index finger and thumb around your Adam’s apple in the neck and yawn. Feel it drop down? Note also that the base of the tongue stiffens? (That’s why we don’t use a yawn to open the throat when singing). Now say, with your deepest voice “Hello, I’m Helen Clark”. Feel it drop? Now, silently giggle. You’ll feel a real undertow and pull downwards and a widening of the throat walls expanding outwards.

To discern whether the throat is open or not, we’ll need to contrast it with the two other damaging options – ‘tight’ and ‘relaxed’. So, in one breath and on one sustained pitch, sing an ‘eeee’ vowel using the following throat positions in succession: 1. a Tight throat / 2. a Relaxed throat, then / 3. an Open throat.

Deliberately exaggerate each gear shift and make the transition between each one obvious rather than gradual.

The first gear is constricted: imagine you’re lifting heavy object or are very constipated! The second gear is a completely relaxed throat – tired, exhausted (practice saying in a fatigued voice “I’ve had a really hard day” and note how the voice fries and is uncontrollable, breathy and weak?). Lastly, giggle silently to open the throat. Try all three gears on ‘breath only’.

Be super-sensitive to the differences between each gear shift: Register the contrasting three sensations in your throat. Feel the breath on your hand. How does it change? (temperature, volume, amount. E.g. the open through breath will feel diffused, moist, warm and minimal) Feel the “Adam’s apple” (larynx) drop and expand when giggling/open. How does the sound of the breath change? (E.g. silent when open) How does your sound change? (much bigger and purer when open) How do the muscles feel inside your throat? (Stretching outwards when open) Which direction are they going in at each stage? (Up when tight, down when open) Where do you feel the sound vibrate? (In the head and chest when open)

Notice how the authentic silent giggle raises the roof of your mouth into a more spacious dome and yet keeps the voice box low. The air and sound seems sustained, effortless, suspended (like an astronaut in zero gravity) it vibrates all over the body and space around you, it feels like it could go on forever because it uses so little air…. If any.

Once your throat is open, lock into that posture and maintain it while you sing. Keep it Real! Don’t fake the giggling – think of embarrassing moments. It’s like using training wheels while learning to ride a bike, or a flutter board when learning how to swim. We use these devices to find the balance. Once this balance is recognized and ‘felt’, we need to use it every time we sing. The higher you sing, the more open throat you’ll need. Happy giggling!