Do you experience throat tightness when singing
or speaking? In this video, I will explain what exactly
is happening in your throat when you experience tightness and I will demonstrate exercises
to relax throat muscles. So, don’t go away because we are starting
right after this. Hi! I am Katarina, speech language pathologist
from How 2 Improve Singing and here on this channel, I share practical tips about using
your voice in a healthy way. So, if this is a topic that interests you,
consider subscribing to this channel and hitting that bell notification icon so that you don’t
miss any of my videos. Now, let’s talk about throat tightness. In this video, I am talking about throat tightness
when singing but the same principles can be applied to a speaking voice. Actually, the exercise that I will introduce
later in this video, has been used in voice therapy by speech-language pathologists for
a very long time now. And because it is an effective method at releasing
throat tension, it was adapted into singing practice. So, whether you are a singer or speaker who
experiences throat tightness, stick around. It is very common to experience throat tightness
when you are learning to sing. If you never experienced throat tightness
while singing, you haven’t tried enough. This may happen especially when you sing in
your higher vocal range, when you sing louder, or even when you are anxious or stressed. But the goal of a singer is to learn how to
eliminate this throat tension and free your voice of any vocal strain to allow your voice
function optimally. Why is this happening? Whether you speak or sing, throat tension
generally happens when there is involvement of too much muscle force or too much physical
effort in the systems of respiration, phonation and resonance; so in the systems of breathing,
which includes your breathing muscles and lungs, sound production, which is at the level
of vocal folds, and resonance, which includes the rest of the vocal tract above the vocal
folds. If you notice this definition, throat tension
can come from any system of the vocal mechanism, not just from the vocal folds themselves. You may experience throat tension because
your breathing is insufficient in supporting the voice during demanding vocal tasks. You may experience tension because your vocal
folds squeeze too much. Or you may feel tense because there is too
much constriction in the pharynx, tongue or jaw. In other words, you experience throat tension
because you are engaging muscles that are not necessary for sound production or you
engage muscles intended for sound production with too much force. For example, as you are ascending in your
range, you may feel the need to control the muscles of your throat to produce high notes
and you end up engaging extrinsic muscles of the neck instead of letting the intrinsic
muscles of the larynx do the job. So, what exactly is happening in your throat
when the throat feels tight? Well, I cannot really tell exactly what is
going on in your throat but research tells us that the hyoid bone and the larynx are
elevated in people with throat tension. The hyoid bone is a U-shaped bone in your
neck right under the chin and your larynx is a complex structure inside your neck that
houses the voice box or the vocal folds. The larynx is suspended from the hyoid bone
so when the hyoid bone is raised, the voice box moves up too. When larynx is elevated, your vocal tract
is shorter and your pharyngeal space, which is your throat, decreases too. This affects the resonation properties of
your voice. Practically, it means that your voice loses
richness or volume. It is also believed that the decreased space
in your throat directly affects the vocal folds, which press more against each other
like in pressed or tight phonation resulting in rigid and harsh sound. So, the logical treatment for throat tightness
would be an exercise or action that improves the laryngeal position and opens up the throat,
which releases tension from the throat muscles. Let me show you a series of exercises that
speech-language pathologists have been using for a long time now to release throat tightness
in patients with hyperfunctional voice disorders, muscle tension dysphonias and similar problems. It’s called yawn and sigh exercises. Singers may be familiar with the use of yawn
in singing as it opens up the throat. But a full-blown yawn brings more tension
than muscle release. I am sure you know what I am talking about
because it is difficult to talk when you yawn. Instead, the exercise uses the beginning of
a yawn to achieve throat relaxation. The muscle action at the beginning of a yawn
is in direct opposition to throat tightness. So, let’s do the exercise. Step 1 Place your hand gently on the throat
and start yawning with your mouth open. You can see on my neck how the larynx is moving
down. Step 2 With your hand still on the throat,
start yawning but this time, keep your mouth fairly closed. Imagine you are watching a very boring presentation
and you don’t want other people see you yawning. But only do the beginning of a yawn. Notice how the larynx moves down and maybe
you can also feel how your throat widens. Step 3 Sigh with an open mouth in a comfortable
vocal range. The sound produced on sigh should feel and
sound relaxed. Try to keep the larynx in a lowered position
when you start the sigh. You want to produce the sound with released
muscles that you achieved during the yawn phase. If you feel the larynx move up as soon as
you start the sound, try again. Maintain the relaxed and low larynx position. Step 4 Once you know how to do the previous
3 steps consistently, then use the sigh to initiate singing or talking. For example, sing a 5-note descending scale
on the vowel “oo” with the yawn sigh technique. Like this. Or if you want to practice speech, say words
or sentences that with the letter H after on the yawn and sigh. Like this. “Hay, hi, house, Homer was a happy hamster.” Do this exercise daily, either as a stand-alone
exercise or as a part of your warm up vocal routine before singing to release throat tension. Bonus tip
Add self-administered laryngeal massage to your daily routine to release muscle tension
in your larynx and throat. This massage is good for reducing laryngeal
tension or just for resetting your larynx after a long day of vocal use. I made a video about laryngeal massage that
you can watch by clicking this link or a link below this video. Laryngeal massage may not be for everyone
but I highly recommend that you try it. It took me several tries to really like it
and now it became a part of my regular routine. Now, in the comments below, let me know how
you did with the yawn sigh exercise. Were you able to release muscle tension from
the throat? I would love to hear from you. Also, if you have any questions, post them
below and I will make sure to answer them. If you found this video useful, click the
like button and share it with people who may benefit from it. Subscribe to my channel because next time,
I am talking about preventing vocal strain and you don’t want to miss that video. Thank you for watching and I will see you
in my next video. Bye.
