'Cord Closure' - Glottal Compression - Pressed Phonation - Flow Phonation

I think there is some confusion out there about what glottal compression and 'cord closure' mean, and certainly some misapplication of the concepts. In today's video, I explain what glottal compression means and talk about pressed phonation, breathy phonation, and flow phonation. It's all about finding balance.

[cnaber]

Oh MY GOD this is so eye-opening. THANK YOU a trillion times <3.

My teacher told me to focus on better cord closure, but what I've found in the past few weeks is that my voice automatically sounds clearer when I find better resonance, i.e. by different shaping of the resonance chambers and other stuff like how I breathe etc.

[surtaalrecords]

What i learnt from these learning years singing is learning to control airflow through your vocal cords create sound you desire.

[RachelGerrard]

totally agree with this - after a while of training, you really don't need to "press" your cords together to get them to aduct. I have done this myself and my sound became very pinched, twangy and "laser-like" to the point where I have had to retrain myself to address this imbalance.

[VIDEOHEREBOB]

I totally agree Karyn. Some songs could have you engaging numerous compression levels when singing just one verse or just one line.

[thomasgareaubaritone]

I have a complex relationship with cord closure. I honestly think that way too often we are obsessed with being "correct" that we end-game ourself out of the process. I think 90% of students that have come to be were hypo-function singers. Very few come into the studio with actual pressed tone. There is also a third category I find which I call "compressed" meaning that the voice is strained, but the cord closure is actually poor (I think other may call this "entangled"). In this set-up, the throat/jaw/tongue all try to do the work that the vocal folds need to be doing - usually people who sing like this have a degree of muscle tension dysphonia. Because most students seem to start with poor closure, most of them will need to allow the pendulum swing to pressed phonation before swinging to the center. And this is why one should always have a teacher or trusted set of ears on them to say "hey overachiever, time to change approaches!". And it's also why reading tips online (or advice from a choir teacher...anybody talking about technique in a general sense) can be wrong for a student at that moment.

[leanhquoc]

Great information. Thank you Karyn, hope you're doing well!

[Rosannasfriend]

Thank you so much, this was very well explained. Can't wait to take notes on it.

[petergraham]

Hi Karyn. I think this is one of my major problems with my singing. I think this may be the very thing that is leading to all the tension issues i feel in my throat, neck, and singing voice. I've had a brief browse through your archives but didn't see any lesson on 'glottal compression', though I'm sure you'd have covered it. I'll have another look tomorrow as its very late here in Sydney at the moment. Hopefully this 'glottal compression' leads me in the right direction in freeing up my voice. Thanks Karyn.

[JohnProph]

no need to worry about contributing to the confusion....simply because there is no way to avoid it! lol Since we are talking about a complex balancing act of cord closure, air pressure, physical manipulation (squeezing, pushing this or that, holding back etc), feedback sensations etc...there will always be some "confusion" because people have different approaches and also they have different sensations about those approaches. Two singers can be DOING the exact same thing yet feel and describe them in totally different ways

[Blahblahblahworlds]

How can we assess whether we are in the correct zone? Is it by sound or feeling? If feeling, then what is the feeling? Since i was told i was too breathy, i've been working on cord closure. Sometimes I can feel like there's a lot of pressure in my body wanting to come out but the sound i'm producing doesn't sound pressed - but from your video you seemed to be suggesting that feeling that sort of sensation means you're probably applying too much effort at closure and not allowing enough air to pass the folds.

[xThankYourLuckyStars]

I've always usually stuck to singing quite heavily in my 'safe, chest' notes, i'm trying to grasp getting the closure on the notes leading into my head register, that weird mix area, it seems wherever i place the notes i can hear maybe a slight closure but also what i can only describe as a buzzy/crackly/kazoo sort of sound along with it?! i'm trying to work out if i'm doing it right and this is how it starts when the muscles are weak or if i've got it completely wrong and it should sound crisp from the start?! it's not hurting in anyway and it sounds like a blend of nasal and mouth resonance...but just really unclean and messy!... i know its probably hard to give any advice without actually hearing it but just wondered if other people have ever said similar? Thank you for your videos xxx

[monteandbeth]

Can you please do a video on Open and Closed Quotient (what it means, how it works, etc.)?

[abdulgafoor]

Ma'am how harmonics are produced by vocal folds simultaneously
Where
Any body vibrates at one particular frequency

[DayneReedy]

I over blow so much. It’s so difficult for me to not push and squeeeze out air and therefore not hit higher notes (unless I push)

[aacha]

Apparently I've been doing this. But I need to hear a better example of what it sounds like. Yes with my first teacher I had fix my airy falsetto voice. Just when I thought I was doing well with that, and well moved on to a different teacher, I'm finding that I'm being told that my using too much squeeze, when I thought I was singing with thicker folds and I dont feel like only I'm squeezing anything really. I had wanted to sing with thicker folds but now I'm being instructed to sing with falsetto again. I think the thicker folds might give a more unique sound rather sounding all the same.

[into.the.wood.chipper.]

I have developed a pressed sound, as evidenced by an effortful twang which makes the tone thin and harsh. What kind of exercise would you recommend doing to reduce that? I was thinking "KEY" or "COO" across the problem notes, as there is not as much compression on the K consonant as there is on G (GEE/GOO).

[spunky]

Im here to see if this can help me not stutter.

[Intercostaldrama]

Nice grouping. On the topic of flow phonation could you say something about how you view the concept of feeling the breath support in the lower back. Thanks.

[lyricvideos-musicwithlyric]

HOw, how, us how and stop with all the explanation

[fmmo]

You talk a lot without exercises or visual illustration to apply with you