Various micro muscles support the function of the pharynx, and these muscles and nerves are continually sending tiny electrical impulses (communication signals) via both sensory and motor nerves connecting to our cervical spine. The nasopharynx, the oropharynx, and the hypopharynx (also known as the laryngopharynx) lie behind the cavities of the nasal passages, mouth, and larynx respectively. The pharynx is divided into three major sections extending from the base of the skull to the cricoid cartilage of the oesophagus. Best described as a fibro-muscular tube forming part of both the digestive and respiratory systems and also plays a major role in our speech and singing production. The pharynx is, one of the major components of the anatomy that makes up our neck. Singers often make the mistake of feeling a strong connection to these big muscles when they sing. Because these constrictor muscles are much larger than the micro muscle groups that are responsible for producing all aspects of our pitch, tone, volume and vocal effects ie grit rasp etc. In simplified terms the constrictor muscles can be found inside our pharynx. What are constrictor muscles? Where are they located? Why do we have them? Lets first understand what the constrictor muscles are and more importantly the vital role they play in our everyday lives to ensure our survival. If your reading this post and find yourself identifying with this unhealthy vocal pattern, don’t worry it can be resolved and remedied with some simple exercises to retrain these pesky constrictors muscles to remain switched off while we sing.īefore we go any further and suggest a remedy to the above vocal problem. I am sure that you will agree, that any or all of the above aggravating conditions are less than ideal for melodic vocal production! When any one or all of these conditions is present in a singers voice, it’s a sure sign that the constrictors muscles are been incorrectly engaged in the job of vocal production. The brain will recognise this restriction as a blockage in our throat and will automatically send the singer a message to push more air to remove the blockage and that unwanted excess air has to be held back by the vocal chords who will forget immediately about their singing duties and instead will tense up to withstand a barrage of hurricane like wind blasting at our vocal cords. The poor singer sounds like they are being strangled.Ĭ. Put simply Incorrectly engaging the Constrictor muscles when we sing sets up a vicious circle where the outcomes are always going to be the same:ī. Waking up the constrictor muscles is not the best idea when you sing, because it automatically reduces the internal diameter of our throat and significantly reduces the size of the resonating spaces (think, various mini amphitheatres or sound board areas) inside our throat whose job it is to naturally amplify and add rich over tones to our sounds when ever we vocalize. When you incorrectly sing this way, you’re going to automatically wake up the neighbours i.e. That’s what happens when you use the big bulky muscles of the throat to support your vocal production. Regardless of your current level of singing ability, I am sure you will have experienced the frustration of going all out to sing a middle or high note with power and as you begin to produce the note or the scream you notice a feeling of tightness or squeezing in the back of the throat and correspondingly your voice simultaneously looses much of its dynamics, volume, tone etc and begins to sound small and choked off? If it has happened to you before on stage, or during a performance you will know exactly what I am describing and the negative effects it can have on your confidence as a performer. ![]() Very fitting for my first post for 2016, as it’s a big subject lots to tackle and its vital need to know info for every singer! Hamilton, Ont.: BC Decker, pp.1042-1043.This Rapid Vocal Results, blog addresses, the mechanics of how constrictor muscles work and how they can negatively impact on our vocal production. Philadelphia, Penn.: Sanders Elsevier, pp.64-68. Velopharyngeal Insufficiency Treatment & Management. Biavati, M., Wiet, G., Rocha-Worley, G., Goldsmith, A., Talavera, F., Allen, G.You can learn more about our content creation and review standards by reading our content quality guidelines. The information we provide is grounded on academic literature and peer-reviewed research. All content published on Kenhub is reviewed by medical and anatomy experts.
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