From: "Lloyd W. Hanson"
Subject: Re: Exercises for Breathy Singers
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Laura:

As you describe your student I would guess that the breathy quality
is caused by incomplete phonation, that is, phonation in which the
vocal folds are not completely closed during what should be the
closed portion of the oscillation cycle. This can be a learned
phonation technique and I, too, have found it most commonly taught in
choral groups.

Another common cause of breathy tone in young females is an
incomplete closure of the posterior portion of the vocal mechanism,
more exactly, the arytenoids are not properly pulled together by the
inter-arytenoid muscles. This condition of space between the
arytenoid is sometimes called as the "vocal chink" and is more common
in puberty and post-puberty females. Some believe this is a natural
result of the growth of the laryngeal cartilages which occurs in
females during puberty and the lack of equivalent growth in the
inter-arytenoid muscles. For a time the muscles are not strong
enough to pull the arytenoids together at their near posterior end.

I have found that onset exercises are a very efficient way to correct
either of these conditions. If the student is unable to create a
clear and correct onset because the breathy condition interferes, one
can request the student to use gentle glottal strokes at the
beginning of each onset to establish the complete closure of the
glottis at the inception of the tone. Once this is established, the
proper onset, without the glottal stroke, can be practiced and
encouraged.

Good Luck

Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011