Here is another thought, vocal fold bowing
I recently did an initial consultation with a new student. During the first
session, her voice was somewhat raspy and also breathy in areas and I had
some concern about vocal damage. However, during the lesson I was able to get
the voice to clear up, but had to use some aggressive lessons to get the
vocal folds to adduct properly. She also had symptoms of vocal fatigue and
hoarseness at times.
4 days later we had a follow up session.........her voice was markedly worse
on that day, a large indication of vocal fold swelling. Again, I could get
her voice to clear up, but we had to be very aggressive. Although I thought
it most likely that she had vocal fold bowing, I sent her to a local
laryngologist for an examination to make sure it was not nodules. Both
conditions sound similar and can be compensated for in exercises. However in
the case of nodules, the exercises only masque the condition, and in the case
of vocal fold bowing, the exercises correct the condition.
The examination showed that she had very healthy vocal folds. However, when
she went into her upper registers, she had marked openings or gaps in the
vibratory length of her folds. Interestingly, although the openings/gaps were
smaller in her chest voice, she still did not achieve a complete adduction of
her vocal folds at any time in her range.
Although this sound does not meet the technical definition for falsetto, it
is indicative of the result of encouraging voices to stay too light in their
production, resulting in inefficient adduction of the vocal folds and the
resulting tension and inflammation that results due to the elevated laryngeal
position. The very thing that many singing teachers think they are preventing
by encouraging their students to go easy on the voice and take head voice
lower, results in the same injuries they were trying to prevent by not
pushing the chest voice too high.
Interesting,
Mary Beth Felker.
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