I used Inhaled phonation to heal myself from over-thickening the folds
This is my take on a little experiment I decided to do, to find how to relax my voice in high notes. It's a trick, not a technique.
I noticed that anytime I would try to sing in head voice (past secondo passaggio), I would strain. So I decided to make inhaled sounds to practice the feeling of equal pressure, and tension management.
When making inhaled sounds, I found out that I was actually confusing the adduction muscles of the vocal folds with the TA muscles (chest voice muscles). So I was actually contracting the chest voice muscles instead of closing the folds together, making it impossible to release in head voice ; that would leave me stuck in a mixed voice, and strain if I would try to go higher ; therefore limiting my range to only a few notes above the passaggio.
Using inhaled phonation to create a clear sound in head voice helped me to understand the difference between contracting the TA and the adduction muscles, because when inhaling, it's impossible to produce a head voice tone past second passaggio if the TA is not relaxed : it chokes the folds. Also, inhaled phonation feels easier to control air pressure and volume ; because when I exhale, I have the tendency to wanna blast out the sound and be too loud, which makes the folds thick and inhibits the ability to go higher.
I didn't know if it would be bad for the voice to use inhaled phonation, so I practiced it a little bit at a time (like 1 or 2 minutes, under the shower for humidity), and stopped whenever it would start to feel tight or uncomfortable. At first, it would make me choke, but when I realized how to relax the TA while just closing the folds together, I was able to produce "notes" in a range where I've never been before. It took some work. But as soon as the register appeared, clean and relaxed, I memorized the sensations, and immediately switched to exhaled phonation.
Now, I'm currently working only exhaling, to make safe sounds, train my voice and apply it to scales, in hopes to eventually apply it to songs.
This experiment helped me to overcome over-thickening the vocal folds. I learned how small the space between the vocal folds has to be, and how tight they have yo be ; they're almost touching each other, and I can feel that the column of air in the glottis is really thin. I also realized that I should drop the volume down, and not try to be loud at all, because loudness and pressure makes my voice fall back in mixed voice, and I get stuck at a lower range (the TA muscles contract, and then shorten and thicken the folds, making for a lower sound).
This experiment helped me to unlock my high head voice, therefore the ability to gain range.
I may post a video or an audio of what I'm talking about soon.
I noticed that anytime I would try to sing in head voice (past secondo passaggio), I would strain. So I decided to make inhaled sounds to practice the feeling of equal pressure, and tension management.
When making inhaled sounds, I found out that I was actually confusing the adduction muscles of the vocal folds with the TA muscles (chest voice muscles). So I was actually contracting the chest voice muscles instead of closing the folds together, making it impossible to release in head voice ; that would leave me stuck in a mixed voice, and strain if I would try to go higher ; therefore limiting my range to only a few notes above the passaggio.
Using inhaled phonation to create a clear sound in head voice helped me to understand the difference between contracting the TA and the adduction muscles, because when inhaling, it's impossible to produce a head voice tone past second passaggio if the TA is not relaxed : it chokes the folds. Also, inhaled phonation feels easier to control air pressure and volume ; because when I exhale, I have the tendency to wanna blast out the sound and be too loud, which makes the folds thick and inhibits the ability to go higher.
I didn't know if it would be bad for the voice to use inhaled phonation, so I practiced it a little bit at a time (like 1 or 2 minutes, under the shower for humidity), and stopped whenever it would start to feel tight or uncomfortable. At first, it would make me choke, but when I realized how to relax the TA while just closing the folds together, I was able to produce "notes" in a range where I've never been before. It took some work. But as soon as the register appeared, clean and relaxed, I memorized the sensations, and immediately switched to exhaled phonation.
Now, I'm currently working only exhaling, to make safe sounds, train my voice and apply it to scales, in hopes to eventually apply it to songs.
This experiment helped me to overcome over-thickening the vocal folds. I learned how small the space between the vocal folds has to be, and how tight they have yo be ; they're almost touching each other, and I can feel that the column of air in the glottis is really thin. I also realized that I should drop the volume down, and not try to be loud at all, because loudness and pressure makes my voice fall back in mixed voice, and I get stuck at a lower range (the TA muscles contract, and then shorten and thicken the folds, making for a lower sound).
This experiment helped me to unlock my high head voice, therefore the ability to gain range.
I may post a video or an audio of what I'm talking about soon.