The Human Instrument by Ingo R. Titze

'But how can this complex tissue be kept in vibration when it cannot be bowed or repeatedly plucked inside the larynx? The only source of energy available to deform the folds and thereby induce vibrationthe way that wind passing across a flag makes it flapis air flowing from the lungs. '[excerpt from The Human Instrument: Scientific American, January 2008 p.3 of article]

I must compliment the description of the anatomy of the vocal process that Ingo Titze provides in the article 'The Human Instrument'. However the assumption that the vocal cords can only activate in airflow is the same that I studied in vocal pedagogy more than thirty years ago. Let me suggest an alternative sound activation process that I have observed that is not considered in the article.

The suggestion of the article that the vocal cords must have airflow in order to produce sound is inaccurate.

Observing the anatomical structure of the vocal process intrinsically [inside myself], the vocal cords originate on the inside of the front of the Thyroid Cartilage and are hinged together there. The vocal cords then attach each on separate hinged cartilages called the Arytenoid Cartilages that are on the back top of the Cricoid Cartilage. The Arytenoids and the musculature that activate them open and close the vocal cords in the back.

A simple example of how the vocal cords open and close is that they function exactly like the hands open and close in clapping action when the tips of the fingers are held together. Just opening and closing the vocal cords even without airflow will cause an audible popping sound. So a viable alternative to the article's assumption of airflow causing the vocal process to operate is that the vocal process claps, with infinite capability with or without airflow.

Sustained vocalization does require airflow, but that airflow can be either in or out. Singing is vocalization produced with in breath or inspiration. Vocalization on inspiration is what happens when one calls or beckons to another at a distance. This is the quality that singers use to sing most beautifully. Vocalization with an out breath or expiration is harsh and forbidding, and is found in a shout or scream which forces air out and is always an instinct warning intending all listeners to flee. In singing the out breath is used primarily for making consonants. Both of these vocalizations are reflexive in nature as is the operation of the voice and all of the breath.

Inspiration is the breath function most beneficial to singing beautifully. Instinctively the voice knows how to make all the sounds it is capable of making. Learning to recognize and control that instinct is the goal of studying the voice.