In 2019, in the experiment of his doctoral dissertation, Kim Hyuk Gun (김혁건), the vocalist of THE CROSS (더크로스), made the seventh of ten singing sessions "learning vocal technique," and in that session covered lessons 2-9 "How to sing in full voice," 2-10 "How to sing in falsetto" and 2-11 "How to sing in half-falsetto" together. Full voice, falsetto and the sound in between were practiced in one place.
This is the seventh part of the series. Of those three sounds, it sets out full voice — the sound made with the vocal folds together — through the dissertation's account of the true vocal folds and its staccato practice. Falsetto and registers continue in Part 8.
01.The True Vocal Folds: Two Bands of Membrane That Make Sound
Looking down at the larynx from above, there are the left and right vocal folds in the airway, and sound comes through the gap between them. The dissertation calls these folds, made of two bands of membrane, the "true vocal folds," distinguishing them from the "false vocal folds" that sit above them in a similar shape (Part 6, section 01).
| True vocal folds | |
|---|---|
| Where | Below the false vocal folds, on the left and right of the airway inside the larynx |
| When breathing | Their upper part opens wide and the glottis becomes a triangle |
| When making sound | The left and right folds come together and meet at the midline |
| What they do | Vibrate as the exhale passes; that vibration becomes the voice |
The dissertation sees the ventricle of Morgagni and the true vocal folds as the core of the vocal organs. The muscle that brings the folds together so they touch is the cricoarytenoid, and the dissertation writes that the ability of the lateral cricoarytenoid in particular to bring the folds close and create and keep a state in which contact can happen is very important in singing (Part 5, section 03).
02.Low Notes Are Easy in Full Voice, High Notes Are Hard
The dissertation sums up range and the names of the sounds in three lines.
| Range | The dissertation's summary |
|---|---|
| High notes | Head voice = falsetto |
| Middle | Mixed |
| Low notes | Chest voice = full voice |
And it writes: high notes are easy in falsetto but low notes are hard in falsetto; low notes are easy in full voice but high notes are hard in full voice. That is why we practice the mixed register. To take excess force out of the middle range that connects them, and to avoid straining the vocal folds, full voice and falsetto must be connected.
Full voice is the sound of the low notes, and there is a limit to pushing full voice alone all the way up to high notes. The way past that limit is the mixed register, covered in Part 8 and Part 17 · Passaggio.
03.What "Bringing the Folds Together" Means
In the dissertation's experiment, "bringing the vocal folds together" appears as the name of a practice. Because the participants in the diaphragmatic-paralysis group could not tense their abdominal muscles, high notes were not possible for them, so in vocal practice they practiced and trained resonating in the head on low notes by bringing the vocal folds together, the dissertation writes.
Practicing sending the resonance of the sound to the head by bringing the vocal folds together, even when the strength of the belly cannot be used — this sentence is the "balance of force between the vocal folds and the diaphragm" of Part 6 seen from the side of the vocal folds.
Another passage in the dissertation points the same way. High notes can be made when the glottis opens for an instant from a fully closed state, and the more the glottis opens, the fewer the vibrations and the lower the note. Bringing the vocal folds together means keeping the glottis closed.
04.Staccato: Stretch the Folds, Close Them, Then Open
"To reach high notes, practice making sound after stretching the vocal folds taut and bringing them together with staccato." The dissertation writes that staccato is therefore taught as part of singing lessons, and explains the order like this.
- Stretch the vocal folds long with the cricothyroid. The cricothyroid is the muscle that lengthens the vocal folds front to back and raises their tension, working when raising the pitch (Part 5, section 03).
- Close the glottis.
- Sing staccato, opening the glottis for brief moments.
| Glottis | Sound |
|---|---|
| Opens for an instant from a fully closed state | High notes can be made |
| Opens more | Fewer vibrations, a lower note |
The dissertation adds a caution. Because staccato makes sound using the vocal folds' maximum tension, strain can come quickly, so it should be practiced together with the wet-compress method and with plenty of rest. The wet-compress method is covered in Part 23.
05.Staccato Needs the Diaphragm Too
A practice of bringing the folds together does not mean the breath drops out. The dissertation's background chapter explains that the diaphragm enlarges the vibration of the vocal folds and regulates its width, and that singing in fine detail with a technique such as staccato requires the work of the diaphragm.
The force that stretches the folds and brings them together, and the breath that opens them briefly and lets the sound out — every staccato note carries the balance of Part 6.
06.Today's Practice
Turned into points to check while you practice, what the dissertation and the lesson highlight looks like this.
- Bring the folds together with staccato — Stretch the vocal folds long, close the glottis, then sing staccato, opening it for brief moments (section 04; dissertation p.176).
- Rest as you go — Staccato uses the vocal folds' maximum tension, so strain can come quickly. Practice with plenty of rest (section 04; dissertation p.176).
- Bringing the folds together while moving the pitch — Lesson Season 2 Ep. 9 (Chest (Full) Voice) covers bringing the vocal folds together while moving between pitches (video description).
The lesson to watch with this part is Season 2, Episode 9, "Chest (Full) Voice." Its description lists the mixed register, how the false and true vocal folds are used and how their resonance differs, and bringing the folds together while moving between pitches.
07.Where to Go Next
The true and false vocal folds and the shapes of the glottis are in Part 6 · The Balance of Force Between the Vocal Folds and the Diaphragm, and falsetto and registers, which have to be joined with full voice, continue in Part 8 · Falsetto and Registers. A rock vocalist's high notes can be heard in THE CROSS's "Don't Cry". Lesson videos are in Korean.
The instant closed vocal folds open — that is where a high note begins.