Voice Science in the Choral Rehearsal: Examining Glottal Onset Duane Cottrell he word attack is a most unfortu- William Shakespeare, all elite singers and voice nate choice to describe the initiation teachers, and all of whom agreed with and ad- of any kind of artistic singing activi- vocated the practice of the coup de la glotte.1 It Tty. Conjuring images of violence, tension, and seems improbable that a technique so harmful stress, it is no surprise that “glottal attack” is a and ruinous to the voice would be so strongly despised — if not dirty — phrase among choral advocated by so many great singers and teach- directors. Prominent nineteenth-century voice ers for such a long period of time. There must teacher Manuel Garcia’s technique called the have been a very compelling reason for Garcia coup de la glotte, or “stroke of the glottis,” sim- and the others to have advocated a glottal on- ilarly evokes ideas of war and aggression, and set, and perhaps there has been a misunder- like the glottal attack, it has been the subject standing of Garcia’s own instructions regarding of considerable controversy. The two concepts, the coup de la glotte itself. Upon closer exami- glottal attack and coup de la glotte, have been nation of the voice science related to the issue mistakenly considered synonymous. Sadly, it has as well as a survey of the pedagogical literature throughout history evoked a similar firestorm from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, of controversial sentiment and has been con- it becomes clear that not only has the coup de sidered by some to be synonymous with “glottal la glotte been misunderstood by its critics both attack.” Arguments opposing any kind of glot- past and present, but its correct use can actual- tal onset frequently center on their supposed ly aid singers in achieving a clear, brilliant, and harm to the vocal mechanism. Because glottal beautiful tone without any damaging effect on attacks are violent and damaging to the voice, the voice. Perhaps if we as choral directors fully the reasoning goes, it is necessary to avoid them in order to maintain vocal health. As choral di- 1 Stephen F. Austin, “The Attack on the coup rectors for whom the vocal health of our singers de le glotte,” Journal of Singing 61, no. 5 (May/June is of paramount concern, we generally stay away 2005): 527. from glottal onsets, faithfully teaching softer aspirate onsets, using a “silent h” or some other The device. Is the glottal onset really so injurious? Manuel Garcia was arguably one of the great- C HOR A L est teachers of singing in the nineteenth cen- tury, and the list of those who followed him SThe OnlineCH Journal of the NationalO CollegiateL ChoralA OrganizationR includes Blanche Marchesi, Francesco and Giovanni Lamperti, Julius Stockhausen, Carlo Volume 1, Number 1 Spring 2009 Bassini, Charles Bataille, Edmund Meyer, and Cottrell / Glottal Onset 32 understood the principles of Garcia’s coup de la Daniel Boone adds, “the abruptly starting phe- glotte, and could differentiate between it and a nomenon of hard glottal attack requires much harmful hard glottal attack, we would be able unnecessary effort,” 5 and defines the hard glot- to employ it in our rehearsals to help train sing- tal attack as “the slamming approximation of ers to achieve firm glottal closure and eliminate the vocal processes of the arytenoid cartilages.”6 breathiness in their tone. It is important to note the use of phrases such as “unnecessary effort” and “laryngeal hyper- function” within these definitions. A basic re- The Attack of the Glottal Plosive view of phonatory anatomy will lend more clar- ity to these definitions. Most of our current negative opinion of the The Arytenoid Cartilages glottal attack began with laryngologists and speech therapists. Directly applying their warn- The physiological phenomenon we call sing- ings to the singing voice, pedagogues such as ing could be considered quite unnatural.7 At its Barbara Doscher declare, “The glottal plosive 2 most basic level, the human larynx, much like is destructive, and may lead to vocal nodules.” the larynges of all animals, serves the primary However, a thorough search of the published function of acting as a valve to protect the air- research in this area reveals that empirical evi- way from foreign objects. Our highly evolved dence of this destruction is scarce if extant at usage of this valve for speech is supplementary all, and as renowned speech pathologist Morton to this and other basic functions, and is noth- Cooper states, “the harmful effects of this type ing short of astonishing. Therefore it is impor- of vowel production have been assumed rather 3 tant to note that all vocal sounds are produced than researched.” In order to understand the by a process that involves, among other things, apparent discrepancies of opinion in this mat- a rapidly recurring “slamming together” of the ter, a clearer definition of the often overlapping vocal folds as pressurized air passes between terms “hard attack,” “glottal plosive,” “hard on- them. Singing is even more demanding than set,” “coup de la glotte,” and “firm onset” must speech, considering that when we sing our vo- be sought. From the perspective of a laryngol- cal folds come into repeated contact at a very ogist or speech therapist, a hard glottal attack high frequency — approximately 262 times per is an indicator of unnecessary tension. Cooper second when singing C4 (“middle C”) and as elaborates: high as 1047 times per second for C6 (soprano A plosive type of vowel production indi- “high C”). The characteristic sound of the hard cates that the vocal cords are closed with un- glottal attack is not necessarily a result of the necessary effort just prior to phonation and vocal folds slamming together; it is the result must be forced open with a strong burst of of another kind of process that begins with the air. The plosive quality appears to stem from complete closure of the laryngeal air valve and a tonic fixation of the folds preceding phona- subsequent bursting apart of the vocal folds. tion, indicating laryngeal hyperfunction.” 4 There are several sets of muscles in the larynx, but most important to this discussion 2 Barbara Doscher, The Functional Unity of the 5 Daniel R. Boone, The Voice and Voice Therapy Singing Voice (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press Inc., (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1977), 36. 6 1988), 61. Ibid., 5. 3 Morton Cooper, Approaches to Vocal Rehabilita- 7 William Vennard, Singing: The Mechanism tion (Springfield, IL: C.C. Thomas, 1977), 219. and the Technic (New York: Carl Fischer, Inc, 4 Ibid. 1967), 162. The Choral Scholar : www.ncco-usa.org/tcs Cottrell / Glottal Onset 33 are the interarytenoids (IA) and the lateral cri- low subglottal pressures and low muscular ten- co-arytenoids (LCA).8 Both are attached to, and sion, is not likely to have any harmful effect.9 define the movement of, the arytenoids — the Merely pronouncing the American phrase “uh- pyramid-shaped cartilages which are the pos- oh” requires a mild glottal plosive, as do several terior point of attachment for the vocal folds other spoken sounds. and are crucial to the closure of the larynx (see In the realm of speech and voice thera- fig. 1.1). The synovial joint of the arytenoids py, the hard glottal attack is linked to several allows them to rotate as well as slide together types of laryngeal dysfunction. While it would and apart. To initiate any kind of vocal phona- appear that the hard glottal attack is harmful, tion, the LCA muscles must contract, rotating the glottal plosive of normal speech is not. (The the arytenoids and bringing the vocal folds to- term “onset” or “glottal onset” is specifically ap- gether. However, this medial compression only plied to singing and, as will be discussed below, partially closes the glottis (see fig. 1.2). In or- warrants a different definition entirely, along der to completely adduct the vocal folds, and with Garcia’s concept of the coup de la glotte.) eliminate the triangular shaped glottal “chink,” The issue at hand is the muscle tension in the the IA muscles must bring the arytenoids to- larynx, specifically in relation to the arytenoid gether (see fig. 1.3). However, without the me- cartilages, not in the glottal sound that is pro- dial compression provided by the LCA, there is duced as a result. In singing, tension has a neg- only loose glottal closure. Firm glottal closure ative connotation and many teachers encour- requires both the action of the IA plus the me- age singers to release all tension. However, as dial compression of the LCA (see fig. 1.4). Friedrich Brodnitz points out, complete relax- The most dramatic example of complete ation is a myth. All muscles, whether tensed or glottal closure is known as the “Valsalva ma- relaxed, have tonus — complete muscular re- neuver,” and is commonly utilized when en- laxation only occurs in death.10 These muscu- gaging in strenuous muscular activity, such as lar tensions are to be balanced, though, and it is lifting heavy objects or in childbirth. Taking a the control of tensions that results in good vo- breath, completely closing the glottis, and en- cal function.11 The issue, then, is not whether gaging the expiratory muscles in the rib cage the presence of tension in the larynx is health- creates a buildup of high subglottal pressure ful or harmful; rather, it is the degree of tension that acts as a lever against which our abdominal that is in question. While a moderate amount muscles can work during these activities.