Handout created Theory and Practice: Vocal Fry as a Voice Habilitation Task for Singers by Joshua Glasner Information Handout

Background Potential Benefits Execution

• Relatively short vocal fold length (Hollien, We are listening for: Damste, & Murry, 1969), thick, and slack • “Optimizing posturing of the vocal folds (Henrich, 2006). for increased efficiency of voicing. • An easy and loose, “popping” sound. • A perceptually unpitched sound. • Longer closed phase (Behrman, 2013). • Improving ease/spontaneity of onset of voicing. • A specific vowel, usually the vowel that a • Decreasing compensatory muscle behaviors singer will voice in the exercise or song. • Medial edges of the vocal folds are associated with laryngeal weakness. • A seamless transition from vocal fry to loosely adducted, which results in a • Shaping the glottal configuration and the modal (“unpitched” to pitched). lower phonation threshold pressure epilarynx to optimize voice output.” (Ferrand, 2012) (Emerich, Nix, & Titze, 2005) The singer should be aware of: • The desired pitch that the singer aims to • Comparatively less airflow (McGlone, 1967). • Some teachers use glottal fry to “release sing after the vocal fry preparation-task.

• Lower subglottal pressure than in modal tension in the vocal folds” (Bunch • Maintaining the same vocal tract posture voice (Blomgren, Chen, Ng, & Gilbert, 1998). Dayme, 2009). after the vocal fry preparation-task (Emerich et al., 2005). • Sensations of vibration toward the front of Other Names: • It may re-train posture memory for the singer’s face. • Pulse Register postoperative singers (Buescher, 2002). • Individual pulses and a sense that air is • Growl Register “escaping.” • Rattle • Glottal Scrape • It may help the singer to “learn how to • Strohbass manipulate vocal fold mass and achieve • Creaky Voice* greater periodicity of vocal fold Possible Solutions

*Used to describe vocal fry spoken or sung at different vibration” (Carroll, 2008). pitches in certain singing methods (such as Speech-Level Singing)

Possible Difficulties • Request the student to exhale maximally and then phonate. The student will likely In Vocal Pedagogy: use vocal fry. Then ask the student to • Commonly described as an auxiliary mimic that same sound in the exercise. register in vocal pedagogy literature • Student may have trouble • Ask the student to feel more air coming (Doscher, 1994) producing vocal fry. out while he/she is producing vocal fry. • R. Miller suggests limiting its use (Miller, • Student may produce a The student may need to put a hand in 1996) “pressed” version of vocal front of his/her mouth in order to induce a • Vennard states that “glottal scrape” was fry. kinesthetic awareness of air escaping. used by Gillis Bratt, a Swedish voice • Request the student to be aware of teacher and student of Manuel Garcia to • Student may try to sing a aid students who sang with a breathy voice low pitch instead of vocal individual pulses instead of trying to sing a (Vennard, 1968). fry. pitch. Handout created by Joshua Glasner

References and Further Reading

Behrman, A. (2013). Speech and voice science (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.

Blomgren, M., Chen, Y., Ng, M. L., & Gilbert, H. R. (1998). Acoustic, aerodynamic, physiologic, and perceptual properties of modal and vocal fry registers. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 103(5 Pt 1), 2649-2658.

Brown, O. L. (2004). Discover your voice: How to develop healthy voice habits (Seventh ed.). London, United Kingdom: Singular Publishing.

Buescher, R. (2002). Postoperative posture memory rehabilitation using speech level singing exercises and balanced onsets. Journal of Singing, 58(3), 223-228.

Bunch Dayme, M. (2009). Dynamics of the singing voice. Vienna, Austria: Springer-Verlag/Wien.

Carroll, L. M. (2008). Vocal fry to modal. In A. Behrman, & J. Haskell (Eds.), Exercises for voice therapy (pp. 104). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.

Doscher, B. (1994). The functional unity of the singing voice (2nd ed.). US: Scarecrow Press.

Emerich, K. A. (2003). Nontraditional tools helpful in the treatment of certain types of voice disturbances. Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery, 11(3), 149-153.

Emerich, K., Nix, J., & Titze, I. R. (2005). Voice research and technology: Application of vocal fry to the training of singers. Journal of Singing, 62(1), 53-59.

Ferrand, C. T. (2012). Voice disorders: Scope of theory and practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Henrich, N. (2006). Mirroring the voice from Garcia to the present day: Some insights into singing voice registers. Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 31(1), 3-14.

Henrich, N. (2007). Etude de la source glottique en voix parlée et chantée : modélisation et estimation, mesures acoustiques et électroglottographiques, perception. (Ph.D. Dissertation). Retrieved from: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00123133 on February 12, 2017.

Hollien, H., Damste, H., & Murry, T. (1969). Vocal fold length during vocal fry phonation. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedia, 21, 257-265.

Hollien, H., Girard, G. T., & Coleman, R. F. (1977). Vocal fold vibratory patterns of pulse register phonation. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedia, 29, 200-205.

Horii, Y. (1985). Jitter and shimmer in sustained vocal fry phonation. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedia, 37, 81-86.

Keating, P., Garellek, M., & Kreiman, J. (2015). Acoustic properties of different kinds of creaky voice. 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences,

McGlone, R. E. (1967). Air flow during vocal fry phonation. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 10(2), 299.

Miller, R. (1996). The structure of singing: System and art in vocal technique. Boston, MA: Schirmer, Cengage Learning.

Murry, T., & Brown, W. S. (1971a). Subglottal air pressure during two types of vocal activity: Vocal fry and modal phonation. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedia, 23, 440-49.

Murry, T., & Brown, W. S. (1971b). Regulation of vocal intensity during vocal fry phonation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 49(6), 1905-1907.

Nix, J. P. (May 2016). Why fry? an exploration of the lowest vocal register in amplified and unamplified singing, 26(1).

Roubeau, B., Henrich, N., & Castellengo, M. (2009). Laryngeal vibratory mechanisms: The notion of vocal register revisited. Journal of Voice, 23(4), 425-438.

Sundberg, J., Titze, I., & Scherer, R. (1993). Phonatory control in male singing: A study of the effects of subglottal pressure, fundamental frequency, and mode of phonation on the voice source. Journal of Voice, 7(1), 15-29.

Titze, I. R. (2000). Principles of voice production (2nd ed.). Iowa City, IA: National Center for Voice and Speech.

Vennard, W. (1968). Singing, the mechanism and the technic (Fifth ed.). New York, NY: Carl Flescher.

Whitehead, R. L., Metz, D. E., & Whitehead, B. H. (1984). Vibratory patterns of the vocal folds during pulse register phonation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 75(4), 1293-1297.

Zemlin, W. R. (1998). Speech and hearing science: Anatomy and physiology (Fourth ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.