A Little Anatomy continued:
Diagram 4: Mastoid and Styloid process
Diagram 4 showing the mastoid process and the styloid process. (I don’t know why I see only one styloid process, unless the other is intended to be hidden behind the mastoid process.) The remaining three pair of suprahyoids stems from the styloid process, and their names tells us their story: the stylo-hyoid m (hyoid bone attachment); the stylo-glossus m (tongue attachment); the stylo-pharyngis m (throat or pharyngeal attachment). These three muscles plus the digastric m, rooted on the inside of the mastoid process, hang the larynx from above.
Diagram 4 showing the mastoid process and the styloid process. (I don’t know why I see only one styloid process, unless the other is intended to be hidden behind the mastoid process.) The remaining three pair of suprahyoids stems from the styloid process, and their names tells us their story: the stylo-hyoid m (hyoid bone attachment); the stylo-glossus m (tongue attachment); the stylo-pharyngis m (throat or pharyngeal attachment). These three muscles plus the digastric m, rooted on the inside of the mastoid process, hang the larynx from above.
Diagram 5: Styloid process
Diagram 5 is another shot of the styloid process, but note the pterygoid hamulus (pronounced without the [p]—terygoid) stemming from the lateral pterygoid plate(bone). Not showing is the medial pterygoid plate, which is behind it and from the center of which is imbedded another pterygoid hamulus. That hamulus anchors the pharyngeal raphe, where the top of the throat connects to the head (See Dia 8). But the hamulus here strings a ligament that extends and attaches to the jaw (mandible), the lower jaw. This hamulus is significant, because the ligament is where the upper constrictor muscles insert; but more important, they terminate here. The back of the throat ends here. (See Dia. 7) From here on it is flesh that concludes at the lips. This ligament is significant for it communicates tension, appropriate and inappropriate, between throat and lips, and vise-versa. If lips are relaxed on a top note, hanging as an [a] vowel, no matter the vowel, no inappropriate tension travels across this ligament, and why, in the beginning a mirror is so necessary.
Diagram 5 is another shot of the styloid process, but note the pterygoid hamulus (pronounced without the [p]—terygoid) stemming from the lateral pterygoid plate(bone). Not showing is the medial pterygoid plate, which is behind it and from the center of which is imbedded another pterygoid hamulus. That hamulus anchors the pharyngeal raphe, where the top of the throat connects to the head (See Dia 8). But the hamulus here strings a ligament that extends and attaches to the jaw (mandible), the lower jaw. This hamulus is significant, because the ligament is where the upper constrictor muscles insert; but more important, they terminate here. The back of the throat ends here. (See Dia. 7) From here on it is flesh that concludes at the lips. This ligament is significant for it communicates tension, appropriate and inappropriate, between throat and lips, and vise-versa. If lips are relaxed on a top note, hanging as an [a] vowel, no matter the vowel, no inappropriate tension travels across this ligament, and why, in the beginning a mirror is so necessary.
Diagram 6: Styloid process and articular disc and condyle of the TMJ.
The Styloid process in Diagram 6 is also home to two ligaments I mention in passing. One, the stylo-mandibular ligament, attaches to the mandible at the Angle. The other, the stylo-thyroid ligament, attaches to the superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage (no Diagram to identify the ligament). The articular disc and condyle of the TMJ reveals nothing but the nomenclature. The working of this joint, however, is our major consideration: thus, Anatomy 101. Video I, clip 1 is how we get in touch with it.
The Styloid process in Diagram 6 is also home to two ligaments I mention in passing. One, the stylo-mandibular ligament, attaches to the mandible at the Angle. The other, the stylo-thyroid ligament, attaches to the superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage (no Diagram to identify the ligament). The articular disc and condyle of the TMJ reveals nothing but the nomenclature. The working of this joint, however, is our major consideration: thus, Anatomy 101. Video I, clip 1 is how we get in touch with it.
Diagram 7: Constrictor muscles
Vennard, Singing, the Mechanism and the Technic, p. 54
In diagram 7, the lower constrictors (the base of the throat) originate at the oblique ridge of the thyroid cartilage (the thyroid cartilage has been removed at the oblique ridge), and insert in back in the pharyngeal raphe. (See Dia. 8) The middle constrictor m originates at the hyoid bond (see Dia. 9) and inserts in the pharyngeal raphe as all constrictors do. But note the upper constrictor muscles are not rooted in bone, at all. They have no such support. They must be developed to stand strong. They attach at the pterygomandibular raphe, a ligament stemming from the pterygoid hamulus (lateral plate identified in Diagram 5); they insert in back in the pharyngeal raphe. This section of throat and every muscle that lines it right up to the pterygoid ligament must be fully developed. This section of throat tells all, but note: this section of throat sits on and is developed on the two sections below it.
Vennard, Singing, the Mechanism and the Technic, p. 54
In diagram 7, the lower constrictors (the base of the throat) originate at the oblique ridge of the thyroid cartilage (the thyroid cartilage has been removed at the oblique ridge), and insert in back in the pharyngeal raphe. (See Dia. 8) The middle constrictor m originates at the hyoid bond (see Dia. 9) and inserts in the pharyngeal raphe as all constrictors do. But note the upper constrictor muscles are not rooted in bone, at all. They have no such support. They must be developed to stand strong. They attach at the pterygomandibular raphe, a ligament stemming from the pterygoid hamulus (lateral plate identified in Diagram 5); they insert in back in the pharyngeal raphe. This section of throat and every muscle that lines it right up to the pterygoid ligament must be fully developed. This section of throat tells all, but note: this section of throat sits on and is developed on the two sections below it.
Diagram 8: Posterior view of throat—spinal column removed.
Vennard: Singing, the Mechanism and the Technic
In Diagram 8 note how the lower constrictors overlap the middle constrictors and the middle constrictors overlap the upper constrictors. The upper constrictors need the full development of the middle and lower constrictors—the first octave and one-half—for support if they are to stand firm for the top notes. The constrictors insert in the pharyngeal raphe, but the upper constrictors are rooted on top in the pharyngeal tubercle of occipital bone (unmarked), and the pharyngeal raphe is rooted in the pterygoid hamulus mentioned in Diagram 5.
Also note the styloid process, home to three pair of elevator m: stylo-hyoid, stylo-glossus, and stylo-pharyngis; and the mastoid process (unmarked), home to the digastric m.
Vennard: Singing, the Mechanism and the Technic
In Diagram 8 note how the lower constrictors overlap the middle constrictors and the middle constrictors overlap the upper constrictors. The upper constrictors need the full development of the middle and lower constrictors—the first octave and one-half—for support if they are to stand firm for the top notes. The constrictors insert in the pharyngeal raphe, but the upper constrictors are rooted on top in the pharyngeal tubercle of occipital bone (unmarked), and the pharyngeal raphe is rooted in the pterygoid hamulus mentioned in Diagram 5.
Also note the styloid process, home to three pair of elevator m: stylo-hyoid, stylo-glossus, and stylo-pharyngis; and the mastoid process (unmarked), home to the digastric m.
Diagram 9
Diagram 9 is an over-all view of all most every thing we have touched on and hooked up. But note the connections: lower constrictors at the oblique ridge of the thyroid cartilage; middle constrictor at the hyoid bone; and the upper constrictor at the pterygomandibular ligament. The ligament stems from the pterygoid hamulus (Diagram 5) and attaches to the lower jaw. Note, also, the one muscle stemming from the styloid process, the stylo-pharyngis.
Diagram 9 is an over-all view of all most every thing we have touched on and hooked up. But note the connections: lower constrictors at the oblique ridge of the thyroid cartilage; middle constrictor at the hyoid bone; and the upper constrictor at the pterygomandibular ligament. The ligament stems from the pterygoid hamulus (Diagram 5) and attaches to the lower jaw. Note, also, the one muscle stemming from the styloid process, the stylo-pharyngis.
Diagram 10: The Suprahyoids.
Diagram 10 is a close-up of the three pair of elevators stemming from the styloid process: stylo-glossus, stylo-hyoid, and stylo-pharyngis.
Diagram 10 is a close-up of the three pair of elevators stemming from the styloid process: stylo-glossus, stylo-hyoid, and stylo-pharyngis.
Diagram 11
Miller: The Structure of Singing (Gray’s Anatomy)
In Diagram 11, the stretch of the digastrics in this figure is why I noted the mouth is closed for the figures in Diagrams 1 and 2. Here the head must be up and the jaw dropped to create the digastric stretch viewed here. When you release the jaw with the head up the depressors go home, taking the voice box with them and what accounts for the acute angle of the omohyoid m (as if the tendon were there). The elevators resist, for they don’t like being pulled on. Whatever the war between these factions, nothing could better serve the art of singing.
Note the left sterno-mastoid m is removed revealing the sterno-hyoid m and omo-hyoid m. On the right side, the sterno-mastoid m is pulled aside revealing the sterno-thyroid m, although, we don’t see it tie-in at the oblique ridge as we do in Diagram 12. On top, the only other suprahyoid m we see is the stylo-hyoid m attaching to the hyoid bone. But note the other two pair do not attach to the voice box proper; they don’t really hang the larynx per se, although they are strap muscles—elevators. The point is we are getting a picture of the strap muscles, the muscle that hang and anchor the voice box.
Miller: The Structure of Singing (Gray’s Anatomy)
In Diagram 11, the stretch of the digastrics in this figure is why I noted the mouth is closed for the figures in Diagrams 1 and 2. Here the head must be up and the jaw dropped to create the digastric stretch viewed here. When you release the jaw with the head up the depressors go home, taking the voice box with them and what accounts for the acute angle of the omohyoid m (as if the tendon were there). The elevators resist, for they don’t like being pulled on. Whatever the war between these factions, nothing could better serve the art of singing.
Note the left sterno-mastoid m is removed revealing the sterno-hyoid m and omo-hyoid m. On the right side, the sterno-mastoid m is pulled aside revealing the sterno-thyroid m, although, we don’t see it tie-in at the oblique ridge as we do in Diagram 12. On top, the only other suprahyoid m we see is the stylo-hyoid m attaching to the hyoid bone. But note the other two pair do not attach to the voice box proper; they don’t really hang the larynx per se, although they are strap muscles—elevators. The point is we are getting a picture of the strap muscles, the muscle that hang and anchor the voice box.
Diagram 12
Diagrams 12 is another version of Diagram 11, but here the right side sterno-hyoid m and omo-hyoid m are both severed and we see the sterno-thyroid m run up and attach to the thyroid cartilage at the oblique ridge. Not showing of course is the lower constrictor m, which overlaps the sterno-thyroid m and is rooted there. The omo-hyoid m is severed so as to not block the view, I suppose. Both sterno-mastoid m have been severed.
That concludes “A Little Anatomy.” Our goal, to cast the image of the voice box hanging by four pair of muscles and anchored to the torso by three pair of muscles, and working the voice through their attachments to the laryngeal mechanism, is not digested easily. Nonetheless, it is about the singing stance and why the muscles that operate voice are allowed to in Stance. We believe the demonstration will help make clear or clearer “A Little Anatomy.” Before we see how this fleshes out in demonstrations, I want to revisit the crico-thyroid joint, the joint that connects the thyroid cartilage to the top rung of the trachea, the cricoid cartilage. (See Dia. 3)
Diagrams 12 is another version of Diagram 11, but here the right side sterno-hyoid m and omo-hyoid m are both severed and we see the sterno-thyroid m run up and attach to the thyroid cartilage at the oblique ridge. Not showing of course is the lower constrictor m, which overlaps the sterno-thyroid m and is rooted there. The omo-hyoid m is severed so as to not block the view, I suppose. Both sterno-mastoid m have been severed.
That concludes “A Little Anatomy.” Our goal, to cast the image of the voice box hanging by four pair of muscles and anchored to the torso by three pair of muscles, and working the voice through their attachments to the laryngeal mechanism, is not digested easily. Nonetheless, it is about the singing stance and why the muscles that operate voice are allowed to in Stance. We believe the demonstration will help make clear or clearer “A Little Anatomy.” Before we see how this fleshes out in demonstrations, I want to revisit the crico-thyroid joint, the joint that connects the thyroid cartilage to the top rung of the trachea, the cricoid cartilage. (See Dia. 3)
13 - The Crico-Thyroid Joint: What’s in a name for a muscle doesn’t work for a joint. After root and attachment, it doesn’t give us a clue as to its mechanism, or how it works. This info came at random while browsing the internet in search of something else, and without it I would have no clue. The authors I studied never mentioned it. This joint operates on a liquid ball-bearing. The crico-thyroid joint is a synovial joint: a lubricating fluid enclosed in a membranous capsule. That info opened a whole new window of thought. Of course! That’s why a larynx can bobble up and down as fast as it does. What we see in a wobble—tongue and soft-palate going at each other as a tarantula doing pushups on a mirror—occurs because of this liquid joint. And don’t forget: with every flit of the thyroid cartilage, the vocal cords flit with it, rooted there, as they are, which accounts for the little shock-wave within the pharyngeal chamber with every flutter, every up and down movement of the thyroid cartilage. A full-blown wobble is expressed when the big depressors give out, and the hyoid bone or entire voice box is fought over, pulled up and down while the cords are vibrating.
14 - In the art of singing nothing demonstrates the relationship between the depressors and elevators, or the tarantula doing pushups on a mirror, better than a wobble. Every little quiver in the sterno-thyroid m is communicated to the elevators through the thyroid cartilage, and has an equal and opposite response in the elevators. So when a depressor stops pulling, gives out, collapses, if even for a split second, the elevators reflect a mirror image by relaxing in that moment. In real life, a wobble demonstrates Wikipedia’s definition of Agonist.
In review:
15 - With the help of your imagination and computer graphics, in stance we have a skeleton with jaw hanging open until we insert the larynx suspended from above by four pair of muscles: the digastric, the stylo-hyoid, the stylo-glossus, and the stylo-pharyngis. And three pair of muscles that anchor the larynx to the torso: the sterno-hyoid, the omo-hyoid, and the sterno-thyroid. With that knowledge we can begin to understand the working voice and why stance, given a voice, in the beginning is everything.
16. - Now we are in a position to draw a relationship between the muscles in stance for a ballplayer—that which he ignored—and the muscles in stance for a singer. When we view the ballplayer, we see all his muscles, whatever they are, are fully engaged; that’s a given. They are stretched, flexibly taut, and filled with dynamic energy as they whip around a center of gravity with bat in hand, until he meets the pitch. Dynamic energy then explodes through the bat. I’m sure physicists have a term for that transference of energy.
17. - This we know about the singer in stance: With head up, mouth shut, the depressors are stretched to a maximum; that is, when stretched they are fully engaged for work. Work is to return home. And that’s the relationship between stance for a ballplayer and stance for a singer. In the correct stance for both artist/athletes, the muscles are fully engaged. In deed, for the singer, no position stretches the depressors more. When we release the jaw on the principle of a yawn, the depressors are allowed to make full use of their muscle, stretched as they are, and pull all the way down, and I appreciate how the omo-hyoid works. But open your mouth in the “noble” position (military attention) and the depressors can’t begin to work, relaxed and flabby as they are with head down. With the head up the omo-hyoid pulls the hyoid bone down by pulling it back. In the “noble” position it happens never, because the omo-hyoid is never fully engaged. With head up, the sterno-hyoid pulls the hyoid bone straight down, but the sterno-thyroid, the one attached to the thyroid cartilage, which cartilage is hinged on a synovial joint, has no problem in pulling it down for the ideal vocal cord set-up—flexibly taut.
About The Addendum: Published Misinformation on Vocal Technique --
18 - The Addendum is just that and to be read after viewing all the videos to this point. It won’t make sense if you don’t. And it’s not even necessary that you do. It has nothing to do with developing the voice. It is an exposé on the false principles of vocal technique, which constructs much of the teaching establishment and why I take it to task.
The Art of Enrico Caruso: Video II, Clip 1.
I have yet to complete clip 1, but rather than wait till it's finished before I include the Addendum, I post it now, because the video is in stall mode.
The authors we quote refer to their publications listed here.
Frederick Matthias Alexander, The Alexander Technique: The Essential Writings (Secaucus, N.J.: Carroll Publishing Group, 1990),selected and introduced by Edward Maizal.
Enrico Caruso and Luisa Tetrazzini, Caruso and Tetrazzini on The Art of Singing (New York: Dover Publication, Inc, 1975). Unabridged and unaltered republication of the work originally published by The Metropolitan Company, Publishers, New York, in 1909.
Barbara M. Doscher, The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice, 2nd Edition (Lanham, Md., The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994).
Frieda Hempel, My Golden Age of Singing (Portland, Oregon: Amedeus Press, 1998).
Edgar Herbert-Caesari, The Voice of the Mind (London: Robert Hale Limited, 1951).
E. Herbert-Caesari, The Science and Sensations of Vocal Tone (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1938).
E. Herbert-Caesari, Tradition and Gigli (London: Robert Hale Limited, 1958).
E. Herbert-Caesari, The Alchemy of Voice (London: Robert Hale Limited, 1965).
E. Herbert-Caesari, The Vocal Truth (London: Robert Hale & Co., 1969).
Lilli Lehmann, How to Sing (Mineola, N. Y.: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993). (First published in German and in English in 1902.)
William D. Leyerle, Vocal Development Through Organic Imagery (New York: Leyerle Publications, 1986).
Richard Miller, The Structure of Singing (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986).
Lillian Nordica, Hints to Singers (Mineola, N. Y.: Dover Pulications, Inc., 1998). (First published in 1923.)
William Vennard, Singing, the Mechanism and the Technic (New York: Carl Fischer, Inc., 1967).