The Kind Of Vocal Anatomy That Will Help You Sing (And Teach!) Better
Let’s be real: vocal anatomy can feel super overwhelming. As a singer and coach, I’ve learned that most of us don’t need to know medical terms to use our voices well. But if we don’t have any idea of how our instrument actually works, we often run into roadblocks without knowing what to do to solve the challenge. This is where understanding applied vocal anatomy comes to the rescue - it’s a clear, practical understanding of how our voices work — without all the overcomplicated terms.
I sat down with Coach Kate to talk about the basics of vocal anatomy and how we can keep it simple, effective, and actually useful for real singers - whether you’re just working on your own voice or you’re helping someone else with theirs!
The 3 Main Parts Of Singing
Kate said that every time she listens to a singer, she tried to figure out what’s happening in 3 areas of their voice:
Below the larynx (the breath)
In the larynx (the vocal folds)
Above the larynx (the vocal tract)
Many singers only consider one of these areas, but it’s a combination of all three of them that will get us the results we’re looking for. Let’s dive into each aspect in more detail.
Breathing Is Just Organized Exhaling
The voice is a wind instrument - without air there is no sound! Your breath is the first thing that starts when you’re about to make sound.
“Breathing is just organized exhaling,” Kate said. “That’s literally it.”
And it really is that simple. You don’t need to obsess over “support” or squeeze anything. The goal isn’t to push a bunch of air — it’s to consistently release air in a controlled way that supports your sound. Once I started thinking about breath that way, it took so much pressure off (literally and mentally). Just thinking about flow instead of support was a game changer for me and many of my students!
Also - side note - stop worrying about your diaphragm. It’s not an organ that fills with air (that’s your lungs) and you can’t control it or “support from your diaphragm”. The diaphragm is an involuntary muscle and it’ll do its thing whether you want it to or not (which is why you can breathe when you’re sleeping!). It’s actually your abs and the muscles in between your ribs that control the exhalation (breathing out).
Also you’ve been breathing for many years without any issues (hopefully!). Don’t overthink it - focus more on your exhalation than your inhalation and singing will get a lot easier.
The Important Muscles
Once you release your breath it travels to the next stop, which is the larynx. This is the home of your vocal folds - the tiny strings in your throat that vibrate to make sound! The length of those vocal folds is what determines the pitch (the note) you’re singing. While there are a ton of muscles inside the larynx to help us get the sound we’re looking for, there are two main muscles that are the most important ones.
“We’ve got the thyroarytenoid and the cricothyroid,” Kate explained.
But honestly? Both Kate and I tell singers all the time:
“You don’t need to know the names. I just say chest voice muscle and head voice muscle.”
You’re not less legit if you don’t memorize the Latin terms. What matters is how you use those muscles. In general the goal is to achieve balance between the two so that they can learn to work in harmony - creating your mix voice and eliminating vocal cracks. If you want to learn more about your vocal registers (without the anatomy attached to it), check out this post.
Post Production
Now that the notes are created, it’s time to shape the tone of your voice. That’s what’s happening in your vocal tract above the larynx. We look at things like your pharynx (back of your mouth/top of your throat), soft palate, tongue, jaw and lips. These all help us shape the tone that ends up coming out of the mouth.
So for example if you (or your student) is sounding nasally, you know that you need to look at the post production phase since excess nasality is a tone issue. But if you’re struggling with getting the right notes, lifting your soft palate or dropping your jaw isn’t going to help… You need to look at the vocal folds inside the larynx and maybe even your breath flow to fix pitch.
What Singers And Coaches Need To Know
Unfortunately, most singers (and even some coaches…) mostly just focus on the post production phase, like dropping the jaw. While that can help, those are usually not long term fixes (depending on what’s going on of course!). All these of these parts - below, inside and above the larynx - are important and offer a holistic solution to the challenges you or your students are facing.
Coach Kate created a course (that also includes 1:1 coaching!) that covers all the important vocal anatomy so that you can understand and use your instrument better and/or if you’re a coach, you can support your students and help them work through the challenges they are experiencing with more confidence and less imposter syndrome.
This course is happening right now for a limited time only! If you’re interested in joining Kate in learning about vocal anatomy, you can learn more and enroll here.
Want to hear the full convo between me and Coach Kate? We go deeper into technique, mindset, and how to stay out of your own way while learning.
📹 Watch the episode on YouTube
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