When we say “singing from the throat”, we usually mean something that sounds forced. But the truth is you really do sing with your throat: with a small team of muscles inside the larynx that you don’t consciously see or feel, and that decide, moment to moment, your note, your register, and a good part of your color. Here’s their basic map, in general anatomy.
CajaConcepto — The larynx isn’t a muscle, it’s a team
Inside the larynx there are several small muscles working in constant balance: some lengthen and thin the vocal folds, one thickens them, others close them, and only one opens them so you can breathe. The note that comes out depends on how that work gets divided.
The main players
- CT (cricothyroid) — tilts the thyroid cartilage forward, which stretches and thins the vocal folds. The more it dominates, the higher the pitch rises: it’s the lead muscle of head register.
- TA (thyroarytenoid) — is, essentially, the body of the vocal fold itself. When it contracts, it shortens and thickens the fold: more mass vibrating, more presence in chest register.
- LCA and IA (lateral cricoarytenoid and interarytenoid) — the closing muscles: they bring the vocal folds together, front and back, so they can vibrate efficiently. This closing is called adduction.
- PCA (posterior cricoarytenoid) — the only muscle that does the opposite: it opens the glottis. Without it you couldn’t breathe between phrases.
The tug-of-war between TA and CT
The balance between TA and CT is, to a large extent, the key to vocal registers: when TA dominates (more mass, more fold vibrating), you’re in chest territory; when CT dominates (thinner, more stretched folds), you’re in head territory. Mixed voice, that in-between territory so sought after in vocal technique, is exactly the zone where both muscles collaborate instead of “fighting” for control.
The larynx also rises and falls
Above this team sits another muscle group, the suprahyoid and infrahyoid muscles, that raise and lower the larynx as a whole. That movement doesn’t directly change the note, but it does change the length of the vocal tract, and with it, the color: a slightly higher larynx tends to sound brighter; a slightly lower larynx, darker and rounder. It’s just another dial on the same console.
Why “relax your throat” isn’t the whole answer
The advice “relax your throat” gets repeated as a universal fix for almost any technical problem. It makes sense in part: excessive, sustained tension in these muscles can indeed limit range and tire the voice. But the goal isn’t for these muscles to “do nothing” (all of them have to activate for sound to exist), it’s for them to work in the right balance for each note, without any one having to over-compensate for another. That’s why vocal technique exercises almost never aim for “doing nothing”: they aim to distribute the work more efficiently across this small team of muscles.
CajaPruébalo — A minute with your own voice
Gently place two fingers on your Adam’s apple (the thyroid cartilage). Do a vocal siren, very slowly, low to high and back. You’ll feel the larynx move under your fingers. In vocal technique, the goal is usually for that movement to be smooth and contained, not abrupt: it’s a simple way to feel, literally with your hand, what up to now we’ve only described with words.
Glosario
- Larynx — the organ at the front of the neck where the vocal folds are located.
- Vocal cords (or vocal folds) — the two folds of tissue that vibrate as air passes through and produce vocal sound.
- Adduction — the closing movement of the vocal folds toward the midline.
- Register — each of the “zones” of vocal behavior (chest, head, mixed) depending on which muscles dominate.
- Cricothyroid / thyroarytenoid — the two main muscles that stretch (CT) or thicken (TA) the vocal fold.
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Want to see how your own TA-CT balance behaves across your range? Analyze your voice →
