How do vocal cords create pitch?
Your vocal cords coordinate with your breath to release a pitch by opening and closing (vibrating) as your breath passes through. Each vibration of your vocal cords is called a “cycle of vibration” or “glottal cycle”. If you’re singing the same note that an orchestra plays to tune their instruments, your vocal cords are vibrating at 440 cycles per second – yes that’s fast. So in order to make your vocal cords vibrate quickly, you need to keep your breath flowing otherwise you run out of air and can’t sustain the tone. In addition we have to make sure that our posture is correct. If we are not standing correctly, our breathing mechanism doesn’t work well so we can’t get the air moving for singing. Allowing ourselves to get too tense also prevents the body from working efficiently, which in turn can affect the vocal cords. Tense jaws, chests, and locked knees all make it impossible to breath and produce good tone.
