This site is under construction! Stuff be missing, beware! :3 Contribute!
  If you have issues, additions, corrections or concerns, open an issue or contact a maintainer.
  The wiki needs an overhaul and so any information, corrections, etc are greatly appreciated.

Vocal Mechanisms

A vocal mechanism or register is a distinct configuration of vocal fold interaction. Which, is a complicated way of saying…

• vocal mechanisms are distinct, they don’t overlap
• they describe how the vocal folds vibrate
• phonation is always within one of these mechanisms
• you can pass between mechanisms without a break with training

M0

fry

strohbass

pulse

M0 or vocal fry is at the bottom of your vocal range. Try going to your lowest note, then relax a little and go lower. The rough sound similar to an idling motorcycle engine is from M0. This is when the folds are slack and the whole fold vibrates.

• slack folds
• whole fold vibrates
• below your lowest M1 note

M1

normal speech

modal

chest voice

M1 is your normal speaking register.

• where most people speak the majority of the time
• most of the vocal folds vibrates

M2

falsetto

mix

head voice

M2 is a usually hollow, very high pitch register.

• sometimes has a gap between folds / lack of closure
• very high pitch
• the TA muscles deactivate somewhat
• mostly just mucosa of the folds vibrates

M3

whistle

flageolet

flute register

There are different theories and types of M3, but the main one is with mostly complete closure and a lot of tension, such that only a part of the folds vibrates.

• mostly only a small part of the folds vibrates and only the mucosa
• usually starts at 1000hz and can go as high as 5000hz or more.

This type of M3 is called stop closure whistle by Antonio Di Corcia and Franco Fussi’s paper↗ which puts forward the following findings:

FLW - Female Laryngeal Whistle

• “very thin, stiff and tightly stretched vocal folds”
• “Often, no contact between the folds during phonation was noted”

SCW – Stop Closure Whistle

• “the whistle sound depends on a tiny orifice at the anterior third of the folds”
• caused by high adduction
• “HSDI observation showed a total absence of vibration (normal periodic vibration) in any components of the vibrating system caused by the stop_closure phenomenon”

IW - Ingressive Whistle

• “high activity of the adductor muscles”
• “absence of vibrating parts during ingressive phonation”

Scream in M3

• “[…]very stretched, thin and stiff vocal folds and an high constriction of the false vocal folds”
• “[…]very further reduction of the mucosal wave vibration, very restricted to the edge of the fold”