Vocal fry – it’s hardly a new vocal “technique”. None the less, its usage is on the rise and everyone is talking about it. Just this past week, two major news sources came out with commentaries on it. Naomi Wolf from The Guardian implored young women to “give up the vocal fry and reclaim [their] strong female voice[s].” On the other side of the argument, Terry Gross from NPR can’t help but wonder if society is “policing” young women’s voices.
Interestingly, both of these news stories (released within a day of each other) focus on the use of vocal fry within women specifically. Even though men also use vocal fry, it is more often noticed and commented upon in women. Even more interestingly, however, neither article discusses the physical problems with using vocal fry, instead choosing to focus on the social implications of it. Vocal professionals, such as singers and teachers, tend to take much more interest in the physical end of vocal fry. The social implications should not go unnoticed, however, as this side my impact our students far more than we realize.
To create a foundation for this discussion, let’s begin with what physically happens within the voice when we speak with vocal fry. According to the Osborne Head and Neck Institute, “Vocal fry occurs when the vocal (arytenoid) cartilages squeeze together very tightly. This allows the vocal folds to be loose and floppy.” Once in this position, when air passes through them, the folds vibrate differently, creating a “popping or rattling” sound. Many resources consider vocal fry to be the lowest vocal register, including James McKinney in his book, The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults.
So what does this mean for the voice professional in terms of speech? In terms of our own speaking patterns, as singers and as teachers, it is clearly advisable to not speak with a constant vocal fry. Think of the instances where we’d need to introduce ourselves: at an audition, or to a potential student, for example. Speaking with a persistent vocal fry demonstrates a lack of support in our voice, which therefore suggests a lack of knowledge on how to support our voices. Seeing as this is a skill we are clearly supposed to know, I find it hard to believe that anyone in a position to hire us would not find constant vocal fry off putting.
I believe no vocal professional would argue with me on this point though. Many voice professionals even take pride in the clarity and resonance of their speaking voices, and they should. What I really want to address, however, is what this vocal usage as a cultural phenomenon means for our students.
Many teachers, including myself, have discouraged vocal fry within our students under the knowledge that prolonged usage of vocal fry is unhealthy for the vocal folds. I had not considered, however, the idea of vocal fry creating a socially-constructed identity, especially within women.
I do not think it is hard for any vocal professional to understand how people construct their voice as a part of their identity. On the contrary, I believe vocal professionals know this better than anyone. I do believe it is hard for us to understand how unhealthy speech patterns can be part of someone’s identity.
I say this because I believe that our genuine attempts to “help” a student produce a strong voice in speaking and singing can create unexpected psychological issues. We may face resistance to the idea based upon identity. We may unwittingly cause issues in the student’s social circle if they speak so differently than their friends. In other words, we need to recognize that our students may have unknown or unintended consequences by changing their speech pattern that we, as voice professionals need to consider.
Furthermore, we need to recognize the gender bias that these articles suggest. As voice teachers, we know that both men and women can and do speak with vocal fry. Its prolonged usage, however, seems to be more notable and commented upon by society at large within women. Therefore, we need to not only recognize how its correction can specifically affect our female students, but we need to also make sure that we don’t have a bias towards correcting this poor vocal usage in our female students alone.
I would even go as far to say that if we are working with a non-voice professional (singer, voice teacher, etc.), perhaps we should do no more than present the issues that prolonged usage of vocal fry suggest and create, and leave it at that. This may hinder a student’s progress by not continually practicing supported breath and resonance in the speaking voice as well as the singing voice. Within a hobbyist, however, it may create more issues than we are equipped to deal with.
With all of that said, I’d like to turn the floor to you. What are your thoughts on vocal fry? How do you correct it within your students, if at all? Have you noticed any resistance to correcting it? Do you notice certain demographics of students using it more than others? Any and all thoughts are more than welcome.