Accreditation Questions – Subglottal Pressure

Is subglottal pressure the enemy?

One of the most persistent myths in singing teaching is that good singing should feel almost effortless all the time.

Now obviously, we don’t want unnecessary tension, strain or forcing. But somewhere along the way, many singers absorbed a deeper message: that pressure itself is bad.

It isn’t.

In fact, without pressure, your vocal folds literally cannot vibrate.

Inside our Teacher Accreditation recently, we were discussing subglottal pressure and one teacher asked whether the subglottal pressure involved in things like pushing, childbirth or bracing the body was the same pressure involved in singing.

The answer is no.

And yes.

What is subglottal pressure?

The body is using the same basic pressure system.

But singing uses it very differently.

Subglottal pressure simply means pressure below the vocal folds. When airflow rises from the lungs and meets vocal folds that are partially or fully closed, pressure builds underneath them. That pressure helps create vocal fold vibration.

No pressure = no voiced sound.

The confusion comes because singers often only notice pressure consciously when it becomes excessive.

For example:

pushing
bracing
shouting
straining
“supporting harder”

Those sensations are large, obvious and physical.

But pressure exists during ordinary speech too. And during gentle singing. And during quiet phonation.

The difference is the amount, balance and management.

An exercise to notice pressure

One of the easiest ways to understand this is through a simple exercise we use a lot in training.

Make a sustained unvoiced “fff” sound.
Now gradually bite a little harder with the teeth and lip.
You’ll notice pressure building behind the lip and teeth. You may even feel the pressure further back into the throat.

Technically this isn’t subglottal pressure, it’s pressure building behind a narrowing at the lips (sublabiodental pressure?). But the principle is similar:
airflow meets resistance, so pressure increases behind the narrowing.

That’s an important concept in singing.

Subglottal pressure and “support”

Pressure itself is not automatically a problem. The body constantly balances airflow, resistance, pressure and release during phonation.

And during singing, the vocal folds are not simply “on” or “off”.

Each vibratory cycle contains:

an open phase
and a closed phase

The folds open briefly to let air through, then close again. Pressure builds in the closed phase and releases in the open phase. This can happen many hundreds of times per second.

So subglottal pressure is not a permanently fixed thing. It fluctuates constantly during voiced sound.

This matters because some singers try to maintain one giant steady feeling of “support”. This can accidentally become locking, bracing, pushing, abdominal gripping, throat pressure – especially if the singer is chasing a sensation rather than responding to sound and coordination

This is one reason I’m cautious about some older support metaphors. Instructions like

“push from the diaphragm”

“sing as if you’re lifting a piano”

“bear down”

“push from your stomach”

can sometimes encourage singers to recruit the body’s heavy-duty pressure systems too aggressively.

And the body is very good at pressure generation, that’s the problem.

Your body already knows how to create enormous pressure. It does it during coughing, lifting, childbirth and straining.

Singing is not about discovering pressure. It’s about refining it.

That refinement is where coordination lives.

It’s where style lives, expression lives, flexibility lives.

And it’s often where singers begin to realise that “more effort” and “better singing” are not always the same thing.

Reflection Question

Which sensations in your singing or teaching genuinely improve coordination? And which ones might simply be increasing effort that you don’t need or that might unbalance the system?

If you’ve got questions about singing technique, teaching, anatomy or vocal myths, send them over. Some of the best discussions in our Accreditation programme begin with somebody brave enough to ask the question everyone else was quietly wondering too.

Or for a more personalised and private conversation, book a 45 minute “terminology translation session” with me or with Gillyanne