The Instrument Inside You

Your voice is produced by the vocal folds (commonly called vocal cords) — two small folds of tissue in your larynx. When you speak, air from your lungs passes between them, causing them to vibrate hundreds of times per second.

The vocal folds are controlled by the laryngeal muscles, some of the smallest and most precise muscles in your body. You train the whole voice system: the muscles that position the folds, the breath that drives them, and the coordination that lets the tissue vibrate efficiently.