Opening the throat when singing?

Throat/Voice problem. Severe raspiness and loss of range?

• I'm 20 years old and a physically healthy male. When I was 16, I wanted a raspy voice so I started screaming and smoking. I stopped screaming and smoking after about 6-8 months but my voice seems to have never recovered from those days. I have seen two separate ENT specialists and both said they couldn't see anything "structurally wrong" with my vocal cords. Here are my symptoms: -Severe raspiness at lower ranges and higher volumes -Supporting the voice with "chest voice" or "diaphragmatic breathing" (as one learns in voice training) yields atonal growls -Must use excessive muscular effort to project my voice across a room -Pitch instability when sustaining a pitch and drastic voice breaks when sliding from pitch to pitch -Feeling of discomfort, inflexibility, strain, almost like a grinding feeling in my throat when talking at normal pitch -Voice very quickly fatigues (within a minute or two of talking) After quick googling, I would think it was vocal nodules/polyps. But apparently a symptom for that is the vocal range deteriorates as you go higher. Mine is the opposite. It seems I have lost the ability to vocalize in my lower ranges. Here is a recording: http://www.zshare.net/audio/920505574d1a7067/ -1st example is me saying, at normal speaking pitch "hey" and then extending the hey out. I get various cracks and pitch instability as practically every part of my range except for the higher areas. -2nd example is me saying, at normal speaking pitch, "hey" and then extending the "hey". But this time, I'm opening my throat like I'm yawning or mimicking an opera singer. Before my voice got damaged, yawning like this made my voice exceptionally clean and warm in tone. Then I repeat the extension of the "hey" at my lower pitch and one of my highest pitches. It is impossible for me to not make the growling sounds at lower pitches. Depending on how loud I’m vocalizing, the growls get less intense or more intense. I haven’t been able to sing a proper, clean, freely vibrating, low note for 4 years. To my uneducated self, it sounds like my vocal cords are vibrating properly at my higher range but just don't work at all in the lower ranges. Try as a might, with every level of relaxation and throat position, I cannot seem to get that "free" sounding oscillation and healthy release at any level of my range below "head voice" in singing terms. As pitch goes down, the notes get more and more hoarse until... Well you heard the recording. Any medical insight would be great because I am completely in the dark and the internet is unusually offering me no answers whatsoever. Thanks

• Answer:

  You can have tight neck muscles causing that to happen. They press into the throat to trap the tongue muscle and that can go down to the voice box to give you problems there as well. Freeing up your neck muscles will give you relief in your throat and here's how to free them up: Neck Release: Place your hands behind your head touching your fingers. Press into the back of your neck with them and hold the pressure on them. After 30 seconds slowly lower your head until your neck is fully extended. Release the pressure but hold your head there for another 30 seconds. repeat if needed. for best results relax your body first by taking a deep breath and exhaling then remain this relaxed.