Advice wanted...

MarkyMark22

hi all,

i need some advice. im slightly confused.

when i sing in my lower register i always feel alot more resonance within the body etc than when i sing in my normal to higher register. is this normal?

should i consistently sing in my normal to lower register so?

im a baritone/low tenor.

im just unsure whether i should sing in a lower key because my voice may fuller or?

any advice would be appreciated

Wurly

Hi there. Think of your voice as having three spaces within your body. Your chest, your middle and your head.

If you sing a scale of do, rey, me fa, so la, ti do... you will feel vibrations in your chest first and as you go higher, it will move into your middle and eventually, your head. This is actually the proper way to sing and the healthiest too. Many singers will sing from their middle when approaching higher notes and will then wonder why it sounds squeaky. So, what you're experiencing is definitely normal and correct.

To give yourself more power as your approach notes in your high range, train your diaphragm muscle to give you that power. If you rely on your chest or your throat, you will not be singing correctly and will be placing extra stress on your vocal cords. They are not designed to give volume, they are there to create the sound only.

Does this help?;)

MarkyMark22

it definitely helps and makes sense!

i've been getting vocal lessons for a couple of years now.

but i guess its just a confidence issue.


because i feel my normal to lower range has more resonance and sounds more fuller perhaps i feel my higher range isnt good enough or strong enough,so im unsure what range of voice to sing in.

im worried that my normal to higher voice isnt strong enough or not as strong as my normal to lower register.

if that makes sense?

Wurly

Ok. You need to talk to your voice coach about this. Tell them that you want to strengthen your higher range.

The majority of the singers I coach have issues with high notes.. They'l sing properly in their comfortable range - but when they go higher, they tend to strain for the notes. If you were to match a high note with a sound instead, you would probably be able to reach it. But because you're thinking of it as 'singing', then you're more likely to strain. Pick a note that you deem out of your reach. Don't sing the note - rather, make a sound in that key. You can imagine that you're imitating an ambulance siren, a bird call - whatever.. When you know you can hit that note comfortably, try singing it instead.

Sometimes we create tension in our bodies when it comes to singing high notes. We think 'oh no, here comes the high note'. And our bodies tighten up. So if you first think of the notes as just speaking or imitating a sound, then that is far less threatening. The more your brain hears that you can reach the note, then the less likely your body is to tense up when you try singing it.

There are a number of other things to consider when trying this method - e.g. - making sure that you're not using your throat, getting into the proper zone in your body (chest, middle, head), correct use of diaphragm etc. So make sure you discuss this with your coach under his/her guidance. It's difficult to be absolute and definitive with stuff like this unless the person is in front of you.;)

As this is a confidence issue, it is important to iron this out as soon as you can. Confidence is everything when singing and you will only get the best from your voice if you feel confident with it.

Best of luck.;)

Lady Chuckles

Wurly has already given you excellent advice, but I'll add a couple of things that help me anyway

Reaching my higher pitch is all about having a lot of air to help the sound flow through me. Most of the time I sing classical music so those notes flow through my head, just like Wurly described
You should never push it. It is all about the breathing and the air flow

Another thing that helps me, in general when something is high pitch or a little bit weak, is to make a slow movement with my hand/arm. Like a ballerina who's about to embrace someone
It makes me feel bigger and thereby tricks me into letting the air flow better. I do it when I'm practising and when I warm up for singing

Another trick of doing the same, is to do the opposite movement to what you sing. If you sing a scale; you move your hand down, when you sing your way up. You move your hand up along with notes that go down. It's to keep your mental low when you go high and vice versa.

This is quite hard for me to explain in proper words... It's singing psychology. So please excuse the hairy-fairy sound to what I'm trying to put across

Jimmy Iovine

I'd disagree with some of what is said above.

If you sing "as if" the sound is coming from your head the whole time then you will find that you have no problem singing high notes. Use the sinuses to create the resonance needed.

The key is singing using your 'head voice' the whole time, whether it's a low note or a high note.