Singing at the peak of my range.

**akaukal** · 05-24-2010, 08:06 PM

Recently, my band has started playing a song at our shows that involves me really stretching my range and singing pretty high. The result is me having to really belt it with my full chest voice to get the notes out. I get a little grit when I hit the high notes and when I really have to push to get the notes out. Ever since I started doing this song, I'm completely wiped by the end of the show and my voice is useless for at least the next day or two. This is getting to be problematic as our shows are often 2-3 days apart.

I'm not asking how to yell or scream, I'm just asking if there is a way to prevent my voice from being completely trashed by simply singing at full power. I'm assuming I just have improper technique, except I've realized I havent' been drinking enough water and my monitor mixes might be too quiet so I end up just trying to sing even louder because I can't hear myself. Are there any suggestions or resources I should be looking at? I can't take vocal lessons because I simply have no time or money to do so.

Ax · 06-07-2010, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akaukal

Recently, my band has started playing a song at our shows that involves me really stretching my range and singing pretty high. The result is me having to really belt it with my full chest voice to get the notes out. I get a little grit when I hit the high notes and when I really have to push to get the notes out. Ever since I started doing this song, I'm completely wiped by the end of the show and my voice is useless for at least the next day or two. This is getting to be problematic as our shows are often 2-3 days apart.

I'm not asking how to yell or scream, I'm just asking if there is a way to prevent my voice from being completely trashed by simply singing at full power. I'm assuming I just have improper technique, except I've realized I havent' been drinking enough water and my monitor mixes might be too quiet so I end up just trying to sing even louder because I can't hear myself. Are there any suggestions or resources I should be looking at? I can't take vocal lessons because I simply have no time or money to do so.

I have the same problem. I'm not really sure what to do.

relient nelson · 06-07-2010, 12:49 PM

Any notes that you have to "belt it with my full chest voice to get the notes out" should be sung in full head voice, not chest voice. As to learning how to access your head voice range, that takes a lot of practice and study. But when you unlock head voice, you are actually able to hit higher notes easier than low notes and you won't be in pain for days after.

**akaukal** · 06-07-2010, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by relient nelson

Any notes that you have to "belt it with my full chest voice to get the notes out" should be sung in full head voice, not chest voice. As to learning how to access your head voice range, that takes a lot of practice and study. But when you unlock head voice, you are actually able to hit higher notes easier than low notes and you won't be in pain for days after.

It's funny you should bring this up. I spent the last few sundays with one of the worship team members who is also a vocal instructor. She was kind enough to run me through some excercises to help switch between my chest and head voice. I've always known the difference between head and chest voice, and I've identified both as I sing, it's just been a matter of becoming natural with switching between them.

I should never have stopped taking vocal lessons way back in the day.. sometimes I hate the stupid things I did as a kid.

OiBoyz · 06-07-2010, 03:14 PM

Head voice and good breath support. Also, it's never too late for voice lessons. It sounds like you've got a great resource at church.

My issue singing with men is that we're usually in the break point of my voice. Not quite high enough to kick it in to my head voice. So I find myself dropping into harmonies that are in my lower range so I don't rip my voice apart.

relient nelson · 06-07-2010, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akaukal

It's funny you should bring this up. I spent the last few sundays with one of the worship team members who is also a vocal instructor. She was kind enough to run me through some excercises to help switch between my chest and head voice. I've always known the difference between head and chest voice, and I've identified both as I sing, it's just been a matter of becoming natural with switching between them.

One really helpful and important to realize is that chest and head voice are not two different people singing, just two different places in you resonating. It's a simple matter of technique.

When I was working on maximizing my head voice range the thing I focused on the most was this:

I realized that I was very comfortable singing in chest voice. I could also easily attain notes in my head voice if I started the stanza in head voice. Where I ran into a problem and started to psyche myself out was when I would have to jump between the two voices. And that right there was where the problem was. It was a "jump". So my vocal instructor and I focused on making the gap between my chest and head voice as small as possible in my mind (in theory/thinking) and in reality. We found that (just like you) there were notes I should hit in head voice that I could attain in chest voice, but it lacked smoothness and lost the good tone that I had in my normal chest voice range. There comes a place where you just have to decide when to switch. The place where one should switch is different for everyone and you have to figure yours out on your own through lots of experimentation and practice.

When working on head voice, first figure out how to get to that space. Learn how that space feels when it resonates. It should feel up in your head, towards the back until you learn how to control it, not in your throat. One good test is to make sure your adam's apple isn't jumping all over the place. If you're singing incorrectly when trying to attain head voice range your adam's apple will most likely pull up towards your chin and then back to where you can't feel it. If this happens, stop singing right then and take a few seconds to massage the sides of your neck, throat, and the a few rubs smooth down your jawline. Then try again, focusing on keeping your throat as open and relaxed as possible.

At this point, don't worry about how you sound, as long as you're supporting the notes and hitting them on pitch. Contrary to natural impulse, you should actually require less breath and force the higher in your range you go. If you feel yourself straining more and more as you get higher, again stop and rub your neck a bit, get an image in your head of less air, more control, relaxed and very open throat, and try it again.

It can be helpful to think that you need to push less the higher you get because your resonating higher in your head so the sound has to move less to leave your body.

Once you've become comfortable with where your head voice is, it's time to work on making the gap between chest and head voice as small as possible. This is NOT, I repeat NOT a good time to start on a low note and do a simple scale up as high as you can over and over. All this will do is confuse your muscle memory, frustrate you, lead to vocal fatigue, and tense your voice. You don't want to have the idea of "higher.... Higher..... HIGHER!!!!!!" as you move from chest in to head voice, but rather, "normal... preparing mentally.... different but comfortable".

A good exercise to do to work on chest to head voice and back is the rolling scale. Start at a comfortable note in the middle of your chest voice. Then sing this, hitting the appropriate note in the key of the first note you sang. "One, Three, Five, One Three Five, (start descending) Four, Two, Seven, Five, Four, Two One." Ascending until where I noted and then descending until you land on the original note.

Once you have completed this scale a few times, move it up a half step, etc...

I'll post more later, if you have any questions, go ahead and ask. I'll see if I can answer...