singing higher

[Macbethstx]

dont know if this is the right place but

 

i want to sing higher and expand my vocal range. are theere any lessons or excercises i can do. i dont have a very low voice but ineed to get high as in blink 182 mark/tom high or derek whibley s um 41 high.

[Eric VB]

I think the topic of singing is fair game since a lot of songwriters are (or try to be) singer/songwriters.

 

I have the same problem. I'm a baritone with a limited range. Not quite bass enough to do Barry White. Not enough high end to hang with the tenors (almost all the recorded male singers). The most comfortable songs for me to sing are usually altos (women) put down an octave. That's not very marketable though.

 

I found a few books at my local library for DIY voice lessons. I borrowed one that sounded interesting to me because it linked the use of your voice while speaking to singing. In a loud bar I'm always shouting to be heard and shred my vocal chords pretty quickly. It's the same as playing bass: I need more power so the lower frequencies can be heard and/or an edgy tone to cut through the "mix". So, yeah, I could use help with my speaking voice, too.

 

OTOH, I'm learning to embrace my singing voice for what it is. I'm a baritone, not a tenor. Pigs may want to fly, but they don't have wings. There are only a few cover songs I can do, but I can always write my own songs to fit my range.

 

Basically everyone has two singing voices: their "chest" voice and their "head" voice. The chest voice seems more natural to me; this is where the low end of your range comes from. For the high end you have to use your head voice. Some people have better control over this than others, Mariah Carey being the undisputed champ in pop music.

 

Voice is a musical instrument like any other. The only difference is that it is a "built in" instrument. You can't replace your vocal chords with new ones, so you have to be a little more careful with this instrument. (It's easy to buy a new guitar if you smash the one you have.) Yes, improper technique can ruin your voice. So you may want to consider getting voice lessons or hiring a vocal coach. I think that's really the best way to go.

[dementedchord]

a good vocal coach/teacher is going to more than anything work on your breathing... and if your real bad right now you might gain as much as a min3rd... other than that emrace the voice you have... or transpose...

[skipclone 1]

Breathing is REALLY key, you can do yourself a big favor by increasing your oxygen uptake, take regular jogs, if you smoke stop, try to avoid really cold drinks even in summer, don`t have a drink before you sing or if you must have something room temp.

[ABGBrian]

I'm not gonna glorify myself here, but hopefully, you'll give my advice some credit I've taken 7+ years of total vocal training so far (that doesn't mean i'm a great singer or anything), I started in classical opera moved over to rock and shout singing and now am getting comfortable in a jazz format. The answer I give (and the answer most professional vocal teachers would give you) is that expanding your range depends on two things primarily:

 

the first is breath like you guys have already said, your breath is your support and in order for you to be able to even reach these high registers you have to have incredible power in your abs and diaphragm to get there (although you require generally less pressure for shouting high notes loudly than to sing them softly which probably requires just as much control).

 

the second (and this one is the big secret that most singers aren't even aware of) is the upper pallete. Your vocal mechanism is divided basically into 3 main areas, the sustaining apparatus (lungs, abs, diaphragm); the vocalizing area (vocal chords), and timbre influencing area (the throat, mouth, lips, tongue, and most importantly the upper pallete). The upper pallete is what primarily controls the timbre of your voice, it's the part of your mouth that should natural expand upwards when you make deep yawns. Have you ever had such a deep yawn that your eyes started to water?? That was your upper pallete pressing against your tear ducts. And for expanding range this is a highly essential and elusive muscle to master. The higher your pallete is the more resonant your voice will be and the more your throat will open (this is why your vocal chords get shredded from shouting ric, your throat is not open enough). It's kind of hard to explain just in a few details how important this is and how you access it. I've taken years of vocal teaching on this and i still haven't fully figured it out, although i think i have a pretty good idea. The best way to develop the pallete is just to yawn deeply, a lot. FOr you baritones (like me) try picking a note near your voice break (between head voice and falsetto) which might be anywhere between middle C and F depending on your skill and i want you to sing that note (preferably in your falsetto so that you don't really tighten your throat and choke yourself for right now) and try to yawn the note as much as possible. Kind of like you were making a pitched sigh almost AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. THink of it like that. THis should help you to undo the throat tightness thing which will in-turn give you a blended voice quality and open up your upper range. Once you get good there's no reason you couldn't easily be able to reach up to the high G's and A's and even B's that i'm sure lots of melodic punk singers do. (you'd actually be suprised ric that there are more male baritone singers out there than you think that don't specifically sing in a baritone range). If you guys found any of this i said as being useful you can let me know if you'd want to know anymore excercises or information about the subject which i can subscribe. I'm just not going to spill all my beans in this post cause i'm not even sure that anyones listening and there's really too much i could say about the subject without you asking a specific question.

Hope this helps.

[Randal]

I too went through a phase of trying to sing beyond my natural range so I could do all that Yes, Kansas, Styx, Vince Gill, ?need I say more? Yes you can do much exercising and practice to make your voice go up in increments of half steps but at what cost? I have heard that time is money and if a goal takes many years to accomplish, your market might be gone before you get there. Concentrate on your strengths NOW and learn to capitalize on these NOW. Be who you are NOW and others will listen and appreciate you NOW. Relax, have fun while you learn to work and hone your craft. The real trick is to have a vocal sound that one is able to pick out of a crowd. You must have a unique sound.

[Eric VB]

Thanks, zombieater! That's the first time I've heard someone explain how to "open the throat". It's a phrase I've heard often enough in the context of playing a wind instrument and thought I understood it. Your explanation makes a lot more sense, especially in terms of vocals. (And for some reason I can't stop yawning after reading your post! )

 

The support issue you bring up in terms of shouting high notes versus singing them softly I find interesting.

 

As a wind player I eventually took up tuba. In marching band we were often told to "blow" for more volume. So my support system -- lungs, abs, diaphram -- became geared towards moving a large volume of air in a short time. Take a huge breath of air and blow it all out.

 

One day I tried my friend's clarinet. I absolutely could not make it work. There was too much resistance to air flow for me; my face turned red and my eyeballs probably looked like they were going to pop out of my head! It required an entirely different kind of support. Not as much air volume but considerably more pressure. At least that seemed to be the key to getting it to sound right.

 

Back to tuba, the difference between a low Bb and a Bb that is 1, 2, or even 3 octaves above (yes, in my prime I could hit it) is mostly in the buzzing or vibration of the lips. Yes, air support is also an issue here. (The throat is more of a tonal control; an open throat gives a round tone whereas a closed throat gives a less pleasant, pinched tone.) Some other mechanics of the mouth and face are required, but the point here is that the lips substitute for the vocal chords. Relaxed lips give low notes and stretched lips (not necessarily tight) give high notes. But all of the resonating and projection happens in the tuba itself, not in the chest, head, etc.

 

So I do know a thing or two about air support and how it is used to control frequency range and dynamics. (I was probably more proud of the fact that I could play any pitch in my range anywhere from whisper quiet to commandingly loud while maintaining good tone than the range itself.) Translating the rest of what I know to my vocal chords and resonating chambers seems to be more of the problem.

 

So I guess a specific question I would have with regards to the vocal chords is do they prefer large air volume/low pressure (tuba) or less volume/more pressure (clarinet)? And does the approach change with range?

 

My mental image of the vocal chords is that they are like my tuba lips. (Hey now, no wise cracks! ) On first attempt they only stretch so far and that is where the high end of your range stops. Do people that sing higher develop in the same way, discovering the muscles that offer finer control of the vocal chords? Of course at the same time is the issue of finding/making the resonance. And I can attest to the fact that even something as big as a sousaphone can resonate in the higher frequencies, so it's not entirely an issue of body size.

[ABGBrian]

Ric,

 

glad you found my previous post useful! That's it, keep on yawning a lot! anytime you feel any tension, rasp or vocal stress just yawn deeply and you can release all that tension in throat pallete and face. you're gonna sound a lot better if you can keep that in mind.

 

about the pressure vs. air volume thing:

 

the vocal chords don't necessarily prefer anything. what you choose to do with your diaphragm and lungs is up to you. but i'll tell you that if you want to use a lot of air and little pressure (tuba) you're gonna get a more of a smokey sounding voice with a little less range. which is fine but has a limited use to probably jazz ballading and other torch songs (think billy holiday). on the inverse if you want to use a lot of pressure and little air (clarinet) you'll get a more resonant defined tone that you'll find has a lot of use over a range of styles. also in this voice you can easily climb into and over your break in blended or shout voice (given you yawn and expand the upper pallete properly). this is the voice singers most commonly use.

 

on range:

 

I'm not quite sure if you meant does the approach change in the range of different voice classes (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone/bass), or does the approach change in the range of a specific voice (we're talking baritone). I'll answer both.

 

Whether your soprano, tenor or whatever we're all still anatomically human and the techniques that we're talking about here apply to all voice classes, not just baritones.

 

singing in your chest voice generally requires less pressure than singing up in your head voice and falsetto (like a horn). a singer has to give their diaphragm and lungs some attention and excercise everyday. before you start working on the upper pallete thing you have to first have the stored potential to get to those upper register notes and to do that you need a highly controlled diaphragm before you yawn. when you first start to practice expanding range and working on the head voice you'll have to start at very loud volumes (think robert plant). the point of that is when you shout your body automatically energizes itself and the tone comes blasting out of your lips clear as a bell right? (this is given that you picked a note you can reasonably shout without straining your vocal chords or closing your throat; at this point, shoot for a C, D, or E for now Ric). when you shout the upper pallete should automaticallly expand upwards involuntarily and you'll get a clear resonant tone. this also doesn't require much abdominal pressure, you're going to find that singing at soft, crooning volumes is going to be at least twice as hard and will require that much more strength than shout-singing. now that you've proven you have the stored energy to hit the note, shout the note again and try to decrescendo to as quiet a voice as you can. keep in mind here that when you're singing close to your break the automatic reflex will be to slip into your falsetto once you decrease volume. that's ok for right now, but the trick is to decrease volume but increase pressure and control of the abdominals as you do this as well as maintain the yawn shape you had when shouting. do not expect this to come easy, this takes years of everyday practice and lots of abdominal strength and yawning to master. the point is is to maintain the same pallete shape you have when you're shouting as when you're crooning (like shouting at a soft volume).

 

where the voice stops:

 

it'll take you a while to reach the absolute limit of your head voice range and even from that top note if you maintain a high pallete shape (a deep yawn) you can blend that note even further higher with your falsetto voice and fool people into thinking that you're singing higher with your head voice when you're really not. singers like jon anderson, steve perry, chris cornell, freddie mercury, jeff/tim buckley, robert plant, and bono do this well. in fact cornell, mercury and bono are anatomically baritones so don't think that because you don't have the highest voice in the choir you're limited in your aptitudes at all as a lead vocalist. you've got great potential in your voice that's just waiting to be unlocked. keep yawning and practicing and i hope if you have any more questions you'll ask!

 

thanks.

-B

[Eric VB]

Wow! What great info! Thanks a bunch. Lots of stuff to work on here.

[Griffinator]

Breathing is REALLY key, you can do yourself a big favor by increasing your oxygen uptake, take regular jogs, if you smoke stop, try to avoid really cold drinks even in summer, don`t have a drink before you sing or if you must have something room temp.

 

Bingo.

 

Take it from someone who used to have a full 3 octave range (F below low C to G above high C) as a first baritone - both my low extension and my high extension have deteriorated from years of smoking, drinking, and other vocal cord abuse. My range now only reaches to just barely C#-D above high C, and getting to low C with any kind of projection is a feat.