(edited)
Hello,
I can relate and understand the frustration when it comes to singing incorrectly. Anyway, since you said you just started singing a year ago. Make sure you are doing it correctly when you’re producing a sound. It sounds like from what you’ve written that you have bad technique, since you are squeezing to produce a sound. There should be airflow when you are singing, and even talking. And when you squeeze your vocal chords, you're not letting the air to pass hence the vocal chords can't properly vibrate to produce a sound.
Here’s what I think.
1. Make sure you are breathing correctly. You breathe using your diaphragm. Your diaphragm controls your breathing, they are underneath your lungs. This will stop the tension from your throat.
Do this:
Lie down on the floor and put a heavy object on your belly. Now breathe in and try to push your belly out as you breathe in. (this is how you should breathe when singing, from Belly-Up, not from your Chest-down) Try to control the air as you exhale. Once you get the feeling, try doing it on a note, with an AHHH or an OOHH. If you feel your throat is working too much or that you are squeezing to produce a sound, then you are doing it incorrectly. There should be little work from your throat muscles and most of the pressure and work should be coming from your diaphragm controlling the air that is coming out of your lungs.
Do this till you get the idea on how it should feel singing without tension from your throat. Our bodies will remember things that are natural to do, in fact it's when we do things incorrectly that's when our bodies tend to react, which explains hoarseness or a sore throat.
Stop pulling chest voice.
People have higher ranges because they developed their voices properly. So since you are still a beginner, I suggest just focusing on developing a healthy vocal technique when singing, your range will develop as you progress. Another reason why others can reach their range with ease, that is because they developed and connected their vocalbridges, which means it’s easier for them to access those high notes with minimal effort.
If you didn’t know, our voices have bridges. I have a bridge going from my bass voice going to my chest voice then I have a bridge going from my chest voice to my head voice. You should be able to feel this too when you are trying to sing. It’s like a wall stopping you from smoothly transitioning from different voice registers. I can’t suggest exercise since I don’t know where you are exactly with your voice, and not all exercises work with each singer. This is actually a bit more advance. Try not to be obsessed with range and try working on vocal tonality, pitch, proper technique, and your ear. Like I said range comes in later.
When you are trying to reach for higher notes, STOP squeezing, actually STOP SQUEEZING in general. You are actually straining your vocal chords and if you keep doing it, you’re going to damage them. You never want to squeeze to produce a sound, remember that your throat muscles never have to work that hard to produce a sound. If you are still squeezing then you haven’t properly established correct vocal breathing. This is why they tell you to relax. When you relax your throat muscles relax, producing a sound should feel natural and easy for your body to produce. Try humming, if it's hard for you to even hum a note/sound then you are still producing tension in your throat.
Whenever you're going up your range transfer the resonance to your head, you should feel it towards your nasal cavity. Your vocal chords actually zips up whenever you go higher in your range and it's going to be a lot harder if you haven't trained your chords to smoothly transition between bridges. I think you mention something about hitting the E note above middle C. Yes, that is the correct way on trying to hit higher notes, you transfer from chest voice to your head voice-not falsetto;these two are different. The incorrect way is pulling chest voice to reach that high note while squeezing your vocal chords. Ouch!
Head voice is hard to explain without showing it to you. Some people argue that for men head voice is falsetto. But I think its not. For me, its a mixture of falsetto and chest, its very pure sounding, rather than the airy falsetto.
As you can see there's a lot to learn from your voice. For some, these things come naturally probably because of being exposed to it at an early age, but for some it takes a lot of work and discipline. For me, I try to vocalize everyday and I make sure that I pay attention on how my vocal chords feels before, during and after.
Just try singing with the breathing technique I mentioned, and with your larynx(adam’s apple down). Don’t force it down, it’s like yawning. When you yawn your larynx naturally goes down. Yawning is good for singers, actually try to hold your yawn then produce a note. You can tell that the sound is much more richer and healthier than a force squeezed sound.
Don't squeezed whenever you are singing and talking, making sure that the air that came in, also comes out. Try talking/singing while you are relax with breath support and ignore how it sound like. Keep doing this till your body gets used to it. If you can't relax, lie down on the floor and try to talk or sing.
And finally don't compare yourself to other experience singers. They're obviously are in a different level, just look at them as to what you want to aspire to be. Its like comparing a level 10 mage to a level 50 or 75 mage(lol @ WOW).
I can go on and on about this. But if you’re really serious about developing your voice then acquire correct vocal techniques. Your voice teacher should help you with this. You said you sing classical music in choir, keep at it. Classical singing is great, since it uses healthy vocal techniques. But you still have to know how to properly execute it. Also listen to artist with healthy vocal techniques. Use your ear and feel how someone sings. Its kinda like when another guy gets hit in the balls by a football. All guys can feel the pain right? It's the same concept when listening.
Artist that I can recommend for you to listen and feel how they use their own vocal chords, is Josh Groban and Bob Dylan(not his early stuff, his most recent and live). Compare the two, and see if you can feel how each artist uses their vocal chords to produce a sound.
Good luck!
My background:
Been singing since I was 5, was in choir for all my life in school. And I’m currently getting a Bachelor’s of Science in music and my instrument is my voice. I damaged my voice 3 years ago, by acquiring bad techniques since I started singing pop music. I sung classical music throughout high school and three years in college but when I started developing a more mainstream sound it went sour. So it’s crucial to have proper technique no matter what.
Last edited by Milojames (2011-01-04 15:13:44)
