Vocal Music Advice

Answer: Are you serious?

Let me try and help you.  “Falsetto” is the range of notes that generally lies above your normal “clear singing voice.”  This area of the range also partly overlaps some of your higher clear tones.  A baritone can generally attain falsetto around middle C or D (just above) and then vocalizing higher.

Rather than straining to make loud sound, this sound (falsetto) is fluty and somewhat breathy and should be able to be performed easily without strain.  You need to know that you may only have notes in one octave or less in this area of the voice produced this way.  The lower the note is sung in falsetto the softer it will be too – and vice versa – there’s not a whole lot of dynamic control or variation possible.

If you are not used to using your voice in falsetto, let me suggest that you try a couple of things:

1) try imitating what you think an owl sounds like “hooo–hooo” starting on a note well above your normal vocal range and sliding downward.   Those high light fluty sounds are more than likely in falsetto.

2) If you’ve ever heard anyone yodel, imitate a yodel – “oh-dah-lay-eee-o.” The “eee-o” at the end just needs to jump up to a high light fluty sound, falsetto.

3) Try vocalizing on an ascending scale, but instead of getting louder as you ascend allow the sound to get softer and lighter.  My guess is that you’ll feel where the voice seems to “flip” from regular tone to the light airy sound on the higher notes.  This is falsetto.

If you find that you have to “work hard” to get falsetto – then stop.  Your vocal production may be too tension-filled for you to experience falsetto at this time.  Vocal teachers sometimes incorporate exercises in falsetto to help a baritone who is learning to sing high notes for the first time, when regular clear tones aren’t available up there yet. In this way his vocal training may be advanced.  Falsetto should be produced easily, not with difficulty.
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When singing, how can you open your throat?

Answer: Hi Crystal,

My guess is that “open your throat” is the dictum of someone who is coaching you in voice.  I know when I was a teenager a vocal coach said something off-the-wall to me that made no sense to me – until years later when more data “explained” everything.

“Opening the throat” is what enriches, warms and amplifies the sound produced by the vocal cords, and it doesn’t need to be a mystery to you.  Let me see if I can help.

You can find what it FEELS like to open your throat by doing the following three things.

1) Pretend that you’ve just opened the door into your home and you’re SURPRISED by an old friend you haven’t seen in two years.  You automatically “gasp” in surprise.  Go ahead and do the “surprised gasp”.  Now, do it again and see if you can hold that feeling. Then, keeping that feeling, say “Hi! how are you!?”

2) Again, using your imagination, pretend that you’re holding your favorite flower (perhaps a rose) in your hand and you’re taking in the wonderful perfumed scent with a deep breath.  Go ahead and pretend that you’re smelling that rose.  Notice what happened to your jaw and throat when you did that!

3) This time, still using your imagination, think of yourself in a meeting being lectured by your principal – and you suddenly feel the need to yawn.  Of course you don’t want to make it obvious, you submerge it instead.  Now, go ahead and “BEGIN A YAWN”.  See if you can stop there without going all the way into the yawn.  If you can learn what it feels like to only BEGIN A YAWN – memorize what that feels like.

I should tell you that there are teachers that will go into a great amount of detail differentiating between the three examples praising one and warning against the others.

Nevertheless, it will be evident that in each case you’ll notice that your jaw drops downward (and your voice box does too slightly), your throat expands slightly and if you inhale with your mouth open the air feels cool in the back of the throat and the air goes in you easily and quietly.  THAT FEELING – of the jaw dropped down and the throat slightly expanded is what is known as the “open throat.”

It may take some practice and getting used to before you can reproduce it without always ending up yawning.  The full yawn is TOO OPEN and TOO STRENUOUS – and that’s not what you need to get to. Memorize the feeling of “the beginning of a yawn” or “smelling a rose” and start making sound without being critical of what you hear.  You may think of the sound as being “bigger” “more mature” “dramatic”, etc.

Learning to do this may not come instantly, but, with practice you can become very comfortable with it and allow ALL YOUR SINGING to come through this “open throat” feeling.  Listen to and watch Stephen Costello, tenor, and Jessye Norman, mezzo-soprano (among a host of wonderful singers).

To help your jaw get used to dropping open freely, you may want to add an exercise like “Yah-oo, Wah-oo” purposely allowing your jaw to “fall open” freely.

Now, having said all this that sounds positive toward the idea of the “open throat” I must issue a warning. There is a very real danger of artificially opening and/or over opening the pharyngeal space creating unwanted tension, a darkened tone and even a compromised resonance that lacks brilliance of the singer’s formant.  The concept of the open throat does not extend to expanded tension, but rather easy “relaxed” openness that maintains freedom of movement.  It is at this point that sound is enriched, amplified into a timbre listeners greatly appreciate.

I hope this helps.  Best wishes.

I’ve drunk honey water to loosen my voice and I’ve done sirens but I can’t seem to feel like it’s working.    Give me some ideas please?

Answer: Warming up the voice is like any other warm-up exercise before a vigorous workout. I am stunned to occasionally hear a high-ranking gifted singer who then becomes a voice teacher that disputes this fact.  (Fortunately, they are a VERY small minority.)  If you are a sprinter or a distance runner, so that you don’t injure muscles, you warm up with preliminary exercises.  This conditions the body and the muscles for what is to follow and protects you from debilitating self-injury.  The principle is no different for vigorous use of the vocal cords — singing.  So, your question is an excellent one.  You start slow and add intensity bit by bit until you’re ready to do the “real thing” (sing your songs).  You need to set aside anywhere from 10-20 minutes for this before you sing every day.  There are a few singers—a very few singers—who do not personally feel the need to warm up (one of my teachers was like that, but he had the good sense not to espouse “no warm-ups are necessary”).

1.  You’re going to begin vocalizing (singing) where it is easy in your range – usually comfortably low – but not to the extreme.  Pick your beginning note and ascend three steps and descend again while singing on EEEE [i] and AY [e] using this pattern 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1.  Every time you descend down to your beginning note, change the vowel.  Also alternate between ooo [u] and eee [i].  Like this

1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1
E——–AY——–E——–AY

Every time you repeat this small figure, raise the first note a half  step – so that as you repeat you are singing higher and higher.  Continue to do this until you begin to feel tension and strain, or, the notes don’t come, then turn the corner and descend by step until you are singing your lowest comfortable notes.  Be sure that your jaw is loose and open and the sound you make is as clear as possible.

2.  You’re going to do this kind of thing again, but this time the musical figure will go up 5 steps and return down again.  (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1) Alternate the OO [u] and EE [i] vowels in this figure.

1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1
oo——E——oo——E——oo

Always begin comfortably low.  (We’re all different, so, for example, if you’re a tenor and your teacher is a bass, your comfortably low starting note is going to be a good bit higher than his would be.)  Each figure should be sung with as clear tone as you can make, one note connected to the next smoothly, don’t separate them.  Again, work your way up the range step by step and back down again.

3.  A third exercise might be this one: Sing the phrase “Oh how I love– to sing” on the arpeggio 1 3 5 8 5 3 1.  This spans an entire octave.

1——3—5—–8—-5—3—–1.
Oh    how     I      love_   to   sing.  (“love” has two notes)

Always begin comfortably low.  Sing clearly maintaining a loose open jaw, connecting each word and note smoothly.  Each initial repetition should be a half step higher than the previous one, until you reach your upper range limits, at which time you need to head back down by half-steps until you reach your lowest comfortable notes.

4.  This can then be followed by more vocal exercises that require flexibility, larger range and power.  But in this way – using your voice first with short-range phrases ascending and descending in your range, then with wider range phrases you “warm up” your voice.  After about 15 minutes of doing this, you should feel more ready to do some normal energetic singing.

What I’ve described is fairly standard.  Once you begin studying with a voice teacher, s/he may devise specific exercises that are particularly suited to you.  Until then, work through this, and if you have further questions, don’t be afraid to ask.

Best wishes.

Yesterday I figured out that I have the whistle register (Hit B6). And now, I want to know how to maintain it, and how to make it less forced. I do not want to damage this gift.

How can I practice in the whistle register, right now it hurts even when I hit the lowest note in the register? Should I drink lots of cold water after practice? Should I drink lots of warm water during practice? Honey?

Lastly, I know your supposed to cool down your voice after singing, how would I cool it down after whistle?

Answer: Dear Friend,

It is not my wish to burst your bubble – but to speak the truth with compassion.

Women with high voices–like coloratura sopranos, and small children have the capability for the “whistle” register. The occurrence of this register in the human voice usually begins around C – two octaves above middle C, and ascends higher. If you indeed have the capability of singing and vocalizing in the whistle register you are most likely either a female with a naturally high voice, or a boy or girl well prior to puberty.

Men with changed voices do not naturally possess the capability of having or using the whistle register. In scientific study the whistle register was difficult to film because the epiglottis closes down over the larynx and the resonating chamber assumes its smallest dimensions. Early voice scientists indicated that the vocal folds actually puckered like lips to form a whistle, however, more recent study indicates that the vocal ligaments adduct (close) except at one end through which the “whistle” is produced.

In music literature a very small percentage of songs require or ask for notes in the whistle register. One of the most well known pieces to require it is an aria sung by the Queen of the Night, in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”

Now, you speak of “having found” that you have the whistle register – as though it is gold and something to cultivate. However, it takes a great deal of vocal tension to produce (in a woman’s voice) and therefore should never attempt to sound big, loud or heavy – but as it comes with least tension, light and flute-like. Should one spend a lot of time vocalizing up there? No, with the possible exception of coloratura sopranos.

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What’s the difference between a head voice and a chest voice?  When I sing I either sing from my chest or switch to my throat for higher notes.

Answer: Hello Alexis,

This is a very broad subject and answering it fully in this space will be impossible to do justice to it.  Still, let me see if I can help you understand something of the subject about which you question, using easily-understood terms – because the language of “voice teaching” can be vague, conceptual and unscientific very often.

As you know, we have the ONE instrument – our voice – but which involves our entire body’s cooperative coordination. That said, you’ve obviously been introduced to the idea of “chest voice” and “head voice.”  You probably already associate “chest voice” with an area of notes that lie low in your range, and you probably associate “head voice” with an area of notes that lie high in pitch in your voice.

Perhaps one of the main reasons for using the terms “head” and “chest” is that, often, associated with singing the “low” and “high” notes, there are vibrations, buzzy feelings, a singer can become aware of and feel.  When singing low notes in a strong sound, one can often become aware of vibrations in the throat, neck, and collar-bone area, thus the designation “chest voice.”  When singing high notes in a strong sound, one can often become aware of vibrations (buzzy feelings) somewhere in the head and face (often referred to as the “mask”).  Becoming aware of these feelings is good.

Now, obviously the quality of sound in the low notes and the quality of the sound in the high notes are quite different.  One may sound “masculine” or “brusque” and the other “hooty” or “penetrating”.  But what the trained singer learns to do is to sing throughout his/her range so that the quality of sound is consistent and seamless with no sudden changes of color.

One of the things that singers learn to do is to “bring down” some of the “heady feelings” to the area of their low notes, and to some degree “take up” some of the strong “feelings” of the lower notes to their upper range.  But all of this is done in balance – and with the oversight of a well trained voice teacher.
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Ok, so I did something really stupid.  I was practicing/experimenting with belting high notes…really really high notes. I don’t remember it hurting, I remember coughing after I did it.  The next morning, I woke up with a little tightness in my throat, thought it was just morning vocal stuff, did a little warm up before I went to sing at my job.  But the sounds were weaker, and I realized something might have been wrong.  People tell me I don’t sound hoarse, but I know that I do sound weaker when I talk.  When I swallow, I feel like I’m swallowing lumps, but it doesn’t hurt to talk or swallow.  I am so scared I may have done permanent vocal damage, since I depend on my voice for my job.  It’s been about 5 days and things haven’t seemed to get better.  Have I done any permanent damage? I am so scared.  My teacher said to go on vocal rest.

Answer: Pay attention to your teacher who said, “Go on total vocal rest.”

Drink lots of warm liquids, stay away from cold drafts if you can and wear a scarf.  If it doesn’t clear up in a few days you should go to a Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor just to be safe.

Sounds like you probably just strained yourself, and your cords are swollen.  Definitely don’t sing (especially belting) if you can help it over the next few days.

I very much appreciate your honesty and humility in confessing what you did.  You are undoubtedly learning that belting for a prolonged period of time under the best of circumstances is not good for the voice also.

The throat area has comparatively few — in fact very few pain-registering nerve endings, unlike the hands and fingers.  So it is possible to do damage to the throat (voice) and not be aware of it.  The tightness in your throat, the weaker sound and the “lump” that you feel when you swallow are the body’s signs [like waving red flags!] that you need to pay attention and give your voice complete vocal rest for several days.  Rather than continuing to vocalize and resume a ‘normal’ singing routine, I’d advise taking a complete vocal rest until — in another week or so — phonation (making sound) is easy and clear.  Continuing to try to force your voice to produce the sound you’re used to hearing under these circumstances could indeed result in long-term damage.  The short time of complete silence will allow you a dependable long-term future, versus the opposite.
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Answer: Your question implies that you lost some part of your range while having a cold.  This would actually indicate that the post-nasal drainage and/or throat infection also affected your vocal cords.  It sounds like you’ve had a touch of laryngitis.  Swelling and infection of the cords is what causes loss of range in the voice – not a head cold by itself.

This being the case, it is important that you recover completely and without prematurely using your voice.  When all “huskiness” or “heaviness” is gone, begin a daily regimen of vocalizing in which you begin comfortably low with small-range exercises and move upward and downward to your upper and lower “limits.”  As your voice gets stronger increase the range of the exercises, starting comfortably low and ascending by half-steps until you reach your comfort limits.  You’ll find that in time your full range will come back.

How quickly your full range will return will depend in part on the degree of recovery you have experienced. It is important that you are completely well before asking your voice to exercise vigorously.   Be sure to keep up your health and keep your immune system at its peak.

Most of us don’t like to wait … I know.   Best wishes to you.

I sing from my diaphragm but the air flushes out real quickly & I am out of tone.  Do I have to harden my stomach to trap the air?  Is there any exercise to control exhaling air from the diaphragm?

Answer: Your questions are good ones.  Your notion that the diaphragm is vitally involved in the breathing process is right on too.  However, there are at least two prongs to the answer for taking care of air that flushes out too quickly. One IS related to breathing and support, the other is related to using your voice efficiently – turning all the breath into clear ringing tone.

Concerning breathing and support

Here is an exercise that may help you learn the feel of breathing for singing: Be sure you are standing or sitting with good tall posture.  Place one hand open-palmed on your “tummy” and the other just below your collar bones high on your chest.  What you should notice is that the hand by your collar bones stays quite still, while the lower hand on your epigastrium (tummy area) moves in and out constantly.

a) inhale deeply – feeling the “middle” of your body expand all around (the lower hand).

b) immediately after inhaling, suspend the breath inside you, keeping it there by staying expanded and without closing your vocal cords.  Yes, you will probably notice that the surface of your tummy does get “tighter” with expansion.  Hold it there for two or three seconds just to learn the sensations of maintaining air inside you for a moment, then

c) very lightly produce an “s” (hiss) while metering out the air very slowly.  Stay expanded as far as possible.  Aim to make this last 30 – 60 seconds.  By the time you need to inhale again, you should feel (with the hand placed on your tummy) that those muscles have contracted – but that it was a gradual process.  Do 10 repetitions of this exercise in a row.  Singing well requires the expansion in the body, the sustaining of that breath in the body, and the slow metering out of the air.  It is a learned skill.  Note, the upper hand high on the chest should have remained relatively still.  The hand on your tummy-area (epigastrium) will have moved out on your intake of air and slowly moved in as you metered the air out.

Concerning clear ringing tone (efficient use of the vocal cords)

The other half of the equation is that the sound you produce must be very clear – that is, not breathy.  The essence of a breathy tone is tone that is letting out air too quickly.  Let me suggest the following exercise as an introduction to finding some clear sound.  You’re going to sigh several times.  The first time, sigh letting all the breath out easily and quickly and without any voiced sound, just a gust of air released.  The second time sigh again, start somewhat high in your range with just a little sound.  It’ll be something like a voiced yawn and very breathy, and pitch will descend quickly.  The third time, increase the amount of sound you are giving the sigh.  You’ll notice that it sounds a bit like a siren going down in pitch and it was louder than the second repetition.  On the fourth and final time, make it your aim to still “feel” as though you’re sighing, but turn ALL the breath into clear ringing sound.  You’ll notice that the sound is a good deal louder than ever before and the downward siren lasts a good deal longer than any of the previous “sighs.”  What you’ve done is to use your vocal cords increasingly more efficiently.  You’ve made increasingly clearer tone.

To sustain long musical phrases you need to cultivate the skill of breathing for singing such as is described above as well as maintaining tone that is very clear – both at the same time. This takes concentrated practice on a daily basis – and usually most effectively under the guidance of a good voice teacher.  Still, the two exercises I’ve suggested above can get you started.  Best wishes to you.

I’m a 15-year-old boy (almost 16), and my voice hasn’t changed yet.  I’ve been doing a lot of singing lately and really trying to get into a wider range.  Could this possibly be slowing down the rate at which my voice is changing?  Because I’m like 1 of the 3 people in my grade whose voice hasn’t changed yet, and I’m tired of it.

Answer: (I’d almost bet you are Caucasian and fair.)  Singing isn’t slowing down the process of the voice change.  You’re actually not THAT unusual – there are plenty of 16-year-old boys in N. America, Germany and the Scandinavian countries in the same shoes you’re in.

I’m sorry that you’re feeling odd . . . but don’t worry, for your hormones will kick in soon, and your voice will get lower.  Don’t fret.  Also, don’t be concerned even if you end up a tenor – tenors “get more money” and are more highly sought after than baritones and basses.  That said, the probability of you becoming a baritone is higher.

Be patient buddy, and enjoy it when it happens.

Best wishes.
PS. My comment on being white and fair is a generality.  Typically you’ll find that dark-skinned folk who grow up in the tropics and in hot climates mature physically sooner than their northern fair-haired and fair-skinned counterparts.

In other words, starting from the note a fifth below middle C.  Tenor, baritone???

Answer:  Ok, this is pretty open-ended.  I will assume that you are referring to a two-octave range beginning on F below middle C to the F one-and-a-half octaves above middle C.  That is, the F you speak of is the lowest useful note in the range.

The range you describe fits a contralto or “alto” classification.   However, I’ll attempt to cover most of the possible bases resulting from your question.
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