Vocal Music Advice

I am either a bass or baritone – or somewhere in between and have sung in choirs for several years.  I love to sing, but in the more advanced music, I find myself “reaching” to get high notes or sometimes the other way, reaching for low notes that are not comfortably in my range.

Answer: You ask a perfectly legitimate question.  This is a subject that is important to a young man of your age.  The answer to your question is: The range is broadened GRADUALLY.

You have had the opportunity to sing in various choral ensembles already and will continue to do so.  Since you have found challenges singing some of the higher notes in your voice part, or some of the lowest notes – or both, it is natural for you to desire to develop your vocal range such that you can negotiate the extremes of range comfortably.  Let me encourage you first by telling you that a somewhat limited range is not unusual in a young man your age.  Every person develops at his or her own rate.  Young singers your age often find themselves with a limited range.  This will likely not remain so indefinitely, as long as you continue to sing regularly in the days, weeks and years to come.

If you will begin a regimen – a daily routine – vocalizing every day for ten to thirty minutes – in addition to your choral ensemble singing, and devote that time to warming up your voice and extending your range incrementally, you will find that over time your range will grow in one or both directions, up and down.

Elsewhere on my blog I have an article specifically about warming up the voice.  This applies directly to your question.  Part of the purpose of vocal warm-ups is to extend the range.  Read it and follow those directions.

The only thing that I would add to that article is that, at nineteen, while you can expect your voice to develop – you ought not to expect overnight results.  Your voice [the larynx itself] is in a developmental and maturing phase.  So, warming up the voice daily, and learning good singing habits are the keys to good vocal development.  Your vocal range will grow over the next three or four years.

Please find and use specific warm-ups as most benefit you.  Just as a reminder:  you should begin with “small-range” figures at first in a comfortably low part of your range.  Then with each repetition ascend by a half-step until you reach your upper vocal limit.  At this point you should “turn the corner” and descend by half-steps to your lowest limit.  Subsequent vocal figures can be increasingly larger and cover the span of a 5th or 6th and then an octave, etc.  Over time you will discover that one end of your range – or both – will find a new limit.  Your vocal range will be growing.  Let this be a matter of discovery – rather than attempting to force either higher or lower notes so as to “become” some predetermined voice classification.  I have left off a lot of information that deals with the question of extending the range – but as I say, more of that is covered elsewhere on my blog.

As always, I feel strongly, that if you desire to pursue singing seriously, your best plan is to study with a reliable voice teacher.  Best wishes to you.