Vocal Music Advice

Werdna (pronounced: vehrd-NAY), 17, says: I don’t exactly know very much about the vocal fry. I’ve always been told that it is harmful for your voice and that it isn’t “true” singing. Would you clarify this for me?

ANSWER: Good question, Werdna.

The vocal fry is another “register” of the voice … a different way to produce (very low-pitched) tones.  What happens is that the vocal cords close loosely and air is made to bubble up through them (quite literally).  With practice these notes can be “tuned.”  In this way men are able to access a few notes lower than the bottom end of their normal modal register – and this is usually used in choral situations by baritones or basses who may have notes as low as low C, B or B-flat that can be reached no other way.  It is said that “Russian basses” frequently specialize in this, and thus are able to produce some very resonant low notes.  Like falsetto, this register of the voice is rarely used and should not be a part of common usage because predominant long-term use will eventually damage the voice.  Occasionally one will hear a public speaker or radio announcer with a speech idiosyncrasy in which every sentence ends by falling in pitch with the final syllable spoken in a low vocal fry.  It can be quite irritating —or amusing— to listen to when it becomes a repeated mannerism.

Warmly, Dr. A.

Werdna (pronounced: vehrd-NAY), 17 says: I was mainly asking because I’m unsure of what exactly falsetto is used for. I may certainly be wrong, but to me falsetto is just how I reach notes that are above my range – which doesn’t happen very often in choir while I sing the baritone part. I’m confused as to what the sound is supposed to be like. Will it only ever be as you said “light and flutey without a lot of color”? I’m never sure what to do when my choir director asks me to sing louder while in falsetto, I can only get so loud.

Sometimes it seems like it’s not very smooth when I switch up to falsetto. I want to change this to get a smooth transition – are there vocal exercises that I can do to help with that?

Answer: Fair question Werdna:

Unless you decide to become a “falsettist-countertenor”, falsetto is used to access high notes that can be reached no other way.  Inevitably those first notes in falsetto can be vastly smaller in sound and without the potential of strengthening them.  Falsetto is not the normal/usual function of the voice, but only one to use sparingly.  This apparently is exactly how and why you are currently using falsetto.  Bravo!  It will only ever be “light and flutey without a lot of color”.  The only exception to that is when you are reaching the upper limits of your falsetto range – when about all you can produce is a fortissimo sound.  Unlike the normal singing voice that has a great deal of potential for dynamic changes and expressiveness, falsetto does not have the same potential for much dynamic change, and therefore we call it “monochrome”.  Forgive me for meddling now … but it is unfortunate that your choir director is asking you to produce a loud sound just where you find yourself having to move into falsetto.  While the music may ask for that, developing voices (especially at your age) simply are not capable of many of those things yet, so it is not reasonable to demand them, besides being impossible just as one transitions into falsetto.  Your expressive abilities will have greatly increased by the time you’re 21, and developed even more by the time you are 30.

Re: making a smooth transition from “modal voice” (normal singing) to falsetto: an ascending and descending scale can be vocalized, first where it is comfortable in your range, then with every repetition raised by a half-step. I suggest using a major scale up an octave plus a note and down again.  Rather than crescendo to the top note (as one does when developing the voice), decrescendo to the top note so that you are approaching the high notes close to a pp dynamic level.  Sing by feel, until you feel yourself moving into falsetto without a massive FLIP.  It will take some experimenting, and possibly some weeks to find yourself able to make that switch easily.  Either way, don’t fret about it.  [In the ascending/descending scale: begin ascending on the major scale starting on the vowel EEE for 4 notes, AY for the next 4 notes, AH from the top note working down 4 notes, AY descending another 4 notes, with the last note on EEE.  This uses the octave-plus-a-note exercise I described above.]

What continues to be important as your voice develops is that you maintain wonderful posture and a normal respiration process.

Let me know how you fair.  Best wishes.

Elvin, age 20 says: I am a young singer who recently started taking formal voice lessons. For a while I studied as a baritone. I sang/sing B2 in EVERY ensemble I am/was in. My range was C2 to an F4 easily. Recently I changed voice teachers and my range has grown upwards. I now hit A4s in my warm-ups and vocalizations. My voice teacher says that I will be a tenor, seeing as I am still quite young. Will I really be a tenor considering I still have all my low notes? Is there such a thing as a tenor with a low-extension? I’ve heard of a baritone with a high-extension.

Answer: Dear Elvin,

Thank you for entrusting me with your question.  I need to be very careful that I do not breach ethical boundaries, since you are under a voice teacher’s care.  It would be safe for me to say that as I have not heard you sing, or vocalize, I cannot attest with certainty one way or another as to “what you will become.”  If you have read other posts of mine on this blog concerning voice classification—and there are a lot of them—you probably know that I hold “prescriptive” voice classification with great caution, especially on one as young as you are.

What can help YOU discover and “decide” what you really are will be the answers to these questions: 1) what is your COMFORTABLE range?  2) Where—what segment—within your range do you find you are MOST comfortable and consistently have the best stamina?  My experience tells me that being able to reach “high As” at age twenty, and spending a good deal of time above middle C and up there may be two very different things.  You will know if you ARE a tenor, when you find yourself able to easily negotiate tenor literature.  Generally speaking, if both are available to you, high and low, choose the area that is kinder on your voice.

I would be interested in knowing if your current teacher is a tenor or a soprano … or what voice classification s/he is.

Your last statement “I’ve heard of a baritone with a high-extension” is the most usual scenario with one who also has such low notes accessible to him.

If you want to send me an audio recording of yourself, feel free … or point me to a YouTube recording of yourself.

Best wishes.

Dr. A.

Jae, 16, a frequent contact says: as I study with my voice ‘myself’ through research, I finally figured out my real problem (if it is) that causes me to always struggle after a minute in singing! It’s just the mucus! After minutes in my singing, I’ve noticed that even I spit these “phlegms” out my throat, after a couple of minutes, there it comes again! So what I want to clearly know is, “Was there a stage in a singer’s life especially in adolescence where his body expels too much mucus?”

ANSWER: Thanks for mentioning this Jae.

Since the problem you have seems to be chronic, and if it is true that it persists regardless of lifestyle or diet, then I have to conclude that you have allergies to either air-borne allergens (dust, mold and mildew, flower and tree pollens, various animals, certain foods, or some combination of the aforementioned).  If you have chronic sinusitis (sinus infections), frequent sore throats, frequent swollen tonsils, frequent upper-respiratory infections (like bronchitis or asthma), then either you have allergies or a weak immune system, or possibly both.  These are things for which an allergist medical doctor is useful in diagnosing and treating.  Having and dealing with mucus is not a stage in adolescence!  Learning a balanced lifestyle is something that all young persons have to learn if they are going to be healthy and productive.

If what I have listed above describes you Jae, then you need to get a realistic view of your physical capabilities and limitations, as well as see a doctor.

On the other hand, it is not unusual for residual phlegm and mucus to “surface” and be coughed out while warming up vocally, especially in the morning or just after eating a meal.

Just a reminder of the kinds of foods that tend to produce “problem” secretions for singers with allergies: Dairy products (milk, fatty cheese, ice cream, etc.), fatty red meats (beef, and pork especially, or deep-fried anything including potato chips), shell fish (shrimp, prawns, crab, lobster); anything with added sugar content, including chocolate candy, sweetened drinks, desserts; and large portions of white-flour products (whether it is white bread, noodles, pasta, cake, etc.).

I hope this is helpful.

I feel constrained, six months after the period I posted the first piece on causes of high larynx, to add this paragraph.  I am realizing that one of the reasons there is such a prevalence of teens who come to college already with bad singing habits established – with the high-larynx singing – is that so many teens are not willing to accept their current God-given range, and unsatisfied, attempt to muscle-force their voice (whatever it takes) to reach those high notes that their popular radio-vocal-models reach all the time.  This business of FORCING the voice to reach for notes that the voice is not ready for during the teen years is rampant and a waving red flag of immaturity.

Furthermore, with the advent of the 30-minute and 60-minute TV show the planetary culture increasingly expects and demands instant results.  THE VOICE DOES NOT MATURE INSTANTLY – PERIOD!  Until and unless teens think sensibly and accept the path of “nature” and allow TIME and reliable instruction to help them DEVELOP their range (the high range is what everyone is so zealous to obtain), their forcing immediate results will actually DELAY their progress because of massive vocal-habit hurdles they will have to UNDO in the process of their normal maturity development.

This seems to be the current number one concern (demand) of teen boys.

Get a grip on life, gentlemen.  All the best things take time.

Jae (age 16) says:

Hello Dr. A, I’m doing now what you have told me to do: to explore my lower range. Now I’ve discovered that I can still sing down to the F of the bass. I never think that I’m a bass. But I still have problem in singing above the middle C, my larynx is still forcing to go up. Is this because I’m too young to sing the upper range of my voice?

Answer:
You GOT IT on the first guess. You are too young to be concerned about extending your range high or singing high notes. Over the next 5 years – especially if you are studying under the competent guidance of a reliable voice teacher, you can instill good singing habits, and observe the steady development of your voice regarding all these things. THERE ARE NO QUICK FIXES. As long as you insist on forcing your voice to produce high notes in the manner in which describe, you are reinforcing bad singing habits that will be very difficult to unlearn.

A word to the wise.

Dr. A.

One obvious cause for the high-larynx scenario is that singing has increasingly tended to abandon the principles that for centuries were cultivated and until the mid-twentieth century characterized most popular vocal music.  The popular tonal models are what teenagers come to admire.  James McKinney said categorically:

After working with hundreds of young adults for over 40 years, I am convinced that very few have any conception at all how their voices should sound or, for that matter, how any well-trained singer or speaker should sound.  If they have any model in mind, it usually is drawn from the pop or rock singers heard 24 hours a day on radio and television, many of whom are prime examples of what vocal abuse can do to the human voice. (1)

McKinney went on to declare that:

The typical young adult coming out of the teenage years has no basis for knowing how loud a well-produced voice seems to the person who is making that sound nor of the strength of the vibratory sensations that accompany what voice teachers refer to as ‘‘richness’’ of timbre and ‘‘depth’’ of tone.  Many young adults avoid developing good vocal technique because of the misconception that they will sound too loud or too artificial when making the kind of sound the teacher is advocating.  Such students must be exposed to good vocal models, either in performance or on recordings, until they have replaced their tonal misconceptions with a positive mental image of good vocal tone.(2)

Poor tonal models and their aesthetic influence comprise a primary influence on the plethora of young singers with the idiosyncrasy of the high larynx.

A second observable cause for the prevalence of the elevated larynx among incoming college singers is habitually poor posture, induced and reinforced in the use of electronic amplification.  This point is not unrelated to the one previously mentioned.  The typical posture by popular singing models is a horizontally hand-held microphone … or slightly at an angle as though draining a stein of beer, with chin and head raised.  Regrettably, many young adults in American churches who use a standing microphone to amplify their soft sultry sound still do not take advantage of the opportunity to stand with good posture, but are seen to crane the head forward, instead of standing closer to the microphone.  The resulting development of poor singing and postural habits is understandable in this scenario.

The development of the adolescent voice renders many teens insecure vocally and unable for a time to phonate efficiently.

There is a period when the interarytenoid muscles can not or do not close the back one-third of the glottis; this results in a gap between the vocal processes of the arytenoids cartilages—the cartilaginous portion of the glottis.  This opening is so prevalent in adolescent voices that it has become known as the mutational chink.  Despite this chink, progress can be made toward reducing the amount of breathiness present. (3)

William Vennard adds a warning to this observation in his text saying, “Young singers should not be driven to eliminate this breathiness impatiently.“(4) [italics Vennard’s]

Kendra Friar quotes the research of Lynn Gackle’s doctoral dissertation concerning girls.  She states:

. . . that girls pass through three identifiable stages of voice change divided according to speaking pitch, tessitura, quality of voice at different registers, and overall voice quality.  A first-stage girl has a light, childlike, flexible voice.  A second-stage girl is in the prepubescence/premenarcheal period, characterized by first signs of breathiness, or she is in the puberty/post-menarcheal period, or the peak of mutation, which is characterized by unpredictable changes in range and ease of singing.  A girl in the third and final stage, though not an adult, demonstrates a larger vocal range, consistency in changing registers, and a more adult vocal quality.  Gackle instructed directors to classify adolescent girls as either “light” sopranos or “rich” sopranos, since they do not yet possess the adult characteristics of sopranos or altos. (5)

One recent study at California State University identified boys has having five stages of vocal—mutational—development during the adolescent years.(6)   The material point is that the relative instability that many youth feel vocally renders them more apt to rely on electronic help so as to be heard.  Besides this, use of electronic amplification is also driven by popularity and pressure to conform to the peer structure.  It is “cool” for a young musician to possess his own amplification system.(7)

Another contribution for laryngeal instability among young singers is produced by their desire to emulate their popular vocal models and in a range that strains the voice.   Most popular male singers sing at a frequency in the range that is often the identical notes of their low-voiced female counterparts.  What females belt, males often strenuously strain and contort their features to reach.  Other popular singers, being fully mature, have very wide ranges.  These extensive spans are frequently exploited in the songs they perform.  In both cases, young voices are not developmentally able to sing the material.  Therefore, it is attempted under great tension.

One other cause shall be named: ignorance.  Within the existing lifespan of our college students, a large percentage of high schools across the country that used to cultivate the arts and music have stopped doing so.  High school bands, orchestras and choirs have dwindled in number.  The wide-ranging music instruction within many high schools that formerly had it has diminished.  Students who find teachers to instruct them on the foundations of music and singing do so more frequently on an individual basis now.  For this reason the Music Educators National Conference and the Music Teachers National Association exist to fulfill a vital role in the American culture.  What used to be taught in the schools as main subjects prior to the Great Depression is now being advocated for reintroduction to the schools by these organizations.(8)

What is it that must be taught to respond to the counter-productive stresses of the high larnynx?  What is it that produces the beneficial relaxation of the jaw, the expansion of the pharynx and stability to the larynx?  The answer is found in the “open throat.”(9)
_______________________
(1)  James McKinney, “The Three Ages of Voice: The Singing/Acting Young Adult from a Singing Instruction Perspective” Journal of Voice (11:2 June 1997), 153.
(2)  Ibid., 154.
(3)  McKinney, Diagnosis, 87.
(4)  William Vennard, Singing, the Mechanism and the Technic (New York: Carl Fischer, 1967), 63.
(5)  Kendra Kay Friar, “Changing Voices, Changing Times” Music Educators Journal (86:3, November 1999), 26-29.  Friar synthesizes Gackle’s article from the Choral Journal in this paragraph.
(6)  Ibid.
(7)  The popular thinking is, ‘the more decibels…the better.’  Such is the distortion [pun intended] in the thinking of many youth.
(8)  Michael L. Mark, “A History of Music Education Advocacy” Music Educators Journal (89:1, September 2002), 44.  Michael explains that “Advocacy is the way that we as music educators can explain to policy makers, as well as to the general public, the reasons why our profession is important and why we need their support to continue serving the needs of society. As advocates, we need to tell the nation that music education is vital and dynamic.”

(9)  To be sure, there is much more to be taught in conjunction with the concept of the open throat such as posture, respiration, breath support and control, phonation, articulation, expression and musicianship that applies to learning to sing.

Hi,
I am a bass singer, with quality notes from middle C to C1 (I think that’s what you call it) two octaves lower.  Additional notes are there and I can get to an A (below the double low C).  I am currently in NYCOS (National Youth Choir of Scotland) but there is no real way for them to train me as I am seen as almost a different singer type.  I love Southern Gospel Music and always strive to do the best within the range that I have.  I am very careful in not straining my voice.  Should I practice the notes which I find hardest to get (both high and low) or should I spend most of the time strengthening comfortable notes without going near ‘the edge of my voice?’

Answer: Colet, I’m delighted to hear from you.  Wow.  A real bass!!  I know you must be valuable to the NYCOS.  Congratulations!

Age 16 is a little early to begin private voice lessons, so I wouldn’t concern yourself about that yet.  I think, as you say, “spending most of the time strengthening comfortable notes” at this time in your life is wise.  But that doesn’t mean that you should avoid the highest and lowest parameters altogether.

Keep in mind, the lowest notes will not be there if you push (breath) … you need to sing those notes with the feeling of just letting them “roll out.”  On the other hand, as you get closer to middle C you need to apply MORE vertical space (let your jaw drop farther), MORE energy (breath pressure) and allow the “feeling” of your vowels to be more “inside” you.  Don’t be surprised by “big” sound; allow yourself to be comfortable with that.  If some of this seems foreign, cryptic or esoteric, don’t worry, as you study with a voice teacher (after beginning in a year or two) some of these things will become clearer.  Still, with regards to spending time at the “edges of your voice range” … do a little every day … but spend most of your time where you sing comfortably.  You (and your future teacher) will be glad later that you don’t have a lot of bad habits to undo when you begin studying voice (singing).

Southern Gospel (especially the male quartets) always requires a REAL BASS … so you should find that much of your singing in those quartets is very comfortable.

I wish I could hear you.  Best wishes.

Ruben: When I was 14 I was dubbed a “baritone.”  Since then I asked my friends if my speaking voice sounds “bright” or “dark”. They replied, “bright”. Then, I asked, “High” or “low”. All replies were “high”. Now, it’s not really high if I were to be compared to a natural tenor or a male alto, but lastly, I asked, “Do I sound more like a nerd or a football jock?” The responses I got were, “Nerd.” (I recently got glasses, haha. So I don’t know if that affected the answer). So with that said, my speaking voice tends have a “bright” tone to it. What can you assume will happen in the upcoming years and should I know anything else about the current status of my voice?

Dr. A.: Ruben, at 16 your voice truly is still in the early stages of its changes to manhood.  It is not unusual that your voice – along with almost all other adolescent boys’ voices – is lyric and without a great deal of richness yet.  That’s normal.  What you can assume in the next 5 years or so is that your vocal range will expand … just as it already has begun to do.  Neither I, nor you can predict which direction your voice is going to expand … and it could be in both directions, higher and lower.   What you need to be doing is singing in the range where singing is comfortable and does not present a great deal of difficulty.  This is likely going to be a relatively limited range – perhaps just an octave-and-a-half for a while.  Allow for this.  As you get older, your voice will continue to get stronger and your range expand.

By the way, I understood what you meant about “the voice of a football jock and nerd”, but I should tell you that such a perception is a stereotype that is as often not so in real life.  I often have to smile when I hear a burly football player or wrestler talk with a high-pitched “nerdy” sound.  Perhaps my response is due to the fact that, like you, I’ve unintentionally accepted the stereotype.

Ruben: When I entered the Senior Choir (SATB) in my church (which accepts all people 15+ years of age), I wanted to sing Tenor.  I was 14 and undergoing training at the time.  Being the newly introduced teen I was, I always had the impression that a Tenor was a male who had a powerful voice singing high notes.  So when I thought of ‘Power’ and ‘High’, I really emphasized those two characteristics when I ascended the scale. Unfortunately for me, the highest I could go during that time was a D above middle C. Upset I became, haha!   I had no choice but to sing Bass for my choir and it was more comfortable and less strenuous. The lowest I could go was A-flat below the C below Middle C. That is when I really try, via putting a lot of focus and effort, especially when being howled at by my Choir director the very words, “LOUDER, BASS!”

Still, I was determined. I worked practically everyday to increase my range.   2 Years later, here I am having trouble jumping from F3 below Mid-C, down to B-flat(2) or lower. My A(2) and A-flat(2) require more force than before, and tends to get airy. On top of that, it just sounds “Forced” now. But, over the course of those two years, my range has increased higher from that D(4) to a G4 when I just simply put my focus into it.

My friend and fellow bass, said, after I sang Tenor then Bass on the same songs (to compare which sounds better), said to me  “When you sang those notes below C(3), I couldn’t understand what you were saying.  It’s like you were mumbling.  It sounded as if you focused more on the sound of the low notes than the lyrics. You’re better off singing tenor, because that’s what sounds more pleasing to my ears. …And I can actually understand what you’re singing.”

This school year, I became part of Mens Choir at my school.  I started off singing in the Baritone section and climbed my way up to singing Tenor 1 most of the time now.   Since then, I’ve trained myself to be more well-attuned with Tenor and lost my “love” for bass.  Not bad for progressing within the last 6 months, eh?

Dr. A.: What you have described is not unusual.  Sometimes the initial change seems more drastic than later turns out.  You began thinking you were a baritone, but after 2 years you are realizing that your range has expanded upward and you are more comfortable singing the higher notes than the lower ones now.  Your voice is developing (slowly and normally).  Sing tenor in choir as long as you don’t have to strain to do so.

Ruben: So my question that goes with the info above is:

For my Church Choir, should I sing tenor or bass? I am still comfortable singing bass, until A’s and A flats get involved, but I do not want to destroy the ears of the listeners.  I also trained myself mentally to stay calm and relaxed when singing tenor, and not to ascend with too much power as I sing higher notes. So, what do you say?

Dr. A.: A true bass is comfortable singing a great deal lower than A-flat (a little over an octave below middle C).  If you find yourself making sound with difficulty down there, or your sound is increasingly fading … you’re definitely not bass.  Sing tenor … and I’d suggest that until singing up to A above middle C is VERY COMFORTABLE you stick with singing Tenor 2 – when the tenor parts split (the lower of the two tenor parts).  You’re still too young to place your voice in a position of aiming at the extremes of your range on a regular basis.  Allow yourself time … at least 2 more years when you begin studying voice seriously with a teacher.

Ruben: I’ve been told that a male’s voice is not well-matured enough until 25-30 years of age.  I am just curious to know if Maturity can do me justice before then.  Preferably before graduating high school.  If I could describe my singing voice, it sounds like I’m being delicate and soft.  Like, a little kid.  If I “powerhouse” or sing “opera-style,” I get a sound that does sound like it’s being “powered” up by confidence and with quality, but it just sounds similar as to what it is when I’m not “opera-styling” it. Quality has changed, but the sound sounds the same?

Dr. A.: Actually, Ruben, a man’s voice doesn’t reach full maturity until he’s in his mid-30′s.  However, long prior to that time a young man can develop and establish all the right habits for singing well … so that his voice continues to develop to its potential as he matures and continues to sing.  Regarding your description of your voice sounding “the same but with more confidence” – what you describe is simply that your voice now, at 16, produces a fairly light lyric sound.  That IS the quality of your voice at present, and that’s normal.  What is important at this stage in your life is that you begin the process of forming good habits in singing … then your voice will take care of itself.

Ruben: Will Maturity make my voice change and sound more masculine than child-like over the next few years? And will it, perhaps, before next school year starts?

Dr. A.: You need to realize that the “maturity” you speak of is not attained in one year … but is an ongoing process … and one which you will not likely be entirely secure in until you are about 21 (college graduation).  At that point, yes, the maturity those years bring to your voice will find you sounding more “masculine”.  But, don’t expect it, or try and force it “before next school year starts”!!

Ruben: With all that I’ve said above, could you tell me if my range will be extended in the higher end or the lower end in these next couple of years?

Dr. A.: Ruben, I think I’ve probably intimated that what happens to your range in the long run cannot be predicted now.  However, I also think that it is safe to say, (based on your description of the change that has happened over the last two years), that you should no longer think of yourself as a bass.  Currently your range resembles that of a “lyric baritone” who, in a choral situation, would normally be singing second tenor (that is: the lower of two tenor parts when the tenor parts split).  Listen to your body.  Where in your range do you find singing more easy, comfortable and resonant?  Wherever that is, that’s where you should be spending your time singing without a lot of stress at either end, low or high at age 16.

Ruben: And one more if you don’t mind! Does the physical make-up of one’s body play a role in defining everything about that individual’s voice? Such as, Height, weight, neck thickness, Pectorals, larynx size?

Dr. A.: There do happen to be some stereotypes.  But you need to remember that that’s what they are … they are generalizations that are not necessarily true in life.  Tenors tend to be men with somewhat thick short necks, wide facial features, often barrel-chested, and frequently not tall.  (Remember, this is a generalization that is not necessarily true in every case! Just look at tenors Stephen Costello and David Hobson!)  Basses tend to be men with a somewhat long neck, protruding Adam’s apple (Larynx), more angular facial features, longer in the body features, and tall.  (Again, remember that is is an over-generalization … there are always exceptions to this, so don’t pin too much weight on these features.)

Ruben: Thanks so much! And sorry for the trouble all these questions may bring. I’m just curious is all. I don’t have professional guidance and I am self-teaching and guiding myself all about singing ever since after 2 months into my 14th birthday.

Dr. A. I’m glad you felt free to ask questions Ruben.  Let me recommend that you form a list of good male singers – tenors and lyric baritones especially – to whom you listen on a regular basis.  In this way you can form a good “model” of male sound: Stephen Costello, Andrea Boccelli, David Hobson, Taylor Staton, … even Josh Groben.

Hi, I’m 16.
I’ve got a ‘low voice’ with a range from a C two octaves below middle C to a D just above middle C. I find that my voice keeps shifting up and down a few tones, regardless of the time of day. For example I can sometimes hit a B-flat (two octaves below middle C and not reach middle C). What should I do to keep my notes and improve the quality of singing.

Answer: Colet, thanks for the question.  First I must say is that you’re perfectly normal!

You’re 16, and voices, male voices especially, tend to be unstable both in range and quality.  While your range suggests that you are a bass now, the next 5 years is going to include a marked development in which range and tone color (quality) will mature and possibly even change (range).

What you need to concentrate on now until you start studying voice seriously (possibly in your 18th year), is to sing clearly and easily in the part of your range in which you are most comfortable, rather than concentrating on the low and high “barriers.”  Besides singing bass in choirs, participate in some dramatic events in which you are called upon to speak clearly (without yelling) and cultivate your expressive abilities.  It’s natural to be concerned about an unstable range and quality.  But, take it from me … don’t be.  This phase of vocal maturity (or immaturity) will pass and become more secure.  Enjoy being one of the few in your school who can reach those low notes in the bass section of your choir!

Best wishes.