Hitting high notes…
The question is how high? Are we talking E4 – G4 below the break in the voice… or are we talking A4 – D5 above the break? (most men sing these very high notes above the break in falsetto and sound pretty girly.)
Chest (full) voice upper range:
If you are talking the -lower- high notes like e4, f4, g4 then the trick is to not push the voice beyond what it can naturally do with comfort. The lower part of the voice has a very real limit and pushing beyond that will lead to vocal ruin. Is your body locked up and rigid? Is your tongue stiff? Has your larynx risen in your throat (Swallow with your finger feeling your Adams apple.. notice it rises… when you sing it should NOT Rise like this!) All these are signs that either you are singing beyond the range of your voice or your technique needs to be improved.
Most baritones find d – e to be the break point in the voice where their lower voice becomes difficult to the point that it would be abuse to go higher without switching to a falsetto sound, most tenors find this point to be e – g. It would be possible to go higher for both voice types in the lower register (full voice)… but it would not be easy, healthy or particularly pleasant to listen too .
For notes over this break (falsetto and head voice):
Most men can sing very high notes like F4 – D5 or higher in falsetto. Falsetto is an unsupported breathy weak tone that is not very healthy to sing. It does however help strengthen the higher part of the voice that is usually called the head voice (or upper register.) A baritone with a fully trained upper register that is properly blended to his lower register can sing in full voice up to A4 – Bflat4. A tenor can usually go to the high C5 or even higher.
How do you train the head voice?
You start by training the lower falsetto. Sing a descending one octave scale on a ‘u’ (ooohh sound) starting at high a4 or b4 for baritones and c5 or c#5 for tenors. Keep the falsetto feeling all the way down the scale, focusing on keeping the lowest notes solid (not necessarily loud though.) Your voice may flip from falsetto to your lower register, which is OK but try to stay in falsetto for as long as possible, and when you do switch keep the same light and easy feeling as in falsetto. The trick is again to extend and strengthen the lower falsetto and to keep a consistency of tone. Once you have finished the scale, do it again but a half step lower. Practice this for 10 mins or so a day.
When you pronounce the high ‘ooohh’ in the above exercize (or anytime, in fact) the tip of the tongue should be below the lower teeth and it should be arched high so that the middle of the tongue rests just in front of the soft palate (like the position the tong takes when you say the n in ‘ng’ as in ring.) the lips should be pretty closed and rounded. The jaw should be about a finger width open or slightly more and pretty loose and free. The back of the tongue should be relaxed and wide. The larynx (Adams apple) should be in a neutral position, as it is when you’re not talking or singing. You will need to open the throat to get a good, pure ‘ooohhh’ sound, and that’s a good thing.
What this does is it builds the falsetto into a reinforced, supported falsetto and extends the upper part of your voice down so that there is a ½ to ¾ octave part of the voice that you can sing in either reinforced falsetto or full voice (lower / chest register). The next step would be blending the 2 parts of the voice by starting a tone in the overlap range in falsetto and building it into full voice. And eventually you will be able to start a tone in falsetto ABOVE the break point in the voice (like a4 and b4) and grow that into a full tone in the true upper register (head voice). But most of this is advanced singing topics… and really should not be attempted without a really good teacher. It’s like finding a guideline to building a nuclear bomb… and actually doing it. You’re going to want someone who knows what the hell he is doing when you do it.
If I remember and feel up to it I'll make an MP3 of me doing this exercise when I get home.
Hope this helps you.
- Gunther