having trouble not sounding nasal

T

theuniversalist

New member
hey guys I'm new on here so I'm expecting the usual slapping and everything but lately I've had complete loss of my falsetto voice and alot of trouble coughing when I'm singing. Also when I do sing my voice always sounds very nasal. Am i doing sumthing wrong here? or am I just not cut out to be a singer?
 
You are tensing up, that is why you are coughing.

The nasal sound is because you are not allowing air into your nose and sinuses. This is because you are flexing your soft pallet and blocking air from getting up there.

A common problem a lot of people have is they confuse the emotion that they are trying to communicate while singing with a posture that doesn't allow them to sing that way. Like tensing up for the really dramatic part of a song, it's the opposite of what you need to do to hit that note.

You should go to a vocal coach to learn proper technique before these bad habits become very hard to break. The best singers are the ones that have connected the sound or emotion that they are trying to achieve with the posture and technique that actually gives off that sound. That is what you need to do in order to be a good singer.
 
If you're coughing i'm wondering if falsetto may be too far out of your range? You should sing where it feels comfortable and natural.
 
Singing is not supposed to hurt, make you cough, give you a headache, give you a head-rush, etc... If it does, you are doing it wrong. It's also one of those things that is hard to figure out on your own.
 
I have been able to sing falsetto perfectly fine and better than any of my friends even up until a couple of weeks ago. I'm 16 and pretty much went through puberty when I was 14. I had a cough/cold a couple of weeks ago and it pretty much cleared up but I'm still coughing especially when I sing.
 
Nope. But you might try looking up vocal healing and see if you can find any exercises or techniques to help it along.
 
Right around the time this century began, I had a stonker of a cold and it took me weeks to shake it. But it left me with a throat to die because of and singing was really difficult. In fact, a verse into a song and I was struggling and in the end, the burden had to pass to the other singers. I just couldn't do it. Opening my mouth to sing became painful. I didn't sing for about a month or so and the rest was the best thing.
It didn't stop me talking though !
 
Tricks for fighting nasal sing

I had a chorus director who had us plug our noses and sing, while attempting to NOT sound nasal. You don't need your nose, if you utilize your diaphragm and move your 'voice' from your head to your throat and PRACTICE singing with your nose plugged until you DON'T sound nasal, you WON'T sound NASAL.

The point is, if you don't want to sound nasal, don't sing through your nose.

As for itchy scratchy voice, once again, a product of singing through your nose, actually pushing too hard through your throat. Project using that diaphragm and some good breathing techniques. Save your vocal cords and use your core.

Best of luck to you. Most of all...KEEP REHEARSING! You WILL improve.
 
cool...still having a little bit of trouble figuring out how to move my 'voice' around. any online articles or messages would be very appreciated...
 
mshea said:
if you utilize your diaphragm and move your 'voice' from your head to your throat
Click to expand...

Perhaps I've misunderstood your comments somehow, but this recommendation couldn't be further from proper singing technique! Proper placement of voice is in the palate, and using the sinus cavities for resonance. Trying to shift your vocalizations to your throat will result in a guttural sound, throat tension, fatigue, and ultimately vocal damage.

I'm a classically-trained baritone, with nearly 40 years experience. I've never heard of plugging one's nose as a vocal exercise.

Without being able to see and hear the OP, my guess is that proper jaw and mouth position would go far in eliminating the nasal sound. The correct position of the mouth should be in a vertically-positioned "O" (for the most part...of course this isn't always possible depending upon the vowels and consonants). A nasally sound can almost always be attributed to a horizontally-spread mouth.

Sometimes practicing with your hands on your cheeks to press the jaw open and correcting the mouth position will help until you can do it naturally. Use a mirror.

Also, remember that you can't really "hear" your own voice, and what might not sound right to you sounds right to everyone else. As singers, this is our "curse". We hear ourselves mostly through the bones in our head, not through our ears.

Hope this helps.

-Bruce
 
okay...thanks for the advice guys. I've taken to warming up about twice as long as normal and just keeping it in the mid range as far as singing goes. Not going very high or low.
 
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