how do you sing high notes properly?

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fuzzychoir

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i'm a girl, and i used to be able to go quite high, around high high c. my low notes were very bad cuz i juz couldnt project them. but now, i'm starting to use my diaphragm for the lower notes so i can project them louder, but now my higher notes are terrible!! sing juz high f and ouch. i don't know why, but i always feel like i'm forcing the notes out and my throat hurts after singing the high notes. i know we're supposed to use the head voice, but how do you do that? i don't feel any vibrations anywhere at all. i've tried projecting high notes outwards, inwards, different points of the throat, but nothing seems to work. i would rly appreciate anybody's help.
 
from your other post it sounds like you're young. truth is, you're voice is probably just changing. people think it just happens to guys, but girls' voices can become lower as well...it's just not as noticeable as the voice crack that guys go through. you're probably just becoming an alto and you'll have to live with it. alto's are important too! :p
but I suggest if you want to work on your vocal technique, get a vocal coach. they'll help you with exercises that you can do to help open up your vocal chords more. plus they'll help you learn music theory and work on rhythm too which I believe is extremely important for a vocalist to learn....a lot of choir directors in schools just aren't teaching it anymore.
good luck.
 
Hey fuzzy. Your profile doesn't mention your age... Is it a sign of your voice changing??


I have no idea how to discribe Head voice but if your choir master can't advise you then consider a private tutor or at least hunting for tutorials online.


I'll have a look out and post anything that I find for you.
 
Sorry Benny I think I didn't mean to tred on your toes... must have been writting the reply at the same time...


... BTW good advise!
 
wow. maybe i am an alto. but i seriously can't imagine it. haha. cuz actually i've always been a soprano ever since i joined choir when i was 11 (i'm 13 anw), and bcuz i didn't sing with my diaphragm as our pri sch choir was rly lousy, i could easily reach up to high high c. in the start of the yr i even reached up to high high f before!, but of course that was like screaming. :rolleyes: now i realise that when i change frm middle voice to head voice, i kinda lose track of my diaphragm. i don't see any difference when i use it to control my breath for the high notes though, for some weird reason.

as for my low notes, sometimes i get lost when i sing in the choir too, as being a beginner, i can't even hear myself so i dont know if i'm singing correctly. but sometimes i feel like there's a lot of pressure and i need to like gasp for air. does that mean that i'm allowing too little air through? but when i try to let more air through then i sound airy. groanzzzz/ :(

anw, thanks so much for the advice though. rly appreciate it. :)
 
That sounds like classic symptoms of your voice growing up... sorry. With a great vocal coach it is possible, in most cases, to add more to the top of your range, but I think this is something that you'll need to live with. If you can't get the note without it turning to whisps of air... it's out of your range.

But your voice maturing is a great thing. You'll have a more developed charactor to your voice. If you're really struggling with those notes and your throat continues to play up, speak to your choir master about possibly changing harmonies. Singing is to be enjoyed not endured! :)
 
What you're missing is breath control...if your tone is not supported by a strong volume of air from your diaphragm, then you try to make up for it by trying to push the sound harder through your vocal cords, giving you a sore throat.
It's really important to start with good warm up exercises, so your vocal cords are relaxed. Also, once you hit the break between your head and chest voices, try to focus the tone somewhere between your eyes instead of in your throat. Doing scales to "Me May Mah Moe Moo" is great exercise for really feeling the vibration up around the "third eye" area - keep your jaw slightly open with your lips together for the MMMM part.
Most importantly, if it hurts - stop and think about your breathing- You're probably out of air, and trying to push.
 
welcome to the world of puberty
i've known many girls that have begun as sopranos and turned altos by the end of high school. heck, i've known GUYS that have started as sopranos and ended up a tenor/bari!! the wonders of the human body.

if you're having trouble hearing yourself when singing with the whole choir, you can put your finger in your ear (or press it against that outer part of your ear so it closes it off). this way you'll hear the resonance inside your head better. I remember back when I was in choir, the choir director made PVC tubes into a U shape so we could put one end up to our mouth and the other end up to our ear. I'm sure I looked stupid but it helped hear myself.
 
Everyone seems to have given really good advice. Voices DO change, I have one friend that went from soprano to bass in a week.

If Tim Brown views this thread he'll probably pimp Set Your Voice Free by Roger Love. I've been reading the book and doing its exercises with rather good results. You might wanna check it out.
 
lol. the tubes things are very cute! :) i'll check out the book too. thanks.

mm... now i don't know if i can reach the high notes! because if i just like "test" it i can reach around high a, but singing with the diaphragm i can't sing it without straining my throat. or is it because of my breath control? now i 'm pretty confused. is it bcuz of my breath control or because it's out of my range? but the sec 4s in alto2 can even reach and sustain high b since all of them have so much support! hmmm...

i never knew girls changed the voices too! wow. incredible. but now the thing is i don't exactly have proof or certainty that i've "transformed" into an alto, so i don't think i should speak to my seniors about it yet. hmm... hee.. i'm too shy to do it anw..

breath support is such a tricky thing!!! does the amount of air that a good singer lets through remain the same for every vowel/ every pitch? sigh. i really need to know more about breath support.
 
fuzzychoir said:
i never knew girls changed the voices too! wow. incredible. but now the thing is i don't exactly have proof or certainty that i've "transformed" into an alto, so i don't think i should speak to my seniors about it yet. hmm... hee.. i'm too shy to do it anw..

you really need to speak to your choir director. he/she can probably best advise you and might consider it beneficial in reassigning you to a new section. the "proof" you need is in the inability to reach the high notes. sit down with a piano one day and go through the scale to figure out which notes you're able to sing....write them down. when you go to your teacher tell him/her what your range was and they will be able to place you accordingly. that's really the only proof you'll need. believe me, I'm sure a lot of the other girls are going through this too....guys too.
:) :cool:
 
actually, i can reach the high notes, just that after singing them my throat will ache badly.. i guess it's because of breath control... argh...
 
Diaphragm?

...singing with the diaphragm...

I've read many of these without understanding what exactly it means and I'd like to learn this technique. Can somebody explain?

Thank you in advance.
 
First I want to say my singing career started in 4th grade, I was the only boy that could sing alto and did, it was embarrasing to be the guy that could sing like a girl. By middle school I was a tenor, still with a very high voice but was much more powerful than before. By the time I graduated high school I was a baritone with almost no ability to sing the higher tenor stuff I did just a few years before. Comparing yourself at 11 to 13 isn't the way to look at it you may not know your voice until your 16-18 and even then it'll change as you get older. You said you can get those low notes out good but not the highs. Part of this is due to the fact you can project much more cleanly and clearly when you aren't using your "head voice". A lot of singing power comes from your gut so you'd probably want to try to expand your range from that area and less from your head. Supercharge singing from the diaphram is like flexing your abs when you sing. Its really hard for me to explain since I'm not a vocal teacher but when you sing its almost like using your stomach to push out the vocals and make them louder. Like I said sorry for the bad explanation.
 
"...listen to that. Am I playing sharp? My vocal teacher taught me that. She said as vocalists grow older they get flatter. So if you sing sharp now, you'll be in tune when you're older."
-Charles Mingus

:D :cool:
 
haha you guys are so cute! :p :o
when i sing low notes i'm really using my chest voice, so it sounds so much like a guy than a girl... and that sounds pretty funny too. :cool: lol that face is cute ;)
 
yea, if your voice gets lower.. just go along with it. Probably before you couldnt sing as low as now... If you start abusing your voice you might even end up in a medical institution... I knew somebody who totally overworked his voice and ended up needing a surgery.. and now cant ding at all anymore. sux
 
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