Learn how to sing high notes EASILY

Posted on 26. Oct, 2010 by cerwin in Singing Voice: Tips and Techniques

Singing Higher

Having worked hard to expand the range of notes you can sing, you might find yourself unable to maintain them. Alternatively, if you sing a piece with lots of HIGHER notes (rather than just achieve one and then come back down again), your voice might become very fatigued. This post will quickly help you learn how to sing higher notes.

(Here’s how to EASILY add 8 notes on TOP of your range)

The problem in both situations isn’t one of range but of the tessitura. This is the range you find comfortable, within which you can sing notes consistently, with the right pitch and thankfully without undue strain. The same term may also be employed to depict the average pitch range for a choral part or song.

Many mezzo sopranos, by way of example, can be found who are capable of singing a periodic high C at their range’s edge. Their tessitura, however, is generally an octave beneath that one; maybe from the A above middle C to the second A above middle C. Should they try to sing something with the tessitura from high G to high C, they will suffer voice strain and fatigue.

It is critical to learn how to sing properly. Remember to know the extent of your tessitura, in order that you can confine yourself to songs in that range. While you could sing notes beyond your tessitura, this risks voice strain.

So, can you expand your tessitura? The answer is yes, however some work will be required. Key is breathing support, in combination with adequate upper resonance. If you try to sing higher notes with inadequate breath support, it will give you a good vocal strain results. In the fullness of time, this could result in lasting damage.

Higher notes require more energy than lower notes. You have to make use of all your breathing muscles – the spinals, intercostals, abdominals, and diaphragm – and expand you midsection as fully as possible with each inward breath. While exhaling, make sure everything is enlarged except for the abdominals, which control the breathing rate.

Once you can breathe properly, you should pay attention to your upper resonance, poetically called the “head voice”. Imagine that the tone is vertical and not horizontal, and envision the sound emerging from your forehead and the peak of your head. Imagine it is an upward elevator ride, and your breath is the mechanism driving the elevator.

You should take things to the point where you can feel vibration in your mouth’s ceiling (i.e. the soft palate) and your sinuses. Your mouth must maintain a horizontally narrow position while being vertically tall within. There is one particular voice teacher who tells students to envision attempting to swallow some unpalatable thing, not enlarging the throat sufficiently for the thing to come into contact with the sides.

You should keep a light tone and try not to exert excessive pressure.

Commence with a yawn slide or vocal siren.

- To perform a yawn slide, inhale before opening your mouth as if you were yawning, then breathe out on “hee” or “hoo”, beginning at the upper extent of your range and descending quickly all the way to the bottom. Make an effort to begin each succeeding one at a slightly higher range.

- The vocal siren follows similar lines, except in that it begins at your range’s nadir and ascends. Do it while humming. When your breathing support strengthens, perform the siren up and down a few times with one breath.

- One more very useful exercise is to rapidly ascend and descend a five-tone scale. Begin at what is for you mid-range and then use either a vowel sound like “ah” or “oo” or the buzz (known also as lip roll or bubble lips). The pattern you want to do is do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do. Commence the second pattern half a step over the initial one and carry on in that fashion. Make sure you employ good breathing support.

These are just some basic vocal exercises you can use to extend your tessitura.  If you are serious about improving your high note range, there’s a fantastic guide that will show you a few pro level techniques on how to EASILY add 8 notes on top of your range.

With an investment of effort and time, and the right singing techniques you can extend your vocal range, enabling you to sing higher pitched notes with greater comfort and ease. All you have to do is be realistic, patient and persistent and you will ultimately learn how to sing high notes easily.

How to sing better?  The key to a great sounding tone is learning to relax your laryxn