How To Sing High Notes With Ease
If you’re struggling to sing those elusive high notes and your voice gets easily tired trying, you’re in good company! Lack of control on the top range, coupled with an incorrect breathing technique, is one of the most common issues faced by singers at beginner and intermediate level.
Perfecting your technique requires time and commitment. However, if you’re experiencing this kind of problems, there are a few quick fixes that will have an immediate positive impact on your singing. Here are my Top 5 tips:
How To Sing High Notes - Tip #1. Is my body ready?
As a first thing, you should make sure that your body is actually ready to sing. Spend a few minutes taking care of your body before you start practising or performing. Jog on the spot and do a few stretches to make sure your neck, shoulders and back are all relaxed. This will help you release some tension from your body, improve your posture and, as a result, will make easier for you to access the top of your range.
How To Sing High Notes - Tip #2. Has my voice been warmed up properly?
As obvious as this may sound, too many singers skip the vocal warm-up and jump straight to the singing section of their routine. Now, singing at the top of its range is for a singer the equivalent of reaching its top speed for a sprinter. Sprinters wouldn’t attempt to reach their limit without warming up their muscles. And neither you should try and sing at the top of your range without warming up your voice. What you risk is early vocal fatigue, reduced stamina and more serious vocal health problems down the line.
How To Sing High Notes - Tip #3. Is my breathing technique good enough?
Being able to breathe correctly using your diaphragm will allow you to increase the control over your voice. Ultimately it'll prevent the voice from moving up to your throat and give you that feeling of tension when you hit the high notes. Based on my experience as a singer and vocal coach, a good breathing technique really is the foundation for anything else you do with your voice.
How To Sing High Notes - Tip #4. Learn how to stabilise your larynx
As you’ve probably noticed, every time you push with the muscles of your neck to reach those high notes, it’s very likely that your larynx moves up. This makes more difficult for you to control your voice and for your breath to flow without restrictions. Needless to say, being able to stabilise your larynx is going to make the difference between a voice that sounds and is strained, and another that’s nice, open and relaxed. How do you do that? You can easily control the movement of your larynx by lifting your soft palate, the same way you do when you yawn.
If you’re wondering what your soft palate is, that’s the soft tissue making the back of the roof of your mouth. If you try and induce a yawn and keep your larynx between two fingers you’ll feel it drop. The same process will help you keep your larynx in a stable position while singing, which will prevent your voice from getting strained.
A more advanced technique would require you to master the transition from the modal register to your falsetto and the use of your mixed voice. Just in case you’re wondering, the modal register is the register you normally use to talk and sing. However, this is a quite broad subject itself. If interested you can read more about it on my other blog "How To Identify Vocal Registers".
There are many techniques that can help you increase your control over your top vocal range. Among them scales, arpeggios and sirens. Just look around for a reputable vocal coach who can guide you through the process. However, if you implement correctly the advice offered in this blog, you should be able to see a noticeable improvement already.
How To Sing High Notes - Tip #5. Listen to your voice and body
Finally make sure you always listen to your voice and body while singing at the top of your range. If your voice is getting thinner and the quality of the tone changes dramatically or you feel that your singing becomes uncomfortable as the pitch goes up, it’s probably worth stopping and re-focusing on the elements that can help you keep your voice open and relaxed.
Hope you have fun implementing my tips and that will find them useful. Also, feel free to share this post with your friends and leave a comment below!
