How To Sing Higher Without Straining

So what exactly is vocal strain?

When I talk about "straining" the voice what I am describing is an unwanted tension or tightness that appears in the vocal cords & larynx, the throat, the neck, the face and the stomach. When strain appears in the voice it can hurt your throat, vocal cords and body. It can make your voice tired leaving you unable to sing well for the rest of the day and it can also limit your ability to express your tone in multiple ways.

When trying to solve the issue of strain in the neck, face and stomach it will require various different bodily exercises and retraining of the voice. What we will be focusing on in this article and video lesson is the very common issues of strain which appears in the vocal cords and throat when trying to sing high notes.

In order to sound the best that you can when singing in the high range it is important that you work on solving both the strain in the throat AND vocal cords (tension in the larynx). So follow along and make sure you do the breathing exercises & strain-reducing vocal exercises I share in the video lesson above.

Step 1. Solving vocal strain which appears in the throat

The first step to singing without producing strain in the throat is learning to take the breath correctly for the voice and learning how to support your vocal sound deeper in the body. When supporting the voice correctly there will still be pressure in the body when you sing, but instead of the voice becoming strained in the throat, the pressure will be dispersed in a more efficient way in the stomach, in the muscles along the rib cage and in the back. The issue that is arising is that all of the pressure which you need to produce your voice is being sent to the throat and making strain appear in your voice.

In order to learn how to take the breath properly to avoid strain in the throat I recommend you to watch the video lesson above (and my dedicated breathing video) as this really is the foundation for solving issues with vocal tension.

Here's a quick overview for taking the breath correctly -

1. Place your hands on the sides of your stomach
2. Open your mouth tall and keep it open
3. Take a deep and SILENT breath
4. Allow your lower belly to expand as you inhale
5. Exhale and repeat these steps

Step 2. Solving vocal strain which appears in the vocal cords

In order to stop straining when singing higher notes you will not only need to be able to control your breath but you will also have to learn how to sing without your larynx (adam's apple) becoming overly raised and tight. Your vocal cords are actually inside the larynx and depending on whether your larynx is either free or tight your singing voice will either be very free or strained.

I have examples of incorrect high larynx sounds in the video lesson which is important for you to listen to in order to gain an understanding of what tight and strained singing sounds like. There is also a possibility of you singing with a larynx that is too low and this can also cause strain in the voice. What we are aiming for when trying to sing high notes without strain is a voice where the larynx moves freely (and can slightly raise or lower slightly) without becoming overly tight and stuck in either a very high larynx position or an overly low larynx position. Some vocal coaches call this singing with a neutral larynx.

The method we are going to use to stop the larynx from becoming overly tight is singing scales which become deeper as we sing into the high range. We are going to "modify the vowel" in order to turn a bright AH sound into an OH sound. Again, I invite you to follow along with the video lesson as I have provided an in-depth explanation for these exercises for both the male & female voice.

Just like the breath above, here's a guideline on how to sing using "vowel modifications" in order to solve issues of vocal strain appearing.

How to sing deeper into the scale using a vowel modification -

1. Take the breath as instructed above
2. Choose a starting pitch or follow along to my exercises (in the video lesson)
3. Sing a bright AH sound on a 4 Tone Scale (1 - 3 - 5 - 8 Scale)
4. On the 4th note of the scale change the the AH sound to an OH sound
   (The AH sounds are like the words "FAR" and "CAR" and the OH sounds are like the words "FOR" and "MORE".
5. Try singing this higher and higher into your range
6. In the very high range the scale the 4 Tone Scale will become progressively deeper as the OH turns into an UH sound like the word "BOOK"

I recommend you to follow along to my video lesson in order to understand this concept fully and develop your voice with the exercises I will have guided you through.

Conclusion

Without learning to sing without introducing strain into your voice you will never be able to sing into the high range freely. It is essential to learn how to take the breath correctly as this is the foundation of controlling where the pressure in your body appears when singing. In order to learn to sing without the larynx and vocal cords becoming overly tight and strained it is essential you learn how to sing in such a way where the tone is able to darken into the high range. Using vowel modification exercises in order to train the larynx to become more free and less tight will allow you to sing into your high range without having to worry about introducing tension.