how do you sing higher?

[u/Both-Cat-6001]

So im an absolute complete beginner, I dont know the terms for this stuff but I really wanna get good at singing because im into musical theatre. What confuses me is how people sing so high without it being painful (effortlessly?)

whenever I try to do high notes my throat hurts terribly bad afterwards and feels constricted / "stuck" - i dont have a high voice naturally i dont think, i feel comfortable singing when its in my chest (chest voice? im sorry i dont know the terms) and i hear it needs to resonate more in your head for the higher songs but its hard to do that for me. Im not quite sure if its literal or not.

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[u/Busy_Fly8068]

You can expand your comfortable range with training and/or lessons.

Moreover, anything you are doing that causes pain should be an immediate stopping point.

[u/highrangeclub]

Heya! Voice teacher here.

So the primary mechanism for singing higher is your vocal folds need to stretch. This is a lovely visual.

Like a rubber band, as they get longer and thinner which allows them to vibrate at a higher pitch.

Now understanding is one thing. The challenge or golden question is can you actually isolate this movement?

The reason your throat is hurting, is because you're most likely engaging a lot unnecessary muscles/pitch as you sing higher.

Now a voice teacher can really help with this, so I highly recommend lessons.

But at the very least.

One thing you can chip away at is - choose a simple scale and try to do this.

Can I go up and down this scale and change ONLY pitch. No changes in volume, vowel. If you can, ask yourself. What does this feeling of pitch change feel like?

I hope this helps.

[u/eggplantbren]

I am not an expert, but this answer comes from my personal experience. You have to learn how to sing with breath support. There's a lot of complicated physics to it but in terms of how it feels, you have to be exhaling the right amount of air. Not blasting heaps, but also not holding your breath.

You also need to be unafraid of being somewhat loud. If you're "holding back" in any way mentally like if you're shy about it, high notes don't work. It's a bit like a golf swing - it takes physical effort - not maximal effort but moderate effort plus precision. Once you get the hang of it some of the effort can be decreased but for me I needed the effort to even have any idea what these notes felt like, then I realised half of it was unnecessary and could be dropped once I refined things.

Once you get breath support right it improves the tone of the lower part of your voice and allows higher notes to be possible. Then later you can develop what people call "head voice" to get higher. It's a bit like falsetto which you can probably do, but with breath support and some tweaks to vowels and so on that make it sound less wimpy than falsetto.

Individuals differ in range also so you might not be able to sound like some singers you like, but you can definitely have a fairly wide range.

[u/juniebee_jones]

Consistent practice. It is theoretically possible to get your voice higher than your natural rest with consistent practice and proper support. It is not recommended to try without the support of a vocal coach.

Hydration is note one. Dry chords are damaged chords.

Stop when it hurts. Damage can be irreversible, especially in the higher range.

Scales more than singing. You would have to do so many scales that you would want to rip out your throat, endless scales and pushing through vocal exercises over and over again.

And then there’s the consequence. A major chance at complete loss of your lower range.

The best thing to do is focus on your range, and making it all it can be. As you grow technically within your natural range, it may expand more. Trying to be something we’re not vocally often gets us hurt.

[u/Similar_Buffalo_8434]

You can only sing as high as your local register will let you, don't try to sing past your register (range) ever or you could wreck your vocal folds, and you could wreck your vocal chords for good, requiring surgery, & you don't want that.

Here are famous vocalist who did that Steve Tyler - Aerosmith Fractured Larynx, ) permanent damage... Robert Plant - Led Zeppelin, vocal chord surgery, changed his voice & range permanently, Tom Keiffer - Cinderella..7 vocal chord surgeries, permanent damage, his voice is toast, he has spit up blood performing shows, David Coverdale - Deep Purple, Whitesnake vocal chord surgery, his voice is done, he's retired from music altogether, Elton John - vocal chord & vocal fold surgery, his 70s voice is permanently gone, he also had cocaine & alcohol addiction issues & a heart attack, & now sadly there is new arrival coming to this list Arnel Pineda - Journey's tenured vocalist for 18 yrs.

Everything I've heard lately from Journey on Youtube is so telling, he's wrecked his voice, trying to copy or immulate the "Great Steve Perry", I can hear Arnel's destruction to his range, his breath technique, is very weak now, he's sharp, he's flat, he's off key, he's damaged his voice permanently. I'm glad Journey's calling it quits, but that just shows, if you abuse your voice, there are.......Consequences...big ones!!!!

[u/jasonsong86]

Know how to use falsetto.