Name: Ep.20: Sing High Notes: Why You Strain - part 1
Uploaded: 2016-10-23T12:44:04.000Z
Duration: 7 min 35 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

When you sing high notes, does it feel like you have to strain as you sing higher? A primary

cause of this is the vocal cords are not making the right adjustment. But, you can control

the vocal cords so you can sing high notes without straining or disconnecting. Watch

and see how. Hi, I'm Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. When you sing high notes and feel

a lot of strain, your vocal type is likely pulled chest-high larynx. There's several

reasons why it feels like a lot of strain. In this episode, I'm going to talk about the

role of the vocal cords. Why do you feel strain when you sing high notes? When you sing low

notes, the vocal cords are short and thick. As you sing higher, the vocal cords try to

stretch and thin to reduce the overall mass or weight. This will help you sing into your

head voice. As you sing higher, there is a handoff that is supposed to occur from one

portion of the vocal cord structure to another. If your vocal cords keep too much mass or

weight, this transition will not be able to occur. If we keep going higher, eventually

we will break into falsetto. (demo) Sometimes, we hold on so tight that it sounds yelled

and splatty. To keep going higher, you sing louder. This causes the vocal cords to tighten

even more as they resist the air from your lungs. This is classic pulled chest voice.

It's more obvious as you sing high notes louder and higher. Essentially, you are bringing

your lower chest voice, with thicker vocal cords, higher and higher into the area of

the voice that should be head voice. Singers who do this regularly develop vocal problems,

including hoarseness, hemorrhages or vocal nodules. If you don't learn to sing correctly,

this kind of singing can result in surgery and/or loss of a singing career. In the Knowledge

Center, go to pulled chest-high larynx and watch the video mashup of several singers

pulling chest. Several of these professionals have had surgery on their vocal cords because

of this vocal abuse. These are examples of how not to sing - exactly because they lead

to these vocal problems. How to thin the vocal cords as you sing high notes. Reduce the volume,

especially as you sing higher. Bringing down the loudness will immediately help reduce

the mass so the vocal cords maintain the vowel. Don't let it go wider as you sing higher.

A simple demonstration would be singing 'a'. As I sing higher, if I let it go wider, it

thickens the vocal cords. (demo) Can you hear how the vowel is widening, getting broader?

And you can hear that thickening result on the vocal cords itself. In a moment, I'll

show you a contrasting approach to that. I just performed the role of the king in the

King and I. And at the close of his song, A Puzzlement, the note repeats on the e above

middle c. The words are If my Lord in heaven Buddha show the way, Every day I try to live

another day. Watch as I illustrate reducing the volume. I'm going to do it a little bit

louder, then I'll bring the volume down. If my Lord in heaven Buddha show the way. Every

day I try to live another day. Watch as I illustrate reducing the volume. If my Lord

in heaven Buddha show the way, Every day I try to live another day. Listen what happens

when I allow the vowel to spread wider on the word 'way'. Notice how it splats. I can

also feel my vocal cords thickening and I feel much more strain. I'll try this a little

bit wider now. If my Lord in heaven Buddha show the way. Hear that? Here's a special

strategy. Narrow the vowel from 'a' to an Irish ey to prevent it from opening and splatting.

Listen as I narrow the vowel way closer to an Irish wey. Listen. Now I'm going to illustrate

taking the vowel and narrowing it a little bit. If my Lord in heaven Buddha show the

wey, Every day I try to live another dey. Hear it? The way. The wey. The way. The wey.

Here's two vocal exercises to reduce the mass of the vocal cords, so you can transition

into your head voice instead of pulling the chest voice up. These are beginning steps

to help you feel the vocal cords reduce in mass. You have to learn to accept this new

feeling before you can easily do it in songs. These exercises help you feel what it's like

to reduce the mass of the vocal cords and what it might feel like as you sing the high

notes. The first would be a Lip Trill on a 5-tone scale. (demo) The next exercise would

be a ney-ney-ney on a 5-tone scale. Ney-ney-ney. Now if I add a little bratty sound to it,

it makes it even easier. Ney-ney-ney. Notice I'm not doing it loud. Ney-ney-ney.  I'm doing that a cappella. You get the idea.

You can hear how the vocal cords thin as the resonance goes higher. I'm not doing it loud.

On the ney-ney-ney, I'm adding just a little bit of a bratty sound. Do you know your vocal

type? I'm not talking about whether you're soprano, alto, tenor or bass. Your vocal type

is what you tend to do when you sing. Personally, my vocal type is pulled chest-high larynx.

That's one reason why I know so much about this vocal type. That's what I tend to do

when I sing. To discover your vocal type, visit PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test,

which I call the Power Test and get your vocal type. Then watch the videos about your vocal

type in the Knowledge Center. Download the free exercises for your vocal type and start

improving your voice immediately. I'm Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. You can sing higher

with beauty, confidence and power. I'll see you inside the next video. This is clastic.