Ep. 29 - How to Sing High Notes Without Straining (and Increase Your Range): Singing Vowels vs. Speech Vowels Explained
There's a way to sing your high notes with so much more ease, and it doesn't include trying harder, pushing harder, or reaching further for them. That's not how your voice actually works!
If you want high notes that feel free and easy, if you want the top of your range back after it's felt out of reach, or if you want to walk into a big high note phrase feeling open and relaxed, you're going to love this edition of The Aligned Singer.
Today is all about how to sing high notes without straining for them. We start with what's happening in your head right before a high note, then get into singing vowels and what your middle voice has to do with the top of your range.
Think of high notes as no big deal. Think of them as a low note.
When you tell your body to reach for a high note, it tightens up to get ready, and that's the exact opposite of what great high notes need. The thoughts you're thinking right before a big high note phrase are telling your body the story it then follows. This may seem like a mindset hack, but it really is technical training.
So many singers come to me thinking their range has changed and they just can't sing that high anymore. With some time, we've retrained and reclaimed the upper part of their voice.
As your voice teacher bestie, I want to reassure you that if a high note you used to sing has started to feel out of reach, that's completely okay, and it doesn't mean it's gone. There was a note I thought I'd never sing again, the G above high G. I could sing it easily in high school, but I was pushing my voice all the way there, and for about 20 years it disappeared. A couple of years ago my voice teacher (I still study voice to this day!) started working on that part of my voice with me, and finding those notes again took my voice from already sounding great to "oh my gosh, I didn't even know this was possible." There's nothing special or exceptional about me except that I wouldn't give up, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that your high notes can feel easy too!
In this episode you'll learn:
• What to do instead of reaching and pushing for a high note
• The mindset shift that helps your body relax right before a big high note phrase
• How singing vowels give your high notes more room, heard on "the glow of the moonlight"
• Why what you do in your middle voice shows up in your high notes
• 3 signs you might be pushing in your middle voice, so you can check your own singing
• Why a high note that's felt out of reach for years can come back
Mentioned in This Episode:
Ep. 26, Singing Vowels vs. Speech Vowels Explained
Chapters:
00:00 How to Sing High Notes Without Straining
00:37 Meet Your Voice Teacher Bestie
01:13 Let Your Body Open Up Instead of Reaching
02:51 Think of Your High Notes as Low Notes
03:38 What You're Thinking Right Before a High Note Phrase
05:37 Singing Vowels for Easier High Notes
07:27 Hear the Difference on "The Glow of the Moonlight"
11:16 How Your Middle Voice Affects Your High Notes
13:34 3 Signs You Might Be Pushing in Your Middle Voice
16:18 Proof Your High Notes Can Come Back
20:28 Pep Talk
Work with Me!
Ready to sing your high notes with more ease? You'll find all the details about my first online program for singers at sarahhawkeystudio.com, and I'm still accepting one-on-one private students in my studio.
Subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and tell me in the comments which high note you're working on right now. I read them all and I write back.
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