Singing

[kickoutofyou]

I have been singing for about a half a year now. I started because I enjoy musical theatre(hence my username"I get a kick out of you") and because I had ideas for songs with vocals. I really like it and I have a voice teacher. She says my voice is very resonant and that I have a big "instrument" capable of projecting loudly. I have recently run into a problem, though. Whenever I sing high notes(I am a bass, so middle C or above is high for me) for more than a very short time my throat feels like it is getting tighter. And I can tell that the sound quality gets worse if I keep singing high notes. Does anyone have advice on how I could possible fix this problem.

[lostinidlewonder]

I use to sing a lot when I was younger, I wouldn't care sing now I would be to embarrassed (which is funny because I sung on stage solo many times). We have to always pay respect to our range when we sing, I remember our instructor always ensured that we where relaxed while we sung and that the breath always came from the solar plexus and never from the throat (when singing high notes we can tend to sing from the throat). Achieving higher notes needs us to tighten our vocal chords and make them very small, that physical action is difficult to make feel relaxed, it is like doing the splits, you have to slowly edge your way into it if you find it a real stretch. I wouldn't sing those high notes if it puts a strain on your voice, it is just not worth damaging your instrument, transpose into lower keys and touch on those high notes but don't make it too much of a focus because it will hurt your voice.

[go12_3]

I also have had singing lessons and know about singing.  I think when the throat restricts,  because it's not relaxed enough.   Just open your mouth and relax your jaw as you sing the higher notes.  Think of a string from the top of your head and it's pulling you up as you sing higher.  I know this seems like a silly thing to think of, but it works for me.  I sing a high soprano with a 3 octave range and I DO understand about those higher notes.   

[Bob]

I'm not a vocalist.  Voice is just a tool for me.  I did sing along with recorders and experienced tension.  I think I'm a baritone, but C4 and above was pushing it for me.  C4-G4 is where the recorders where playing so I sang along with that at pitch.  

I didn't overdo it.  But after doing that during the spring for two years I noticed my voice adjusted.  It might not be a bad thing as long as your voice can recover.  It might strengthen it in the long run.

I'm not a vocalist though.  That's just what I experienced.

...

Oops.  I checked.  I was singing an octave lower.  They were playing GABCD on their recorders.  That makes sense.  I couldn't sing an octave lower because it would have sounded too strange, too low.  When I first started doing it, D (D4) was pushing it.  Throat tension.  Two seasons of that and I can sing up to G4 now.    I first realized it the second year when I wasn't straining as much for the recorder pieces that sat on Ds for awhile.

[birba]

I've worked a lot with singers in my life (ahimè...) and I've basically learned the technique without ever singing.  well, actually, I did study a year just to see what it was like.  Go123 says it basically the way it is.  The higher you go, the more you want to tighten up and force it.  It's normal.  As a Bass, c is not that high a note.  You know what it's like to yawn?  Not just opening the mouth wide.  The cavity of your throat opens up as well.  Try it.  Only the jaw lowers as you widen the throat and begin to yawn.  Then, when you let out that note, try it with a nasal sound to it.  Not that you should sing with a nasal sound, but to give you the feeling of the "maschera" -  I don't know what you call it in English.  The mask? Anyway, the area around the cheek bones and over your eyes.  That's where the sound resonates.
Well, you can't really give a lesson here.  But never ever force the sound with your throat.

[kickoutofyou]

Thanks for the advice. I think that opening your mouth does make it easier because I was recently singing a song with my voice teacher, and she always tells me to open my mouth a lot on an ah sound. Then when I sang the song using "na" in place of the lyrics, it gave my throat less tension. And I can get up to a d or an e sometimes, so a C is definetly not the absolute highest I can go. Just the highest I can stay for awhile.

[timothy42b]

Think head voice.

Forcing your chest voice up there is going to do damage. 

[richard black]

You need to be taught to breathe properly for singing. Once you can do that, you'll stop trying to squeeze out high notes like toothpaste from the top of a tube, and it will all fall into place more easily. If your singing teacher isn't teaching you how to breathe, you probably need another teacher.

[kickoutofyou]

My singing teacher is teaching me how to breathe. She tells me to breathe with the diaphragm, and has me do lip trills to even out the amount of air used on each note. I guess I'll tell her about my concern ikn my next lesson.