QUOTE(blahxx @ Jan 26 2007, 02:03 PM)
THANKS A LOT FOR THE INFO!
i tried to find some of the answers to my q's here, but there were so many posts + people were usually talking about the recording devices, etc..
are there certain people who can't hit high notes? i tried to sing as high as boa (i think she naturally has a high voice?) and my voice kept cracking, and my throat was sore for two days after. now im afraid that i may damage my voice or get singer's nodes or whatever it's called and i dont want to practice singing anymore (i guess that's what personal coaches are for). im resting my voice right now and trying to drink a lot of water. i want to practice singing, but im afriad that i might be doing it wrong and damage my voice. my throat was sore two times (for two to three days each time) the past two weeks already bc i practiced singing higher/stronger, and this never happened to me before. i thought the soreness was from a flu, it was that bad...and it also affected my speaking voice, it was deeper than usual and i couldnt speak in a firm/loud voice
First off, i would like to say that what "know" is all based on things i've read and understand, and i'm not always right. So, please forgive me if i give wrong info. shall i start? haha
they are many people who cant hit high notes naturally, but with practice you will be able to. there are also people who have natural high voices. I guess you can take boa for example but maybe its also because she has a lot of training, which enable her to be able to sing "high" comfortable or maybe thats her natural range. Natural range is the range you are born with. You can always have more "range", but without practice you wont be able to achieve it. Think of your vocal cords like muscles, you need to take it slow and train it so that you will be able to go higher (like lifting weights). Your throat is hurting is because your using your throat to sing which is very unhealthy.
You have to understand how the voice works (vocal cords, diaphram, etc) to be able to understand how to use them. do i make sense? :x sorry if i dont. take for example the vocal cord like a unhealthy muscle that we havent used often. that is why people have to practice year(s) to get a good sound because you have to train the vocal cords, with good practices everyday so it gets healthy and produce a good sound.
so you have to relax and take it slowly, well not literally, but you have to make sure you do warmups before you sing and dont push your self farther then you can. if your voice starts to hurt then you know that your doing something wrong, not always but most of the time. also drink alot of water 1-2hours before you sing. It takes about 2 hours for the water to get into your system and reach your vocal cords.
From what your saying, I'm guessing your not doing enough warmups or your not singing right(breathing,etc) because your throat shouldnt be sore from singing. And if you are, you might not be using the right "technique" to reach high notes. I dont really have much information on that part. That is why vocal coaches are recommended. They can help you more then i can.
My advice for you is, download that SLS cds around here somewhere and use them to warm up. Breathe from your stomache and when you sing, imagine the words(/notes) riding on the waves of your breath when you breathe out. You know like those little kids shows where it looks like musical notes on waves? haha yeah like that! As for singing higher you would have to practice scales, but i'm not sure. I know for me, I do scales and I can honestly say that I reached 1-2 notes that I couldnt reach before(2 months ago). Singing stronger, I'm not sure aobut this. I always thought it was on your natural voice but I have no idea. sorry
Wow that was long eh? probably not even all of what i wanted to say but I hope you got the idea and what i tried to say. I hope this part has help you and many other people who might of had the same questions. and sorry if it seems as if things sounds repetitive, i seem to do that when i write. now onto the next part...
lets "sigh" together. haha
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is it true that you're suppose to sing with your chest and not your throat? how do you do that? like, the sound is suppose to come from your chest and up, and not from your throat and up
Its true, but you have 3 different "voices". Its all explained in EternallyFallen posts. You usually never sing with your throat because it'll end up hurting.
Here try this excersice: First, place your tongue behind the lower teeths, take a deep breathe in with your stomache, and breathe out holding out a hum also put one hand on ur chest.
If you are doing it right, you should feel the vibration in your chest, behind your upper/lower teeth, and lips. Your lips might tickle a little but that just means your doing it right. And from my understanding, what you feel on your chest is your "chest voice".
I might be wrong, but thats what I always thought it was. haha
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oh, and should i sing in a range of voice that's the most comfortable for me or should i get out of my comfort zone and sing in a different range? like beyonce..her speaking voice is deep but her singing voice is high..i want to sing in a voice that's higher than my speaking voice..how would i achieve this? i can sing high in a soft voice, but how do i make my voice strong singing high WITHOUT damaging my voice? thanks
Most of the time you should sing with your comfortable range but if you want to try something different make sure that its not too out of your range. also make sure you had a good warmup before you try anything too much for your voice. From what you've said, I suggest that you get a vocal coach. The way you want to sing isn't impossible to achieve your self, but it will be very hard. You need to get a vocal coach to guide you and make sure your not doing anything wrong. Also teach you the right techniques.
From my experiences:
I'm still new to all this singing stuff, but I was really new 2 months ago. I couldnt reach certain notes and even if I could I would put a lot of stress on my throat and jaw which isnt good, but after doing some SLS excersice and a month or so I started to understand my voice more and figured out what I was doing wrong. If you just started singing, I think the first months or so is all about understanding your voice, and learning more about the voice. Like breathing, how it feels when you put stress on your jaws and the throat muscles when you sing higher, etc. I think thats all I have to say for now, my mind wondering off thru out this whole post so sorry if things doesnt make sense.
