Voice exercises - I can't sing but I'd like to be able to. I don't have a good enough voice range...

Question

I'm 29, I love to sing, but I never do because I don't have all the notes - my voice sort of cracks. I don't want to sing in a high voice like the Beach Boys (which I could do), I want a Rick Astley type of voice - and I have some of the notes, but not enough.

Is there ANYTHING I can do? Seriously - any exercises or techniques? I'm not looking for answers like "just practice" - I'm looking for classes, or books, or clinical techniques you've used or know of that can help.

Answer 1

It's hard to tell you anything on here because of the nature of vocal exercises and study. It is possible to improve your range and facility, even at age 29. Yes, do take lessons from a university voice instructor or upper class/graduate student. But you must be willing to actually listen to your voice teacher. So many singers, especially older students, decide to take voice lessons, but resist everything their teacher asks them to do. If you do take voice lessons, I can tell you what to expect.

You will not be singing songs you want to sing right away. This is not because the teachers are snobby musicians, but because the music most people want to sing is VERY difficult to do without training and you can risk harming your voice permanently. The teacher will initially do some vocal exercises with you, such as scales, arpeggios, and other various vocalise. The reason I don't give you any specifically is because a teacher listening to you sing will be able to monitor your voice and pick exercises appropriate for your voice. The teacher will also likely assign you one aria or song, either in English or Italian. Italian is most likely because most of the vowels in Italian are pure vowels, and a good starting point for a young singer (regardless of age) to begin practicing healthy voice production.

A few tips: Singing is not done from the throat, nor is it done from the diaphragm as many will say. The diaphragm is not a muscle that we can control. Singing is all about breath support and ease of production. Singing should not be forced; it should be supported. A good resource you may be interested in is a series of videos and texts called "The Singer's Voice" (I think). Regardless, the best advice is to find a legitimate teacher of voice at a college or university and go from there.

Best of luck!

Answer 2

Start with mimicking the notes played on a guitar or keyboard. Doe, ray, mi, so, fa, la, ti, doe. I don't know if I spelled those right...but it's not so important, the point is, you start at your lowest point on the keyboard, the lowest note in your range that is "clear" and you begin to rise up the keyboard echoing every note with your voice and when you get to that point where you are at the top of your range and you need to go into falseto, (the cracking point) you stop. Now you have to figure out how to enter the range tactfully so that when you sing and you go to falseto it sounds more natural instead of forced. That is why everyone says practice practice practice. You have to figure out how to go from full diagphram to pushing more air with your throat voice (falseto). Take some lessons for sure because no advice here is going to help you as much as someone actually pointing things out to you as you do it. You need a voice coach. Check with your local University for private coaches. Many voice students there would be more than willing to lend their lessons learned for a small price.

Answer 3

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