How do I open up my throat when I sing?

Question

When I sing I can't really explain how it sounds. But I think it's cuz I need to open up my throat more. I don't nasaly when I sing. And how do I get myself to sing louder and higher. I sing alto but I want to be able to sing higher easier (not switch parts but be able to hit higher notes)

Anyone else please?

Answer 1

For the longest time ever I would sing with a closed throat, and it sounded terrible. When people would tell me to just open up my throat, I wouldn't understand.
Then my voice teacher and my father told me that if you feel like you're yawning, it opens up your throat. It may sound weird to you, but to everyone else it sounds fine.
I've always thought that I could only sing alto, but taking voice lessons and learning how to open up my throat properly revealed me to be a soprano. You could have a really high range and not even know it!

Answer 2

I'm a bass and have always had trouble singing higher notes, which for me used to mean anything above middle C. Needless to say, that left a lot of music out of my range. I always had a hard time with "opening my throat" too. It's the kind of a thing where the more I think about it, the more I just end up tensing my throat. For me, what worked was to just sort of ignore the throat and try a different focus.

First of all, you must support. I assume you're breathing properly, so I won't discuss that. Then, what worked for me was to sort of place the voice towards the front of the face. It's kind of hard to describe, but what helps me to do that is to activate the muscles that you would use to flare your nostrils, and raise your eyebrows a little. You can feel it as sort of a tension around your sinus cavity. Also I've had it described as making a face like you're pleasantly surprised. Then support, support, support, and try to feel the vibration in your sinus cavities. This will also help to project your voice. So then you will be singing "louder" without putting the extra strain on your vocal chords. And, you'll be getting the extra boost from your breath support, not your throat.

Answer 3

To open the throat, one must lift the soft palatte relax the tongue, laying it flat and forward against the back of the teeth. One mustn't strain to hit high pitches until the breath support can ensure full, clear sound production with the tongue relaxed.

The vocal fold approximation must be comfortable and feel easy and relaxed. One should begin singing in a lower range (between f4 and c5) and get used to the feeling of an open throat. It will feel a little out of control at first but it will not be as much work.

In order to prepare the resonator space for this type of singing, you can speak the exclamation "ah-ha", as if in delighted surprise. Think Jane Austen novel. This will open the desired space. Much luck.

Answer 4

I'm an alto too, and I've been trying to do the same thing. I've been singing for years and years and I've noticed that over time, my vocal range has gotten gradually higher as I've done the following things.

To train your voice to reach higher notes I think what you have to do is just try singing songs with notes that are a LITTLE BIT (you don't want to hurt your voice) out of your vocal reach, making sure you try to hit those notes. After a while your vocal cords will get used to it and it'll eventually get easier. Then sing another song with notes out of your reach again. It's worked for me.

Your vocal cords are muscles and I think the key is to just keep working them and pushing them past their current capability, the way you would with muscles in your arms, by lifting weights. Not so much so that you strain your voice, though. After a while they should get a little stronger and you'll be able to sing higher.

Singing higher notes also has to do with choosing which voice to use: your head or chest voice. Here's a link to explain that and give you more information: http://www.vocalist.org.uk/headorchest.html

Also what helps is doing vocal exercises by singing up and down the scales over and over, or trying to sing as low and as high as you can, COMFORTABLY. It'll warm your voice up. And when you breathe in and out, try to get the oxygen to go to your stomach (the bottom part of your lungs) rather than the top. (You'll know you're doing it right when when you breathe in, your stomach looks like it's expanding rather than your chest). Then breathe out slowly. My choral teacher told us to do this as a warm up.

Make sure when you sing, you're singing through your mouth and not your nose. Singing through your nose will give you that nasally sound. And one last thing, to get to higher notes (to an extent), rather than straining your voice, it helps if you contract your ab muscles.

That was probably quite a bit to take in but I hope I helped. :P

Answer 5

If you are wanting to sing in your head voice and not sound nasally...I would suggest thinking of an egg being at the back of your mouth...where the soft palate is...that will give you a mental picture and will help to lift the soft palate...giving you a fuller, less nasally sound...that's what I do anyway...it works...

Answer 6

open your mouth wider, im a soprano..i should know!