I'm trying to sing higher?

Question

When singing, I find I can sing to about High Bb above the staff with little problem. I can whooh out a High C and bark a D, but I can't seem to reach any higher, no matter how hard I try. Someone told me I need to raise my soft palate. How do I do this? My voice teacher once effortlessly got me to the coloratura F, but I haven't been able to reproduce this. I was shocked at how effortless. He started me softly in falsetto at the C above Middle C and carried me up there on a chromatic scale, but we stopped because it sounded a tad screechy at the top notes. Still I felt like I could have gone higher. But when I'm home and practicing, I cannot reproduce that magical lesson. HELP!!!
How do I raise my soft palate when singing? And how do I sing that F. Obviously, my idol is Minnie Riperton.

Answer 1

A future coloratura...I love when I meet another one. I don’t feel like such a vocal nerd.

Celine Dion doesn’t sing properly. She has several vocal health issues. Her problems lie in incorrect breath support and vocal instrument placement. Much like you, she isn’t quit sure of the soft pallet and how it works.

The Whistle Register:

How it works:
1) the vocal folds vibrate at a high rate with lengthwise tension
2) the posterior portion of the vocal chords have considerable "damping" (diminishing amplitude in successive vibrations)
3) the vibrating mass of the vocal chords is limited, and the air pressure and flow is high

Things to avoid:
1) Make sure you aren't reaching for the whistle tones. Your head should remain level to the floor and you should maintain proper singers' posture.
2) Your throat/larynx should be opened and relaxed. If not you could be causing vocal damage.

Things to do:
1) Keep whistle tones resonating forward in the mouth and in the sinuses. This helps avoid tension and makes the tone and color more pure and keeps you from swallowing the sound.
2) Using proper singing breath support is imperative to great whistle tones.

As you know singing is cumulative. Each step relies on the one before. So before I get to vocal instrument placement I’ll give the run down on warm up, posture, and breathing/breath support.

Before singing one should make it habit to stretch all of the body to release tension and to warm up the vocal instrument. Any tension can and will cause vocal strain and eventually damage.

Nothing should be stiff. Loosen up. Do some light stretching and rub out tight muscles especially the ones around your neck, face, and jaw. It might seem strange, but yes, you should massage your face.

Posture: the foundation of great singing.

(Standing) from the top:
Your head should be level with the floor and you are looking ahead, not up or down. No tension, just placed as so.

When singing everything should be loose with no stiff tension. Tension causes things to be incorrect even when you know the right way and use it.

Next, Roll your shoulders back. Rolling your shoulders back elongates the spine and thorax or chest cavity and lifts the sternum, the bone in the middle of your chest. This allows space for proper breathing.

Keep your knees loose, so that they can bend. Don't lock them.

Keep your feet shoulder width apart. One foot can be a little farther forward than the other if that is more comfortable for you.

Imagine yourself as royalty. This is all perfectly natural and normal. It is simply the way you present yourself--with poise and self-confidence.

(Sitting) additional information:
When sitting it is important to keep all the same posture techniques used for standing.

Make sure you sit as far forward on the seat as possible and keep your feet flat on the floor.

When you have proper posture you can learn to breath properly. Correct breath support and control is the gateway to good singing.

To learn the proper way, you've got to know which ways are wrong.

Improper ways to breath when singing:
1) Clavicular breathing ~ shallow breathing--the shoulders lift
2) Costal breathing ~ heaving like when you are sick
3) Abdominal breathing ~ from just the stomach excluding use of the top of the lungs

To understand diaphragmatic-intercostal breathing, the proper breathing for singing, it is import to understand basic breathing for life. Breathing for life is nearly the same with only a few slight alterations.

How we breathe for living:
1) Involuntary impulse of the brain
2) The diaphragm contracts and flattens to enlarge the thorax or chest cavity
3) The costal or rib muscles expand causing the air pressure to drop within the lungs. The air pressure inside the lungs then equals to the air pressure outside the lungs.
4) Exhale.

Modifications used when singing:
1) More air is required
2) Quicker inhalation
3) Longer periods of exhalation requiring control
4) Voluntary--you determine how and when

**It is impossible to breath correctly if you are not using proper singers' posture.**

Ways to make sure you are breathing correctly when singing:
1) Make sure your shoulders and upper chest doesn’t rise when you inhale.
2) Make sure you are expanding all around. The stomach, sides, and even the back

The laying down exercise is great for practicing proper breathing. You should practice it every night before you go to sleep. When practicing, pay attention to the appoggio, or the moment of balance between inhaling and exhaling just like breathing for yoga.

Before bed breathing exercises:
Lie on your back and wait until your breathing deepens and evens. You will feel expansion around your stomach, sides, and even back. This type of breathing is the ideal form of healthy breathing and the breathing we use for singing.

1. Practice inhaling over a count of 10 and gradually grow to a count of 15 and as high as your lung capacity will allow.
2. Use inhalation explained in (1). Exhale with a hiss of air. It will sound like "tissss...". Work your exhale from a 10 count to a 15 count and so on.
3. Use inhalation explained in (1). Exhale with a hiss of air and pulse using the abdominal muscles. ("tisss, tisss, tisss,...) Work your pulsed-exhale from a 10 count to a 15 count and so on.

Remember: When people refer to singing from your diaphragm it is meant to be a locational reference. The activities of the diaphragm are completely involuntary. You don't control it--your brain does.

Proper breathing takes time to develop. You have to keep practicing to build strength and endurance.

Vocal instrument placement:

We'll start with the voice box or larynx. You can feel it in the center front of your neck. Swallow while touching it. Feel how it lowers? That's the position it should be in when you sing. You can't really mentally control it, but if you've gotten rid of your tension it should be just right.

Your mouth/teeth/lips... It should be opened wide enough to fit two fingers in vertically between your teeth, for some people, even wider for higher notes. Sometimes people just don't open their mouths wide enough for high notes to come out properly.

Your hard and soft pallet... Feel the top of your mouth with your tongue. Upfront, behind your teeth it's hard--that's your hard pallet. Farther back, there is a soft fleshy part. That's your soft pallet. When singing you have to make sure your soft pallet is raised. This allows the air to resonate for a fuller sound. This kind of resonation is especially important for high notes.

To find this position you can yawn. Feel how your soft pallet raises? You could also imagine you have one of those really cool little paper party drink umbrella things. Imagine putting it in your mouth and open it up in there. Now sing like that.

Once you get past technique most of the problems are all in your head. I can’t really sing that higher!!?

When I warm up I help myself get over these silly thoughts by practicing the whistle tones is my most nasal head voice possible. It’s shrill and piercing, but you’ll get used to it. Most of learning to use the whistle tones is just learning to become comfortable singing them. It’s a formula of attitude and patience.

You could even hum some puppy wine sounds. You could do the one that's kind of like a fire whistle. Starting with your highest notes and sliding down to your lowest.

Another of my favorite techniques is to allow excess air to come out and keeping the tone breathy. This will help you learn to use whistle tones without strain. The opening of the vocal chords is so small when using these pitches and you need to learn to let air move through the opening without forcing it too much.

Tips for singing the higher things:
1. Make sure your head doesn't go up. Keep your chin level with the floor. You don't need to reach for the high notes because you totally have them. You need to reach down from above and tap them.
2. Higher doesn't mean louder...don't strain
3. Always stretch and warm up before singing. If you don't get rid of tension and warm up the high notes will never come out beautifully.
4. Don't swallow the sound. Keep the resonance forward in the mouth in the soft pallet and even the nasal cavity for pop singing.

Learning to use the whistle register is tiring and stressful. Once you master it you’re on your way to bigger things. You’re in a whole different pond with much bigger fish.

Good Luck. If you have any questions just email me.

~ moss

Answer 2

You had a magic lesson once, but you aren't going back? Why not ? You need him, not us ....he would be right there and could correct you immediately.

What keeps you from going back? You fell in love with him, but he is a married man? That is the only reason I would not go back !!!

Do you know how Richard Bonynge got Joan Sutherland that fabulous top? He always played for her vocalizing (he was her husband) and every so often, he would transpose her scales up another 1/2 step; she never knew because she did not have perfect pitch.

Finally one day, he called her to the keyboard to look at what note she had just sung .... it was (I forgot....but it was very high) .....she was amazed ... that was the way she got over her "fear of heights" and "that dreadful high C" .... but of course, it was a beautiful sound .......it wasn't just a "whooh" and a "bark" ..... you should never monkey around with your voice that way or you will ruin it ... Sutherland was never allowed to do work around the house; the most she was allowed was to make a bowl of fruit salad now and then, and whenever she did anything a little informal like hum a little tune, Bonynge would stop her immediately ......

Based on the theory (not !!!) that what you repeat becomes a habit, that you perfect what you repeat / practise..... you should be very careful not to throw your voice around .....if you paid $7,000 for a beautiful flute, you would treat it with love and kisses, and that is the way you should treat your voice....only a flute is replaceable and your voice is NOT ......

listen to two ladies who were *very* careful:
on YouTube
Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne Norma

Answer 3

while making a song, you're able to locate the excellence between your mid-selection voice and your head voice. as quickly as you come across what notes bypass on your head, it makes it much less complicated. Plus, while making a song extreme notes, sing louder and with greater capability. do not p.c. up and don't be afraid to hit them. merely faux such as you're aiming for that word! (frequently once you are attempting this, you the two hit the word you opt for or perchance slightly greater) additionally (it is what my song director for play informed me) once you're attempting to get those notes, squeeze your butt-cheeks at the same time/stand greater. Lol! i'm hoping that helped!

Answer 4

You raise your soft pallet by pretending you're holding a golf ball atthe back part of your mouth. Try it and see.

To extend your range, gradually play your vocal practices on the piano and although it may take some time, keep practicing.

Answer 5

First you have to accept that unless you are gifted like Céline Dion, there are certain keys in which you will be more comfortable in. If you want to sing your favourite signer's songs, I would suggest thet you sing it in a lower key.

Lowering the back of your tongue, will raise your soft palate and getting the note from your lower abdomen might also help you reach higher notes.