Increased Vocal Range?

Well, for today I am going to share to everyone my quick venture of being a self-proclaimed vocalist after being strictly placed as an instrumentalist for rougly twenty years already. I'm going to try to share some tips on what I have "unconsciously" done before, but still until now I am a newbie in solo singing.

I was pretty much a real newbie just a few years back. I was only interested in the quality of my voice, not by range because I knew how to use falsetto pretty much. I can say my voice quality was intermediate, and no problem for me at all at getting the right pitches because of my perfect listening pitch skill. This was already several years after my high school friends somewhat made me sing a pop song on my own for the first time in my life.

Then recently, this friend of mine who is a really really good singer, sang alot of high pitched songs which I'd always thought I'd never nail. But somehow, using just the very limited voice lessons I had when I was really younger (I never had a true vocal coach), I just tried and tried singing and singing those high pitched songs (with the guidance and support of my girlfriend). Soon enough I've been nailing them, almost no use of falsetto, in a quite surprisingly fast pace. I self tested my vocal range - I can go from A2 to B4, and can linger abit in C5 or C#5 (but that's really hard for me to nail) without the use of falsetto, and can go further almost one more octave with falsetto. Just a bit over three octaves. I couldn't believe it myself at first.

Vocal range is one's range of MUSICALLY USABLE NOTES, meaning sounding musically nice. That's a lot different from shouting.

So, as of myself who is a self taught tenor, maybe I can share some tips which worked for me:

Before singing, firstly choose and learn a few high pitched tenor songs with varying speed and rhythm. This way your voice box will be used to varying changing speeds of pitches.

When singing, try to feel the song as if you're singing for someone. Do not be conscious about your body movements. Just be natural, especially when you're trying to nail the B4's and C5's without falsetto, and more especially if these are whole notes (maybe just half notes for 6/8, 8/8 or 12/8 songs). In my own normal singing voice when I try to hit those notes, I just let it all out. I just close my eyes, concentrate ONLY on that part of the song, maybe arc my back a bit as if I am trying to get power from my backside of my diaphragm, and being intimate with the microphone. This actually will depend on the singer. We all have our own natural and maybe unconscious movements.

Of course the delivery of your voice is the really important thing. Remember to STICK WITH YOUR OWN VOICE no matter what. Do not try emulating other people's voice because that's going to be another thing you're going to mind of. Using your own natural voice will take away the worry of how are you EXACTLY sounding like. Make your voice as whole as you can get, even on high pitches. It's easier said than done actually. But just try to breathe deeply between measures before delivering a note, quick breathing if there's no rest, normal deep breathing when there is a rest. At all costs, don't pull your voice from your throat. Breathe deeply, and feel your voice from your chest. And maybe the clincher to this - OPEN YOUR MOUTH VERY WELL to deliver a nice resonating sound. Mind the syllables with A, E, I, O and U. They have different and distinct positions on how the mouth is opened.

One thing also you have to mind of is the volume of the voice. Normally a tenor singer is a powerful singer and should be very able to hold relatively high notes (well, the word tenor is from the latin word 'tenere' which means TO HOLD). Lower pitch, not much volume needed, but to deliver a high pitched note without the use of falsetto, there's when you let it all out, but you still have to mind and control the airflow - if you're going to deliver a note with at least four counts, better spread the airflow to that whole length. You don't want to run out of air in the middle of a long note. also, If you try to deliver a high note with a softer volume, that's going to sound like you're using falsetto, and at times, it may sound ineffective.

An added note: Don't expect your singing voice to be equally the same in terms of quality and power when just singing compared to singing while playing a musical instrument. Your body movements can really affect your singing voice. If you are one of those people who can do it without worrying about voice quality, you're sure hell of a talented person.

Maybe an equally important factor: QUIT DRINKING ICED BEVERAGES. I myself have put down the frequency of drinking iced or cold drinks compared to before. But yeah, I know sometimes it's hard to resist :)

With all these exercises, I've repeated and practiced all of them alot of times, and it's really nice hearing myself along the way that I have increased my vocal range. It sounded too impossible for me before, and I honestly was surprised by the changes of my voice so far. One thing you also will need to take note is, after singing maybe a couple of those kind of songs, you may feel abit tired and thirsty. I still consider myself a noob and still wanting to learn more.

I hope this helps the readers! :)