Understanding the Challenges of Voice Changes During Puberty

The Physical Changes of Puberty and Their Impact on the Voice

Puberty is a time of dramatic change, not just physically but also vocally. One of the most noticeable shifts is in a boy’s voice, which can become deeper and more resonant as the larynx grows. This change can make singing or speaking more challenging, as the vocal cords need to adjust to the increased weight and size. This process is similar to adding weight in an exercise routine, where movements become more difficult until the body adjusts. Before puberty, boys’ voices often resemble those of adult females, making them capable of reaching higher vocal ranges without the vocal breaks that typically occur during puberty.

The Role of Self-Awareness in Voice Development

Along with the physical changes, puberty also brings a heightened sense of self-awareness. As boys become more conscious of how they sound, this can affect the way they use their voices. Often...

Key Vocal Techniques for Sustaining Notes and Overcoming Challenges

1. Holding Notes While Running Out of Air

   • One common challenge in singing is maintaining a note as the breath begins to run out. To handle this, singers must focus on engaging their diaphragm and pushing harder to keep the note sustained. This technique helps extend the note's duration, allowing the singer to push through the natural limits of their breath.

2. Building Endurance Through Practice

   • Holding a note for a long period isn’t just about strength; it's about building vocal endurance. The more you practice holding a note, the easier it becomes to sustain it. By repeatedly challenging yourself to hold notes for longer durations, you build the necessary stamina and breath control to tackle more difficult songs.

3. Overcoming Vocal Hurdles in Challenging Songs

   • Some songs feature difficult sections—such as high notes or long phrases—that can be hard to sing. The key to overcoming these hurdles i
   ...

Vocal Range Expansion

With consistent practice, singers can increase their ability to reach and sustain high notes, such as G's, A's, and B-flats, for extended periods. This highlights the importance of regular vocal exercises to gradually build strength and control in higher registers. Over time, singers can expand their vocal range and improve their endurance in challenging pitch areas.

Overcoming Performance Anxiety

Gaining confidence in live performance is essential. The ability to step in front of an audience and sing confidently, even when things aren't perfect, comes from trusting in one's vocal technique and practice. It's not only about vocal skill but also the mental strength to perform under pressure without letting nerves take over.

Warm-Up and Slow Practice

Slowing down difficult sections of a song allows singers to focus on perfecting their technique. Practicing slowly helps to ensure that each note is sung with precision, improving control and reducing mistakes w...

Mastering High Notes: The Key to Effortless Vocal Power

Breaking Down the Performance

Singing at high intensities with distortion and maintaining vocal control is a difficult skill. Many singers struggle with keeping the right balance between power and relaxation. Here’s a breakdown of what worked well and what can be improved from this recent session.

Understanding Vertical Resonance and Support

When hitting higher notes, one of the biggest challenges is ensuring the sound remains open and effortless. In the initial take, there were moments where the upper harmonics were not as present, causing slight strain when reaching for those higher notes, such as F#5. This happens when the resonance shrinks down too much, making it difficult for the sound to expand naturally.

A key realization was that even in a more distorted, high-energy vocal style, maintaining some chest voice integration is crucial. This ensures the voice doesn’t become too thin or fatigued. The adjustment? Adding ...

Improving Vocal Technique: The Power of Vertical Resonance

Achieving a powerful, effortless vocal tone often comes down to technique rather than sheer effort. Many singers struggle with maintaining pitch and vocal fullness, especially in higher registers. One key adjustment that can make a significant difference is focusing on vertical resonance rather than excessive mouth opening or horizontal tension.

The Role of Vertical Alignment in Singing

One common issue singers face is unintentionally widening their mouth too much when aiming for brighter tones. This horizontal expansion can increase vocal strain, leading to pitch instability and a lack of fullness. Instead, maintaining a more vertical focus—keeping the sound centered and controlled—can help singers produce a more resonant and natural tone.

A practical way to reinforce this technique is by placing two fingers between the teeth while singing. This prevents excessive widening and encourages better vocal alignment. Many ...

The Impact of Strength Training on Vocal Performance

There is a common belief that strength training can be a hindrance to activities that require fine motor control, such as playing the piano or singing. Many vocal instructors warn that weightlifting could negatively affect vocal performance. However, this perspective may not fully consider the potential benefits of strength training for voice control and resonance.

Recent discussions have highlighted that targeted exercises can actually help improve vocal quality. For example, some individuals have observed noticeable changes in their voice after performing specific movements that release tension in certain muscle groups. One such case involved an individual who experienced an immediate deepening of their voice after releasing tightness in the quadratus lumborum, a muscle in the lower back. This suggests that muscular restrictions in the body can influence vocal tone and projection.

A practical approach to understanding this co...

Singing High Notes Softly and Easily

Singing high notes without being too loud was a long journey for me. My voice was naturally low, and I struggled to expand my range. Even when I did, I had to push too hard to reach high notes, making them unusable in songs. Simply "relaxing" wasn’t enough—I had to find a structured way to soften my voice while maintaining stability.

 The Process of Softening the Voice

1. Start Loud: Establish a strong, stable sound.
2. Gradual Softening: If you just back off the volume, the voice can collapse into falsetto or instability. Instead, maintain compression while reducing volume.
3. Refinement: Initially, the softened voice may sound "Dopey" or overly compressed. The next step is to brighten it without losing stability.

Training a Singer Through This Process

• The singer I worked with struggled to keep his voice from flipping. Many would think he was switching between chest and falsetto, but he was actually transitioning between two types of chest v
...

The Truth About Relaxing Your Voice

One of the biggest misconceptions about singing is that to relax your voice, you need to do less. Many believe that by backing off, their voice will naturally become more effortless. However, in 99% of cases, the opposite is true.

Strength Before Relaxation

To truly relax while singing, you first have to go through a phase of rigorous strengthening. At first, this might feel like:

• Straining
• Squeezing
• Over-gripping

This stage is necessary because it builds the muscular strength required to support your voice. Once that strength is in place, you can then ease off, and your voice will remain stable.

The Common Mistake

Most singers try to relax their voice prematurely. As a result:

1. Their voice becomes shaky and starts to fall apart.
2. To compensate, they try to sing louder, but then feel like they are straining.
3. They go back to relaxing, but it collapses again.
4. This cycle continues—stuck between straining and losing control.

Findin...

How to Develop Your Singing Tone: A Measurable Approach

When it comes to singing, tone can feel like a subjective concept—everyone has a different idea of what sounds good. But how do we turn something subjective into a clear, measurable goal?

The Key Elements of Great Singing

1. Range – You need to have the notes required for the songs you want to sing.

2. Control and Ease – The notes should feel stable and effortless; otherwise, they likely won’t sound good.

3. Volume Control – Singing softly and loudly should be within your control because volume impacts tone.

4. Consistency – You should be able to sing your favorite songs all the way through, in one take, with good pitch and confidence.

If you can achieve all these elements, you're on your way to being a killer singer. By the time you reach this point, you will either have the tone you desire or know exactly how to tweak it without sacrificing control.

Why Chasing Tone First Can Lead to Problems

Many singers ...

Do you really need to be born with a high voice if you want to sing high songs?  

As you can hear by my voice, I don't have a naturally high voice.

And if I kind of speak a little bit more, you can kind of hear that my voice is quite low naturally, right? Yet, I've been able to train my voice and develop it to sing crazy high songs.

When I first started singing, my highest note was F. The very first note in a song, I couldn't even sing. When I say my highest note was F, I don't mean I could like sing up there. It was like I had to yell up and I could just touch it for one second.

I know what it's like to be born with a voice that doesn't have talent, right? A voice that's just kind of low, and every song feels like it's too high. Every song feels like it's too high. You put on the radio, and you want to sing along, and it's just like, "Oh, it's too high." The range I can sing in is just ridiculously small, and it's really frustrating because it's like…

A lot of people say thing...