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.

Finding the Middle Ground

The key to avoiding this trap is strengthening first. When reaching higher notes, slight adjustments can help:

• Lift your chest slightly as you go up.
• Experiment with how much squeeze you apply to maintain control.

This trial-and-error phase is normal—it won’t sound perfect at first.

The "Ugly Phase" Is Necessary

When training your voice, you might sound terrible before you sound great. Expect your voice to sound:

• Unstable
• Strained
• Like a "dying dog" (yes, really!)

But this is part of the process. You must go through this phase to build strength, and once that strength is there, singing will feel easier.

Why Standard Exercises Might Not Be Enough

Simple vocal exercises like:

"Mum-mum-mum" on a scale

…might be useful, but they won’t necessarily help you apply your voice in songs. Singing isn’t just about doing exercises—it’s about building a voice that translates into real-world singing.

That’s why it's essential to practice in a way that develops your voice for actual performance. If you’re serious about improving, make sure your training is designed with application in mind.