I can sing extremely high notes, but with lots of pain.

[Ryan2233]

Hello folks.

I'm a 17 year old male, with a voice, best described as baritone. I have extreme low and high ranges, I can hit notes like the high ones in Dream On by Aerosmith, but it really does take a toll on my voice. What can I do to fix it? 

 

 

Thanks. 

Ryan

[Draven Grey]

Fix what? The strain? You need to be training. There are plenty of things you can train with, especially in a program like The FourPillars of Singing. Even better if you're working with a vocal coach who has proven they can help you reach your goals. I'll try to give you a tip, but I'm not sure you'll understand it. I'm a natural baritone (although vocal fact doesn't matter in contemporary vocals), and I can sing Dream On without very little effort. 

First, you need to learn to bring the voice up and out, getting your out of your throat, helping the vowels to resonate in the soft palate, and using your tongue to hold the vowels. You can get started by humming while buzzing the lips, but it's more complicated than that. Another help could be touching the back of your tongue to your upper back molars, keeping the front of the tongue just behind your teeth, and trying to hold all of your vowels in the same resonant area. Another help for that is smiling while you sing. Again, this is oversimplified, but the best I can do in a quick written tip.

Second, you need to learn to use Cry Vocal Mode, activating the cry reflex on demand, and learning to use the feeling of that top-down, whimpering phonation that it gives you. This will release a LOT of the strain, get your out of your throat, thin out the glottis so there's much less effort required to phonate, and the list goes on.

Third, use your newfound lifted resonance and light, top-down phonation to get the lightest possible, almost squeaky phonation on your top note. Then slowly add volume (bigger resonance) to it by utilizing good appoggio (oversimplified: leaning your breath into the sternum and sighing through the phrase). You may have to start lower in your range and work your way up. You may also need specific exercises to build good control over compression and more strength in the musculature you're using. 

There are so many things this doesn't address that you could also be dealing with.

In short? Start training. Don't force it. You need to build into the coordination and strength it takes to reach your goals, with someone guiding you in how to do it right. I blew out my voice pushing on that same note, and had to completely retrain my voice. I can now sing up to D6 without very little effort.