Severe Vocal Strain after singing a G6 in head voice

[msaw]

The other day I was singing Eric Bennet's Sometimes I Cry (which is complete sang in falsetto) in my car with my radio loud. I have a whistle register but its never available to me. Eventually Eric got to a really high part and I went a whole octave above him with an intensity I've NEVER sang before. To say the least, I shocked the hell outta myself.

Later that day It felt like a ball was in my throat to the left side of my Adam's apple. The next morning, it was even worse. I couldn't eat, drink, swallow or sleep. It hurt so bad that I would cringe and cuss real loud when I had to do one

Two days later I still feel the same pain in my throat and its the worse feeling ever. I went to the doctor and he tested for for Strep Throat... I was negative but he still treated me as having it since I had a fever, headache, tenderness on the outside of my neck and dizziness.

My question to you all is what exercise can I do to release the pressure and pain off my vocal chord? Since its a muscle, I know that stretching it will make it feel better. Much like going to the gym and waking up sore the next morning....

[Chavie]

A G6!?!??! That's a 5th above a Soprano C, that's insane!!!,

I had the exact same thing happen to me early on,its just improper technique man...or forcing higher notes then you should.

id take a break from singing, and try to talk as less as possible for the next week

Also make sure your warming up good..before attempting things like this (although i wouldn't recommend singing that high from now on)

[gno]

I've strained my voice singing really high without proper support and without building up strength and endurance. It is actually pretty easy to do this. When singing above the top of your normal range you've got to 1) use the right technique (lots of support) and 2) only do it for very short periods of times. When extending your range you should only work on attaining higher notes in 1/2 step increments. It's ok to try to singing that next 1/2 step once per day. When testing new high notes be sure not to manipulate muscles in the larynx. Attain these notes only by adding more support. Your larynx should feel as free as in your normal range. Depending on where you are at it may take a week to add a 1/2 step. This is something you don't want to push.

Based on what you are saying I would recommend no singing and very little talking (but don't wisper). You can test your voice at the end of the week - singing just a little bit. If you still feel bad, lay off for another week. It may take weeks for a full recovery, but you will heal.

[jonpall]

Geno, my top note is usually G5, even though I have sometimes done notes between A5 and C6. Would you recommend using as little volume as possible when trying to gradually increase your range like you're talking about or rather use lots of twang, volume, power and support?

[jonpall]

Also, I see that you have a soundclick page but I know very little about it. What's the advantage of having such a page? Can you sell your original tunes there or something? I'm actually writing new songs and perhaps I should put up a page like that. Do you recommend soundclick? Just wondering.

[D.Starr]

Is it really that necessary to have a G6?

Hey look at me I can sing G6...

[VideoHere]

Is it really that necessary to have a G6?

Hey look at me I can sing G6...

agreed d, i'll take a solid, sustained, full voice b4 with the ability to raise and lower the tone anyday.

[msaw]

I've strained my voice singing really high without proper support and without building up strength and endurance. It is actually pretty easy to do this. When singing above the top of your normal range you've got to 1) use the right technique (lots of support) and 2) only do it for very short periods of times. When extending your range you should only work on attaining higher notes in 1/2 step increments. It's ok to try to singing that next 1/2 step once per day. When testing new high notes be sure not to manipulate muscles in the larynx. Attain these notes only by adding more support. Your larynx should feel as free as in your normal range. Depending on where you are at it may take a week to add a 1/2 step. This is something you don't want to push.

Based on what you are saying I would recommend no singing and very little talking (but don't wisper). You can test your voice at the end of the week - singing just a little bit. If you still feel bad, lay off for another week. It may take weeks for a full recovery, but you will heal.

Thanks so much.

[msaw]

Is it really that necessary to have a G6?

Hey look at me I can sing G6...

Not necessarily... especially (in my case) when its only available on "good days", but it doesn't hurt.

[anonimuzz]

Is it really that necessary to have a G6?

Hey look at me I can sing G6...

Nope, it's not necessary, but it's fine to have as many options as possible, I'd say. Besides, developing those super high notes makes the high 5th octave feel even easier, so even if you don't need those notes, working on them has positive effects on the whole range. Well, everything you do in every note has a global effect, so there's no need to refuse to train certain parts of the range automatically just because you'll never use them on a show, lol. Sure, the focus should not be on the G6, anyway. That's just an extra.

[gno]

Hi jonpall - what I did to increase range was just using the ktva exercises, which start low and increase by 1/2 steps. And then I could feel where it would start to be uncomfortable and I would stop. Way up in the saprano range like above g5, it starts getting quieter for me, naturally. I wasn't trying to sing light or loud, just comfortable and loose. To test my top range I would keep going up to the point of it being uncomfortable. If I tried to "will" myself to go higher, which I've done by forcing my larynx (or lack of breath support), I would strain my voice and then have to wait a couple weeks before singing again.

Currently I'm able to sing C#6 which is plenty high for me, if not useless. I could see using an A5 in a song once in a while, so vocalizing up a little beyond that note is probably a good thing so I'm not straining to reach an A5. I have no desire to go any higher than a C6 or C#6.

[gno]

Also, I see that you have a soundclick page but I know very little about it. What's the advantage of having such a page? Can you sell your original tunes there or something? I'm actually writing new songs and perhaps I should put up a page like that. Do you recommend soundclick? Just wondering.

jonpall - I started using soundclick because of my Sonar Song forum. On that forum we are always posting our songs and getting / giving a lot of feedback. A lot of people on that forum use soundclick and it is a good site to showcase songs. They keep statistics on how many plays you get on your different songs. They'll show you how your songs are doing in their "charts". I believe you can sell your songs on soundclick. I don't do that, and I only allow streaming. So you can set it up in a number of ways. You can develop a fan base. It is free, but you can also pay them and gain more control graphically over your website, plus avoid advertisements.

Some guys have changed from Soundclick to others like reverbnation and soundcloud. I'm not an expert on which one is the best.

If you are doing originals it would be good to post them on some music site. Soundclick has their own forum with topics like songwriting and recording. Not sure about reverbnation and soundclick.