We Belong Together (Mariah Carey) PLEASE help me fix my high notes.

[BH024]

Here, I was focused on holding back air and keeping my volume down. It seems like when I do that, I get very squeaky high notes, but when I use very forward resonance, I get a muddy/heady tone, plus, I feel like I have to use more air and run out of breath much quicker. Any help would be appreciated.

http://goo.gl/5pdrd

[ronws]

You have a great oo vowel sound, such as in "Who's going to take your place?" Spot on pitch for a high note.

The ee seems to be where you sound strained. And I think that is because you are trying to do ee the same way you do oo. Don't.

Let ee be it's own spot of breath and let the smile happen a little bit on ee.

Also, on high notes, even though there is a word in the lyric, think of it as a note with a vowel. Only because I think I heard some tension.

Otherwise, you did very well on a difficult song. I don't even listen to R & B and Hip-Hop that much but I could hear what you were trying to do and I really do think you have the right voice for this song and this song is right for your voice.

And you already have made a big step just to share it, here. Like the line from one the few R&B songs I remember from my youth, "rockonwhichyabadself."

[BH024]

You have a great oo vowel sound, such as in "Who's going to take your place?" Spot on pitch for a high note.

The ee seems to be where you sound strained. And I think that is because you are trying to do ee the same way you do oo. Don't.

Let ee be it's own spot of breath and let the smile happen a little bit on ee.

Also, on high notes, even though there is a word in the lyric, think of it as a note with a vowel. Only because I think I heard some tension.

Otherwise, you did very well on a difficult song. I don't even listen to R & B and Hip-Hop that much but I could hear what you were trying to do and I really do think you have the right voice for this song and this song is right for your voice.

And you already have made a big step just to share it, here. Like the line from one the few R&B songs I remember from my youth, "rockonwhichyabadself."

Thank you! I want to make sure I understand. Are you saying that consonants are causing the strained sound? Also, is it necessary to change the ee vowel?

[ronws]

You can keep the ee vowel, just change how you do the ee vowel. The consonants are not a problem. How you are doing ee sounds like it is straining.

But, if you want, keep doing ee the way you are doing it. Some people like to strain.