Help me & Advice

[yulian]

Hello,

I wanted to ask, is it possible to improve my singing voice somehow? I've been searching all over the internet, but as I basically know very little about music, I don't understand what most tutorials say. The thing is, I was able to sing quite good when I was younger, I could mimic the voices from lots of artist from that time, until puberty hit me and my voice was made deeper. I am 15 years old and I'm a boy. I have always wanted to sing, not professionally, but as a hobby. I have always wanted to sing nicely.

I can't:

- Raise my voice at some songs.

- I can't make it sound, what is the word? high pitched? Anymore. EDIT: The thing I meant that was I would like to sing higher, like countertenors (I love the countertenors' voices )

- When I somehow manage to make my voice sound high pitched, when I try to raise it, my voice gets interrumpted. Like, no sound comes out for briefs moments.

What would be the possible ways to improve my voice? Will an instructor help. Can I do something to improve it, or I definitely won't be able to sing good ever?

Greetings, and thanks .

[ronws]

Yes, an instructor will help. Find one.

[off99555]

If I were you I would prefer self-taught online more than a coach. It's cheaper and you can learn without annoying anyone.

To sing high pitch you somehow need to do vocal exercises. Don't only do physical exercises like in fitness. You also need to know how to control singing related organs that help you sing better like the larynx (voice box). The most important thing is your mindset.

So, singing isn't only about voice, your body takes the role too.

[Singingnewbie]

It might sound strange but work the middle area of your voice and the highs will be there. Dont try to got work straight on the highs, work the middle area and the highs notes will come.

Work your middle voice, the highs will come. Either get a singing proggram or search free videos online, do daily vocal workouts and be parient. A good teacher will also help. But if you decide to work alone work on the mids and the highs will be there.

* I skipped the intro and read only the "can't do" things, if you dont understand what the tutorials say then you will probably wont understand what a teacher will say cause most tutorials are made by teachers to be very simple, unless you are watching advanced stuff.

You dont have to understand them, just simply do what they say. When a doctor gives you a medicine you dont need to know how it works on your body. Do the exercises and you get the results, if you have problems then get a coach to giude you.

[Owen Korzec]

If I were you I would prefer self-taught online more than a coach. It's cheaper and you can learn without annoying anyone.

If I were you I wouldn't listen to this suggestion...

You need a teacher to monitor what you are doing and make sure you're not doing the exercises incorrectly. If you are self taught you will misinterpret everything. I've been there, it did very bad things to my voice, made it worse instead of better. Please do yourself a favor, get a good vocal teacher.

And to justify self-teaching in that you don't have to "annoy anyone" is absurd. Annoy who, your private teacher? They're supposed to help you, that is their job, and if that annoys them, they should really stop teaching one on one lessons, because no student wants an annoyed teacher. But that should never discourage you from taking one on one lessons because there are plenty of other teachers who love to help students and will never be annoyed at them.

[VideoHere]

you nailed that owen......

and singingnewbie, why do you say to work the middle voice and the highs will come? respectfully, that is not correct.

where are you coming from on this?

[ronws]

I agree with Owen. If I am paying a teacher in person, he or she is going to put up with my caterwauling until it gets better. That would actually be the point of the lesson or lessons, n'est pas?

[Danielformica]

you nailed that owen......

and singingnewbie, why do you say to work the middle voice and the highs will come? respectfully, that is not correct.

where are you coming from on this?

You definitely want to work your low and middle voice and get it rock solid from say C3-E4. that is the most important part of the voice if its not stable your top notes will always be inconsistent. Though you should work your falsetto as well from say D5 down to E4 to help with the ease in the top notes later.

[Singingnewbie]

I had seen a Joan Sutherland interview, when i was a high-notes junkie myself, mentioning that she worked on her mids and the highs came as natural. You can find on youtube if you search. Now i get an image of a building, if you want a strong 3rd floor you need the 1st and 2nd to be solid or it wont be that stable.

As for the coach suggestion, i am thinking, yes indeed at the beginning a help from a good coach is most helpful, building correct habbits is most important unless you dont mind correcting bad habbits later.

*Not that one will dffinitely build wrong habbits if trained alone, it just more probable.

[VideoHere]

one the best things i did (at least for me) was falsetto exercises.....

[Singingnewbie]

Ive been searching for couple of hours but couldnt find it, i thought it was an interview with her husbant/coach. Lets keep what i said "on hold" i hope ill find it. Man had i re-seen these videos earlier, most, if not all, questions would be vaporised.

http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0C37F6F46F0448D8

Thanks for questioning Videohere, i wouldnt have searched them otherwise!

*Link fixed

[yulian]

If I were you I wouldn't listen to this suggestion...

You need a teacher to monitor what you are doing and make sure you're not doing the exercises incorrectly. If you are self taught you will misinterpret everything. I've been there, it did very bad things to my voice, made it worse instead of better. Please do yourself a favor, get a good vocal teacher.

And to justify self-teaching in that you don't have to "annoy anyone" is absurd. Annoy who, your private teacher? They're supposed to help you, that is their job, and if that annoys them, they should really stop teaching one on one lessons, because no student wants an annoyed teacher. But that should never discourage you from taking one on one lessons because there are plenty of other teachers who love to help students and will never be annoyed at them.

@off99555 The problem with online lessons is, as I don't know a lot about music, sometimes I don't know what to do or if I'm doing the exercise correctly.

How can a music instructor get annoyed? It's their work and you are paying for their services. If a teacher gets annoyed easily, then he shouldn't be a teacher.

@Owen Sure, I won't follow his suggestion. Most tutorials specifically tell you to be careful if you don't know what you are doing. I tried to sing higher yesterday, and even when I reached a higher tone momentarily, pretty much the only thngs I got were a sore throath and a huge strain to my head and throat when I was trying to sing higher. I won't try anything again until I get a teacher, which won't be too much of a problem.

One suggestion to moderators and admins on this forums is to forbid the promotion of owned sites because some people give bad advises to newbies for the sake of getting more sales. Just my two cents.

I agree with Owen. If I am paying a teacher in person, he or she is going to put up with my caterwauling until it gets better. That would actually be the point of the lesson or lessons, n'est pas?

Je suis d'accord .

[ronws]

Tres bon, mon Ami. Certainement ...

And I question, too, about what is or is not accepted advertising. For we have a number of people here who are singing teachers. Links in their footers or avatar. How much is heavy marketing and how much is not? I don't know. When all else fails, this forum is owned by Robert Lunte and he certainly advertises his own program, 4 Pillars, here. And such is his perogative. He also affords a lot of leeway to others and discussions are always open ended.

And there are advertisers here and they reach an agreement with him, such as the banner ads you see at the top. As well as the shopping links below.

I think the teachers here who do offer help, offer a visit at no charge, so as not to compete monetarily with the host. That is, they don't just share a link to their site where you have to pay to get a hint. Robert Lunte puts up free tutorials all the time. Steven Fraser, who's professional career in singing and teaching singing spans longer than the lives of some people who would question him (sorry, Steven) gives away the keys to the kingdom every time he posts.

Daniel Formica will talk to anyone. You only have to call and most any cellphone plan these days is local nationwide. And, of course, the rest of us armchair denizens, such as myself, always have our opinions.

All of which you can disregard or use in part, whatever suits your fancy.

[VideoHere]

i like to spew out advice as a singer because it reinforces my own knowledge and i really want to help others avoid the pitfalls that i fell into....sometimes my advice is a little too pointed (it doesn't apply to everyone) but before i open my mouth or go to write, i make sure it's to the best of my knowledge.

once you're at this for a while discoveries happen, and re-happen and you get all (at least i do) excited and thrilled about your achievements and you want to share them with others.

i don't know about others, but the mind has a way of letting you know "yeah, this is right, or "no, this is not" after a while.

[gno]

yulian - You were asking about the ability to sing "high" again, without an "interruption". Yes, you definitely have the ability to do this. Connecting your "low" voice to your "high" voice is one of the skills that many singers on this forum work on all the time. It is not easy, but everyone has the ability. It takes a lot of hard work, and working on the right things. Like Phil said, you can waste a lot of time working on it the wrong way.

Knowing that you CAN achieve what you are looking for, it's up to you how fast you want to get there. You can experiment and check out youtube videos and you may be able to find your way eventually. It may take years or decades. If you want to get there in the fastest way possible listen to what others on the forum have been advocating - spend some money on a coach / teacher who knows what they are doing.

[ronws]

Slap a 0 at he end of your age, and we are practically in the same situation. I am learning singing as a hobby.

If the OP is 15 and we put a zero at the end of his age, does that make you 150? Sorry, but I found that statement a bit confusing. Though I suppose old people can sing well. Dio was older than dirt and still singing when he passed away.

Anyway, I do agree with the part about singing, experimenting, listening to what you have done. I also like Bob's point that many times when you are doing something right for you, you have a feeling that you know it was right.

[ronws]

Just realized that Dio was not much older than Bob, here. Sorry, Bob.

[Singingnewbie]

Found it after some searching and guess what, the video is named "Joan Sutherland talks about high notes"... please give me the super-smart award

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMWiQG2RuoY

If you dont want to watch the whole video go at 8:00, golden words in my opinion.

[Jens]

Your voice hasnt setteled fully yet, play around and get accustomed to your new deeper voice. The high will come with training and time. A fully trained mature singer will have more range and control than you had as a child

Cheers

[off99555]

That's fine if the teacher isn't annoyed. In order to be a serious singer, regardless if professional or recreational, you’ll need some training on how to sing. It’s necessary for aspiring professionals, just as nurse practitioners and accountants must go to school for their chosen work. You may look for a nearby teacher and take lessons, or use an online singing training course. They're all fine.

[VideoHere]

Just realized that Dio was not much older than Bob, here. Sorry, Bob.

wait a minute..i'm only 60, 60 years young...lol!!!

and my goal is 100...i have too much stuff to do...lol!!!

[QuixoticMelodic]

Most important advice I can give you, DON'T PUSH AND STRAIN TO REACH THE NOTES YOU WANT TO BE SINGING!!! I'm pretty sure I did some damage to my own voice when I was in puberty because I kept trying to sing either higher or lower than my natural ability could comfortably allow. Look up vocal nodules to see what is at risk from bad technique and overexerting the voice.

I could sing tenor for about 5-6 months, and then I was firmly in baritone territory. My voice changed that fast. End of 7th grade, I was singing soprano; beginning of 9th grade I was singing bass. Your voice is what it is, and the second most important advice I can give is to agree with kickingtone: you have to relearn what your voice sounds and feels like, so learn to love it. No penguin ever got great at swimming by wishing it could fly. Try to find music that you like and features singers that use your new, lower range; ask for suggestions from friends, family and this community. You'll have some new stuff to sing/hum along with.

Lastly, if you still find yourself moping and feeling sorry for yourself over not being able to sing like "those other guys" just remember that the dudes with deep voices statistically have better luck with the ladies. Ciao! :cool: