Really low voice for female.... Any tips?

[Full Moon]

I'm 15 years old and my voice is really low for a girl... Will it ever get higher as I grow, or will it get even lower..?

 

I'm not kidding when I say my voice is low. It's lower than the lowest female range: I can reach the E below middle C, and if I try I can reach D or even C (a whole octave below middle C). Which is just..... Really bad for a girl.

 

Also, I need some help with finding head voice. For some reason, it seems like I don't have it. I recently realized I never "squeal" like how usual girls do when they're excited, I can't imitate a police siren or an owl's hoot using that type or high voice.

 

I do have falsetto, though. I know it's falsetto because it's all whispery and stuff. 

 

Lastly, I've been trying to reach higher notes - I can reach the G above middle C with a bit of effort but my voice just kinda stops after that. It's not painful or anything, but voice stops coming out if I try to sing anything above an A. Anyone have any tips on reaching high notes? Or maybe recommend me to some videos that you found helpful.

 

Thanks!

[Steven Fraser]

Try listening to the Carpenters. The lead singer, Karen, was a contralto, singing pop songs arranged for her by her brother, Richard, to suit her distinctive range and tone.

E below middle C is well within the range of most female voices, as are the much higher notes. Be patient, get a teacher, and train!

Also, if you like harmony singing, you can find lots of lower-voiced women singing in Sweet Adeline's groups, coast to coast.

[Sexy Beast]

I'm not even sure you have that low of a voice but if you do, take it as a blessing not a curse! Contraltos sound very sexy... (Toni Braxton was trying to be one)

 

Also, you will learn how to sing those high notes. Just find a good teacher and train!

[ronws]

Please, listen to Steven, if you do nothing else. And accept the gift of a low voice, if that is what you have. A true low voice, man or woman, is as much a blessing as any other range of singing. Done well, it is just as inspiring.

 

Is your login based on the song by Sonata Arctica?

[Steven Fraser]

Ful Moon:

 

I will write a more detailed set of suggestions later today, addressing your direct questions and situation.

 

More later!

[Steven Fraser]

I'm 15 years old and my voice is really low for a girl... Will it ever get higher as I grow, or will it get even lower..?

I think so. Girl's voices change, for the same reasons that boys' do, just earlier in age and not quite so much. After that, a great deal of what goes on in a given voice is the result of how it is used...the speaking range, volumes, inflection, etc., and a fair amount of your own habits were learned unconsciously by you from the adult voices around you...parents, teachers, other relatives, people you respect and admire, and others.

Your voice will continue to change and develop greatly over the next years. I believe you will be amazed how much will occur just in the next 3 years. So, be patient, give yourself some time, and see what can accomplish.

The 'breathy' sound you call 'falsetto' is not. It is a very light head voice, with incompletely adducted vocal bands. Step 1 in training your voice will be to address the onsets in that range to get the glottal closure firm and complete. Onset exercises will help bunches for that.

I'm not kidding when I say my voice is low. It's lower than the lowest female range: I can reach the E below middle C, and if I try I can reach D or even C (a whole octave below middle C). Which is just..... Really bad for a girl.

All the trained sopranos I know can go to the C3, except perhaps the very high coloraturas. mezzos go to the Bb2, and the contraltos to the A2 or even G.

On top, contraltos go to F5, mezzos to Ab or A, sops to Bb5 or C and coloratura even higher.

Lastly, I've been trying to reach higher notes - I can reach the G above middle C with a bit of effort but my voice just kinda stops after that. It's not painful or anything, but voice stops coming out if I try to sing anything above an A. Anyone have any tips on reaching high notes? Or maybe recommend me to some videos that you found helpful.

Thanks!

This is the same situation faced by many beginning singers... How to make the transition in that range. I have found that soft, clear sirens on V, And Z are a big help. Start low, right at the bottom of your range, and as softly as you can with a clear sound, and then just slide up slowly without increasing the effort in any way. Resist the temptation to add that little bit of effort you use now. As you get past mid c, go softer yet. When you get to as far as you can go without working, then slide down and repeat. The top of the slide is the softest in this exercise.

Repeat for about 15 mins every day, and after a few days you will start to feel something new happening.

Write back, and let us know how things are going.

[KillerKu]

Contralto is my favorite female voice type on average. Learn to love it cause a lot of other people do. You can train to get more high range.

 

The majority of what most people seem to listen to is a bunch of dudes trying to sing in tenor range, and a trained contralto is generally higher, so I wouldn't be remotely worried about it being it too low for listeners.

[ronws]

Contralto is my favorite female voice type on average. Learn to love it cause a lot of other people do. You can train to get more high range.

 

The majority of what most people seem to listen to is a bunch of dudes trying to sing in tenor range, and a trained contralto is generally higher, so I wouldn't be remotely worried about it being it too low for listeners.

 

Exactly. And Karen Carpenter still rocks and she has been dead for longer than a lot of members here have been alive.

 

And she used to try and sing higher to match all the other warbling pop singers of the day. Her recording guy and producer convinced her to drop 1/2 an octave to 1 whole octave in some cases and out came that golden tone. Did she have more beef in her low end that Robert Plant? Yes, and isn't that awesome. Here is how important her voice was.

 

Her brother, who could also sing well in about the same range and played piano (Karen played drums) did not achieve as much success and notoriety on his own as he did being "The Carpenters." That's how important her voice sound was to the whole production. One of those odd instances where a producer was right. 

 

Anyway, it would be nice to see a response from the OP.

[Full Moon]

Thank you so much for all these replies! I still have trouble with head voice - Can't seem to figure out whether mine is falsetto or just a very airy head voice. When I try using that range, it comes out pretty airy, rather than the strong, loud opera-like voice my brother has. I also don't feel any "vibrations" in my head.

 

Also, I just went and tested my progress with a piano... I can now reach G above middle C with ease, as well as A with a tiny bit of strain.

 

What do those letters and numbers mean (ie. C3/Bb2/F5)? I know they're names for notes, I've never learned these terms before, but I keep seeing them everywhere... I have no idea where they are on the keyboard.

[KillerKu]

Thank you so much for all these replies! I still have trouble with head voice - Can't seem to figure out whether mine is falsetto or just a very airy head voice. When I try using that range, it comes out pretty airy, rather than the strong, loud opera-like voice my brother has. I also don't feel any "vibrations" in my head.

 

Also, I just went and tested my progress with a piano... I can now reach G above middle C with ease, as well as A with a tiny bit of strain.

 

What do those letters and numbers mean (ie. C3/Bb2/F5)? I know they're names for notes, I've never learned these terms before, but I keep seeing them everywhere... I have no idea where they are on the keyboard.

 

To find a head voice, you can try calling out like a child, or 'innocent' voice. Like 'here kitty kitty.'

 

To make it less airy, one way that helps some people is to try saying vowels really fast. It's not very intuitive for most people to make a super breathy and fast onset to a vowel vowel. Then you can make them longer. u   uu     uuh       o      oh      ohhhh 

 

Once you find a lighter 'light' voice, it shouldn't be super breathy, but will also feel extremely free with no strain. You can try to slide that voice down into your chest voice and test for a break. If you get this voice right, it will slide over your break smoothly. I did it awhile back for someone else:

 

https://soundcloud.com/killerku/here-kitty-voice

 

Anyway that voice that slides smoothly over the break can be developed into various 'headier, turbo falsetto, super head, whatever' configurations. Fancier stuff. But my opinion is it's most useful to just start with that little voice. It will still sound falsetto to most people, but won't be super breathy and can be done with little air.

 

If you're still struggling, someone like Rob Lunte or Steven Frasier can probably help you out.

 

As for the the numbers on the letters, it's basically the name of a note (pitch), like A B C, etc,  and the number is 'how high or low of a note' that letter is. The way music works is the same letters repeat over and over again, as the notes ascend in pitch, the number will get 'higher.' These are called octaves. So a C2  and a C4  would be 'two C notes, one in the second octave, and one in the 4th octave. Two octaves apart.'

 

The  'b'  part would be a flat. This symbol implies 'one note down.'  So so Gb  would be a G flat (one note below G). # is sharp. Sharp means one note up. So G# would be a G sharp (one note above G).

 

Traditionally, the white keys on a piano are non flat/sharps, and the black keys are labeled flats and sharps.

[aravindmadis]

Consider me another person who loves low female voices!  Unbreak my heart from Toni Braxton is one of my favorite songs.  My choices for voices are weird.  I love low female voices and high male voices.. I guess this means that I love voices which fit a particular range(male or female).  I am sure there are more people like me.  Personally I find high female voices too squeaky!  

[ronws]

Full Moon, if possible, could you upload a clip of you singing? Even if it's from a phone, rather than some awesome mic through Protools and Firewire?

 

It would help a lot to hear what you think you are hearing from yourself. Trust me, it helps, I thought I was kind of baritonish in my low end because the notes overlap. But a very wise person said, that is not baritone. And another wise person identified me as a light tenor. And yes, light tenors can make some low notes. It's a kind of magic ....