You can hear vocal strain in your voice and feel it in your throat. Your muscles tighten, your tone sounds pinched, and certain notes feel harder than they should.
Perhaps it happens only with particular songs or higher notes. You may assume your voice is naturally too low, or that the song simply isn’t right for you. Changing the key may help, but it may not address the hidden reason why you strain when you sing.
However, there is a hidden reason why you strain when singing. When you attribute the wrong reason for something, it will not resolve the situation. Are you ready for the unveiling of the real reasons for vocal strain?
What is Vocal Strain?
Strain occurs when the tiny muscles of the vocal folds are prevented from freely vibrating for any given pitch. Tension in the tongue or muscles surrounding the larynx (voice box) restrain vocal fold vibration. It would be like tensing the muscles of an arm at your side while simultaneously trying to raise that arm above your head. The conflicting muscle actions create tension which makes simple motion, difficult to do.
Three Main Reasons for Vocal Strain
1) Tongue Tension
Your tongue helps you shape words, but it doesn’t need to work harder just because you’re singing. If you overuse it when speaking or singing by articulating your words beyond what is needed in their natural pronunciation, it can become stiff or tense.
The root of your tongue is essentially connected to the top of your larynx (voice box). Your Adam's apple is the front part of the larynx. Your vocal folds (vocal cords) reside inside your larynx. Tongue tension transfers to stiffness of the larynx and restriction of vocal fold vibration.
I am not saying your tongue should not move. However, watch for and avoid habits such as:
• Pulling the back of the tongue upward when reaching for a high note.
• Overemphasizing consonants will ALWAYS cause the tongue to tighten and pull upwards.
• Pushing the back of the tongue down to "open your throat."
The goal isn’t to keep your tongue still. It’s to let it move naturally, without extra effort. Gentle exercises can help develop greater ease and flexibility in your tongue and the related muscles.
2) Pushing too much air
Many singers push out too much air when they sing. Here is something you probably wouldn't expect to be true.
The higher you sing, the LESS AIR your vocal folds need for their vibration.
And if you push in your abdomen thinking this is breath support, inward/upward pressure forces out an excessive air flow that presses up against your vocal folds. The muscles in and around the vocal folds tighten in response and singing becomes more difficult.
In my many years of teaching singers, I have found that when a singer releases their abdominal pushing, singing becomes easier. Their tone generally becomes fuller and more resonant. Replace the abdominal pushing with a more natural breath support based on how your body breathes and sings.
The largest portion of your lungs are located in your back. They sit inside and are affixed to the lining of your rib cage. When your ribs expand, they open your lungs which pulls in breath. Yes, the diaphragm does have something to do with this process as well but frankly, the rib movement is more important.
If you breathe into your back and then sing, you will find a marked difference in how your voice responds. Just be sure to do this while permitting your abdomen to relax and move naturally rather than manipulating it. It usually takes practice to break the abdominal manipulation habit. For a fuller explanation and guided exercises to develop natural breath support, use the digital version of Contemporary Vocalist Master Course.
3) Asking your voice to do more than it’s ready for
Often singers try to make their voices to do things for which they have not really prepared their vocal muscles. The analogy of an athlete helps illustrate this. Can you imagine an Olympic gymnast attempting a routine for which they had not trained their muscles? Of course not, and yet singers do this all the time. This is not so obvious for singing because you can't see your vocal folds. If you could, you would see that they need incredible agility, flexibility and strength to move, lengthen, shorten and vibrate at the speeds demanded to produce the variety of sounds a good song melody demands. Attempting to sing before developing the vocal folds and related muscles of the voice will undoubtedly result in strain and tension.
Singing, after vocal muscles are developed using limbering and strengthening exercises, is a completely different and strain-free experience. Vocal exercises which are designed to work with how the body naturally produces sound will develop the agility, flexibility and strength to sing without straining. I have spent the majority of my life developing an approach to vocal development that is based upon the physiology of the voice rather than a particular musical style.
The goal is to help you develop your voice so you can use it creatively and expressively.
Wishing you the very best!
Jeannie Deva
0 comments