International Cinema Festival of India

For a lot of singers a large obstruction to singing high notes is psychological. You believe you can’t sing those notes, consequently you can’t! Probably someone once told you that you couldn’t, or maybe you have simply heard recordings of professional singers and thought, “there’s no way I can do that.”

When you’re starting to improve your upper range, there are various prerequisites. Good breath support is essential, as is relaxation of the face, jaw, and throat. One way to attain that relaxation is to hum as moving your jaw as though you are chewing.

Singing high notes requires use of your upper resonance, often referred to as your “head voice.” You wish the sound to resonate in your frontal sinuses; imagine it as appearing from the triangle between your eyes and the bridge of your nose.

You should sense shaking in your nose and sinuses, perhaps also the roof of your mouth (soft palate). Do several yawn-slides, and commence each one at a higher pitch than the last. Consider the tone as being vertical rather than horizontal, and imagine the sound as coming from your forehead and the top of your head. Visualize it as riding up in an elevator, and your breath is the mechanism that makes the elevator crest.

A disparity on this exercise, which also helps with breath control and tone placement, is the “buzz-slide”. It uses a technique that goes by several names: buzz, bubble-lips, lip roll. After a fine deep inhalation with good expansion, exhale by means of loosely puckered lips so that they vibrate. When doing the buzz, try to really feel the vibration in your nose and sinuses. Much like the yawn-slide, begin at the top of your range and drop to the bottom.

Next, sing arpeggios. Take in a good breath with complete broadening of your midsection; lightly sing an arpeggio (do-mi-so-do-so-mi-do) on “ah” or “oo”. Start at an easy pitch, and begin every new arpeggio a half-step above the last. Let your mouth open wider at the top of each one, but prevent facial contortions. Maintain an easy, relaxed, erect posture.

When you are comfortable with the exercises, decide on a song to do that has a few high notes in it. Firstly choose one that has only a few high notes that are not sustained; the majority of the song should be in a comfortable mid-range. Later you can develop songs that stay in the upper range and need sustained notes.

A strong upper scale won’t appear overnight, but if you work persistently and diligently at the exercises, you will be gladly amazed with your results.

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