Are You Pushing Too Much When Singing?
- Listening
- Muscles & Space
- Fatigue & Tightness
Have you ever started singing and noticed that your voice felt tight? You were pushing your voice so much that your voice cracked? Belting is a skill that takes control and practice to perfect.
If you’ve ever heard a song that becomes really loud, listen closely to make sure its not vocal effects. Listen to what register your voice may be in.
Its important to use your cheeks to give yourself space for the air, if we don’t, we can damage our vocal cords.
Understanding how to use your air is consistent in helping with your belting ability.
Listening
Your most valuable tool you have when singing is your ears. We need to listen to the quality of our voice.
As you practice more with music you will improve your ability to hear when your voice is overpushing. Practicing with a piano will help you improve your pitch.
Another important thing to be aware of in singing are vocal effects. We may listen to the studio version of a track but it may not be accurate in what’s capable vocally.
For example, if you are rapping to a track that’s edited to have no gaps for breaths, you will find it almost impossible to rap.
There are effects that make the voice sound louder or breathier. Often this can be confused with pushing in the chest voice vs using your mixed voice.
Your vocal register is what will tell you whether you need to belt or not.
If you’re at the edge of your chest voice and the belt will likely crack, it may be wiser to try and use your mixed voice.
Muscles & Space
When you are yelling at someone your mouth is likely wide open. It’s natural to give ourselves more space when yelling.
However, when we sing, our jaws and cheeks get tight. When belting, we have to think in terms of how our air leaves our lungs.
If you try yelling with your mouth closed, you will find that you don’t have much volume.
Your belting ability is contributed by the amount of space you are allowing for the air to travel out.
Lowering your jaw and tongue, lifting your cheeks, and using your nose scrunch are ways to send your air out without it being so tight.
Your soft palate, located on the roof of your mouth but the back of the throat, world like an echo chamber. It helps you send your air out with more volume.
Belting power and range is something that can be worked on with the right exercises that don’t damage your voice.
Tightness & Fatigue
If you’ve ever sung a song that has a lot of push you’ve maybe felt your voice tighten up.
This is when we are singing for extended periods of time and our voice starts to feel tired.
If you ever feel vocal fatigue while singing it’s best to take a break from singing and have some room temperature water.
Vocal health is very important because if we keep over pushing we can develop vocal nodes. Vocal nodes are like calluses that develop on the vocal folds.
This makes our voice hoarse, it makes it harder to reach notes, and vocal cracks/breaks are more likely to happen. Worst cases you could lose your singing voice.
On the bright side, you can take therapy that helps rehabilitate the vocal cords or there is surgery.
Always be sure to let your voice rest and note when it feels uncomfortable.
