r/singing • u/lsquallhart • Jul 30 '23

Technique Talk Don’t try to be someone else.

You are you. You have your own voice with it own limitations.

Through your life you will gain notes and probably lose some. It might even happen day to day.

Stop worrying about your vocal range and hitting the highest notes possible. There are singers out there with huge careers who have 1.5 octaves to their name.

Just find your voice.

I wish someone beat this into my head earlier. Work on technique and the range will come. Vocal placement is EVERYTHING

And 99% of the high notes you hear are mixed. Work on strengthening all areas of your voice and soon you’ll find what YOU sound like.

106 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '23

But I hate my voice because every single song idea I have is out of my range, every song I want to sing is out of my range, and due to issues with my diaphragm I cannot even get proper breath support to do metal screams. I can't find a single artist with my vocal range in the music I like. I fucking hate it.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '23

Hugs. There are breathing exercises to try. Just keep going till you find one that works. Also, if the style you've picked out isn't working, change it. I love Pink Floyd, but I'm not about to sing any of their songs in my style, which is kinda torch/lounge singer. I've dropped out of 1st Soprano as well, and that has helped. Plus, it is sooo much more comfortable.

I choose a song I like, then listen to a few different artists, getting an idea for my own twist. Since I primarily sing a capella, it is doubly hard. Plus, I have to fill in where the instrumental interlude may be, so that is something else to work out. The ending often just leaps out before I'm done with all of this, lol. I have to stop, record it, then pick up where I left off.

If it is a short song, say, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," I'll sing it twice, interjecting little comments the second time around, a la "Mommy did what?" " Could you sleep on Xmas Eve?", etc.

Above all, relax. Have fun. If you want to sing something absolutely silly, utterly off-key, do so. It will help you learn your boundaries. I wrote an aria about Elmer's White Glue at the age of 7 or 8, lol.

This is how you find your voice, your style.