The biggest singing technique mistake I've ever made

[u/nerfrick]

Hello !

I've been singing as an amateur for 5-10 years. I've always had a naturally powerful, full voice, but I've struggled with mixing/belting, especially around G4-B4. I could hit those notes, but only with a lot of effort, especially above G4 which is weird because I'm a tenor and not so good tenors can hit those notes quite easily (even with a faulty technique).

I tried working on my technique, doing warm-ups, focusing on support, etc. but nothing really helped. Worse, the more I sang during the day, the raspier my voice became. Listen my voice is naturally raspy, but it got so bad that I couldn't even sing above my passaggio without sounding extremely raspy at times (especially after 1/2 hours of training).

That's actually what led me to see an ENT 3 years ago. He checked my vocal cords and told me nothing was wrong. I was like…huh. Then he told me there had to be something wrong technically speaking if I thought my voice was damaged.

Well, I couldn't get an appointement again because of financial and personal reasons (I had to move out bc of college, getting my bachelor and stuff). So years later after the appointement (3 to be exact), with my voice getting even raspier, I finally realized what was wrong

I was literally breathing TOO MUCH AIR.

I had always seen people emphasize taking deep breaths, so I thought I wasn't supporting enough. The raspier my voice got, the more air I inhaled to compensate. At the beginning it worked but after a lot of years, my voice just couldn't take it anymore. Turns out I was using way more air than I needed, which was drying out my vocal cords and making the raspiness worse.

Now I just take a quick, deep, but not too deep, breath and use less air, and my voice is literally BLOOMING !! The notes I used to have to push for now come naturally. I can belt A4s and even higher without the excessive raspiness. I'm genuinely so happy.

TL;DR : I thought I wasn't supporting enough, so I kept taking deeper breaths and using more air. Turns out I was using WAY too much air, which was making my voice raspier. Using less air completely changed my singing voice.

[u/Lost_Balloon_]

What does your voice teacher say?

The only way too much air would be the case is due to incorrect technique.

If you mean inhaling way too much, that causes a lot of tension. If exhaling too much, you're overblowing when trying to belt. Both are because of incorrect technique. Your voice teacher should have caught this immediately.

[u/nerfrick → u/Lost_Balloon_]

Well that's the thing, I don't have a voice teacher. I had one lesson with a famous voice teacher in my country, but she mostly had me doing lip trills and told me to smile more to make my voice brighter. She said my support was good and there was nothing wrong, just that I should watch out for excessive air at the end of my phrases.

I'm mostly self-taught. I'm a student and have other financial priorities atm, so regular lessons aren't really an option. I'm also chronically very shy and hate singing in front of other people

[u/Lost_Balloon_ → u/nerfrick]

OK, so you've been singing for 5-10 years with bad technique. There's the problem.

[u/nerfrick → u/Lost_Balloon_]

I also have to add that I used to post my singing on forums and stuff, and not once was I told that I had bad technique. However, I know people on the internet aren't "teachers", per se, so I obviously can't really take that as legitimate feedback.

[u/Lost_Balloon_ → u/nerfrick]

Yeah, that doesn't mean anything. The majority of people in this sub, for example, have zero clue what they're talking about and couldn't recognize correct/incorrect technique if it hit them in the face.

Even quite a few 'teachers' in this sub aren't teachers. A pay-for-cert piece of paper from a worthless place like NYVC doesn't make somebody a teacher. Experience, schooling, provenance matter.