How high can I sing?
Five important factors determine your "range." (Your range is how high and how low you can sing.) The biggest factors are your gender, physical size, vocal chord condition,
health and age. To a lesser extent, your range is also affected by natural ability and training.
Gender. The most obvious factor is your gender. Women, generally, can sing higher than men, and men, generally, lower than women. Low-pitched sounds (or voices) are really large sound waves that can only be generated from the vibrations of large masses. The more mass you have in your vocal cord mechanism, the lower your voice. Think of large organ pipes, or tuba, or contrabassoon. High pitched sounds are smaller waves that emanate from the vibrations of smaller masses. Think of piccolos, violins, whistles. Make sense?
Physical Size: Men's Voices. You can tell, sometimes, what range a man has by looking at his physical size. Basses are often tall or big men, and many tenors are men of shorter or slighter stature. But physical size isn't always the determining factor. A tall man may be a tenor, if he inherited a smaller vocal mechanism, and basses and baritones may be any size men who inherited larger vocal cord masses. During puberty, the hormonal changes occurring in young men cause their vocal cords to become thicker and heavier, making the cords capable of lower (and louder) sounds as they get older. Puberty also affects the cords of young women, to a lesser degree.
Curious fact: a bass and a tenor may sound very different, but the difference in the size of their vocal cords is extremely small, by only a centigram or so in weight and only a fraction of a centimeter in length. But that small difference in size makes a big difference in sound.
Women's Voices. Women's voices are not as easy to predict from physiognomy. That's because women's vocal cords, generally, have less mass than men's cords (and differ physically from each other even less than men's do). What determines the range of a woman's voice, after her physical size, is the condition of her vocal cords.
Vocal Cord Condition and Health. Modern women frequently misuse their vocal cords. Working women often subconsciously lower their speaking voices, as it has been shown that a woman speaking with a more authoritative (lower and louder) voice is more successful in the workplace. (Listen to the female news anchors.) Also, women cheer and shout exuberantly at sporting events, political rallies, or rock concerts. Speaking low and loud and/or shouting for long periods of time is more injurious to the female vocal mechanism than to the male, because, generally, women's voices are not physically capable of sustained low and loud vocalization.
If you suspect your voice may be damaged by misuse, don't worry! In most cases, proper voice training and good speech habits, which both utilize full diaphragmatic support, can help a female vocalist sing higher, louder and longer.
Age. There was a period in your life when you answered the phone and the caller asked, "Is your mother home?" That's because your young voice sounded ... young! It was difficult to tell if you were a boy or a girl, but you clearly sounded like a child.
As you grew up, that same caller would mistake you for your mother or father (or older relative of the same sex) and start talking, in error, to you. That's because your vocal cords had begun to gain their adult characteristics, which often make our voices sound like our parents and older siblings. As we become middle aged and senior citizens, our voices gain the characteristics of age, noticeably a lower pitched voice and a scratchy or raspy sound.
What causes these differences? The answer is simple: a lifetime of vocalization is what gives each voice its character. As we use our voices over time, our vocal cords show signs of wear, something akin to callouses on our hands or feet. Our baby vocal cords are very smooth, pliant, and small. They have not developed any areas of wear yet, and this may explain why babies' voices often sound alike. By the time we've reached the age of 80 or 90, our vocal cords are so uneven from wear that our voices may only be recognized by our particular speech patterns (speed, inflection, accent, laugh). Like the voices of babies, the voices of older people sound alike, too.
So what's the best "singing age" a person can be? The answer may surprise you. A singer's best years are 35 to 55 years of age. This is typically the period when singers of musical theater (Rebecca Luker, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, e.g.), cabaret, (Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, et al.), and opera (nearly every great star) hit their peak performance years.
You may ask, "But aren't pop stars much younger than that? It's true. Pop stars generally are younger than 35. Their youth is part of what makes them "pop." But the pop stars who had staying power (Elvis, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Cher, Barbara Streisand) hit their strides way into their thirties.
Can I be older than 55 and still sing? Sure, as long as you've taken good care of your voice. I know women in their seventies who still have exquisite voices because they've spent their lives taking excellent care of them. But you can easily hear the damage to the voice of any woman who was a college cheerleader, or to any singing actress who has made a career of "belting" songs. Judy Garland and Ethel Merman provide two good examples of stars who "burned out" their voices with misuse.
Notice, I don't include any male performers in this group: it's harder for men to hurt their voices, although the effects of age could certainly be heard in Frank Sinatra at the end of his life, and Tony Bennett's voice is now exhibiting some. The larger mass in men's vocal cords can absorb and withstand abuse more easily than can women's. (I'm curious to know, what ever happened to legendary rock screamers Roger Daltry [lead singer for The Who], Robert Plant [lead singer for Led Zeppelin], and others who pushed the limits of their vocal mechanisms?)
Natural Ability. What you sound like as a singer will be determined by what makes up the thing that you call "you." We can say some people were "born" with good voices, just as there are people who were born with straight teeth, thick hair, and 20/20 vision. But, luckily, if you didn't inherit those traits, you can do something about them, including learning to sing, and making "the voice you were born with" sound its best.
Training. Your background as a singer will also determine how quickly and easily you can train to be a solo singer. If you sang in a church or school choir, if you studied another instrument, if you come from a musical family, or even if you've already had some vocal instruction, any experience you've had as a singer or musician is already part of your "training." Even singing along with the radio or in the shower can be considered "training," because ... you sang! Every time you sing, you're making yourself more and more into a singer. Regular vocalization as part of private study can improve a singer's voice very rapidly.
So, how high can I sing? Generally, most human voices can sing a range of about two octaves, and each voice has about a one-and-a-half octave "comfort zone" where pitches are within easy reach. Below are given the traditional ranges for choral voice parts.
Voice Part: Lowest Note: Highest Note: Second Bass D/E below bass staff Bb/Middle C First Bass F/G bottom of bass staff Middle C/D Baritone A/B in bass staff Middle D/E Second Tenor Bb/C in bass staff Eb/F in treble staff First Tenor C/D in bass staff F/G in treble staff Second Alto G/A in bass staff D/E in treble staff First Alto A/B in bass staff D/F in treble staff Second Soprano Middle C/D F/G top of treble staff First Soprano Middle D/E G/A above treble staff Note: Music for high-school aged singers usually goes no lower than
low A-B for basses, and no higher than F-G for sopranos.
Everybody can get high! If you can squeak into a note, the chances are good it's in your range. If it doesn't sound very pleasant (weak, out of tune, bad tone, breathy), you can improve that sound by learning about proper diaphragmatic support and upper body/jaw relaxation techniques.
If there's a high note you're trying to sing and you just can't get it, it's likely you're singing out of your range. If a singer is determined to sing a song with an "impossibly high" note, often he or she can find another note to sing in its place; or, if that's not possible, the whole piece can be transposed to a lower key.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I can sing up only so far with a big sound, and then everything goes kind of airy or weak. Why is that?
You are probably singing up to that high note using the lower part of your range, an area called "the chest register." Most people speak in their chest voices, and it's the register most people (without training) use for singing. From the time we are children, we use our chest voices in situations where we needed a "loud" voice to be heard: on the playground, calling the dog, addressing the classroom, the club meeting, or the soccer team. Unfortunately, we often think we need to use this lower, more "powerful" voice to sing, too. This is not so, especially for women.
Besides the chest register, every human voice has an upper voice, called "the head register." In men's voices, this area is referred to as the "falsetto."
What makes the "head voice" different from the "chest voice?" Have you ever pulled the edges of the mouth of a balloon to create a noise from the escaping air? The pinched opening of a balloon closely mimics how the vocal cords produce sound. The tighter you pull the opening's edges, the smaller you make the opening, and, therefore, the higher the pitch. Think of organ pipes: the big pipes are the ones that carry the low pitches, and the tiny pipes give us the high pitches.
When a singer is using the chest register, the entire length of this "balloon opening" is being used to achieve the vibration. When a singer allows his or her voice to change from the chest register to the head register, a smaller, central section of the vocal cord length is being utilized, allowing a higher pitch to sound. The point at which the voice changes from chest register into head register is called the "break."
What you experienced when your big sound started to go "airy and weak" was that you had hit a pitch that could only be sung after your voice crossed the "break" into its higher register. But because your upper register (head voice or falsetto) is not yet trained to sing as strongly as your lower register, it sounded puny.
This can be remedied! I can show you how to strengthen your upper register, so that it is as powerful as your lower register. I can also show you how to ease from one register into another and back again, so that you have a seamless, full voice from your lowest note to your highest.
If you try to get too high a pitch to sound in your chest register (using the full length of your vocal cords), you are doing what is called "belting." You may hit the pitch, but at great expense to the health and longevity of your vocal mechanism.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I've heard that "belting" is bad for your voice. Is this true?
Belting, as I've defined it above, is very bad for the human voice. If you are forcing your vocal cords to vibrate with their full length at a pitch higher than where the voice naturally wants to "break" into a head register, you are forcing the entire length of your vocal cords to slam into each other at a very high rate of speed across a large column of air.
This kind of vocal abuse can "age" the voice prematurely, and can also cause the vocal cords to become what can best be described as "muscle bound," making it impossible for the voice, over time, to sing anything very high or at a low dynamic (quietly). Think how your voice sounds with inflamed vocal cords when you have laryngitis or after you've shouted your head off at a basketball game: you can vocalize only the lowest pitches, and you have to really "bark" in order to get any sound to come out at all. That's the risk a singer runs by "belting" over a number of years.
That doesn't mean one can never belt. I tell my young musical theater students that it's possible to get a single belted note into one performance a day. Any more than that, even in a warm up or rehearsal, and you won't get through the week's run of the show. This makes my students even more committed to strengthening their head voices to be as full, strong, and loud as their "belted" sound.
My technique of diaphragmatic engagement is one of my favorite areas of instruction. I love giving the lesson where I teach my students how to "get" those high notes without belting. My students always leave their lesson that day with a new sense of power and an eagerness to practice this new and easy technique. Former students frequently return to thank me for showing them how to achieve a strong head voice, saving them from the eventual ravages of belting.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I am so nervous when I sing in front of people, and yet I think I could really be good if I could just get over my fear. Is there any way I can build my confidence?
Absolutely! I use a many-faceted technique to help my students overcome their stage fright. I address performance fear by helping you achieve the following:
1. You will gain a complete understanding of what "fear" is and what it does physiologically to the human body.
2. You will receive reliable, tangible, physical countermeasures to use against performance tension.
3. You will be given strong psychological defenses against the "yama yama" (mind talk) of stage fright. Mine are easy to remember, funny, and very empowering. (This part of my teaching is one of my favorites, too!)
4. You will be taught to remember what it is you're doing out there on stage, in the first place. A simple shift in your focus about "who" your performance is about and "who" your performance is for is often all that's needed to make auditioning effortless, and performance exhilarating.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
Can a person learn to sing harmony?
Usually, yes. My warm-up exercises include a lovely vocalise that, once you learn it and can sing it comfortably, I sing in harmony with you. I sing a line of harmony above you until I reach the limits of my upper range, then I sing a differing harmony below you until you reach your upper limit.
Learning to sing harmony is most often a matter of simply doing it. If singing harmony is something you list among your goals as my student, then we will study duets, and I will sing the other part (as I can), or you can bring your duet partner with you to your lessons, and I can coach both of you.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I'm 12 years old. Should I take singing lessons?
Voice lessons are good for persons of any age; but the best age to start solo training is after the voice has begun to show signs of maturity, most notably in the appearance of a vibrato. Vibrato is the slight pulsation in the tone of a sung pitch which is not, typically, heard in young voices.
Vibrato usually appears between the ages of 13 and 19 years of age, although it may arrive in childhood in some voices, and may wait until mid-life to arrive in others. The existence of vibrato in the voice is a signal that the size of the vocal cords has reached a stage where the full adult range of the voice is available for training. That eases the singer's choices for music to study, and assures the student and teacher that the music for study is neither too high nor too low for the singer's natural range.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I'm a 15-year-old girl who loves musical theater. I have a good voice, and I'm always cast, but never as the lead. Should I give up?
Never, never, never! By "lead" I assume you mean "romantic lead" or ingenue. It's likely your luck at being cast in non-leading roles has something to do with your height, weight, or looks. In other words, you're too tall, too heavy, or not "pretty."
I ask you now to take a good look at Allison Janney (C.J. Craig on "West Wing") who is 6 feet tall, Kathy Kinnie, the fat girl on "The Drew Carey Show," or famous homely girls Imogene Coca, Carol Burnett, Julie Kavner, and Tracy Ullman. I could go on.
Take heart, young friend. Those girls who are getting the ingenue roles now are not getting the good theater background that the rest of us get playing "characters." Take the role you're given and learn, learn, learn. In the meantime, keep studying voice, because the day may come when you're old enough to play "Mrs. Lovett" in Sweeney Todd, or "Norma Desmond" in Sunset Boulevard, or "Mother" in Ragtime, and you'll be perfect for the role.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I've been singing since I was a boy. My voice is changing, and lately I can't seem to sing anything! I can't reach the high notes, and if I try to sing down an octave, some of the notes are too low. What can I do?
You sound like you're maybe 13 or 14 years old, right? Now is the time to keep singing, but you'll need to be patient while your voice "settles in" to its adult range. What you'll probably experience is that your range actually shrinks to about an octave. Some days you'll have those high notes, and other days not. This is a good time to get linked up with a good teacher who can show you how to keep your falsetto useful and can gently help you open your lower range over the next year or two.
The tricky part about singing at this age is finding music to suit your voice! It's a great time to learn Italian arias and German lieder, because much of the music found in these genres sits perfectly in the range of a "changing" voice.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I sang when I was in high school and in college, but I haven't sung since then. Am I too old to start over?
Not at all! In fact, you may find your voice is not only still good, but even better than when you used it last. What you'll need to do, though, is find time to practice (20-30 minutes a day), which is often the biggest challenge to returning students. Also, you may discover your range has dropped, at both the high and low ends. Often, however, I find that my returning adult students are able to add a note or two to their high ends after a few months.
What many adult students discover is that the hour they spend at voice lesson is really good therapy. Your voice lesson becomes a weekly ritual that takes you out of reality for a moment, into the world of the lyric you're singing, to a place where you can tap your heart space and be free of worldly cares. It's a self-indulgence that offers benefits far beyond the mere gaining of repertoire or learning of technique.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sing if I smoke (or used to smoke) cigarettes?
Of course. The two things that cigarette smoking will do over time are: 1) decrease your lung capacity and 2) age your voice. Curious fact: The aging of your voice does not come primarily from the inhale and exhale of smoke, by the way — it comes from the coughing that occurs in people who smoke. Coughing causes far more damage than belting. In coughing, a person forces the chafing together of his or her vocal cords, causing much bruising and, eventually, the buildup of nodes.
The good news is, if you are a former smoker or if you were to STOP smoking as a part of your new determination to become a good singer, you may find that you have great lung power. Former smokers have lungs that have grown used to overcompensating to get enough oxygen. When you take the smoke out of those lungs, what's left is a greater-than-normal capacity for inhalation.
Will I condemn you for smoking? Not at all. I am a former smoker (years ago!) and I was aided in quitting by the sincere belief of a dear family member who never judged me and always had faith that I could do it. And I did! I take the same approach with my students who smoke.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I'm worried about my first lesson. What if you don't think I can sing?
People who want to take singing lessons and never do are operating from the following syllogism:
1. Singing is scary.
2. Singing in front of others is scarier.
3. Singing in front of someone you perceive to be a Good Singer is really terrifying!
Therefore: voice lessons are terrifying.
Students often come to their first lessons thinking they have to prove something to me or perform. This is the last thing I want you to do! Your first lesson is NOT AN AUDITION. In fact, at your first lesson it's my job to convince you that I am on your side, that I am never a judge of your ability, and that my studio is an absolutely safe space for us to collaborate on a "work in progress" — your voice.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
What will happen at my first lesson?
Your first lesson with me will be informative, for both you and me. It's a time when you and I get to know each other and talk. First we take care of business. I get your address, phone numbers, and email address, we set lesson dates on the calendar, and I clarify any questions you have about payment, cancellations, etc.
Secondly, I conduct a short interview, asking you about your musical background, musical taste, and (most importantly) your short- and long-term goals.
Examples of short-term goals my students have set are:
• to increase range (sing higher/lower)
• to sing louder, fuller
• to learn to sing harmony
• to learn to read music
• to improve breath control
• to be certain about pitch
• to control/develop vibrato
• to conquer stage fright
• to prepare for an upcoming audition
• to add to the repertoire in a familiar genre
• to broaden repertoire into other genres (including foreign languages)
Examples of long-term goals my students have set are:
• to be a better school teacher
• to lead a worship team at church
• to get a solo in the school choir
• to get a part in the community theater musical play
• to be cast in a professional summer stock company
• to get into a good college program
• to become a professional cabaret singer
• to perfect a fabulous repertoire of URTA audition pieces
• to perform on Broadway
• to win a Tony/Oscar/Emmy
• to sing lullabies to grandchildren
After we establish your goals, I begin to teach you about the workings of your vocal mechanism. We talk about care of the voice and body, the myths about "good and bad" food and drink, the workings of the diaphragm, lower trunk musculature, and posture.
Then we sing! I have created a set of ten vocalises (voice exercises) that warm up the voice. We start with very easy step-wise figures, then progress to warmups of the diaphragm, face, tongue/lips/teeth, and end with a beautiful arpeggio exercise that eventually becomes the "harmony" vocalise. I sing every one of these exercises with you, so you aren't singing alone.
During the first warmup, I will sing with you while I listen for where your highest and lowest pitches lie. At the end of the warmup, I ask you to sing by yourself so that we can establish your true range. You are welcome to record your warmup (uniquely suited for your range alone) on your smart phone, digital recording device, or laptop computer. You can then practice your exercises daily between our lessons. I encourage you to bring your recording device with you to every lesson, so that we can record the piano accompaniment for the music you will be singing.
Determining your range is a four-part task. I'll ask you first to sing as low as you comfortably can in your chest voice. Secondly, I'll ask you to sing up as high as you can in your head voice. Then, thirdly, we'll take your head voice down to its low end. And finally, I'll have you sing in your chest voice up to where your voice actually "breaks." After doing these four tasks, we'll know the upper and lower notes of both your chest and head registers, AND we'll know which notes you have in common from both ranges, an area I call your "break range."
Usually, we don't get all of this done in a first lesson, because it takes about an hour and a half to do it all. So part of your "first lesson" will really happen at your second lesson. But by then, we'll know each other, you will have sung in front of me, and we can set about the business of finding some good music for you to sing.
I always serve tea in the cold months and water or iced tea in the summer months. If there's a particular kind of tea you like, be sure to bring some with you, so you can lay in your "private stash."
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I had voice lessons before, but I had to pay for a piano accompanist. Will that be true when I study with you?
No. I am a seasoned accompanist, and will play the piano at your lessons for virtually everything you sing. You may also hire me to be your accompanist when you sing at weddings, funerals, auditions, talent shows, cabarets, fundraisers, and private recitals.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
When I had voice lessons before, I had to sing in recitals. Will you make me do that, too?
No. I like to hold studio recitals three or four times every year. Recitals allow my students to "aim" for a date of completion on a piece (or pieces) and then feel really "finished" because they've performed the piece for an audience.
But I think of recitals (and any performance situation) as an opportunity, not an obligation. Nothing can be more embarrassing (for the performer and the audience) than a recitalist who isn't technically and/or psychologically prepared to perform. Conversely, nothing is more gratifying than participating in the recital of a well-prepared and eager performer. When my studio recitals loom, I present them as opportunities to my students, not as obligations. The choice is up to them.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I've been studying with a teacher for some time, but I think we're both ready for a change. How can I make the switch?
Music teachers often refer to this change as "shedding" students. When studies have plateaued for the teacher and/or the student, it really is time to part ways, at least for a while.
Go to your teacher and be frank. Tell him or her that you feel you'd like to freshen your approach to singing by studying with another coach for a time. Chances are, your teacher, who has been suffering through the same lessons with you, will be happy to release you with his or her blessing.
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions
I've never had voice lessons, but I've heard that voice teachers are often abusive and cruel. Is that true?
Legends of abusive voice teachers abound. I am lucky to have never suffered one, but I do know they exist. I have an article I share with students who have been injured by derisive, inconsiderate, or otherwise disrespectful vocal coaches. It's called "Psychological Abuse in the Vocal Studio." There seem to be an inordinate number of voice teachers in the world who make it their mission to belittle, demean, and chastise their students. The great Maria Callas was purported to be of this temperament.
Perhaps, for some students, scornful instruction hardens them for a life in the highly competitive field of opera, where perceived diva-hood is almost as good as the real thing. But not all great singers are prima donnas. For every Beverly Sills (a wonderful and generous soul with abundant talent and impeccable skill) there are twenty superstars focused solely on their own adulation; for every Placido Domingo (a man intent on providing for his entire family and driven to help others in his adopted country of Mexico) there are a dozen mirror-watching tenors and self-important baritones flaunting their way across the world's stages.
Many voice teachers are, unfortunately, failed performers. They were forced into teaching because they were unable to make careers as performers. And the bitterness they take into the profession of teaching often manifests itself as an unwillingness to let any student surpass them into a successful career.
Performing as a singer has never been my goal. (I am drawn more to perform in straight or musical theater, rather than in opera or cabaret.) But teaching is my passion. I adore teaching. I live to inspire, instruct, and set free my students.
I had the great good fortune to study composition under the great American opera composer, Carlisle Floyd, who taught me a most valuable lesson, one that has become my mission statement as a teacher: "It is the job of every good teacher or parent to put himself out of a job."
My goal, in being your voice teacher, is to make you as good as you can be, which I hope will be better than I am! My job is to take you to a place of achievement with your voice where you can say, with confidence, "Thanks, Scarlett! You've taught me how to sing!" Then you can go your way into the world as the singer you've always wanted to be, and I'll get to play with you every once in a while or continue working with you regularly as your "accompanist."
Click here to return to index of Frequently Asked Questions