Every singer wants to hit better high notes – right? There’s a lot of wisdom in vocal technique to help you do this but I must say that hitting the high notes is not always better!. The most important thing to learn to know what notes are your highest note you can sing with ease in your range and then learn to sing them as the best you can. This is called the sweet spot. With a Baritone male the highest note is around a G4, a Tenor around a C5 a Alto around a E5, a Mezzo around a G5 and a Soprano around a C6. Of course every human being is unique and have slightly different ranges but this is a good starting point.
Before you even start to try and hit your highest note well, please book in with a really good singing teacher who can help you discover what that note or notes is. This is so, so, so important and can save you so much time with you trying to hit notes that are not possible for your range . Now with that rant over ha ha please enjoy the rest of the article to find ways to hit those high notes that you was born to and made to hit!
- Build Your Vocal Strength
In order to hit better high notes, you need to strengthen your voice. A weak voice will have trouble hitting high notes or sustaining them. Build your vocal strength by practicing vocal technique exercises 4-5x per week for a minimum of 30 min, max of 60. Here are some great warm ups to get you started by one of our Entertainment 88 Head singing coaches Sharon Stokes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5zHSrmfbTg&t=223s
These daily exercises will warm up your voice and work on building your range and strength. It really is the most important thing to do if you want to hit your high notes better first. The vocal folds are delicate muscles that need to be slowly worked on over time to build strength like any other muscle.
- Open Your Mouth More When You Sing
Most people don’t realize that if you just open your mouth more when you sing instead of gripping your jaw or throat muscles so hard, you’ll have more sound acoustics and the sound will resonate much easier. It’s a quick trick that works well.
- Point Your Chin Down
Because high notes are placed higher in a singer’s instrument, the mistake is often made to reach up. While we want the soft palate in the upper back of the mouth to arch up, like when you are yawning , we don’t want the tongue or especially the chin to lift. Keeping your chin pointed down on your high notes will help you reach them with more ease and power.
- Hold Your Jaw Open
It’s common to close the jaw a bit to reach higher notes, but be careful not to close too much as you can cut off your tone, power and volume. Holding your jaw open until the close of the word . It is also really important to sing on the vowel and not the consonants which will help give you more volume and power. The best way to do this is to practice voice building exercises with a good singing teacher.
- Press Your Tongue Down
Singers often complain about their high notes sounding too thin or harsh. This is because as you sing higher your throat tends to close making for a thinner, harsher sound. One of several solutions is to press your tongue down in the back of your throat to “anchor” the note. First you have to practice the feeling of the tongue dropping in order to use it during singing. Hold your jaw open, notice an immediate improvement.
I hope you have discovered a few tips to help you hit the high notes. Please remember to find out your range first. Trying to hit high notes that were not designed for your voice can do more harm than good
You can always book in a online singing lesson with us at Entertainment 88 www.entertainment88.com.au We can teach you the best exercises for your individual voice and range.