How can I open up my throat to hit high notes? How can I learn to sing Rock, Pop, Classical, Soul & Metal?

Or any vocal tips for that matter.
How can I open up my throat to hit high notes? How can I learn to sing Rock, Pop, Classical, Soul %26amp; Metal?
First thing you have to work on, especially when singing high, is that your voice cannot have any tension in it. You must work to sing relaxed. The best way to learn to sing relaxed is through stretching out your body and them breathing exercises.





Below is very similar to what I do for warming before I sing a single note:





Warm-ups (to be done before every time you sing)





1. March in place (2 minutes) (Singing uses muscles that must be warmed up in order to function at their peak)





2. Deep breathing (three-part breath) preparing lungs and maintaining a column of air





3. Yawning





4. Stretching:


a. Shoulder roll (five on each side)


b. Half neck roll (left side to front to right side and back)


c. Half neck roll to the back


d. Neck stretch (turn neck to the side and stretch and then for a deeper stretch turn chin down to the shoulder)


e. Arm above head stretch (lift one arm and stretch it up lengthening your ribs and then follow with the left arm. While one arm stretches up, the other stretches down.)


f. “C” stretch (lift arms above head clasp right hand with left and curl your back while extending your arms. For an added stretch, turn in the direction of the arm clasping.)


g. Shake out hands


h. Face scrunch, face big


i. Pat your head, massage face, sinuses, jaw hinge, etc.


j. Yawn


k. Horse noise


l. Yawn with “Ah”


m. Yawn with “Ah” bent over





5. Posture (preferable to stand when singing so you can keep an uninterrupted column of air)





a. Practice standing to sing. Stand with both feet shoulder width apart, your knees slightly bent and your spine straight. Pretend someone has grabbed the hair at the very top of your head and is tugging it upward slightly. Jaw is loose and breathing is relaxed.


b. Sit comfortably upright with your torso resting on your sit bones. Sit in an uplifted way with your feet flat on the floor and your gaze at a comfortable level with your eyes and jaw relaxed.





Exercise Set 1. Correct Breathing technique/Building vocal facility





1. Deep breathing correctly. Your stomach is relaxed and flowing out on inhalation. Your ribs are relaxed and expanding and your shoulders are relaxed and down. (You’ll find when you sing that [usually because of nervousness] that your shoulders start to ride up and get tense around your neck. Consciously lower and relax them whenever you notice this.


a. Inhale and exhale full deep breath five times. (your shoulders should not move. If you are breathing correctly, you stomach is what is moving, not your neck and shoulders.)


b. Inhale a full, deep breath using good technique and exhale on a whispered “Ah.” (five times). Horse noise is great for finding where you are using your breath.


c. Inhale and exhale on a closed-mouth low “Mmm.” (five times)


d. Inhale and exhale on a “Ah” sound.


e. Yawn an “Ah” sound. (five times)





2. Begin to work with making a tone on a vowel (Two finger rule [you should be able to put two fingers between your teeth during any vowel being sung])


a. Ah, b. Eh, c. Ee, d. Oh, e. Oo, f. Ah Eh Ee Oh Oo (on one note)





3. Sing with adding consonants


a. mah meh mee moh moo (nah, tah, lah, sah, kah, etc.) Do all exercises with different consonants.


b. voice/non-voiced, p/b, t/d, f/v, ch/j, sh/zh, k/g (find the others)





4. Build facility with speaking


a. Minimal Animal, Minimal Animal, Red Leather, Yellow Leather





These are absolutely necessary before you even start to sing. When you start singing in your high range, if you feel any strain what so ever in your throat, don't go any higher. Drop down to the highest note that you can comfortably sing. Work on that range until you are 100% comfortable and slowly work up till you can comfortably hit the notes you want. Remember, though, there is a limit to your range. Pushing to far to fast can damage your throat to a point you'll never get there, so proceed with caution.





do not POWER your high notes. If you have to scream to hit them, nobody is going to enjoy you singing it. Keep your voice under control at all times, and not only will you sound better, you'll be able to sing much longer, without tiring out.





Also, remember to switch to your head voice, the higher you go. As the notes get higher, the sound wave the create gets shorter and closer together and do not need as much power to generate, so lighten up on the higher notes. Think of it as an upside down cone. Your power should be on the low notes and decrease as you sing higher.





Last word of advice. Listen to yourself sing. The only way to listen to yourself is to record yourself and play it back. When working on a phrase. Record/Listen identify what is working and not working, and fix it. Then record/listen again until it is right. Then proceed up your range.





Hope this helps, and good luck
Reply:Warm up before you full on sing each time. Also, take the do-re-mi thing to a new level each time you warm up so that you will eventually hit higher, and lower, notes.





Take one genre at a time. Obviously, classical is way different than Metal and Rock and Soul aren't exactly similar either.
Reply:It's all in the breathing. Do breathing exercises to increase Your lung capacity. You should be able to push down on your diaphragm when you have filled the lungs to capacity. (the lungs do the pushing). If you smoke QUIT, it will reduce lung capacity. If your throat feels "full" like when you have a cold, eat pickles. They will reduce "Flem". Last thing practice practice practice!
Reply:adventurer has given you a lot of fabulous details to work on.


What I'd just like to add is for classical singing, we learn to use our voices in a way that lets us sing for many,many years. It's easy on the instrument, and healthy for the rest of the body. Whatever style of music you wind up singing, be sure that you are not hurting yourself to produce that sound. you'll wear out your voice, and there are no replacement parts to fix it with. Most classical singers have the potential to sing for the rest of their lives (taking into account that the voice ages as he body ages, so that by the time we're old, we don't sound so great, either). For instance, the late Luciano Pavarotti was still able to sing well, even sounding less than his age, when he died last year at age 71.


Except for Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra, who else can you say that about?


(Okay, okay!, but Joe Cocker and Tina Turner are the exceptions to the rule)


Just do the right thing by your voice, and it'll do the right thing by you.
Reply:Get some voice lessons. Learn to sing from your diaphragm.





Nobody can sing all those styles. You're lucky if you can master one style.