How to Learn to Sing High and Low Notes

The first step to increasing your upper range and also strengthening those tones is of course practice and the first step when practicing is warming up.

All professional singers do warm up exercises for their vocal cords to adjust for longer singing exercises. Going into a practice session without this can lead to you hurting your throat and straining so hard you will require quite some recovery time. Warm up with singing scales or short repetitive tunes that go from your mid range to high range using a variety of different sounds to stretch all parts of your vocalization body parts.

After this you can start to practice properly. Find your upper limit where you can sing and feel comfortable even if it does not perhaps sound as full and pure as you would like. This is the note that you want to make stronger before you move on to higher notes.
For better results use a piano to hear the tone or even a virtual piano so you can hear that note you are singing for comparative purposes.

Now you need to work to strengthen this note by working the various parts of your body that effect the sound of a high note or "head voice" as it is often known as because you can feel the vibrations of that note in your head, mouth, and sinuses.

Look to your diaphragm first to make sure you hold a steady tone and have enough breath to push through for a deeper sounding tone. You should be breathing from the diaphragm as well as being steady when releasing your breath with good control of that area. Spend some time just singing the note while standing in front of mirror practicing your posture and breathing. Having a strong and controlled diaphragm is essential.

Next play with the other parts that determine your sound. You may not know the various parts such as the pharynx, palette, vocal folds and so forth but it is not entirely necessary. By trial and error you can change your posture and how you singe by adjusting these things to create different sounds. Become familiar with all the sounds you can make at this high pitch.

Now by doing this practice you can strengthen that tone but do not overdo it either! Take a break to sing ascending scales from your middle range back to your upper range and perhaps sing a song in a higher octave than you are used to for some variety and to challenge yourself.

Now increasing your range is about moving on to the next note above the one you have just mastered. Rinse and repeat!

Additional Notes:

Avoid going into falsetto for this which is where you leave your natural range and completely change the way your vocal chords are working to achieve a false high note. This sort of singing may have its uses but the sound that comes out has no depth or force behind it and can hurt your throat if you do it too often or too loudly.

Learning how to sing low notes is often not as sought after as achieving the high notes possibly because singing high notes in a song can lift the emotional tone so high that everyone wants to do it! However being able to sing gorgeous low notes in a song can add a soul and depth that can also move people profoundly so should be encouraged.

Again warm up is essential. Start again from your middle range and do scale singing downwards to your lowest note. Also doing the 'elevator' singing where you simply drop and raise your tone in a single breath can be helpful in getting prepared.

Now find your lower limit where you can sing comfortably without straining yourself. If this does not sound perfect that is fine as again the first step is to strengthen that notes before you expand your range to a note below. When you do this you should be in your "chest voice" as it is often called as the vibrations from this sort of singing come from deep in your chest not your throat or head like higher notes.

Again your breathing must be spot on for this. It is easy to let a lot of breath go when you sing low notes as you open up your throat wider and often breath harder to produce a more audible and stronger sound. Tighten up your diaphragm muscles as you breath out and carefully monitor how much breath you are releasing. You can strike a balance between strength of tone and control of that tone doing this.

Follow similar instructions to singing high notes here as well by playing with the sounds that you make at this low note. Swap between UH sounds to EE sounds to AH sounds and others to move various body parts linked to your vocal sounds.

Again also have a piano or virtual piano on hand to play the exact note you are trying to perfect so you do not slip off tone as you do this. Change now and again to practice scales or tunes in your chest voice range as to not get overly focused and when you feel comfortable after a few practice sessions go down another note and start again as you will find it has become easier to reach now.

Addition Notes:

Do not lose good posture doing this. It feels natural to kind of slump over and look down when singing low notes but this does not really help. Instead it can stop you achieve a good sounds so keep good upright but relaxed posture when doing this and you will get a much sweeter sound.

I hope you now know how to learn to sing high and low notes in a nutshell

For more information and lessons on how to get a great singing voice for your entire range there is a great downloadable resource called Sing-O-Rama that has many audio lessons on this topic and every other one that you need to know to become a great singer.

It also has many useful tools such as a virtual keyboard so you can play notes and songs on a computer piano as well as sophisticated recording and playback utilities that will allow you to have a critical analysis of your own voice.

I believe this download has all the benefits of a real singing coach but with the advantage of a cheaper price tag and the ability to learn when you want and at the pace you are comfortable with. Click below to check it out =)