Elaina Robbins, Singer and Voice Teacher
A lot of people ask me how to increase vocal range. It’s an understandable question, and for a lot of singers looking for the best online voice lessons or an online vocal training program, it’s the ultimate goal. After all, what’s more thrilling than a perfectly executed high note or floor-rumbling low note? As much as I wish I could wave a magic wand and add an octave to your range, that’s just not how to increase vocal range. However, there’s a lot you can do to increase your range healthily over time. In this article, I’ll address healthy range expansion, the top 3 factors that hold most singers back, and the sneaky extra consideration of registration. Safety First: How to Increase Vocal Range Without Hurting Yourself You might want to know how to increase vocal range, but first, let’s take a step back and think about vocal health. Vocal extremes are one of the most difficult parts of singing. I often equate singing to athletics, and singing a note at the top of your range is sort of like lifting the heaviest weights you can or sprinting as fast as you can. If your form isn’t good and you’re not in good shape already, the potential for injury is high. So, before you think about singing as high or low as you possibly can, consider working on your technique in general. Once you have a decent understanding of how the voice works and have developed some fundamental skills, you’ll be in a better place to tackle healthy range expansion. Luckily, learning how to increase your range overlaps big time with standard vocal technique. One more thing to keep in mind here is your actual instrument. People’s natural voices come with different limits, just like our bodies do. At 4’11”, I will never be a great basketball player, but I was perfect for gymnastics in grade school. If you have a low voice, your ceiling, even with perfect technique, is lower than some. If you have a high voice, on the other hand, those rich low notes may not be in the cards for you. That’s okay. Celebrate your natural abilities, work on your technique, and enjoy singing in your comfortable range. How to Increase Vocal Range in 3 Ways The top three factors that limit vocal range are pretty broad. In fact, they are the three major factors that affect singing in general—everything from comfort and stamina to phrase longevity and vocal power. I’ve listed them here in order of least to most important (in my opinion) How to Increase Vocal Range by Raising the Soft Palate Go ahead and intentionally try to sing a high note right out of your nose. It’s not great, is it? When you sing through your nose, you convolute the shape of the vocal tract, singing out of three holes (nostrils + mouth) instead of just one more acoustically friendly, streamlined tract (just your mouth). This can have a huge effect on how high you can sing. The fix? Learn how to lift your soft palate! This little structure controls nasality, and if you can lift it, you can streamline that vocal tract for easier high notes. I’ve got a quick fix for this in my online vocal training program. How to Increase Vocal Range with Breath Support Air is the fuel of the vocal instrument. If you don’t have enough air, you can’t sing at all. If you’re trying to sing at the top or bottom of your range, this is an especially important factor. Learning to support your sound is twofold. First, you have to learn how to breathe for singing. Then, you have to learn how to actually use the air you’ve breathed in to sing effectively. If you can do that, those low and high notes will come much easier. How to Increase Vocal Range by Relaxing the Dead Zone I think this is the most important factor by far for improving vocal range, and it has a lot to do with how singing works. Basically, like I said before, the fuel of singing comes from the breath. The effort of singing comes from the breath support muscles. However, most people try to sing by exerting effort in the area I call the Dead Zone. This includes the neck and throat, the tongue, the jaw, and the lips and cheeks. The problem is that when you squeeze and tense up the Dead Zone to try to eke out those high or low notes, it does the opposite of helping. It can physically choke off your sound, and it’s also horrifically uncomfortable. Over time, singing with a tense Dead Zone can lead to vocal injury. The fix here is to learn to relax your Dead Zone when you sing. This is easier said than done, and you must also support your sound. But if you can exert effort in your breath support muscles and keep your Dead Zone relaxed and dead, those low and high notes will suddenly be much easier, and you may even find you can sing a lot lower and/or higher than you previously thought! How to Increase Vocal Range with Registration Changes
I wanted to add this separately because it isn’t a factor for absolutely everyone, but it is worth mentioning. Get ready to get really nerdy with me for a second. Ever heard the terms “head voice” and “chest voice”? These are vocal registers. They are governed by two different sets of muscles that affect the length and thickness of the vocal folds. A quick anatomy lesson here. Head voice, our upper register, is created by the cricothyroid (CT) muscles, which rock the thyroid and cricoid cartilages of the larynx to stretch the vocal folds, making them longer and skinnier. The thinner the cord, the higher the pitch, just like on a guitar. Makes sense, right? Chest voice, our lower register, is created by the thyroarytenoid muscles, the interior part of which forms part of the vocal cords themselves. When they contract, like any muscle, the vocal cords get thicker and shorter. The thicker the cord, the lower the pitch. Again, just think of that guitar. Most of the time, both the CT and TA muscles are somewhat active simultaneously, creating mixed voice, which has qualities of both registers. What do you think happens if you try to sing a very high note while activating your TA muscles? What about a very low note in mixed voice? That’s right—it doesn’t work so well. To sing the highest note in your natural range, you need to use your cricothyroids. To sing the lowest, note, you need to use your thyroarytenoids. There just isn’t a lot of wiggle room there. For two types of singers, this is a major cause of range limitations.
Learn How to Increase Vocal Range with The Five-Minute Singer My online vocal training program, The Five-Minute Singer, covers all the skills I mentioned in this article on how to increase vocal range. I have specific videos targeting inhalation, breath support, Dead Zone relaxation, soft palate, registration…the works. If you’ve been wondering about how to find the best online singing lessons on a budget, I think my online vocal training program will be a great fit for you. I also offer hybrid versions so you can get feedback or even online lessons with me for a fantastic rate. Find out more here, and happy singing!
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