Do I need to sing louder to hit high notes?

This is a great question! I’m sure you’ve seen in those performance, where a singer is really leaning in and belting those notes out. Surely, that means you gotta give those high notes that extra something.

But what if not only is this assumption NOT true, instead a true sign of skill is actually not doing this! Let’s talk more.

Real quick! For those of you who don’t know me. My name is Ivan, I love making music and also teaching singing to students all around the world. On this newsletter my goal is to make learning to sing simple. If that’s up your lane, consider subscribing. If you want to improve your voice faster, check out the links down below for ways to work with me

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Okay so firstly. Context matters.

How we treat volume in a song versus a vocal exercise is different. Why?

The goals are often different. In a vocal exercise, we’re looking for vocal efficiency. In a song, it’s about artistic freedom. Let’s dive into each further.

From a technique lens

Our goal is to maintain even volume. Which means as we go higher or lower. The volume DOESN’T CHANGE.

To understand why, we need to recognise the 2 functions of the voice. I talk about this more in detail in a previous episode (Isolate the stretch)

The first function is they connect OR press together. This is what determines how full/loud your voice is.

The 2nd function is that they stretch. Which means, there are certain muscles that pull and literally lengthen the vocal folds. This is how we create higher pitches.

And so this becomes really simple. The reason why we want to maintain even volume when we’re doing an exercise is that this allows us to isolate the stretching mechanism WHILST keeping the connection exactly the same.

It trains our brain that as we go up higher, I don’t need to press on the cords more. I just need to stretch.

And so when we see singers strain or push, this is because we lack this independence.

So hopefully, you know now in a scale. Let’s aim to keep volume exactly the same.

Now what about in a song?

This is where things change a bit.

Sure, from a technical lens. Keeping even volume is important to encourage the cords to stretch independently.

But the goal of singing/performing isn’t about being the more efficient. It’s to convey an emotion.

And so in a sense, this brings more choice into what we do. In particular with volume, I have seen it go both ways. (See video for more examples)

There are moments in songs, when we’re belting or hitting those higher notes! A slight increase in volume can often give it more “power" and more “epicness”

Or even consider when singers switch to their falsetto for the higher notes. The volume often decreases because there’s less connection. Either way, this just shows it’s not as black and white when singing.

One caveat here, is you’ll notice great singers, intuitively will operate in this narrow band of volume. Whereas a beginner will have more drastic changes.

So Ivan, you’ve mentioned that in an exercise I shouldn’t change my volume but in a song I can. What do you want?!

So the recommendation here is, aim to work through your scales in an even volume first. You don’t go louder or softer. This allows you to isolate the stretching mechanism of the voice. Once you can do this to some degree, in a song! Do what feels right.

Anyway that’s a wrap team! Hope you’ve found value out of this episode. If you did, please share this with a friend or on your social media. It really helps this channel grow and would mean the world to me.

Also if you’re looking for some tailored/specific help. I’ve got ways to study with me down in the description. Apart from that, my name is Ivan - I’m your voice teacher and I’ll see you next Thursday/Friday for our weekly episodes.

Take care!

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