How do I transition smoothly going up or down while singing without strain or breaking? Is mixed-voice the key? How do I work on it?

Question

I've been trying to learn singing for sometime now and have gone through dozens of videos and articles understanding voice/vocal folds/registers/bridging/exercises-lip-trills-apreggios..etc,. since I'm a lil science driven. Just too much information though, all that. I've also been going to a vocal instructor. There is one thing that I never understood and at the same time feels like would be the key to my primary problem with singing.

So, let's say I'm singing a song and I get to a high chorus with relatively high notes, I start struggling a bit(not too much, but you know some kind of tension) like I'm near the roof of my vocal range(like 'Ugghh!'). Am I supposed to bridge into my mixed voice here?

I can bridge my vocal-registers pretty ok when I'm doing lip-trills or some exercise, but when it comes to implementing it in an actual song, it's very un-natural for me and is almost confusing. And it's damn tough! I either end up with wrong notes, nasal-tone or slip into falsetto totally. Could someone help me out with this? Can this be mastered? What exercises should I be doing? As a beginner, how do I know I'm employing the right techniques to my singing?

Answer 1

Being able to sing a song from start to finish without any mistakes takes much practice - don't be too hard on yourself. It sounds like you are doing all of the right things, but here are somethings you might want to consider to enable yourself to better transition between your chest voice and your head voice.

Endurance isn't taught, it's earned. Depending on how long you have been singing, your voice might not be as in shape as you think. Being able to continuously and consistently push air over your vocal chords and maintain the right pitches for ~3 minutes is quite a feat! Even professionals sometimes change the actual vocal melody to better suit their voice and not strain it when they know they have many other songs to sing. Develop a practice routine with your teacher - this usually involves singing scales in combination with singing songs. Sometimes even cardio helps!

Decide/know when you are making your breaths. Knowing your pitches and how the song goes is one thing, but understanding where you are going take your breaths can be the difference between nailing that difficult pitch/change from head to chest voice AND these moments of confusion you are describing. Where you take your breath is your decision and becomes easier with practice.

Know your range and break. I am a tenor II - obviously, I am going to struggle more with lower ranges than a baritone or bass. For lower parts, it will take me more breath to hit the pitches. I definitely wouldn't be able to sing a song in an alto range, however, I know this because I had my vocal teacher determine where my chest voice ends and my head voice begins. Transitioning between the two can be turned into an exercise once you know these.

Break the song into sections. If you only struggle to sing one part, but not others, spend time practicing that part until you understand how it feels to sing it correctly. Your vocal teacher should be able to assist with this. Once you feel comfortable singing this part on its own, try singing 3-4 bars before this section to know what it feels like to prepare yourself for the more difficult part of the song from a part that is easier to you.

This goes without saying, but you MUST warm up and cool down before and after singing! A warmup/cool down can make all the difference in progress.