It is such a huge accomplishment as a singer to hit high notes and sing beautifully. However, in order to evolve in your craft and cover your basis in singing, you also need to learn how to sing low notes. Learning to sing higher is hard enough, but how do you learn to sing lower?
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Avoid darkening your vocal descent
The most common mistake of singers is they darken the descent of their voice as they transition their range. This is a colossal mistake since doing so results in the loss of vocal placement and the reduction of resonance efficiency. It is crucial that as you descend, you keep your forward and high resonance in order to achieve an exceptional voice production. Remember that your low tone does not need to be dark in order to be effective. You simply need to practice the correct placement of your voice so you can properly hit low notes smoothly.
Understanding vocal placement
As mentioned, the correct vocal placement of your voice helps greatly in singing low keys. It is the process of putting your vocal resonators to good use by positioning your voice above the vocal tract and onwards to the more solid portion of your resonators. This technique aids in the improvement of your voice quality, and allows your voice to become at ease in transitioning to lower notes.
You can practice your vocal placement through the following exercise:
- Get a pen and place it parallel to your teeth from either side.
- Next, choose a resonant sound and sing it while holding the pen. You can sing the N or NG if you like.
- By singing a resonant note, you can feel vibrations below or above the pen, and the correct resonance placement is above the pen.
- Continue practicing until you can naturally create a vocal placement through your vowel sounds minus the pen.
- Once you can naturally follow the correct placement of your resonant voice, you can learn how to sing low notes easily.
Keep your larynx down
The key to singing low tunes smoothly is to lower your larynx. It is quite difficult to hit low keys if you position your larynx higher. You are straining your larynx when you push yourself to sing louder and higher, that is why it is very difficult to sing lower due to the poor transition. By ensuring that your voice is not strained and your larynx is down, you can easily reach the low E.
Let us look at the ways you can keep your larynx down in order to hit low keys.
- Avoid over-singing when you take part in an ensemble, choir, or other group activities.
- Do not pull your chest when you hit notes, since that put the larynx higher.
- Stop yourself from screaming or yelling out loud. Doing so will cause swelling of your vocal cords, which makes it impossible to reach low tunes.
- Practice a well-balanced voice exercises and vocal techniques. These exercises help in dropping your larynx and allow you to sing low keys.
- Do not force your voice down. Be patient with your exercises until you can naturally hit the low notes without force.
Stand straight
In your quest to learn how to sing low, you must exercise standing up straight. Do not slouch, since bad posture compresses your throat. You must stand tall at all times while singing so your body is properly trained to hit low notes, as well as other notes. Standing up while singing also helps expand the range of your voice.You can efficiently check your posture by singing in front of a mirror, and correct your stance when necessary.
Warm up by sighing deeply
Warming up is a very important activity that you must never miss when practicing. Since you are learning to sing lower notes, you should warm up through sighing deeply. Create a sighing noise that reflects the deepest and lowest pitch as much as you can. Repeat this exercise over and over for about 5 minutes, until you feel utterly relaxed. In addition, engage in neck rotation exercises and move your shoulders in order to release any residual tension.
Use your mouth and chin
One of the biggest mistakes in trying to sing low notes is singing from the lower sections of the body, like the throat and chest areas. When you want to hit low tunes, you must sing through your chin and mouth. Following this technique allows your voice to stay closer to your head, which in turn generates nicer low notes.
This method may be weird for you and difficult to abide, but a little bit of imagination can go a long way. Simply try to picture out that there is a golden golf ball in your mouth and you want to keep it there. Imagine that scenario while singing. Imagine that scenario until you feel comfortable singing from your chin and mouth.
Get a voice coach
If you are serious about learning to sing low notes, you need to get a voice coach to help you out. This is especially true if you are singing to earn a living. You simply cannot risk damaging your vocal cords or voice quality. By having a voice coach, you are guided through the right process of singing low keys. Your time will also be used accordingly, since you get proper training. And that is better than doing all the hard work on your own with the risk of overdoing it.
Conclusion
Your passion for music knows no bound, and that is absolutely a good thing. Always remember that low or high notes are crucial to your success in the music industry. You must do everything you can to learn how to properly hit low notes without risking your voice. Be careful at all times, and watch your diet very cautiously. Live a healthy lifestyle, and avoid drinking, smoking, or partying in order to preserve the quality of your voice.