Vocal Problems

[GuyM]

I seem to be loosing the low end of my vocal range lately on jam nights.

Normally the low E is the absolute bottom end, F is the lowest reliable note. But lately I have been having trouble hitting a G and last night even an A, if it came at the beginning of a song. A couple measures into the song and A wasn’t a problem, but G and below was. I try to warm up a few minutes before leaving the house for a jam and there are no problems then. This problem has been coming and going for about the last month, more coming than going. Does anybody have any remedies?

Thanks

[villevelle]

Hi I am a vocal trainer, and ofcourse I can not make any real comments about what is wrong with you. But let's make some assumptions. Maybe you can recognize some of this, and find some answers and maybe even remedies.

Enemy no 1 for every voice is tension. For a low note your vocal chords need maximum relaxation. That's the reason many people sound so low when they come out of bed: they're still relaxed. If there's to many tension on the vocal chords, low notes become harder to sing. So either you developed a wrong way of intonating and singing, slowly introducing more and more tension on your vocals chrods, or there is something physiological going wrong. The latter is hard to establish as a cause, I do not have a cristal ball, so go see a good doctor. But if the cause is merely due to bad habits, you can start by taking singing lessons, and doing exercises to relax your way of singing.

To find out if you have any bad habits, just be honoust in answering these questions for yourself: is there any strain involved in singing? Is there any pain or an itchy feeling invlolved in singing for a while? If yes, you are developing bad habits which in time will increase and will be harder to get rid of.

I could recommend you to go visit a vocal trainer near you, if you cannot find one, maybe I can help. I never taught through the web, but maybe it's possible..

in the meantime, visiting a docter wouldn''t hurt.

hope this helps a little bit,

take care


(visit my site at www.vocalfons.com)

[Brackett Instruments]

I have better range, both low and high when I'm in shape. During the winter days are shorter and it's cold outside, not to mention holiday eating last month. When I put on a few pounds I just can't sing as good. I don't know if that's your problem or not though.

[tac5]

Loosen your shorts!

[Brackett Instruments]

Originally Posted by tac5

Loosen your shorts!

Maybe that's what happens to me when I gain a few pounds.....my shorts get too tight.

[cotten]

Good advice, villevelle, thanks!

Another couple of things come to mind. Especially this time of year, with heated air in our buildings, the relative humidity can drop very low. Without realizing it, we can become dehydrated, which will definitely affect the voice. A couple hours before a performance, be sure to drink a good bit of room temperature water, and while singing if you can.

Proper vocal warmup is essential if you want to sound your best right off the bat. Get the air flowing, the tension out, the gunk freed (don't "clear" your throat - it does awful things to your vocal folds), and watch what you eat and drink before singing. Some things clog what you want to be open.

With descending scales on open vowels, gently bring the freedom and tone quality of your upper mid-range down into your lower register. Don't growl or push. Strive for the same "balanced" tone from bottom to top that we treasure in fine guitars. They don't have noticeable "breaks" and neither do fine voices.

Ya know that little dangley thing in the back of your mouth? Keep it raised, like you had taken a bite of hot potato, and keep the tip of your tongue down toward the back of your lower front teeth. That small bit of extra resonating space can give you more power and tone with less work from the breath.

Speaking of breath, how's your posture when you sing? It makes a huge difference! Without going into detail, just remember a relaxed attention, shoulders and jaw relaxed and down, but chest high and back straight.

Good thing about singing with a guitar - a capo! If you're not comfortable on the bottom note or two, raise the key a fret or two. Tell the keyboardist and sax players that real pros won't have any trouble with that. (Be ready to duck, though.)

If you're experiencing voice pain, stop singing for a while. Something ain't right, and you can damage your voice by ignoring such warnings.

As ville said, don't be afraid to find a good voice teacher, or to see a doctor if you suspect real problems. Good luck, and let us know how you progress.

cotten

[Chicago Sandy]

A few questions:
As the gig progresses, do you feel vocal fatigue? Do you notice a foggy or cloudy quality (loss of clarity) seeping into the low notes you haven't yet lost? When you speak after the gig, does your voice feel tired and higher-pitched (like it's easier to sing than talk)? Do you infrequently use your speaking voice when you are not performing? And are you middle-aged or older? If you can answer "yes" to more than two of these questions (especially if there's no pain involved) you might have a bowed vocal cord (actually, "fold").

It's like the vocal version of "weekend athlete syndrome." Your vocal cords (no "h") are nothing more than a specialized set of muscles. People who don't use their voices very much in everyday living (especially those who work alone and at home), don't vocalize or sing very often and then once a week try to do several sets (especially unmiked) are very susceptible to this.
I ought to know--it happened to me. Telecommuting, doing one or two short open mic sets a week (or less), not rehearsing or doing warmups and vocal exercises, taking years off from solo performing, playing bass in big bands without singing, and no longer reading to my son once he got old enough to go to school--all conspired to get my pipes out of shape and vulnerable to fatigue whenever I had to sing two sets in an evening. When I was younger and a choral soprano, it wasn't that big a deal. I hardly had to go below middle C anyway. But singing solo, I'm more of a mezzo or even alto, and those low notes are important!

The best thing you can do is see a good voice teacher, who may refer you to a singer-specific ENT. (He will probably do dynamic laryngoscopy--with a tiny fiber-optic camera aimed at your vocal folds, you will be asked to sing or speak so he can see the folds in action). "Bowed" means that instead of meeting evenly and being able to close completely at all ends of your range (especially the lower end of "chest voice") one or both of your folds have weakened to the point where then don't meet and close completely so that they can't vibrate against each other--the air blows through with insufficient friction and you get "fog" (or at its most extreme, nothing) in your lowest notes. The ENT doc also needs to rule out more serious conditions keeping your cords from meeting like polyps, nodes, hemorrhage, or tumors (though they more often impact your upper notes or even cause gaps in the middle). And as we age, the vocal folds weaken anyway--the weakening is accelerated by underuse. (OTOH, nodes, hemorrhages and polyps tend to be "overuse injuries").

Assuming it's a bowed fold, the treatment of choice these days is conditioning. Yup--exercise, especially of your "chest voice." Special vocal exercises devised by the doc or your teacher, as well as reading or reciting aloud every day in your lower register. They used to do stuff like fat or gelfoam injections, but the noninvasive treatments should always be tried first, especially if there is some vocal function left.

Bottom line? If you want to keep your bottom line, it's just like any other set of muscles--use it or lose it.

[GuyM]

Thank you all for the in-depth replies. After going over them a couple of times I think you may have given me the answer.

First of all, these are not professional gigs; they’re “just for fun” jams. Even though I’m probably one of the oldest members here I’ve only been doing this for less than a year. If I had known how much fun it was I would have made time for it before retirement.

Anyway, I’m thinking the cause may be a combination of; not enough practice, tension, lack of humidity, and smoke. I’m still not really comfortable singing in front of a group, especially when I’m trying something new, so tension could definitely have something to do with it. Dry air, the problem got worse as the heating season deepened. Smoke, as the weather got cold the smokers don’t always go outside as they did earlier in the year. At home I don’t have the problem; there is no one listening, I have a properly humidified home, and no smoke.

I’m going to try to get more practice and I’ll try drinking a lot more liquid and maybe sucking on a cough drop or something like that. Maybe an 807 or two would help also.

Thanks again

[aggie182]

My biggest problem with my vocals is that I just plain suck.

[Danno]

Originally Posted by aggie182

My biggest problem with my vocals is that I just plain suck.

Ag-man, I like your style dude.


Danno

[LarryH in Texas]

Originally Posted by aggie182

My biggest problem with my vocals is that I just plain suck.

Aaron, you're supposed to EXHALE when you're singing.

[cotten]

Of course, you might need to inhale occasionally, too, unless it's a really short song.

cotten