So, you want to get your voice back? You want to sing better? After realizing your physical health keeps your singing healthy, it’s time to get to work on your vocal skills. So, you start singing this song you picked out and realize you’re struggling to comfortably sing the right notes. That’s probably because you aren’t singing in your correct voice part.
There’re so many voice parts to fall into. Many manage to sing several fluently. It’s even possible to build a whole career singing one voice part and successfully transition to another!
Before you go thinking about trying to master them all, it’s important to understand what the 6 major voice parts are.
- Soprano – highest female voice: vocal range C4 – C6
- Mezzo Soprano – 2nd highest female voice: vocal range A3 – A5
- Alto – 2nd lowest female voice: vocal range F3 – F5
- Contralto – lowest female voice: vocal range E3 – E5
- Countertenor – highest male voice: vocal range E3 – E5
- Tenor – 2nd highest male voice: vocal range C3 – C5
- Baritone – 2nd lowest male voice: vocal range A2 – A4
- Bass – lowest male voice: vocal range E2 – E4
These vocal parts are constructs built on biological differences in male and female vocal abilities. It is important to understand this construct is primitive.
How you identify yourself can no longer constrict you to a single set of voice parts. I identify as female and I have successfully reached the countertenor voice part!
As you can see, there are so many vocal parts to try and work with. Now that you know what they are, you must consider finding your comfort zone. You may be wondering how to do that. It’s fairly simple. There are hundreds of free vocal range test resources out there to try!
So, what IS finding your comfort zone? Finding your comfort zone is simply going up and down a scale of notes from low register to high while monitoring your comfortability and amount of struggle as you ascend or descend with the notes.
Believe it or not, that’s the easiest part of this vocal journey! Once you set your vocal boundaries, it’s time to put your vocals to work and exercise them consistently.
The best way to exercise your vocals and build skills is to rehearse and practice with warmups. Warmups can be anything from lip trills to the siren exercise. Each exercise or warmup is designed to strengthen a part of your voice and teach you the best way to use it strategically in performance.
For example, to build your belting skills, you wouldn’t want to use an exercise designed for singing riffs.
As a vocalist you have full control over your journey’s focus and direction. If you want to build strategies and skills for extending your range, you can. If you want to work on different vocal attacks to learn control, you can do that too. Personalize your experience so that it caters to your strengths and weaknesses.
Given we are still dealing with side effects of the pandemic, I will share my vocal routine secret!
Why spend money on vocal coaches and training while it’s strictly virtual when you can get the same instruction online for FREE.
You may be wondering how that’s possible. Luckily for you, I have a custom resource playlist where you can begin your vocal practice journey today!
