How to Find Your Voice Extension: 14 Steps

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 13:47

Finding your vocal range is important for singing the right way. Even though you might hear singers with large vocal ranges - Michael Jackson spanned four octaves - most people do NOT have these qualities. Almost all of them have a range of 1.5-2 octaves in natural or modal voice, 0.25 in guttural voice (if present), 1 octave in falsetto, and 1 octave in whistled voice (if present), even if it is of a style rarely used in singing (unless you are Mariah Carey). There are six main types of vocal registers - Soprano, Mezzosoprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone and Bass - and with a little practice you can easily understand which range you fall into.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: The Vocal Extension

Step 1. Understand what the vocal range consists of

Before you can find your extension, it is important to understand what you are looking for. We are all born with a voice capable of reaching a particular range of notes, based on the vocal cords. We have natural difficulties reaching the notes at the extremes - the highest and lowest notes - of our vocal ranges, so in order to expand them, it is more important to reinforce the voice at the upper and lower limits of our natural register rather than trying to reach the notes. outside the extension itself. Trying to hit notes out of your range is a surefire way to damage your voice.

Step 2. Clarify the classifications of the voice types

Many people have heard the terms soprano, tenor or bass, but don't know what they really refer to. In opera, voices are another instrument that must reach particular notes of a score, such as a violin or flute. For this, register classifications were born to help classify the voices, which made it easier to hear auditions for specific parts of the work.

• While most people don't support opera auditions these days, knowing your voice type lets you know what notes you can hit on sheet music or what songs you can sing at karaoke.
• For more information on voice registers you can do some research on the internet, or visit this site.

Step 3. Learn some key terms

Now that you know what extension is and what voice register classifications are, you can begin to understand some of the other terms that are useful for finding your local range.

• You can divide the classification of extensions into categories based on their respective voice registers. The vocal registers mainly concern the modal (or chest) and head voice.

• A person's modal voice is basically the extension achievable with normal use of the vocal cords. They are notes that can be achieved without adding low, aspirated or high quality to the voice.

  For some very low male voices, there is a lower category called "throaty voice", but many people can't even reach the upper limit of that register

• A person's lead voice includes the highest part of the range, where the notes resonate most in the head, and have a distinct ringing quality. The falsetto above all, the voice that most people use to imitate female opera singers - is included in the lead vocal register.

  As the "throaty voice" extends to the extremely low notes for some men, the "whistled register" extends to the super high notes for some women. Again, very few people manage to reach these notes. Think of the infamous top notes in Minnie Riperton's "Lovin 'You" or Mariah Carey's "Emotion" songs

• An octave is the interval between two notes in which the second has double the frequency of the first. This gives the notes a unison melodic quality. On a piano, the octaves are separated by seven keys (excluding the black keys). One way to express a person's vocal range is to determine the number of octaves it covers.

• Finally, learn about scientific note notation. It is a scientific means of writing and understanding musical notes. The lowest note on most pianos is the A₀, consequently the octave higher than that part from A₁ and so on. What we describe as "middle C" on a piano is actually Do₄ in scientific notation of notes.

  • The full expression of a person's vocal range will include three or four different note notation numbers, including the lowest note, highest note in modal voice, and highest note in lead voice. In the notations of those who know how to use the guttural voice and the whistled voice, these numbers could also be present, always from the lowest to the highest note.
  • On wikiHow you can find more information on scientific note notation.

  Part 2 of 4: Your Lowest Note

  

  Step 1. Sing the lowest note you can sing in your normal voice

  Make sure you do this without croaking or sucking in the note (scratchy or sucked voice). This is the lowest note of the modal voice. Your goal is to find the lowest note you can still sing comfortably, so don't include notes you can't sustain.

  • You will probably find it useful to start at a higher note and gradually move down into the lower register.
  • You should always warm up to your vocals before singing, especially when pushing yourself to the limits of range.

  

  Step 2. Sing the lowest note you can sing, including the aspirated ones

  The aspirated notes count in this case, but not the croaking ones. Some notes drawn in may seem more powerful to you, similar to what an opera singer is capable of projecting. Some men who are able to reach the guttural voice register may do so more easily with this style of singing.

  For some singers the lower normal and aspirated notes coincide. For others, this may not be the case

  

  Step 3. Write your lowest notes

  Once you find the notes you can comfortably reach, write them down. Help yourself with a piano or keyboard to identify notes more easily.

  If the lowest note you can sing for example is the penultimate lowest E, you should write E₂.

  Part 3 of 4: Your High Note

  

  Step 1. Sing the highest note you can sing in your normal voice

  Repeat the same process used for the low notes, but using the high register. Start on a high note that you have no trouble reaching and go up the ladder, without making it to the falsetto.

  You may find it helpful to project your vocals more onto the higher notes

  

  Step 2. Sing the highest note you can reach in falsetto

  Now you can use the falsetto voice to find the highest note you can reach with that vocal style. The note will most likely be higher than you can reach with your normal voice.

  

  Step 3. Sing the highest note you can reach in a whistled voice

  If you are a woman who can reach the whistled register, you can try to reach these notes after warming up the voice with a falsetto scale.

  

  Step 4. Write your highest notes

  Again, hit the highest notes you can reach without straining. Some of these notes won't sound great until you get some practice, but include any that you can comfortably reach.

  For example, if the highest note you can reach in the normal voice is the fourth F, write F₄ and so on.

  Part 4 of 4: Your Extension

  

  Step 1. Count the notes between the lowest and highest

  Count, with the help of a keyboard, the interval between the lowest and highest note that you can sing effortlessly.

  Do not include sharps and flats (the black keys) in the count

  

  Step 2. Calculate the octaves

  Seven notes make up an octave, so A to G, for example, is an octave. You can therefore determine the number of octaves by counting the total of notes between the lowest and highest as a series of seven.

  For example, if your lowest note was E₂ and your highest note was E₄, you have a range of two octaves.

  

  Step 3. Include partial octaves as well

  It is normal, for example, for someone to have a range of 1.5 octaves in a full voice. The reason for the mid-octave is because the person can only comfortably sing three or four notes in the next octave.

  

  Step 4. Express your vocal range with a classification

  Using these numbers, you will be able to express your vocal range on paper and compare it to the log classification.

  • If, for example, your collection of numbers reads Re₂, Sol₂, Does₄, and Yes ♭₄, your range falls directly into the baritone vocal register.
  • However, the notation is usually expressed as: (Re₂-)Sol₂-Does₄(-Yes ♭₄)

  Signs

  • DIESIS ……….. ♯ (raises the note by a semitone with respect to the natural note)
  • BEMOLLE …………. ♭ (lowers the natural note by a semitone)
  • BEQUADRO …. ♮ (deletes ♯ and ♭ from the score)

  Warnings

  • This system of scientific notation assigns to Do₄ the denomination of central Do. If you are using a different note system (how to identify middle C with C₀ or Do₅), you may not interpret your vocal range well, and consequently damage your voice.
  • If you have to scream to reach the highest notes, only do it while recording or warming up and try to avoid doing it live. Trying to hit these notes too often is a great way to damage your vocal cords.