[musictlk] struggling with high notes

[Leslie Hamric]

Hi Kelsey. Here's what I have done in terms of dealing with high notes. First of all, I try to think of the high notes is out rather than her up. This way, my throat is less likely to tighten. Second, if I feel my neck has a lot of tension, I will look down look left look right and look up to get my neck relaxed again. It's a very subtle movement combination you can do that nobody will notice except maybe the person next to you. And even if they do, they probably won't pay any attention. Be sure that your breathing from your diaphragm and not from your chest. Whenever I take a deep breath then, I feel as though my tummy  is filling up with air like a big balloon. I try to think of breathing down low instead of up high like a voice teacher of mine once suggested to me. Another thing that has helped me is to bend my knees when I sing the high notes and then when the notes go low again, I Stanback up straight. Think to yourself, do these notes feel easier or harder. If they feel easier, then you're doing everything correctly and there's no tension. If they feel harder, then tension is being created somewhere. Another thing I've done is lift up a music stand when I'm singing high notes and then put it back down. Of course, this is something you can do when you're practicing at home. A final exercise that I do is when I take A deep breath Inn, I move my hands apart. My palms are facing each other. As I sing, I bring  my palms slowly together and when they are together, that's when I'm at the end of my breath. I had a voice teacher tell me that the diaphragm should feel nice and tight like a wall of cement. One thing that I do is I'll put one hand on my diaphragm in one hand on my back from time to time to check and make sure that the diaphragm is in fact a wall of cement. If I feel anything soft, then that means I'm not breathing correctly. So I go back and try again. I wish What this does is it offers  resistance. I would recommend doing these exercises that I mentioned during warm-ups, rather than during the actual pieces. I find that works easier because when I'm doing actual pieces, I have to use both hands to read my pacmate. Hope this helps and feel free to email me privately with more questions.
Leslie And it forces you to use nice and even birth control.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 15, 2014, at 9:40 PM, Kelsey Nicolay via musictlk <musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> I know this is not related to blindness, but I could use some advice.  I am in a community choir and really enjoy it.  I've made a lot of good friends.  However, in several of our pieces, the altos have to sing some notes that a soprano would normally sing.  I sing second alto, so I am struggling quite a bit.  When I say high notes, I mean notes in the fifth octave.  We have several fifth octave D's and E's.  I try to sing the notes, but it seems I just cannot get up there.  I cannot afford a voice teacher right now except maybe one lesson a month.  I think I am breathing correctly, but it's difficult to tell since we sit for 90 percent of rehearsal.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to not struggle so much on the high notes? Should I talk to the director and see if he will allow me to sing tenor on those notes? I would appreciate any suggestions anyone might have.
> Thanks,
> Kelsey Nicolay
> 
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