How To Stop Cracking When Singing High Notes
This is one of the most common problems singers face when they sing high notes.
I’ll tell you why it’s happening and what you can do to fix it immediately. The problem of cracking when you sing high notes is a common problem many singers face. There’s a simple reason this is happening. The number one reason you’re cracking when you sing high notes is you are carrying too much weight of your lower voice too high into your higher pitches.
This causes the vocal cords to be extremely tight. Also the muscles around your vocal cords tighten and squeeze because you feel like if you let up on it, it will definitely break into falsetto. And so you do it even harder. This raises the larynx or voice box. Then the word changes and the vibration shifts to a different place in your mouth or head. This changes the air pressure behind the vocal cords. Then the tension in the vocal cords suddenly changes. Often a complete release of the tension of the vocal cords occurs. Now just the outer edges of the vocal cords are coming together as a lot of air is escaping through the cords. This is called falsetto. This sudden, abrupt change in the tension of the vocal cords together with the abrupt change in tone quality, causes the cracking or breaking sound.
How do you stop pulling the weight of the chest voice too high? You must learn to sing through the bridge of your voice, from low to high notes. The bridge is often called the Middle or Passaggio. It is a passageway from chest voice (low notes) to head voice (high notes). There are many exercises to help you learn to do this. Here’s one exercise that will quickly eliminate the weight of the chest voice as you sing into your head voice.
This exercise is called bubble lips. Men start on the B2. Ladies start on the F#3. It’s simple but profound. In one exercise you can experience the transition of tone from chest to head voice without cracking, breaking, straining or falsetto.
Done correctly, it balances the air with the muscle in the vocal cords and keeps the larynx down where it rests when you’re speaking comfortably. I remember the first time I did it. I was surprised I realized that I had just made a sound higher than ever before without straining or cracking. It was a brand new, exciting experience.
