How to Expand Your Vocal Range: Techniques & Tips

For anybody wondering how to expand vocal range, you’ve certainly come to the right place today.

Have you ever listened to somebody singing before, and found yourself truly mesmerized by the notes they were able to reach? Singers like Freddie Mercury, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Prince, Axl Rose, and many more for example, all had incredible range and were able to reach notes that most people could only dream of.

Singing is not easy. You may think it’s easy as you sing away to yourself in the shower each morning, but singing at an elite level takes a great deal of skill, technique, expertise, practice, and of course, natural talent. If you’re going to progress as a singer, it’s important to work on expanding your vocal range. Doing so, however, is easier said than done.

So, what can you do when your voice and vocal cords can only do so much? How can you hit those high notes like Mariah, sing like Axl Rose or croon like Sinatra, without your voice cracking or vocal cords straining? Well, this is where vocal range exercises can help.

Here are several tips and techniques on how to expand your vocal range.

What is Vocal Range?

Before we look at how to develop vocal range, we first need to take a more in-depth look at what vocal range actually is.

Speaking very basically, vocal range is a term used to describe the entire selection of different notes that a singer’s voice is able to produce naturally when singing. It’s essentially the number of octaves that your voice is able to hit. From the lowest notes to the highest, vocal range is the distance between the highest and lowest pitches in which a singer is able to sing.

Increasing vocal range safely is very much about understanding your own body and your own anatomy. The reason why we’re able to sing in the first place is because of our vocal cords. Vocal cords are muscular folds found within the throat. The voice box to be precise. When air passes through them, they vibrate together and generate sound. Yep, those two vibrating folds of muscle in your throat are the reason why you’re able to speak. Pretty neat, huh?

For male singers, typically the male singing voice is 1.5 – 2 octaves. There are, however, a number of exceptions. Freddie Mercury for example, could reach four, whereas Mike Patton and Axl Rose could famously reach six.

For female singers, the average is 2 – 3 octaves. Again, some singers are able to reach even more. Mariah Carey, and R&B/Soul and jazz singer Jean Carne are amongst the most unique female vocalists on the planet, as they sing with a vocal range of five octaves.

Understanding Vocal Ranges

As far as increasing vocal range safely goes, it’s important to understand as much about range as possible.

Vocal range is categorized into six different groups. These are:

• Bass
• Baritone
• Tenor
• Alto
• Mezzo-Soprano
• Soprano

Bass is the lowest, made famous by singers such as Barry White, whereas soprano is the highest, made famous by singers such as Mariah Carey and Celine Dion.

In terms of how to develop vocal range, it’s important to understand these categories before you begin singing. Knowing your vocal range will help you to choose songs that best suit your voice. Just be aware, however, that just because your natural singing voice may fall into one of the above categories, that doesn’t mean that you can’t hit different notes. It just means it will be harder and will require more work. It basically shows you where your singing strengths lie, and where you may be lacking.

How to Find Your Vocal Range

Before you can begin expanding your vocal range, you first need to know what you’re working with. It may sound complicated, but don’t worry, it’s really not. You will however, need a piano handy. Here’s what to do:

With a piano to hand, begin by humming gently. Just hum naturally, as you would while doing something relaxing. When the hum feels natural, find the corresponding note on the piano. This will help you to identify your speaking voice. Don’t worry, we know this article is about singing, but your singing voice is an expansion of your speaking voice.

Next, inhale deeply and perform a some gentle “Sirens”. Sirens are often used as a technique to warm up the vocal cords. They basically require you to mimic the sounds a siren makes.

Next, using the same note that you found when humming, proceed to follow the notes downwards, five notes at a time, making a ‘Zah, Zah, Zah’ noise. This starting note should then be taken down half of a step for five more notes. Repeat this process until it begins to lightly strain your singing voice, and it feels unnatural.

Finally, you’re going to repeat the process in reverse, going upwards this time. You’ll begin with the same bassline note but will make a ‘Zee, Zee, Zee’ sound this time, moving up and down five notes. After each time, you’ll take the note up half a step until it becomes too difficult. When it does, go back to ‘Zah, Zah, Zah’. Once you’re unable to hit a note properly, this will be noted as your highest note, and vice versa.

How Long Does it Take to Expand Vocal Range?

How long is a piece of string? We’re sorry for the vague answer but the truth is that there is no definitive answer because every person is different.

Some lucky singers out there may find that they’re able to expand their vocal range in just one hour. For others it may take a month, whereas for some it could take a year or more.

How long it takes will depend on a variety of different factors. These include: your current singing voice, your practice techniques, and how much time you dedicate on practicing and expanding your range.

How to Expand Vocal Range

Now that we understand all about the importance of vocal range, what it is, how to find it, and more besides, it’s time to help you expand yours.

Here’s a look at how to develop vocal range using a series of vocal range exercises and techniques.

Relax Your Jaw on Higher Notes

For many singers, it’s reaching higher notes that can sometimes lead to issues. If you struggle to hit higher notes when singing, try to relax your jaw.

Relaxing your jaw will ease tension in the mouth and throat. It will also help you to sing in a more relaxed manner. As people sing higher notes, their jaws are forced to drop so that they can match the pitch in higher notes. When singing, let your jaw relax and let the singing come naturally.

Relax Yourself

We could all stand to use some rest and relaxation in everyday life. For singers looking to expand their vocal range however, this is especially pertinent.

Being tense is one of the worst things for singers. Being stiff and tense will restrict your vocal energy, it could hurt your voice, and it will make it harder for you to sing in higher notes.

Before singing, as well as relaxing your jaw, try to relax your mind and your body. Do some gentle stretches and exercises, make sure you’re warmed up and comfortable, and try to avoid stress and tension whenever possible.

Stand Up Straight

Standing up straight and having good posture isn’t just good for your back, it can also be a great way for you to expand your vocal range when singing. When singing, you really want to put some power into your voice, and good posture will help you to achieve this.

Simply stand up straight, as tall as you can, straighten your back, pull your shoulders back, and allow your arms to hang freely by your side. Now, lift your head up, pull in your chin, and make sure you aren’t hunched forwards. Try to keep your spine as aligned as you can.

Now when singing, you’ll find you can generate a more powerful singing voice, and the whole process will feel much more comfortable too. As an added bonus, you’ll be less likely to suffer with back issues later in life, so it’s a win-win.

Round Your Vowel Sounds

As you sing, especially during higher notes, try to round out your vowel sounds. Again, this ties back into relaxing your jaw.

As you sing, round your vowels by making your mouth into a loose oval shape when you sing words such as ‘fine’. Relax your jaw and round out your mouth so that the ‘i’ sounds like ‘ah’.

Substitute Difficult Words

When practicing to expand your vocal range, it’s sometimes worth using substitute words in place of ones that you struggle with.

If for example, you’re singing and there’s one particular lyric in the song that you can’t quite get right, use an easier word to replace it. You can even modify your vowels to make the word easier to pronounce. Rather than ‘what’ for example, you could replace the ‘a’ with an ‘e’ to form the word ‘whet’.

Obviously, you can’t do this when performing, but for practice, it should work just fine.

After a while, try removing the substitute word and replace it with the one that was giving you so many problems. It should now be much easier to sing.

Keep Your Chin Level for High Notes

For a lot of singers, it’s the higher notes that prove the trickiest to master. One of the most common mistakes that singers make is lifting their chins upwards when singing higher notes. The problem with this is that it lowers the soft palate and closes off the back of the neck, making it much harder to hit certain notes.

To get around this, try singing ‘ah’ notes and increase by one note at a time, making sure to keep the chin level so that you can reach higher notes easier.

Conclusion

As you can see, for people looking at how to expand your vocal range, there’s plenty of vocal range exercises you can do to improve your singing voice. While we can’t guarantee that you’ll sing like a pro, if you follow the steps listed above, your vocal range will most certainly improve.

Expanding vocal range safely is not only beneficial for your singing voice, it will also help you to become a more confident performer in general. You’ll reach those lower and higher tones much easier, and you’ll save wear and tear on your vocal cords in the process.

After performing the exercises and techniques on how to develop vocal range, why not see how much you’ve improved? Head on over to our Vocal Range Test and our test will let you know. If you really want to challenge yourself, our Singers Basic Special Challenge will really put your vocal range to the test.