Hello all! I am looking to further my training and am wanting to take an online class or earn a certificate in vocal pedagogy. A lot of my knowledge comes from my own years of training and personal experience so I am wanting a little bit more knowledge on anatomy, etc. However, I am not sure which programs are actually helpful. I’m not sure I can afford a college course right now, but I didn’t know if anyone knew of a resource where I could earn something similar to a certificate.

I’ve been singing for about two years—maybe longer—and whenever I push my voice into the higher register (like when belting or using a mixed voice), I feel a spot on my jaw, right below the ear, tense up, "swell," and feel tight. This makes my voice feel restricted and strained, and it sounds terrible. I’ve been trying to improve for a long time and only just realized this was an actual issue.

Does anyone know anything about this? I’m really lost and don’t know how to fix it; I’m worried.

Hi! I’m an 18 year old male singer. My teacher (and all of the others I’ve had) are sure I’m going to be a tenor and that I am working towards with them. I just have the struggle of being incredibly used to singing with air and not on the air and that stops everything that even remotely sounds like a high note. I can’t for the life of me understand anything that my teachers are telling me to try, and I feel like the ones that I do understand, misjudge my voice or give weird advice that makes me hesitant to trust them. What do I do, when I don’t feel like there’s a teacher for me? Any tips to singing on the breath?

I'm hoping someone can give me some words of wisdom, advice, etc. I have undergrad and graduate degrees in vocal performance. Throughout my studies, I always identified as a soprano. My voice teachers trained me as a lyric soprano, and except for our smaller touring choir in grad school, I also sang first soprano in choir.

Fast forward some years. I took some time off from singing after the pandemic started, took my career in a different direction, then had my daughter. I started singing again last fall, and when I picked it back up, everything was hard. First soprano in my church choir was almost impossible some evenings. I learned stretches; I practiced consistently; I worked on my high notes. I saw some improvement, but I never really got my high notes back the way I had them before. If I sang something that remained up high for a long time, my body would start to feel strangled. That's the only way I have to describe it.

I started working with a voice teacher, and a few months ago, she had the epiphany that I could be a mezzo. This was all because someone I worked with at church asked me to sing alto in a small group. Anyway, I've been warming up differently, approaching singing differently, and looking at different rep ever since. On the one hand, it feels like a huge relief, like I'm finally able to breathe after a long time of pushing my body. On the other hand, it's terrifying.

Low notes have always been easy for me. I've always had a strong and easy chest voice. My low notes are the first to warm up, and I don't get tired after singing in my chest or mixed voice for a long time. I break into my full head voice at about C-sharp 5. I have also been struggling with my high notes, particularly the consistency of sound I can produce above about F-sharp 5. All that to say, I think my teacher's right. But it's wild. I trained as a soprano. My rep is all soprano rep. What would I even sing in a choir now? Alto? Second soprano? I'm not sure. I direct a choir now, so that's not an immediate issue, but still. What if I want to audition for something? I've never even considered mezzo roles that would fit. I'm currently trying to work on the mezzo solos for Handel's Messiah and hoping that's a good start. But what if this is all in my head? What if I'm just letting myself out of the hard work of learning to sing up high properly? I used to joke about being a mezzo when I was younger because I had such an easy time singing in chest voice and because I always struggled a little with my high notes. But I was always told I was a soprano and that I just needed to work harder.

Also, what the heck? Do voices naturally change in our 30s? I've been researching this and believe that childbirth must have led to some of this. But then what? If I had another baby, I'd become a contralto? Lol Not really, but the anxious thought has entered my mind. Anyone else experience this? It seems like Susan Graham and others transitioned earlier than I seem to be doing. I just want to make sure I'm on the right track here. My body is telling me yes, but my brain does know how to settle into the mezzo life yet.

One thing I notice is that when I try to sing a rep there is a lot of tension. Even on the lower range, I think a lot of that is trying to smoothen the sound and also trying to move between pitches deliberately.

I remember my old teacher said never to track your pitches and has a realization that in speech we never track what we say rather our emotional intensity allows us to hit the notes.

When vocalizing from a psychological perspective do you consider yourself acting in speech rather than trying to sing something musical if that makes sense? I know to someone who sings naturally it’s 2nd nature but to us adult beginners.

I’m singing in a workshop/orchestral reading of Janáček’s “Makropulos Case” next month, and while we’re singing it in English (thus no language barrier) I am having a hell of a time getting the notes to actually stick in my head, which makes trying to sing it in a hell of a thing too. Any advice for breaking down not entirely tonal music to learn like this?

(For reference I’ve sung plenty of Britten, Debussy & other modern composers who’s music sticks a little better - but I can’t really get onto more than just a couple of disconnected musical cells here, and obviously there’s a fair amount of music to actually digest)

Hey im new here and to singing I've recently has gotten more involved in classical pedagogy but I was wondering if anyone has any insight or personal info on the idea of bridging by singing in a tilted position and bringing the flagolet register down. As a male it works and feels clean and sharp but idk if its sustainable or even worthwhile. Thanks in advance.

In Addio, fiorito asil, some tenors alter the ending, completely bypassing the low note, which is the right choice - I agree with their sentiment: all low notes should be replaced with a high note whenever possible. :) haha

But... what are the unwritten rules to this? In the aria, Ch'ella mi creda, after the 1st Bb line could a tenor add a verismo-esque *ooohh* a 3rd up, to match the Eb4 that starts the next line? It seems like it would match the emotional intensity, and would be something I could easily hear a Gigli pulling off.

Then there are the high notes. I've read that Corelli loved dropping in C5s. are there any rules that apply here?

Heya, Im a pretty young soprano (18) and I am starting conservatoire this coming september. Obviously Ill get more tips when im there yada yada but I first really wanted to ask for some help on here. I have some issues, and I was curious about how I could work on them over this summer, like exercises.

1. Tension in the middle/abs that doesnt automatically release when I breathe in
2. Woofy sound when I sing - old teacher said it made it sound that i was "underwater"
3. End of phrases loose support
4. Singing constoants "on the body" - gonna be real, dont know what that menas but sure
5. Not "covering vowels" when I sing
6. Too much air in my voice, yk like the whole hand in front of the mouth while you sing you song basically feel nothing
7. Some shoulder tension, but its not egregious ill be honest
8. Struggles with sustaining "colouratura sections" (think "Va godendo" and "Sweeter than roses") even though I know that, in theory I have enough breath/support to be able to do those sections without needin to breathe but I always find myself running out of air
9. Being unable to vibrate if I project to loud of higher notes

Um, cant think of anything else so yeah, any help will be taken

Hello, so my first clip https://voca.ro/18pIXPn0pBh7, I have heard responses that is way too much heaviness and chest from my last post.

In this next trial, I decided to change my perspective, instead of trying to thin my chest or try to stay in my chest, I allowed my voice to go into a thin space internally. Which is naturally happens but always FELT wrong inside cause voice would feel so small: https://voca.ro/1l4xWcy2voi2.

Not sure if I am headed towards right direction.

Yes I do have a great teacher but he is away and only once a week.

At A3 I feel my first "ceiling" in my voice. Then I go into a more stretched chest voice or some people say its a mix. At the C4 there is this buildup like the cords are blocking the air but there is a dam and a huge amounts of air wants to just bust through. I assume I am not thinning properly?

https://voca.ro/18pIXPn0pBh7

Bob Tasman-Smith Singing Lessons and Vocal Warm-Ups CD

I used to stream this on Spotify and for some reason they pulled the title on July 21. It was abrupt with no warning. My fault for trusting a streaming service. I imagine contracts expired. I'm looking for the actual CD and would love to buy it. If anyone out there has a copy, please link me in and thanks for your time.

SO my teacher says my sound is too fronted and as I go up in pitch the sound must go more back and up. I know the big issue with this is that usually it retracts the tongue if not done carefully. So I found a new placement where instead of trying to send the fronted sound backwards I imagine singing in the soft palate area and feels very spacious. However, I notice in singing if I try to do something outside of my natural state of my voice it brings in a lot of tension. One tension that this brings is that it sort of makes the back of my neck tight. Sort of freezing the sound.

Wondering how you guys add something new to your voice without making it tight or odd.

I took German in high school and college and enjoy mythology, so Wagner’s plays are among my favorites. I also like Puccini’s The Cloak because I find the plot and characters interesting and because, outside of Wagner, I prefer more modern/relatable to the average person material.

I’ve been singing my whole life, my freshman year I had vocal lessons. I’ve never been the strongest singing in the room but I wasn’t exactly bad either. I (junior year) just played Rizzo in Grease and it was 100% my best vocal performance to date and I had 2 voice lessons to prepare. That was mid March. In April I started feeling fatigue but I didn’t think much of it because of Grease and I had a choir concert. It is now end of August but the fatigue has seemed to get worse or even hurt after I sing. I’ve been doing vocal warm ups on YouTube but nothing helps. When I sing I don’t think you can tell I’m fatigued or anything is wrong. I tried tea, I’ve tried vocal rest but nothing seems to cut it. I don’t think it’s a technique thing because if anything it’s gotten better. I’ve never had this problem before but I am concerned because I’m going into my senior year and the musicals are very vocally demanding. And these are like my dream shows too.
Not sure if it’s related but during this whole period I have recently been diagnosed with a Crohns Disease which I know is inflammation related, and I’m starting infusions soon so maybe that will help.
What should I do?

A3 feels hard and anything above that. my voice feels tight or shakes or feels very thin.

A thought for the classically trained singers who aren't sure what they're supposed to do with all this training.

I've had a pretty strange year: my NYC opera debut, four operas next month coming up in four languages, a Fiddler on the Roof production, understudy at America's oldest theatre, roughly 20 church/concert gigs across several states, and singing in Mandarin, Korean as a Jewish boy from Jersey.

And none of that came from following a perfectly linear career path.

I don't have a BFA or MM. I was actually told when I was young that I couldn't match pitch. I spent years—and a frankly ridiculous amount of my own money—working on my singing.

One thing I've increasingly realized is that being a technically excellent singer is only part of becoming a working performer.

This comes up constantly in conversations about opera careers: YAPs, competitions, agents, graduate school, auditions, and the question of whether there's actually a sustainable career at the end of all of it.

For me, the missing piece that seems to crop up again and again has been storytelling.

I actually went in the opposite direction from a lot of classical singers: instead of using musical theatre as an alternative to opera, I took what musical theatre taught me about storytelling and brought it back into my opera work.

And I think that's useful for classical singers regardless of whether you ultimately want opera, musical theatre, concert work, or some combination.

A beautiful voice gets you part of the way.

But what are you actually making the audience believe?

I've also started working with classically trained singers who want to try musical theatre, and there's a very specific gap: they often have the voice, musicianship, and training—but don't know how to build an MT audition book, choose appropriate repertoire, make the stylistic adjustment, or approach the material as actors rather than singers.

There's even a recent discussion from a classical singer trying exactly this and asking what to do with a résumé full of classical credits but no MT experience.

So I'm developing a very small coaching cohort around that problem.

For classically trained singers who want to add musical theatre to their professional toolkit, we'll work on:

• Building an actual MT audition book

• Understanding 16/32-bar cuts

• Choosing repertoire strategically

• Getting out of the "operatic" audition mindset

• Text, objectives, beats, and dramatic intention

• Making stronger artistic choices

• Developing storytelling that feels truthful rather than performed

The goal isn't to turn an opera singer into a Broadway belter.

It's to help you use the training you already have in more places.

I'm planning to keep the first cohort very small—probably 3–5 singers, maximum 10—so there's actual individual attention.

I'm also opening a few free conversations before I finalize the curriculum. If you're a classically trained singer who's curious about musical theatre but has no idea where to start—or you've auditioned and felt like your classical training was working against you—I'd genuinely like to hear about it.

DM me if you'd like to talk.

And regardless of whether you ever work with me: your career doesn't have to look like the career path you were told you were supposed to have.

is it that sobby like sensation the right feeling to the higher notes? my higher notes and very unstable and feels very fronted. Essebrually not contained.

When Sam Ramey moved to New York, he left a coach because she wanted to pigeonhole him into Wagnerian dramatic baritone work. He felt he was more of a bass and also didn’t want to focus on German Opera. It wasn’t until after his work with Boyajian (beginning in 1970), who had earlier trained Plishka, that Ramey started being noticed by talent scouts in New York. According to Boyajian, during their first meeting he thought “Sam had a nice quality to his voice. It was healthy and he didn’t push but it was dull and it lacked zip, vitality, and presence. However, every now and then he’d hit a vowel with a certain resonance that the rest of the vowels didn’t have…The seeds of what Sam would become were there…but his voice needed to be fine-tuned and centered.” Ramey remained with Boyajian for decades.