Are you scared and terrified?
Really scared and terrified of your voice cracking when you sing?
As a person who likes singing or someone who would like to have a beautiful voice, the one thing that scares me the most is my voice cracking when i sing.
Think about it…
How will you feel when you stand in front of a group of people or even just trying to sing in front of your friends and family… and then it happens
You begin singing and you are enjoying yourself and then BOOM
Your voice cracks…
Your beautiful voice turns into melody being croaked by a frog
You become embarrassed and decide to NEVER sing again for the rest of your life…
Well not such a drastic action but you get the idea… and that’s how i used to feel whenever i tried singing and i had the voice cracking issue.
I felt like never singing again…and i know that’s how most of you feel.
In this article, we will be looking at the reason why your voice cracks when you are singing and some practical tips on what to do to make sure it never happens again.
Why does my voice crack when i sing
There are a couple of reasons why your voice will crack especially when you are singing.
There is a whole lot of medical speak here which you can read about…but let me try to break it down and explain so you can properly understand.
When you sing, your vocal cords move in such a way to allow the air passing through them to resonate.
This causes to vocal cords to vibrate. If you are singing and your vocal cords are vibrating too much due to stress or you trying to hit a high note, that is when you have that “crack” in your voice.
Another major cause is when you try yo sing from your throat and not your diaphragm. This is because when you sing from your throat, you strain and add so much pressure on your vocal cords.
Singing from your throat is the fastest way to damage your voice and get embarrassed every time you sing.
While these are the major causes of why your voice cracks when singing, there are other ones which are not directly related.
For example, if you have an allergy or a throat infection then it is possible for your voice to crack if you sing.
Also for guys, when they reach puberty their voice starts to crack. This is because their vocal cords has not been able to understand the changes going on in their body.
How to prevent your voice from cracking when singing
Now we know what causes your voice to crack while singing, let’s look at some ways to make sure it never happens to you.
Something you should be aware of is that the voice cracking is something that every singer has to deal with.
It’s not about talent or the skills of the singer.
It simply has to do with practice and learning to control your vocal cords.
1. Do your warm ups
Before you start singing, your vocal cords are “cold”
Warm ups are the single way you can ensure that your vocal cords muscles are flexed and ready to sing.
You want your voice to ease in slowly.
If you have ever seen any great singer perform, you notice the ease with which they are able to go from a low tone to belting a very high pitch.
It all has to do with their warm up and getting their voice ready for singing.
We talked about warm ups here and vocal exercise here.
Here is a video to help you with your warm ups and how to get it right.
2. Learn to control your voice
Imagine trying to hit a high note and you do not know how to hold the tone.
If you manage to hit that high note, your voice is definitely going to crack because you wont be able to hold it.
This is what learning to control your voice can do for you.
Especially when hitting a high note.
There are a couple of things which you can do to learn how to control your voice.
- You need to earn how to breathe properly when singing. This makes it very easy to control and hold your voice with the fear of it cracking.
- You need to hydrate your vocal cord. We talked about this when we looked at drinks that are good for your singing voice.
- You need to train your voice to master this exercises.
3. Singing the impossible
Everyone has a set range that they can comfortably sing.
While this might sound harsh, it is the truth.
You cant sing outside your range and expect your voice not to crack.
You can train your voice to be able to do this but it takes time and before that happens it is best to sing within your range.
So if you are very comfortable singing bass or tenor, then leave the soprano and alto for others to sing.
A good singer picks and vocal and becomes a master at it.
4. Performance anxiety
This is simply stage fright.
That jittery feeling you experience when you are faced with a crowd and you need to sing.
It happens to everyone and it is nothing to be scared about.
The simple way to overcome this is constant practice.
When you continuously practice and you know your songs very well, then you build up your confidence.
Think about it
Why will you step on stage and start to falter when you are singing a song that you know so well?
It’s not likely to happen…
Conclusion
Do not beat yourself and become frustrated if you experience cracking in your voice.
It happens to the best of us. All you need to do is to deal with it and make sure it never happens again
By reading this article, you already know what needs to be done and how to get started.
Have you ever experienced your voice cracking? Let me know about it in the comments below
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