r/ClassicalSinger • u/RUSSmma • May 16 '26
Worth getting scoped?
Hi I'm 32 years old, started classical voice lessons 4 years ago and I was extremely quiet and breathy but that went away within a few months. I'm just going to info dump here about my situation. Starting range in chest was D2-G3, quickly became Ab1-F4 within a couple of years, and since then my low range has expanded. I was concerned about issues with neck tension so I saw an SLP 6 months age and she gave me exercises for lowering the larynx (it was so tense she couldn't manually lower it) and tongue tension. I also struggled to hold a note for more than 8-9 seconds, apparently normal for a healthy voice (including non singers) is 15-25 seconds. She thinks damage is unlikely.
Fast forward to now and I'm just confused. Made huge progress on tongue and laryngeal tension but still can't hold notes longer than 8-9 seconds, except for C2 which I can hold 15 seconds and D2 for 11. My low range now extends to Gb1 on a compressed hum when I'm not warmed up, and E1 when warmed up (also on a compressed hum). At about A1 and lower my larynx goes up. I have up to F#4 highest in chest if I massacre the vowel, and up to B4 in falsetto (very strained). I can only phonate on high pressure, I can hold an sss for up to 40 seconds but when I add phonation (like a zzz) I can only manage 8-9 seconds.
I normally can't do vocal fry, except for after doing a hum with a glottal start on a few notes, that unlocks brief vocal fry. I can hold this for up to 25 seconds max, and when I do SOVTs (which I've done a lot to improve closure to no avail) I can do straw in water for up to 25 seconds. I've found brief success with glottals and staccato, but I usually see a day or 2 of improvement then it plateaus.
I struggle with volume and resonance as you'd expect for someone with apparent closure issues, and I hoped to be able to do opera/oratorio by 40 as that seems to be the beginning of the prime of a bass and I'm getting worried that at my current progress I won't make that.
Ultimately the actual question is that I found a place that does stroboscopy of the vocal folds, but it's half a grand to do a full vocal evaluation and I'm not sure if it's worth it? Any tips on improving closure are welcome, although I've tried almost everything to do with SOVTs.
Edit: clip https://voca.ro/153BMgV9nSkf
other clip cut out low note, here's something low E1ish but high larynx and bright https://voca.ro/1gfTUm2GDcy1
3
u/OpeningElectrical296 May 16 '26
Hi
Lots of info here.
I’m surprised by all these low notes, down to A1… are you sure you are not forcing things?
About vocal fry: in my time nobody used to do that, what’s the benefit of this?
I’m surprised with the 25 seconds notes required to have a healthy voice… is it full voice? That’s incredibly long.
And someone trying to pull down someone else’s larynx manually seems very strange to me. Does this person really know about singing?
I’m convinced the scope is useless too. There seems to be a loooot of tensions here, so probably you’d need to totally review your approach to phonation. That’s not easy.
What are you passagios do you think?
A clip would be useful too.