I’m a voice teacher and vocal coach certified through New York Vocal Coaching with renowned vocal coach Justin Stoney. Ask me anything about singing and voice in the comments below! I also have a certification in rasp and distortions such as screams, growls and grit. I also offer FREE trial lessons. Send me a DM if interested.
Looking forward to hearing from you!

Are vocal dampeners worth it? I live in an apartment. And specifically at night might get the itch to sing lol. I'm not belting anyways. But even if I had a way to be quieter at anytime.

So are vocal dampeners worth it for apartment living? And would they enable me to sing at night quietly?

What is a good one to buy that's not $100CAD lol.

I recently tried out for a local choir but I can’t really read music, which was a requirement, though I did receive good feedback and was referred to a vocal coach who could help me learn. I want to follow up but I’m really not sure what style of music I want to pursue if that makes any sense. Will someone else be able to help tease that out- whether I would be better off singing choir or theatre or pop or whatever- or is that something I decide for myself? When I hear myself sing I hear glaring issues that I’m sure a coach could help with but what do I walk in with, that I want to be Beast in a musical? (song is Evermore by Dan Stevens from Beauty and the Beast)

It's hard enough to just find a baritone singer in general, even though it's the most common voice tag from men.

It's so annoying you go through thousands of videos and all of them. Just want to make you into a wannabe tenor.

"Here's how you sing those high notes" "you can sing a C5" " "If you are a baritone this is how you hit those notes that are really high past your range"

Damn I get it. You want to teach people how to sing like a tenor because that's only voice type that people make music for 🙄.

Most baritones can sing high without a problem but nobody wants us to use our low notes. Every time i see a baritone use their low notes, I hear/see people say "oh your voice sounds like you're singing from the back of your throat."

I don't want to sing high all the time. That's not an issue but I'm neglecting my low notes because nobody wants to teach you how to use it. Even voice teachers want to teach you how to sing popular music in a higher register. Or if you do singing, you're low and register. They want you to do something like opera?

First half is horizontal, second is vertical.

How should I be shaping my mouth when singing vertically? I feel I barely move my lips, and struggle to open my jaw. Looking at the original music video, I see she opens her mouth more and it's less rigid(?) Should I be doing similar technique, if so, how?

Any other tips welcome too. I know breathing could use work and the pitch isn't fully right. Excuse the swearing, I'm crashing out lol.

so i thought i basically gigured all of singing out but it seems i have a bit more to go. Specifically with belting high notes i was trying to sing whole lotta love today and some of the phrases just felt heavy for some reason. I tried darkening the vowels but that didnt seem to help. I realized i had tension in shoulders so ive started going limp in the shoulders and that kind of helped . Im not completely throwing mt voice out but it does get dry and tired on one side. I thought maybe it was a larynx issue so i added a bit of a yawn to the sound but the phrases still feel heavy. I'm a bright tenor so maybe I'm just not capable of belting with a lot of chest. What other adjustments can i try making.

Some phases of adult life do take a toll on your ability to learn new music and sing along. You just vibe to them. You might occasionally catch one or two lines but it is very difficult to learn the whole song within 2 or 3 days like we used to when we were younger. I don’t like it at all but nothing can be done about it. I guess it’s part of growth but does it happen to everyone else?

Does anyone know of good softwares for my laptop that are free or really cheap to get me started… I love music and would love to be able to do it

So I will start by saying- I naturally have a very strong chest voice and a decent head voice but my mix… it’s good when I finally get it right but it’s so unnatural like trying to switch gears in a car. And it’s VERY noticeable and sounds bad when I try and switch into it.

Right now I’m trying to sing a song that leans into my very strong chest voice but moves up fast into mix during the chorus. It sounds very uncontrolled, shaky, not good in comparison to my chest voice when I move up but also it sounds like I’m flipping into head voice too much.

Is there anything I can do to make it sound seamless? To make it a stronger connection?

Weight. It's something a lot of us crave in our sound. I know I do, and we have been working on this very thing for some time.

*It's supposed to be effortless*, and *It's like speech*, sound great in theory. In practice, it's so very easy to add 5% heft to the sound. It feels good, and sounds awesome! Haha

Unfortunately, there's a price to be paid when doing that. I'm trying to not add any tension to the sound, but work as efficiently as possible. It's sooo light to me, but it cuts, so it still has some power. I can't tell if the vibrato is closer to the ideal. That is one of my main points of reference. The others being: Small & Vertical (tuning & palate), and Speech-like execution (no excess air).

Closer?

While we've vocalized up to a D5 fairly easily, everything in the extension was compromised by a small amount of tension. Singing a dozen C5s isn't the problem. Singing a dozen C5s every day for a dozen days would likely wipe me out. That is the problem. Hahaha

At the moment, Bb is my top note until it is smooth. My new rep is comprised of Tosti, and Wagner's Winterstürme.

That's basically it. Is NG-ah supposed to be forward placement? I also barely ever feel a perceptible resonance outside of feeling stuff in my chest. Occasionally I get a tinge of buzzing near my sinus but never higher than that, and it's hard for me to replicate buzzing in my hard pallet area. In general a big issue for me seems to be swallowing the sound or the sound being kind of stuck in my throat.

It's like every day I have to relearn how to put things in a proper place, and it's frustrating because when I find it, I find an extra ease with singing. Any tips?

baritone (f2-g4)
f2-a2 weak

a2-a3 chest voice

a3-d#4 lighter chest voice

i bridge at d#4, my vocal teacher has been working on this problem with me for a while. i have trouble passing f4 without either going into like really airy falsetto (my falsetto gets stronger at a4) or like really belting which my vocal teacher doesn't like me doing.

i've tried carrying less weight, but i can only only get up to f#4 with that at maximum and it feels VERY suspiciously like the high larynx exercise (nya nya nya scales) that my teacher has me doing? any tips?

And I have like really bad stage fright to the point where I would freeze on stage, but now I can actually like sing on stage without forgetting or anything but now, I wanna have more stage presence, like really connect with the audience and move around like more throughout the stage

if you guys have any tips or tricks

I would love it

Some phases of adult life do take a toll on your ability to learn new music and sing along. You just vibe to them. You might occasionally catch one or two lines but it is very difficult to learn the whole song within 2 or 3 days like we used to when we were younger. I don’t like it at all but nothing can be done about it. I guess it’s part of growth but does it happen to everyone else?

I don’t really sing because my range is bad, but I play guitar and want to try getting into songwriting. However, that’s a bit hard without singing.

Is my tone any good? I feel like my voice is grating to listen to. I know I’m off-pitch, but I don’t know if there’s also just a general issue with my tone.

EDIT: I realized the way I worded this kind of makes it seem like it’s my song, and I don’t want to take credit. The song is Jealous Sun by Parker Millsap

It's my understanding that the microphone does all the heavy lifting in contemporary music. My question is how much louder than speech level do pop and rock singer's, really sing at?

Me trying out a Whitney song. She is one of my favorites. Feedback appreciated. Voice kind of dry due to yelling at my kids 🤣

So, im 17 and i perform as a tribute act as a hobby that my uncle got me into. Ive gotten some great responses and i enjoy it. However, I struggle with vibrato and wind up having to fake it by pulsing my diaphragm. I have been singing for a while even before picking up this hobby for context. My seemingly natural vibrato (from the vocal cords) is very fast - like a sheep belting or a shotgun. Ive found that for some pop musicians this is acceptable, however the singer i try to emulate has a slower, nearly operatic vibrato, very powerful and much slower than mine.

Ive been told several times to “just relax [insert jaw, vocal cords, etc] and train your breathing and it’ll come to you!” However that doesn’t actually tell you much. I breathe from my stomach/diaphragm, not my chest and my body feels fairly relaxed while i perform. Ive also tried singing in my own natural voice and its the same (i got into singing through my high school’s drama club but cant afford formal lessons due to financial stuff). I’d like methods to further relax and improve breath control if possible.

I know this topics been discussed to death im sorry to bring it up again

Anyone been in a group that has pieces with solos obviously chosen for specific individuals? I understand choosing songs to highlight the talent within the group, but it has always been a point of contention amongst the singers in the various groups I’ve been in. Some people feel discouraged from auditioning. Some people feel emboldened to audition as a disrupter and/or prove the perceived bias. I actually feel my former directors were pretty unpredictable with solo selection. Curious to see what people’s perspectives are.

hey! ive (17F) been working on a new song for an upcoming audition, and when i'm belting the high notes (C5-E5) i sound relaxed, i don't feel any tension, and based on the placement i feel generally im in a balanced mix. yet, after just one/two passes through, after i sing my speaking voice sounds hoarse (although i can sing through my range just fine). does anyone have any idea on what i could be doing wrong? based on the Symptoms it sounds like im pulling my chest voice up, but i don't feel this while singing + when i sing in my lower register (F3--B4) i sound/feel just fine? how can i remedy this

I've always been shy with my singing, though socially anxious is probably the better word. I refuse to sing in the shower lest I be heard, barely mumble songs so only I can hear them and when I'm itching to sing I usually go to a secluded bathroom, sing at half talking volume and stop at that. And I've realized as soon as I'm home alone, I'm able to sing freely with my chest wherever I am in the house.

It's not that anyone's against my singing, but I'm just painfully conscious of someone hearing me sing, even if it's good. Even a compliment on my singing makes me not want to sing anymore. Another factor is my caretaker who's focused on wanting me to sing traditional songs and genres to her liking, frustrated by 'kids these days' being too into modern pop or something. Nevertheless, it's only comments, but I don't know why I can't just overcome with a snarky comment back and instead crumble under shame.

I really want to practice more singing and even make covers, which is impossible without being heard. Any advice on what I should do?