Hands down the most common question we get is, “Can You Really Teach ANYONE How to Sing?” But today, I’m diving into the second most common question people ask: “Can I Really Expand My Range?”

I love this question because it’s one I asked myself as a young singer. The short answer is:

YES!

Absolutely, without a doubt, 1000%, totally.

Yes, your vocal muscles are flexible, so you can absolutely improve your vocal range. It happens every day here in our Nashville vocal studio. Most of our singers have increased their range by an octave or more… in both their high and low ranges! So get excited guys — your vocal is way more bendable than you think.

Now let’s talk about how.

How Can I Make My Voice Higher?

“How?! I’ve been singing forever and I’ve never been able to sing higher than *that* note!”

This was me too!

By 16, I had sung on countless recordings, competitions, and church events. Despite being very experienced, it seemed my vocal range had hit its peak. (I’m too young to die!) I believed I was just stuck with the range I had. There were songs I couldn’t sing—they were too high or too low, or just out of reach. So, I picked “safe” songs that fit my voice perfectly and hoped I wouldn’t be assigned something too challenging at church.

Then when I was 17, I began training with a vocal coach who introduced me to “mix voice.” Until then, I thought there were only two registers: chest voice and head voice. I had no idea about the “bridge” or the possibility of transitioning smoothly between registers. My coach, Brett Manning of Singing Success, explained that there was more to my voice and range than I had realized. The key was mix voice.

What is the mixed voice?

The mix voice allows you to sing in various shades of “purple” as you blend multiple registers of your voice together… rather than being limited to just “red” and “blue” by themselves, with a very obvious transition in between. (For more on that, check out my blog “Why Does My Voice Crack When I Sing?”) 

At first the mix voice didn’t even seem real! It felt too good to be true, since I had always believed vocal range was set in stone. I began to ask myself, “Beyoncé can belt a G5, but in ‘Halo’ she also hits a low C#3. How is that possible?” Up until then I would have said: “Wasn’t she born with it!? Don’t all vocal powerhouses like Mariah Carey, Bruno Mars, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston have a special ability they were just born with??”

But, turns out I was totally wrong! While these singers have incredible talent, range, and artistry, their ability to hit high notes isn’t out of reach for the rest of us. With the right training, most singers can achieve the same high notes.

🤯Mind = blown

The mixed voice is really the KEY for how to get your voice higher. You really can sing higher, but without using the mix voice, it will always feel like an uncomfortable stretch. I help singers do this every. single. day.  And it’s one of the most rewarding parts of my job. But what about the other end of the spectrum?

The low end is trickier than the high end, actually. Think of it this way: picture your vocal cords like the neck of a balloon. When you stretch the neck thin, it produces a high-pitched squeak. When you relax and widen the neck, it creates a deeper, lower sound. The vocal cords thin out to get higher notes, and thicken up to get lower notes. But sometimes the voice doesn’t want to do this on its own. Thankfully, with consistent training, you can teach your vocal muscles to thin and thicken at the right time, which allows both the high and low end to improve. One of my students increased his low range by 5 notes after just a few months of lessons. And I myself can sing a full octave lower than I used to. Daily vocal exercises can have profound effects on your vocal instrument.

How to Make Your Voice High and Low

So there you have it. Your range can be increased—both high and low. There’s likely more to your voice than you realize. Just last week, I worked with a singer in her mid-30s. She wanted to sing “Never Enough” by Loren Allred. She told me that years ago, she had screamed in her car trying to hit the notes with no success. 😆 After a year of training, she sang the song effortlessly. She laughed at how easy it was compared to 7 years ago when the song came out! There was so much more to her voice and range than she had imagined.