I have a hole in the middle of my singing range-

August 8, 2018 3:24 PM

I'm mostly a shower singer, but get great pleasure from singing, and have experienced a problem with my singing voice my whole life. In the middle-high range, my voice cuts out, and I can't produce any of the notes in that range.

I produce no sound in that range except some uncomfortable cracking (half an octave or so). The missing range is right above the range where many of my favorite songs are sung, and as a result, when the song gets to a couple emotional high notes, I can't hit them, and have to go above the missing range and sing in falsetto.

Anyone have any clue what's happening, if this is fixable, and how?

Thank you!

posted by Holidayalltheway to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

That seems normal to me. You hit the limit with your regular voice and using falsetto is essentially cutting your vocal cords in half and you pop up an octave. By that I mean that singing in falsetto actually uses your vocal cords differently than your normal singing/speaking voice so a gap between the upper end of your speaking/singing range and your falsetto range is not at all unusual, especially if you're male (meaning specifically that your vocal cords have been affected by those genes and that level of testosterone as there is a size differential). Unfortunately, you may just need to sing some of your favorite tunes an octave lower. A voice teacher may be able to help you improve so maybe you can snatch a few notes, but not super likely.
posted by acidnova at 3:53 PM on August 8, 2018

Hm. So it’s
1) most of your voice the works ok
2) cracky part that you’re calling middle high
3) falsetto?

I think this means the cracky part is your break or passaggio and it’s a hard place for everyone to sing, though for most people the voice doesn’t peter out altogether there.

A few voice lessons could help you figure out what’s going on. Voice teachers can help people find the “mix” of head and chest voice that lets them extend their range in and beyond the passaggio.

One good possibility would be that you’re not singing with diaphragmatic support.
posted by Smearcase at 3:56 PM on August 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Not to abuse the edit window. Since I don't know your actual range, a voice teacher would be someone to consult.
posted by acidnova at 3:58 PM on August 8, 2018

The skill you'd want to work on is called "singing through your break"- basically learning to make a pleasing and controlled transition between your chest voice (lower, sounds more like normal speech) and your head voice (higher, sounds more like an "opera voice").

Everyone's voice has a little weird area where their voice breaks. With most people it's for like 1-2 notes, so yours sounds a bit extreme, but it you can learn to make it sound beautiful and make use of that sound change with artistry.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:59 PM on August 8, 2018 [10 favorites]

Most professional vocal coaches will do a one-off class any time during the year. Ask for local recommendations e.g. from Facebook or whatever, and spend the money to get some feedback from someone who can not only hear what you're doing, but see how you're doing it, and give you specific mechanical directions on how to fix or improve it.

Online voice coaching is... not... great.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:46 PM on August 8, 2018