Question:

My voice trembles a lot when I’m singing normal or low. When I’m singing high it doesn’t. I’m 16 years old so it can’t be the aging process, ha, ha! Also I want my chest-voice (do you call it like this? I mean my lower voice) to get just a little higher. How can I do this?

Answer:

It would be great if you could have a lesson or two with a good teacher to get some help with this. Meanwhile, you can consider the following:

The lower voice requires a tremendous amount of strength and energy in the chest. You need to have excellent posture and an expanded ribcage. Of course we never want to grunt when singing, but if you grunt for just a second with your hands on your lower ribs, you will feel the expansion there. You must keep the ribs open like this and prevent the breastbone from collapsing.

You must also have a clear, energized phonation. Make sure that you start the sound and the exhalation at the same, precise moment. If you start the air first, the voice can be weak and shaky, as well as breathy.

Finally, the resonance for the low voice is in the trachea and bronchial tubes. Do some low “ohs” almost as though you are a didgeridoo, and feel the vibrations in your chest. You should always have some of this vibration when you are singing low notes.

You can also try doing sirens from your high voice to your low voice to see if you can keep the good quality that you have on the high notes all of the way down to the bottom.