Does your voice ever “break” when you’re trying to sing a particular note and/or hold it? Vocal breaks are common for singers. But can they be eliminated? Yes.
Most vocal breaks happen when you’re either singing from a low note to a high one or vice versa. You might be singing too lightly or heavily and the break happens. Vocal breaks usually happen when a singer changes between vocal registers, from chest voice to head voice, for instance. Basically, you want to find a balance in your vocal registers.
There are some helpful exercises you can do to find this balance and eliminate vocal breaks.
Have you ever tried lip trills? Take two fingers and put them in the middle of your cheeks, blowing air out to make your lips flop together. As your lips vibrate, add an “uh” vowel behind the lips. Then try singing “uh” with a lower note. Next, sing from that note up to a higher note, and back down again, repeating this “lip trill exercise.” It should help.
You can do something similar to lip trills, though this time with your mouth open singing “gee.” Say “gee” as if you’re saying “geese.” Find a low note and say “gee.” Now sing from that low note up to a high note and back down. While doing this, keep an equal emphasis on the “g” consonant as well as the “ee” vowel. This “gee exercise” is a good one.
Finally, graduate to the “nay exercise,” where you’re helping to balance your vocal registers together as you say the word “nay” with a bratty sound, starting with a low note, heading up to a high note, and then back down again. “Nay” should help you gain power for singing high notes.
Vocal breaks can be eliminated with exercises like the aforementioned ones. It’s also a good idea to check for (and eliminate) tension in the larynx, as tension can lead to vocal breaks.
Those are just the basics, though. If you want the help of a professional to help you eliminate voice breaks, learn how Sing Like a Star can help.
