In need of help

ShawnMatt

Hello! I've been doing the programme for about 11 months now but i've quite beat down lately. There seems to be an ache in my throat every time i sing and a very itchy, scratchy feeling. Went to see an ENT and he told me everything is fine just that my vocal cords are too thin to be a singers and singing is not meant for me. Can anyone learn how to sing and how far i can go determined on my natural make? Also anyone have a similar issue with the hurting of the throat?

HuduVudu

@ShawnMatt the itchy scratchy feeling is you being hoarse. The reason you are feeling this is because you are singing incorrectly. That feeling is caused by you using way too much air and having a lot of tension when you sing/practice. I am not sure which volume of the course you are on, but whichever one you are on you should go back to Volume 1 and work to make sure that you fundamentals are correct. You want to practice and sing correctly so that the hoarseness you are experiencing will go away.

I am not sure that your ENT specializes in singers, but if he doesn't then I would be very wary of his assessment of your ability to sing or not. Proper technique will expand out what you are physically capable of doing. Maybe you are physically unable to be Pavoratti or Halford, but that doesn't mean that you can't sing beautiful and make great music with what you have.

Many people experience hoarseness. By far the biggest reason for them to experience this is improper technique. Clean up your foundation and you will be g2g.

Hope this helps.

Gaston_Jauregui

@ShawnMatt i completley agree with @HuduVudu on the ENT, usually they dont specialize in singing, im pretty sure this has something to do either with placement or support

the one thing that you can already work on is support, IF you want to give it a shot I would encourage you to sit on a bench in this position _/ bending a little to the back supporting your body on the lowest part of the abdomen like ken explains the crunches, or do the crunches just like ken, just to make sure you are supporting well while singing, do this and try singing a scale, bending in every execution, if you feel it easier, it definitely is your support, if it feels the same maybe you should put a recording so we hear what you are doing

ShawnMatt

Thank you so much! I will try that!

ShawnMatt

The exercise has helped a lot. There is much less pain when I sing. However there is still some pain when i enter into the 4th octave( like c4 or D4, as a barritone, they are my so called high notes) and falsetto. Do i just work on the support? Also I've got muscle tension dysphonia. What should I do? Sry for all the trouble.

HuduVudu

@ShawnMatt are you scared?

What's an ole C4 ... it isn't scary

Continue to work and build your support, this is important. However, I think that the real problem is that have mental anxiety over "high" notes. Here is what I would do if I were you. First do lip burbles. This takes a lot of range issues off of the table. When you doing the burbles keep your support in place, but FOCUS on not tensing up. Focus on it like laser. Do NOT let yourself get tense. Ignore EVERYTHING else except your support and removing tension. Follow Ken's advice about how to get tension out. Do NOT worry if you are hitting the notes. Just do the burble. Do this A LOT, so that you can deprogram your mind from the anxiety that I think you are experiencing.

Hope this can help you.

ShawnMatt

Thank You so much!