Is this how I "earn each note"?

dThomas

Hello, I'm a 17 year old tenor who is trying to build their upper chest voice C4-Bb4+. My most comfortable belt note right now is D4. I can belt up to G4, but that takes a lot of support and energy for me.

I understand that this high intensity singing and region of my range, if practiced incorrectly, can cause injury, so I want to be sure and safe about my approach. I understand support and vowel modifications, that I have to move to an "uh" sound like "loft" in order to make the vowel more manageable, and when I have built up strength, I can slowly open up the vowel more. I understand that I have to let resonance take over with good open throat technique as I am building up good vocal cord strength. If I have any misunderstandings, please correct me.

The approach I intend on taking is the "earn every note" approach, where I build up vocal muscle strength in one note (I plan to start with D#4) until I am vocally strong enough to move up a semitone. Is this a valid approach? If not, what else can I do?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Wigs

This sounds like a good approach, as you get to your limit, you can try and "stretch" past it by a couple of notes, but pay very close attention to how it feels and how well you are supporting.

NicolasGralewicz

This method sounds fabulous! If you're working on that range I'd recommend Through Glass by Stone Sour, that song goes right up to D#4 while mostly staying in the third octave, so it'd be a good song to test out the note. If you want, I could give you some other good songs that come to mind. Also, it'd be really great if I could hear a vocal demonstration, for two reason!
1) If you're a tenor, D#4 seems QUITE low for a highest comfortable belt note and you might be pushing chest voice up to get that G4
2) If I could hear how you sing I might be able to give some simple vocal tips on how to get those nice round full belts up to C5

dThomas

NicolasGralewicz said:

2) If I could hear how you sing I might be able to give some simple vocal tips on how to get those nice round full belts up to C5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ooKEO_ahO4UkqKx7VZG86bxP1nMgl_-Z/view?usp=drivesdk

Here is a link (hopefully this works 🤞) to me singing a small part of "Rewrite the Stars" by James Arthur and Anne-Marie. There were many digital file errors causing hiccups in the file, they aren't voice cracks. I tried to label the file errors as much as possible. Any feedback would be appreciated!

FYI: I was sitting because I could only find a private space in a car, please forgive this sin but I had no other choice at that moment

NicolasGralewicz

dThomas said:

NicolasGralewicz said:

2) If I could hear how you sing I might be able to give some simple vocal tips on how to get those nice round full belts up to C5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ooKEO_ahO4UkqKx7VZG86bxP1nMgl_-Z/view?usp=drivesdk

Here is a link (hopefully this works 🤞) to me singing a small part of "Rewrite the Stars" by James Arthur and Anne-Marie. There were many digital file errors causing hiccups in the file, they aren't voice cracks. I tried to label the file errors as much as possible. Any feedback would be appreciated!

FYI: I was sitting because I could only find a private space in a car, please forgive this sin but I had no other choice at that moment

Just requesting permission to listen

Also, I'm totally guilty of singing while sitting down, literally everything I have on here is recorded sitting

NicolasGralewicz

dThomas said:

NicolasGralewicz said:

2) If I could hear how you sing I might be able to give some simple vocal tips on how to get those nice round full belts up to C5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ooKEO_ahO4UkqKx7VZG86bxP1nMgl_-Z/view?usp=drivesdk

Here is a link (hopefully this works 🤞) to me singing a small part of "Rewrite the Stars" by James Arthur and Anne-Marie. There were many digital file errors causing hiccups in the file, they aren't voice cracks. I tried to label the file errors as much as possible. Any feedback would be appreciated!

FYI: I was sitting because I could only find a private space in a car, please forgive this sin but I had no other choice at that moment

Still hard to tell, but I think you're a baritone. Just keep doing what you're doing, it sounded good! It didn't really sound uncomfortable either, but I'll take your word for it. In conclusion, "earning" the notes is a great idea! Try a song like One More Light!