Problem with high notes

Whitesnake

So, I'm a baritone. I started to work on my voice with Ken less than a month now. When I go from F4 to F#4 (by using vowel modifications) my voice starts to thin and it sounds awful, because it's like I was just poked in a stomach with a knife The higher I go (to G4 and G#4), the thinner my voice goes and it's sounds more awful. I use abdominal breath, try to keep my throat open, and I don't feel any strain in the larynx. My throat doesn't hurt and don't tires too much. It's just about that awful sound. Like there's no force behind it, just squeezing (it feels like that).
When I sing from D#4 to E4 and F4 - it's okay. Voice goes thinner, but it sounds okay. From F4 to F#4 it just gets worse. What can I do?

Furious_Phil

Where are you in the course?
If you methodically follow it by the numbers, it'll not only help you navigate your way up the scales and help you safely develop your voice, but will also help navigate around the pitfalls.
There are allot of factors in the mix towards becoming a proficient singer, and none of them should be overlooked.

Cheers,

Phillip

Whitesnake

Furious_Phil said:

Where are you in the course?
If you methodically follow it by the numbers, it'll not only help you navigate your way up the scales and help you safely develop your voice, but will also help navigate around the pitfalls.
There are allot of factors in the mix towards becoming a proficient singer, and none of them should be overlooked.

Cheers,

Phillip

Thanks for the answer, Phillip! I'm on a vol.1 now. Just try to learn vowel modification and how to use them. So, because I'm just on a vol.1, I don't know much about pitfalls yet, I guess. I just try to use it as Ken saying. I try to go from "O" like "loft" to "Oo", like "hook". It means that I don't need to go that high and stay in a comfort zone?

Furious_Phil

Right on, just as an FYI, you should email support at ktvahelp@gmail.com and show them your receipt so you'll get more access to all the killer info here on the message board!

Take your time and really try to emulate the sounds he is making.
Just take the notes up as high as you can without really straining yourself, then catch it back on the way back down at that top note.
PS - Count on spending 3-6 months on Volume 1 before jumping to Volume 2... you'll thank me later

Cheers,

Phillip

GregSmirnow96

I'm at the exact same place you are, Whitesnake. I've never sung (besides for in the shower XD) before so I'm having trouble hitting any high notes while maintaining good tone. I'd like to hear from you if you are able to achieve better tone to see how long it took before you noticed results and what strategies you used .

On my "good" days when I'm able to sing a few notes higher comfortably, I find what's helped me the most is to sing descending scales using my head voice until I reach my chest voice, and really getting a feel for the transition between head and chest voice before starting the exercises.

Anyways, hope to hear from you with advice / improvements!

Whitesnake

Furious_Phil said:

Right on, just as an FYI, you should email support at ktvahelp@gmail.com and show them your receipt so you'll get more access to all the killer info here on the message board!

Take your time and really try to emulate the sounds he is making.
Just take the notes up as high as you can without really straining yourself, then catch it back on the way back down at that top note.
PS - Count on spending 3-6 months on Volume 1 before jumping to Volume 2... you'll thank me later

Cheers,

Phillip

Thanks for your support! Well, it's really about what Ken said somewhere, that I need to go in the chest voice as high as I can before going to the head voice. But at the same time it's about stretching and not straining. But my high notes sounds like straining, but at the same time it don't feel like it. I know it sounds weird. It feels like my larynx goes thinner, but it's not straining...

Whitesnake

GregSmirnow96 said:

I'm at the exact same place you are, Whitesnake. I've never sung (besides for in the shower XD) before so I'm having trouble hitting any high notes while maintaining good tone. I'd like to hear from you if you are able to achieve better tone to see how long it took before you noticed results and what strategies you used .

On my "good" days when I'm able to sing a few notes higher comfortably, I find what's helped me the most is to sing descending scales using my head voice until I reach my chest voice, and really getting a feel for the transition between head and chest voice before starting the exercises.

Anyways, hope to hear from you with advice / improvements!

Thanks for the comment, Greg! Well...when I started to learn Ken's method, I couldn't get that transition from D4 or D#4 to E4 without straining myself. And what really helped me is this:

1. Sit up or stand up straight.
2. Take the breath with your diaphragm.
3. When you go up higher try to relax your throat and let your diaphragm do all work for you.
4. Get that bright timbre in your voice. Open your mouth as wide as you can. Smile in to the sound.
5. If you sing "AH", for example, when you go up high and feel the tension in the throat, get that feeling in to the throat from "AH" to "O". You sing "AH"! But it feels in the throat like "O". If you do so, you will create more space in the back of your throat and it will make it easier for you to go to the high notes.