You Might Not Know Your Full Vocal Range Yet

By Meagan Mayne

Most musicians know the full range of their instrument before they ever learn to play.  A piano has 88 keys, for example. Instrumentalists generally have a pretty good idea of the notes their instrument is capable of producing.

Singers, however, often have no idea how many notes they actually have access to.

I find that a large number of students who walk into my studio for the first time don't know their full range. Many singers come in and say, “I'm an alto. I can't sing high.” Then I begin vocalizing them and realize they have an entire upper range that they've just never even accessed.

What Do We Mean by “Range”?

There are several different things we might refer to as “range.”

Absolute range is the lowest and highest pitches you can physically phonate.

Usable or functional range are the pitches you can produce consistently.

Tessitura, is the area where your voice is most comfortable, particularly for sustained singing.

A singer may technically be able to produce a high note but still unable to sing it beautifully, consistently, or within a musical piece. On the other hand, a singer may try to sing a note in a song and think that it is “too high” because they haven't learned the coordination required to sing it.

Not being able to sing a note right now doesn't mean that note will never be a part of your functional range.

Why Do Singers Underestimate Their Range?

There are a lot of reasons.

Perhaps they've only sung certain styles of music. Maybe they were placed in the alto section in choir because that's where they were needed. Maybe they've never learned how to transition between registers. Maybe they try to carry their chest voice too high. Maybe they push every time they approach a high note.

These are all things I see in singers who have come to believe, “I can't sing high notes.”

But often, the high notes aren't the real problem. The coordination is.

Your “Break” Isn't Necessarily Where Your Range Ends

Discovering your range isn't just a matter of singing a scale higher and higher until you can't go any farther.

A singer has to learn how the voice changes coordination as pitch rises. Someone trying to sing a high note exactly the same way they sing a low note will eventually end up cracking, screaming, squeezing, or squeaking.

Singers often feel their “break” and think, “That's where my range ends.”

In reality, that may simply be where their current coordination stops working.

Learning how to navigate registration can open up an entire part of the

voice that a singer may not have realized was there.

How Do I Explore Range With My Students?

We start with scales.

I begin in a comfortable part of the student's range and listen to how they coordinate their voice. We gradually vocalize both upward and downward. I use exercises that encourage easier registration rather than simply asking them to sing higher and higher or lower and lower.

I listen for where their “break” happens and how they respond to it. Then we can begin working on the coordination needed to move through that area more efficiently.

When I vocalize a new student, I'm not trying to find the highest note I can get out of them. I'm trying to understand how their instrument wants to function.

Range and Voice Type Are Not the Same Thing

A singer's highest and lowest notes aren't the only indicators of voice type.

Altos can sing high notes. Sopranos can sing low notes.

We need to understand things like tessitura, timbre, registration, and passaggi before determining a singer's voice type. With young singers especially, I never rush to label them. Their voices are still growing, and training and development can reveal parts of their instruments they haven't learned how to use yet.

Training doesn't magically change someone's anatomy. Technique can, however, reveal possibilities that have previously been inaccessible.

As we learn things like breath coordination, registration, resonance, and how to reduce unnecessary tension, we begin to get a much clearer picture of how that individual voice naturally wants to function.

Don't Decide What Your Voice Can't Do Before You Train It

When a student walks into my studio and says, “I can't sing high,” I know there's a good chance I'm about to open their eyes to a whole new way of singing.

One of my favorite parts of teaching is watching a student's face when they sing a pitch they never thought they could sing.

Your voice may be capable of much more than you think.

Don't decide what your voice can't do before you've learned how to use it.