Weak Voice? Singing Like A Whisper? Strengthen Your Vocals Now!
When i think of someone having a weak voice, i would remember one of the audition rounds in American Idol (one of the earlier seasons..), when there was this guy who sang as though he was whispering! And to top it all off, he sang the song "Careless Whisper"...
There are many reasons that result in a person having a weak voice when singing. One obvious reason would be related to the set of vocal cords in our throat that is the main producer of our singing voice.
One useful training exercise for our vocal cords would be the 'Lip Trill' or 'Bubble' exercise. It is a low pressure way of training our vocals, and is especially useful for someone with a weak voice.
This is because if the vocal cords are weak to start with, we need to be more careful when singing or doing vocal warmup exercises, in order to avoid causing any damage to our voice during these exercises.
If you already know what a 'Lip Trill' is, we can try out some basic vocal training exercises using these few chord notes:
Doh Mi Sol Mi Doh OR 1 3 5 3 1
This is basically a low difficulty and low strain vocal training exercise, allowing our vocal cords to stretch out over a 5 note interval before returning to the starting note. This exercise can be done over a series of starting keys, in order to train our voice to be able to vocalize properly at different keys.
For ladies, it would be great to start this exercise on an A flat note. Here is a sample of what it will sound like, so that you would be able to practise at home too:
For men, it would be more suitable to begin this exercise on a B note. Here is what it will sound like:
Another useful voice training exercise to strengthen a weak voice would be for us to sing this syllable: "Gi"! We can sing this syllable, using the notes that we used for the 'Lip Trill' exercise above, i.e. 'Doh Mi Sol Mi Doh'.
The reason why we may use this syllable "Gi" is that when we pronounce this word, our vocal cords actually close first before producing the sound needed. The reason for this is the letter 'G', which causes the vocal cords to close well before sounding the full "Gi" syllable.
This voice training exercise would then be able to teach our vocal cords to close properly, and also train them to be able to withstand more tension by closing more frequently during the exercises.
Here is a sample voice clip for the 'Gi' syllable exercise for male singers:
Here is a sample voice clip for the 'Gi' syllable exercise in a female key:
Other reasons for a weak voice can be attributed to a lack of understanding as to the vocal registers or vocal positions to be used during singing.
Vocal resonance makes a big difference during singing and if done well, can result in a well-projected sound without too much unnecessary strain or tension in the throat, shoulders or other muscles in the body!
A lot of practice is required before a singer is able to fully comprehend the many resonating positions during singing, and how he or she can feel them during a vocal performance or practice, as well as which position to use for which notes in a song.
One final reason for a weak voice when singing can be attributed to a lack of breath support or weak supporting muscles. Without proper breath support, our voice will not be able to be stable or strong when we need to project it or when we sing the high notes in a song.
