Have you ever felt like a note in your range just isn't there anymore?
Or noticed your voice feels wildly out of control, either too soft to project or so loud it's like you're blasting a trumpet with no quieter gears to reach for?
Maybe your low notes have started fading, and you wish you could sing with that deeper, richer sound you know is in there.
Or your high notes feel screechy, strained, or pitched higher than they should for the note you're actually singing....
If any of that sounds familiar, this episode is going to change how you think about your voice.
In bel canto tradition, your highest notes and your lowest notes are connected. They're not separate systems you troubleshoot one at a time, they're one instrument, and what's happening in one part of your range is almost always telling you something about another part.
In this episode, I'm walking you through a bel canto principle from my career as a classical soprano and voice teacher: every note you sing is a mixture of the high and low parts of your voice working together. When one part goes underused, the other starts compensating, and that's usually where stuck notes, screechy highs, disappearing lows, or an out-of-control belt come from.
I'll walk you through real patterns I see again and again, from over-singing that points back to an underused head voice, to what happens when a singer avoids chest voice for too long. I'll also share the encouragement I wish someone had given me the first time I had to rebuild a part of my voice I'd been avoiding, and why that doesn't mean anything about your potential as a singer.
If you've ever felt disconnected from a part of your range, or noticed that fixing one thing seems to affect something else entirely, this episode will help it all make sense.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why your high notes feel stuck, disappear, or sound higher than they should, even when the note isn't that high in your range
- Why your voice can feel out of control: too soft to project, or so loud it feels like blasting a trumpet with no quieter gears
- Why your low notes might feel like they're fading away, even when you know there's more depth there
- The bel canto principle that your high notes and low notes are connected, and why working on one often fixes the other
- Why every note you sing is a mixture or blend, not one isolated register
- Why a screamy or exhausting belt often points back to an underused head voice
- Why classical singers who avoid chest voice can lose presence and size in their upper range
- Why your voice doesn't follow rigid, all-or-nothing rules, and why that's actually good news
- How to work on the part of your range you've been avoiding without turning it into self-judgment
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction: Your High Notes and Low Notes Are Connected
00:33 Meet Sarah: Her Bel Canto Lineage
02:36 How Your Voice Mirrors the Shape of a Tree
04:41 How Age-Old Bel Canto Technique Follows the Laws of Nature
07:02 Think About the Triangle Image
08:08 Signs Your Voice Is Out of Whack
09:44 Why Your Voice Is Curvilinear, Not Linear
11:11 A Live Two-Octave Warm-Up Demo
11:45 Every Note Is a Mixture or Blend
14:34 Real Example: Pop and Musical Theater Singers Over-Singing
17:53 Real Example: Classical Singers Avoiding Chest Voice
22:09 The Core Connection (Plus the Violin Harmonics Analogy)
24:20 Detaching From the Story: It Doesn't Mean Anything About Your Potential
27:04 Recap and Pep Talk
Work with Me!
You can learn how to work together on your vocal technique & mindset at my website: https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com
Links & Resources:
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