How to Find Your Musical Voice

Wondering how to find your musical voice? We share effective techniques that will help you understand and improve yours. 

Now, where’d I put that musical voice? I know I left it here somewhere. 

What makes people stop and listen during karaoke night or your band’s performance? Of course, it comes down to musical skill, but it’s also confidence. And when you find and understand your musical voice you’ll feel much more confident to let it rip.

The following techniques help you discover more about your voice and enjoy using it more than ever. 

Can you find your musical voice?

Yes, it’s possible to discover your musical sound. A few techniques can show you your vocal range and limitations. You can also learn to produce better sounds by understanding the best aspects of your voice and implementing them each time you sing. 

Steps to finding your musical voice.

First, you need to identify the natural elements of your voice, such as your vocal range. The natural shape and structure of your vocal cords determine this range.

Knowing your ability and limitations guides you in making the right decisions–such as picking songs to suit your voice. 

1. A proper warmup

Even to perform just a few exercises to find your musical voice, you must warm-up. Otherwise, you could strain or even damage your voice. Take a few minutes to hum scales and then sing them using different vowels. 

2. Find your vocal range

Your vocal range is the number of octaves you can sing comfortably. To determine yours, do the following:

  • Use a piano and start at middle C. 
  • Sing up the scale and then back to middle C. 
  • Move one scale up, do the same, and repeat until you can’t easily hit the notes at the correct pitch anymore. When you sing the note, it shouldn’t sound like croaking or as if you’re breathing the note.
  • Do the same thing, but downwards from middle C.

So, what is the highest and the lowest note you can comfortably sing? This is an indication of which of the following common voice styles your voice falls into:

  • Bass–E2 – E5
  • Tenor–C3 – C5
  • Soprano–C4 – C6
  • Mezzo-soprano–A3 – A5
  • Alto--F3 – F5
  • Baritone–G2 – G4

Knowing your comfort zone pitch tells you the pitch you’ll feel most comfortable singing at, making it easier to choose songs that suit your voice best. Don’t be confused by very high or low notes that you can also hit. Your vocal range is specifically about the octaves of notes you can easily sing at the correct pitch. For most people, this is a range of one and a half or two octaves.  

The SimplyPiano app can benefit your voice training. The feedback feature tells you whether you’re singing at the correct pitch and helps to discover which octaves your voice excels at. 

3. Discover the head and chest voice

The next step in getting to know your voice is understanding:

  • Chest voice: This is the voice you use when you speak and when singing, it’s best to use this to produce a powerful sound. The notes will also sound fuller and more precise. You should feel vibrations in your chest when using this voice.
  • Head voice: Your head voice is there to help you sing higher notes. They sound airier and produce a vibration at the back of your neck. 

Sing scales starting at middle C and going higher to discover when you switch from your chest voice to singing in your head voice. To help, place your hand on the back of your neck so you can feel the vibrations.

Now you need to improve your mixed voice, combining the head and chest. You can hit higher notes without sacrificing so much power when you have more control over them. 

4. Sing your heart out.

To find your musical sound, expose yourself to various songs and genres. Sing a few after a proper warm-up and note which ones feel comfortable singing. 

Remember to practice using your mixed voice. 

Ideally, stick with songs within your vocal range to prevent straining your voice. These are also the ones that suit your voice the best, so stick to that repertoire if you plan on entertaining friends with an impromptu concert one of these days. 

When listing these songs, take note of their original artist, and you’re likely to see certain singers appear multiple times. Possibly, that singer has a similar vocal range to you. Looking for more songs by that artist can make it easier to pick new pieces to practice. 

Now, which genres have you favored until now? If you go all the way and try all kinds of songs, you may discover genres that suit your voice better than the songs you’re currently singing. Perhaps you discover a passion for jazz music or opera if you try a few classical pieces. 

Finding your voice is discovering your specific sound, becoming an expert at producing that sound, and sticking to music that suits you. 

5. Record yourself and listen back.

Get a different, objective view by recording yourself and listening to it. Make a note of the areas you can improve. While you can’t change your natural vocal range, you can strengthen some notes on the periphery of that range. Identify the notes you’re not hitting 100% and practice them separately. 

6. Get feedback from others.

Don’t trust only your perspective because others may hear more aspects of your sound you can improve on. The SimplyPiano app is a great start to get feedback on whether you’re singing on pitch, but you can also go for singing lessons.

Participating in karaoke evenings or singing informally for family and friends can help. Be brave and ask for their honest feedback so that you can fine-tune your instrument. Now use those tips to know what to work on during your next practice. 

7. Improve your singing technique. 

Even when singing within your vocal range, your sound has aspects to improve. This requires the correct singing technique, such as:

  • Always have good posture when singing. Stand rather than sit and sing because you’ll breathe easier. Just remember to relax your neck muscles.
  • Breathe from your diaphragm, so your stomach expands when you breathe in and deflates while you sing and breathe out. This will improve how much you control your pitch. 
  • Enunciate each word correctly.
  • Gently widen your mouth and throat.

With all of this information, if you are interested in writing songs and making your own music, you now know what range to write for to make yourself sound your best!

FAQ