Sing Without Straining: 10 Exercises to Eliminate Tension and Free Your Voice

Introduction 0:00
Definition of vocal strain 2:44
Straight and tall posture 5:16
Breathing correctly 6:45
1.5 octave lip trill for males 8:36
1.5 octave lip trill for females 9:06
Tongue Tension 9:30
1.5 octave ng for males 11:20
1.5 octave ng for females 11:42
1.5 octave gee for males 13:10
1.5 octave gee for females 13:27
1.5 octave no for males 14:55
1.5 octave no for males females 15:19
1.5 octave nuh for males 16:00
1.5 octave nuh for females 16:16
Larynx tension 16:31
1.5 octave mum for males 20:00
1.5 octave mum for females 20:23
Narrow the vowel 21:35
Imagine you’re on top of the note 22:53

Do you want to learn how to sing better but feel like you're straining your voice every time you do? The truth is that it's very easy to strain when you're trying to work on your voice, expand your vocal range or hit high notes.

That's because the voice naturally has a little bit of strain when you try to push it to do something that it doesn't do naturally. Just like working out, vocal strain, is the result of pushing your voice to do something beyond its current limits.

Now, while we should avoid vocal strain and eliminate tension as much as possible, that is an ideal rather than reality. The reality is that any time you work a muscle there is a little bit of tension involved. However, the truth is that many beginning singers strain their voice too much when they're trying to improve their singing.

The biggest reason that you want to get rid of vocal strain is that it tends to ruin the vocal tone of your notes. If you learn how to sing without strain however, then you can make those same notes sound really really great.

My definition of vocal strain is anytime the muscles outside of the vocal cords get involved in your singing. It could be too much tension or strain in your tongue, in your larynx, in your neck, shoulders, or your abs. It's very important that you learn how to disengage these muscles from interfering with your singing too much.

So here are my 10 favorite exercises to eliminate tension and for your voice: The first exercise is to use the tall posture. In this exercise, you'll bring your feet to shoulder-width apart and your hips walls to be shoulder-width apart. This will prevent you from slouching or pulling your neck too far back. It's also important that you keep your gaze forward as much as possible.

In the second exercise for singing without straining, you'll learn to sing from the diaphragm. Many singers will raise their shoulders or expand the ribs whenever they breathe in. However this is not the most efficient breath that you can take. Instead, you want to inhale so that the diaphragm expands the stomach muscles. So when you inhale, the stomach will come out, and when you sing, the stomach will come back in.

In the third exercise for singing without strain, you're going to sing an octave and a half scale on a lip trill where you flop your lips together on each note in the octave and a half arpeggio.

In the fourth exercise for singing without strain, you're going to sing an octave and a half scale on a “ng” consonant like you're saying “rung” but holding the “ng” at the end.

In the fifth exercise for singing without tension, you'll sing an octave and a half scale on the word “Gee” as in “Geese”.

In the sixth exercise for singing without tension, you'll sing an octave and a half scale where you replace each word of the scale with the word “No”, as in “note”.

In the seventh exercise for singing without tension you're going to sing an octave repeat arpeggio on the word “Nuh” as in “nut”.

In the eighth exercise for singing without tension, you're going to sing an octave and a half arpeggio but this time on the word “Mum” as in mother. As you're doing this exercise, it's very important that you relax your larynx and make sure that it's not going too high as you sing upwards.

In the 9th exercise for singing without tension, you'll take a phrase of a song that's been giving you a hard time and narrow the vowel. For example, if you're singing the line “of a girl” where “girl” is the high note and you feel that your voice is straining to hit the high note, it would be good to think of a more narrow vowel on the word girl so “gourl”, as in good.

In the final exercise for singing without tension, you want to get into a psychological mindset of believing that you're on top of the pitch rather than reaching up for it.

Learning to sing without tension is probably the most difficult singing concept to master, because you're always trying to push your voice to do more than it wants to do naturally. And tension will always come from that, however it's important that you're using the minimal amount of tension possible.

[johnsoneviota]

i know you wont notice me but you really want to help singers, you are giving without taking or expecting something, you deserve a million

[janetmelendez]

I'm the worship leader at my church, and lately I have noticed my voice is slowly fading away, and I'm losing my voice... I realized that I need to figure out how to avoid this roblem! Lol. You definitely have helped me out!! THANK YOU so much! God Bless YOU.

[bri-bristhoughts]

This is one of my biggest problems. I get scared of high notes and always strain or miss it. Thank you. This is the first day of actually seeking real help. As I am just starting to perform other than church or karaoke. Thank you!❤

[luvindaopera]

Nice job! Voice teacher of 30+ years here. Appreciate you sharing and showing examples. "A singer is as good as the breath they take, then how they manage it."

[lochdeekyoutuber]

timestamps of exercises
straight and tall posture 5:16
breathing 6:45
1.5 octave lip trill for males 8:36 &females 9:06
1.5 octave ng for males 11:20 and females 11:42
1.5 octave gee for males 13:10and females 13:27
1.5 octave no for males 14:55 and females 15:19
1.5 octave nuh for males 16:00 and females 16:16
1.5 octave mum(yawny) for males 20:00 and females 20:23
tip 21:35
mental exercise 22:53

[jesst_a_frog]

This fundamentally changes my understanding of how the voice works. I did not realize that vocal strain is more than and often is outside the voice box.
The way I learned to use my voice was with all the focus in my throat on producing sound because that’s where the sound is actually made. But I had to relearn how use my voice to remove that strain, but it seems I have only moved the strain to my core instead of training to remove the strain entirely.
This video has taught me more than any teacher or tutor has ever taught me about how to produce vocal sounds without hurting myself.
Thank you <3

[CamilleGraves-lcmr]

I really wanna thank you Matt. I'm currently working on becoming a singer. My cousin is actually a vocal coach and she says she would love to help me sing. But she hasn't been able to see me due to other issues. I've been watching you since 2020 and it's 2023. Thanks to you, I can belt, do whistle notes, and somehow hit an A6, and I'm 14. Thank you for everything

[isaacokunola]

That mental shift of being on top of the note is a great deal for me. Thanks Ramsey

[SofiA-nfos]

Wow I did not know I was capable of singing like this! Got me crying. Thank you so so soo much!

[pepesfrau]

Just found you! First night after 3yrs singing with a choral group. As a soprano my thought was fighting with me and Handel was an accomplis! You helped. Thanks!

[lisamarie]

Okay you are seriously the best vocal coach on YouTube. You have the best dissection and explanations of the inner workings of the voice! 🥰

[anonymous]

Timestamps for you guys!

(2:44) Definition of vocal strain

Sources of vocal strain
(6:39) Breathing in the wrong place
(9:30) The Tongue
(16:31) Larynx

10 Exercises To Eliminate Vocal Strain
(5:15) The Tall Posture
(6:50) Singing from the Diaphragm
(7:40) 1.5 Octave Lip Trill
(11:20) 1.5 Octave “Ng”
(12:14) 1.5 Octave “Gee”
(13:52) 1.5 Octave “No”
(15:33) 1.5 Octave “Nuh”
(18:11) 1.5 Octave “Mum”
(20:46) Narrow the vowel
(22:46) Imagine you’re on top of the note

[carolynwilson]

Thank you for teaching me something I didn't know. Things far as singing was made easier for me. God bless you!

[suellenmaforte]

This is by far the most helpful lesson I’ve found on YouTube and the fact that you’re not even charging really makes a difference and the urge to even invest. This is really great. Thank you so much for this video.

[NICOLA-jd]

This is the best video ever! In a very short second I manged to achieve what you are teaching. Thanks a million! You have a new subscriber for life...

[Take.It.Easy.]

I have watched dozens and dozens of videos on how to get rid of vocal strain or tension. And nothing has worked. But your video literally changed EVERYTHING! You made it very easy and simple to understand, and now i don't tense when im singing! 😃 Thank you so so so much!

[RevTieDye]

Oh good LORD! One time through that video made HUGE difference. That was amazing. Immediately before this video I did 3 embarrassing runs through of Drops of Jupiter, and immediately after, it was a performance I was proud of! Thank you.

[journeywithelijah]

You truly put your whole heart into your lessons! Thank you so much for bringing us these wonderful exercises. You deserve the best! 🥰❤️

[AshuaBBX]

8:39 LipTrill
11:30 NG
13:11 GEE
14:56 NO ;(
16:02 NUH
20:05 MUM

[audratibboel]

Hey. My local Theater is doing Newsies and I’m auditioning for Kathrine. If you don’t know who she is or what the musical is, in her solo she has to belt a high E. So I have been bing watching your videos to work up to that. It’s really helping! You’re AMZING