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Sunday, July 15, 2007

I am a 23 yr old male singer, and I have found that over the past few years I have gradually lost the ability to sing in falsetto. I started having singing lessons when I was 18, and it was decided that my voice was in the baritone-tenor range. Even though singing lessons improved my natural singing voice and improved my range, I found now that I have no access to my falsetto, that was quite high and very reliable before I started having singing lessons. It went from good, to bleats and squawks, to now when I'm not able to sing in falsetto at all... I have not been singing in several years, and doubt that I have damaged my voice - I have always been careful and never really done anything that could cause lasting damage. Are there any suggestions you could give me that would help me regain this part of my voice?

It is impossible for me to give you any conclusive response without hearing an example of your current vocal condition. As our voice develops through training it can change the way it functions so that how you were accustomed to producing your falsetto doesn't work anymore and you have to adjust to your current condition. But it should still be there. Sometimes we can wear out the falsetto through the way we are training our full voice. If the voice is healthy you should be able to sing all of the pitches of your range in a quiet dynamic. If you have to crescendo as you rise in pitch there is an imbalance in the voice that is causing your falsetto to disappear. A good exercise for balancing the voice is to sing through your whole range quietly, from high to low. Start up around high B on an easy "oo" like an owl and descend. Try to minimize the "h" sound because that will blow through the cords too much with this light adjustment. Make sure your throat stays relaxed open. If it is squeezing closed at all it will make the light falsetto impossible.