One of the most common tendencies I see in singers that I meet with is an underdeveloped chest voice. There are times when I meet people who strain and could use a lighter sound in the bottom of their range, but this particular article is going to pertain to those of you who are too light in the chest and want to strengthen it. If that is something that interests you, keep reading.
What is chest voice?
Your chest voice is the vocal register used in speech and comes into play when you are singing low notes. In order to properly sing in your chest voice you must engage a muscle known as the Thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle. This muscle shortens the vocal folds and lowers the pitch. It can also bring the vocal folds together with glottic closure, which is what you want when singing in your chest voice. If you find that you have a weak or breathy chest voice, it is likely because you aren’t getting enough vocal fold closure and engaging enough TA.
Why should you strengthen your chest voice?
Pretty much every style of popular music, with the exclusion of classical singing, will require you to have a strong chest voice. If you are too breathy in the chest range, you’re not getting enough vocal fold closure, which can really tire out the muscles involved in vocal production. This is something that you don’t want. If you have some closure but are too light in the chest, it could be hard for people to hear you, and if you sound like an opera singer on your lower register but you’re singing a Pop piece it can really throw the listener off and come across as inauthentic.
I know that some singers sing in a more breathy tone in their lower register, and I’ve done that myself. But that should be a decision that you make. Not something that you’re doing just because you don’t know how to produce a stronger tone.
CAUTION!
I don’t want you bringing your full chest voice too high into your range. In order to belt powerfully, yes you do need to use the TA muscle, but you also need some head voice in there. That being said, these exercises and the focus of this video is to just focus on chest voice in your lower register. If you want a video talking about how to belt stronger leave a comment below and I will make it happen!
DOUBLE CAUTION! Some of these exercises might be a little tiring. If at any point it HURTS, stop. You might be doing something wrong or your vocal folds might be irritated. Ok enough of the nerdy talk, check out this video for a few exercises that will help you to strengthen your chest voice.
Ok enough of the nerdy talk, check out this video beginning at 1:57 for a few exercises that will help you to strengthen your chest voice. If you haven't already, don't forget to download my FREE warm up guide with free downloadable exercises and information on how to warm up your voice.
I hope you found this to be helpful! If so, leave me a comment below telling me what song you’re working on and what exercise helped you find your chest voice. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on the next one. Until then, keep dreaming with your eyes wide open!