Singing Techniques -Is Your Singing Voice Too Harsh and Husky?

If you or your friends are feeling that your singing sound is irritating and hard to listen to because it's too husky or harsh, or it's muffled and words hard to understand, you are probably singing down too low in your throat.

There are three basic places we can "feel" our voice: In the throat, in the nose and in the head. (Don't confuse this with the vocal registers, the chest voice, the middle voice, the head voice, the whistle register, etc.) "Feeling" the voice has to do with resonance, or vocal quality. (Bright, dull, nasal, harsh, etc.)

Try sing "Happy Birthday", making the sound way down in the throat. This should sound something like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Hey, I'm Rocky." This is husky or throaty sound. It's muffled, doesn't carry well, and it's very damaging to the vocal cords.

Now, sing "Happy Birthday' again, only this time, sing it like an old time country singer. You want to try for an extremely nasal and pinched sound. This sound is very irritating to listen to when done by most singers.

Now, sing the song again, this time "thinking" or feeling your sound lightly vibrating in your forehead or in your cheekbones. This should be the sound you work toward in your exercises. It's bright, full and carries well. This feeling is often described as singing "into the mask."

The best singers use all of these sounds, according to the song they are singing, and their creative ideas. What you want to avoid is having to sing in the nose or the throat just because that's the only way you know how to sing.

Breathy, husky, throaty, thin, nasal…all of these qualities are useful at various times. Practice them to expand your sound-posibilities, but try not to get stuck in the throat sound or the nasal sound.