Headaches when singing?

[marcblack30]

Does anyone else get headaches when singing?

I was singing yesterday, trying to sing something at the top of my range (which is embarrassingly low!), anyhoo, after several attempts, my head started killing me, and it still hurts a bit this morning.

I’m pretty certain it’s from not singing/breathing properly, pushing to hard.

Does anyone know of any good “free” online voice lessons that can help me improve my singing and expand my range a little?
I found this guy Mark Baxter, he has a few free lessons, I haven’t tried them out yet but they seem pretty good.
http://www.voicelesson.com/home.htm
http://www.voicelesson.com/html/lessons ... essons.htm


Thanks

[michael11]

I usually give other people headaches when I sing!!!!

But seriously,a long time ago when I had some classical training I remember getting headaches especially if you use (the head) voice a lot.

I think it's to do with the sinus's and the cavities in the skull.


Miss Bird would know if she's about.


Michael.

[mojobone]

Sounds like TMJ, but could also be that you're tilting your head back or stretching your neck.

[DorothyWallace]

Sounds like muscle tension around the jaw or neck. Sounds like you need to relax those muscles. Try accupuncture.

Dorothy

[japaneseprincess]

hey ! i dunno if i can advise well in a small post.

i sing and perform for my living, about 4 hours a day in public. i learnt the right techniques (from books) that i can sing for hours and hours and everyday without straining my vocal cord, maintaining the right tone. i never took proper lessons but my voice improved so much after getting all the techniques right. im still learning from my daily live performance..

first of all, do you drink water between songs? i drink it after finishing singing one song (like every 4 minutes), cos you need to keep your vocal cord moist, if its dry its very bad for singing.

do you warm up before singing at all? its very important to warm up before singing and warm down after singing. there are various warm up scales and sirens and some fun stuff like lip bubbles..

warm up also includes physical excercises (neck rolls, and other stuff) and stretching and massaging, to relax fully.

for singing high notes, you dont need much air, you need less air than singing lower notes, otherwise you will damage/blow vocal cord.

there are loads of things to get it right, breathing isnt just one big thing. ofcourse breathing is important but that didnt help my problem i was experiencing before. it was about working on resonance, and stablized larynx.

i high recommend "raise your voice" by Jamie Vendera, the book is not free but it changed my life, gave me the voice to earn my living, so i think his wisdom and advice in his book.

also Seth Riggs Speech level singing is pretty amazing. though Jamie Vendera didnt really dig SLS but they cover the similar concepts.

i hear Brett Manning has good products but its pretty much the same as Seth Riggs SLS as Bret was one of Seth's students. i havet tried Brett's stuff but i checked his videos, he uses the exact same excercises as SLS.

its very important to stop and rest when you feel tired when singing..

[elser]

first thing that comes to mind, especially since you say that your singing at the top of your range , is sinuses. When you sing like that you fill up your lungs to their full capacity, open your mouth wider and breathe more air through your nose. All these things bring more air into your head where, unless you work out a lot or something, it's not used to being. All those air cavities around your forehead and in your jaws and around your eyes and back to your your ears have a lot more air in them than they are used to. Plus the air at this time of year is typically full of allergens.

Another thing that I personally deal with, because I don't sing a lot all the time, but then suddenly need to sing some pretty demanding material, is just muscle strain. When I sing my eyebrows move a little higher, my mouth opens much wider and I ask my tongue to do a lot of physical activity it doesn't normally do, simple muscle strain.

That might help. Hope it's not migraines, if you find an answer to that you'll get rich.

[coachdebra]

Where are you located? I recommend finding a good voice teacher and repeating what you did, and getting him/her to analyze your posture, jaw and head position, etc. It may be a simple as reaching for the note by tilting your head back and straining those muscles. One of the things my vocal teacher suggested was to imagine the note was just below my jaw and I wanted to reach up and over where the note was. That caused me to drop my chin and release my jaw and tongue and I was able to expand my range a lot.

If you're in Boston or New York, I can probably recommend some folks.

If it is sinus, I'd try doing some sinus irrigation before singing as part of your warm up routine.

If you're in LA - you can check out Roger Love's (http://rogerlove.com) exercises and also Steven Memel - if you're coming to the Rally, he's usually there at least part of the time.

[Len911]

Marc, I just listened to many of your songs on reverbnation, I was only gonna listen to enough and get the feel of your voice and ended up listening to a lot, I don't think you need any singing lessons from me for sure, that is really great stuff!!! The song "If there's no heaven" seemed to be getting to the top of your range before you would need to move into the head voice. Like JapanesePrincess said, you can't blow as much air through in that range. It might help to listen to the song you were singing to get a better idea of what you are trying to do. I have an inkling you are looking for the same loudness and tone in your higher range as you have in your normal range. I have this vision in my head of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, really punishing his flute on a number, and I wonder if that isn't what you are trying to do, with your flute being your voice. The cheapest voice lessons I know are singing along with a record of an artist you like in the range you are hoping to accomplish. Eventually through practice you should be able to find that place that you will be comfortable, effective and competent.

[marcblack30]

*Michael- that's funny, I could probably cause a few headaches to others as well!


*Mojo- TMJ, I looked into that a bit, not sure that's it but it could be a light case.
I also notice that when doing home projects like laying floor tile, if I'm down on my hands and knees too long
I get a similiar headache.

*Dorothy- could also be the case.

*JP- I've recently changed my diet completely, I drink mostly water these days, besides decaf coffee
in the morning, tea and the occasional homemade lemonade.
I'm actually trying to lose a few lbs and get into better shape so I'm hoping that will help.
I've cut out all alcohol as well, (only been a week and a half so far) but I used to have drinks daily, and I'm most certain that
wasn't helping!
I'm going to pick up that book by Jaime, I think that will be helpful, I feel like I need to learn, train and condition
myself to sing better.


*Elser- I have been having some sinus issues lately, but I've been feeling pretty clear lately, maybe too much air in those places.

*Coachdebra- I live in Chicago. I'll give give the visualization a try.

*Len911- Thanks for listening to some tunes, unfortunately that was not me singing "If There's No Heaven", if the song title says
FEAT. "so and so", it was not me singing, I sing all of the others.
I try to write songs in a key that's comfortable for me, but once in awhile I have to reach and if i have to reach to much
too often I get a headache.


Thanks to everyone for chiming in, you've all been helpful!

[Noah Silver]

My vocal coach has a bunch of voice lesson videos that he posts on youtube that have gone viral. If you run a search for Eric Arceneaux on youtube you'll find them and they might help you out.