Dear Lis
I’ve been away from singing for a while and want to get back into it. I tried singing some of the songs I used to sing but I can’t hit the high notes. How do I get them back?
Anna
Hi Anna
Work slowly and gradually to get your vocal cords back into shape. It’s similar to any other muscle in your body: if you stop working it out, it gets weaker and needs time to regain strength. Just like your biceps, you wouldn’t start with heavy weights and expect to lift what you did when you were working out regularly. Sing easy gentle songs for short periods of time and build back to more difficult songs for longer periods.
There’s one other thing though, as you age your voice gets lower. That’s a normal process. You wouldn’t expect your 16 year old self to sound like your 8 year old self. And your 35 year old self won’t sound like your 25 year old self.
Accept your voice as it is currently. Don’t force it to do what you used to do – find what it can do now. There’s a richness and warmth to your new voice that you didn’t have before and maybe it doesn’t go as high either.
Lis Lewis is a voice teacher and performance coach in Los Angeles, CA. She has been training recording artists for over 30 years. Learn more about her private voice lessons. She has also coached celebrities including: Miguel, Rihanna, Iggy Azalea, Bryson Tiller, Demi Lovato, and more. Lis is also the author of the books, “The Singers First Aid Kit” and “The Pop Singers Warm-Up Kit” both published by Hal Leonard.