The Simplest Way to Have a Stronger Singing Voice (You Haven't Tried This Before)

“'Sss' like a snake,” she said. Looking at the clock, “Ready, set, go!”

This was high school choir. About 20 seconds later, a winner emerged. Shelly. (I’m sure she has gone on to rock many ‘sss’ solos since then. There’s such a great need, after all, for people who can entertain an audience for a full 20 seconds on a singular inhale… … Right???)

I struggled to understand the point of the exercise then. Now that I’ve been teaching voice for most of my life, I question it even more.

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OKAY, SO YOU WANT TO HAVE A STRONGER SINGING VOICE

It’s easy:

Just exhale.

Considering that you seem to be reading this article without any issues, I imagine you have a fair amount of experience exhaling! You don’t need me to teach you how to exhale. But what you do need is to understand the role that exhaling plays in your singing. You can exhale more intentionally to release the natural strength of your voice.

These are the vocal folds. They open and close. When you inhale or rest, your vocal folds are open. When you make any sound with your voice (phonation) — humming, speaking, singing, etc. — the vocal folds close.

You can close your vocal folds without making noise too, though. This happens when you hold your breath. Think about what it felt like when you were swimming with as a kid and tried to hold your breath the longer than your friends. In this instance, you were closing your vocal folds without making a sound.

In other words: You can close your vocal folds to make vocal sounds. You can close your vocal folds to hold your breath and produce silence.

But what do you do differently when you close your vocal folds to make a sound (speak, sing, etc) than when you close your vocal folds while holding your breath? Think about it…

You exhale. That's the difference. That's the requirement for making sound.

When you exhale, air passes through the larynx and makes the vocal folds vibrate. Much like a guitar string, these vibrating vocal folds create a sound!

What’s my point here? Without air passing through the vocal folds, there is no vibration…There is no sound. This is why my college voice professor always said:

"The air carries the tone." - H. Stephen Smith

He’s right. The exhale is the actuator that makes the singing happen AND it's the vehicle that carries that sound out into the room.

Without air flow, there is no singing. And without free airflow, there is little volume and strength. We spend a lot of time, as singers, fixating on our inhale and fail to remember that the exhale is important too. After all, the exhale is the phase of breathing during which the actual singing takes place!

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BACK TO CHOIR CLASS

One look at a basic white clock, and memory takes me right back to choir class — holding my ‘sss’ sound as long as possible. (Darnit Shelly, did you have to win EVERY time?!) I realize now that all we were doing was mastering the skill of exhaling as minimally and slowly as possible, so that we wouldn’t run out of air “too quickly.”

In other words, we were withholding the air flow.

But that doesn’t benefit our singing much, does it?

Exhaling minimally will make us sing minimally.

It creates a weak sound and limits your volume potential. The air carries the tone, so EXHALE SHELLY! (Again, she’s probably selling out arenas with that 20-second snake-impersonating exhale, so this is all just my opinion.)

Except it’s not just my opinion. It’s basic physics, friends.

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HOW TO USE THE EXHALE TO CREATE A STRONGER SOUND

The air carries the tone, so I suggest you exhale freely as you sing.

It won’t help you to hold onto a fear of running out of air. It won’t help you to withhold air in an effort to sing longer.

(And at the other extreme, it also won’t help you to push the air out forcefully. Unfortunately, there are no trophies available for turning exhaling into an Olympic exercise).

If you’re concerned about breath management and worry you’ll run out of air, that’s valid. But withholding your exhale isn’t the answer. Let it go!

Much like Elsa, your strength is already there. You just need to let it go. For more instruction on how to do this well, a whole module in my vocal technique course is dedicated to the exhale. Of course (pun intended), the exhale should be built on a solid inhale. Singer Set Free covers the inhale, posture, the inspiratory position, and more - since its the combination of these techniques that create significant changes in your singing. As for breath management, there is a module on that too! I’ve got you.

Breathe in.

Breathe OUT.

Happy Singing.

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Hey, I'm Jenny. I songwrite, perform, and teach. I help singers break through vocal barriers, rock auditions, and become one-take vocalists. I love making great singing easier and more attainable than you thought it could be. This blog is my place to dig into vocal technique and unpack what it takes to connect and communicate honestly with an audience.

Everything about my musicianship and teaching is outside-the-box, instinctive, and fun. That's what makes this such a great place to hang out. I invite you to stay a while, check out my music, and see how this blog can impact your vocal skills and refresh your love for performing.