How To Stop Vocal Strain

Tired of Vocal Strain? Find Out How To Relax Your Voice

Let’s talk about vocal strain, or more important how to stop vocal strain. There are few more frustrating things than starting a singing session and finding it uncomfortable or even painful.
So what can we do about this?  I’m glad you asked.
Just click the play button below and learn how to remove strain from your voice.

So What Actually Causes Vocal Strain?

Vocal tension in most occasions are caused by bad singing technique. When we discover how to sing with good technique, the majority of those vocal tension issues will vanish. Every note in our singing range should be accessed freely and easily, with absolutely no tension whatsoever.
You can find out more ways to get rid of vocal strain here.
The moment you begin singing correctly, it’s like playing a piano… Every key can be pressed easily… No pulling, pushing or straining.
You may be thinking that’s all well and good, but what actually causes vocal tension? Well a majority of vocal tension comes from engaging the muscles that are used to swallow. These are the muscles located outside of the larynx (the larynx is the grouping of muscle and cartilage that contain the vocal chords).


These outer muscles are used when the vocal chords do not receive the right amount of air pressure. If there is too much or too little air being sent to the vocal chords, the chords cannot properly hold together.

The outer muscles then will try to tighten the chords, which in turn forces the larynx up or down. This is the prime source of most vocal tension.

The unfortunate thing is, these outer muscles are extremely inefficient at controlling the vocal chords.
While in some cases, they may be able to adjust the chords to vibrate at the right frequency, you will never produce your richest tone using these extra muscles to control your voice.

Remove Vocal Strain / Vocal Tension… And You Will Increase Your Vocal Range

The biggest issue with vocal strain / vocal tension is it clamps down on the singers range dramatically. A excellent vocal range comes from training your vocal chords to shorten as you go higher into your range. This ‘zipping up’ action is commonly referred to as ‘bridging’.
Here is a article on training that will show you exercises that will increase your vocal range.

Simply by using those outer muscles of the larynx to adjust the vocal chords, your voice will become more and more tense the higher you go in your range. By the time your chords have to “zip up”, your voice is so tense, the chords will not be able to hold together any longer.

Instead of zipping up (which is what you want), they break and form a muscle coordination called falsetto. This result will never have the depth and power of singing on a zipped up chord coordination.

A far worse alternative is that you use the outer muscles to push the larynx upwards in an attempt to reach those high notes.  The result is practically shouting! Please try not to sing like this. This will eventualy damage your voice…… permanently.

Not to mention that it sounds horrible, and does not feel comfortable at all.

How To Get Rid Of Vocal Strain / Vocal Tension

What can we do to reduce muscle tension?
The best thing to do to reduce muscle tension is so simple, yet many people overlook this basic practice. Warm up the voice before singing. This is a ESSENTIAL if you want to stay singing at your best, and purest tone.

In a lot of ways singing is like playing sports. We will use certain muscles to get the desired results. Just like you wouldn’t go out running before warmig up (unless you don’t mind cramps and stiffness), the same goes for warmig up those vocal muscles. It basically gets the blood flowing, and the muscles functioning more efficiently.

When you sing without warming up immediately there wil be a limit on your vocal range, and sustaining the high notes.

The most common cause of vocal strain is singing with bad vocal technique. Two years ago, I was a classic example… My technique was so appaling that my voice would feel sore after ever session. I would really feel my larynx spasm during, and even DAYS after a practice.

This occured because I had no idea how to shorten my vocal chords in the higher regions of my range. I would feel intense strain in my throat, and my jaw. The only answer to correcting this, is training these outer muscles to relax while singing.

The great thing about learning to sing is dicovering that the inner muscles of your larynx (the correct singing muscles) can then handle all the vocal chord adjustments, producing the tone with ease. Once these muscles develope, your voice will grow and have incredible range, and fantastic tone, with no vocal tension at all. You will amaze yourself!