The Myth of Expanding Range
I know lots of people promise they can expand your range by an octave, or any number of notes — but lots of people also promise you will get rich if you forward an email. They’re totally pulling one over on you.
Your range can’t be expanded.
The truth is that your full vocal range exists in its entirety already. Like Dorothy, you had the power to sing those notes all along. You don’t have to stretch, expand, or hope for it to get any bigger because it’s actually already pretty huge. As an adult female, you have a full 3-octave range at Eb. You probably have more than that, but every female has at least that much. That’s a lot!
Here’s what that range sounds like on the piano:
It is possible you’ve never sung all those notes in your range, but they ARE there. Kind of like those ruby slippers Dorothy had on her feet the whole time.
When you work with a coach, you learn how to access the more difficult parts of your range, like the extremities. You work on transitioning from comfortable parts of your range into more challenging parts. It’s kind of like running. Well, actually, I guess I should say it’s kind of like how I imagine running to be — as like, a sport or recreation or whatever it is to people. (I don’t run unless I’m being chased by a bear, or something horrible is happening behind me). But runners don’t just wake up one day and run a marathon. Olympic athletes don’t just step into an arena and have amazing skills; they are born with full capability to run that marathon, or throw that shot put.
Those athletes train to be able to do it well and to do it efficiently and without pain or passing out. Training doesn’t add distance or strength to their capabilities, it helps them to be able to use their innate strength and endurance more efficiently to achieve their goals. That’s how it is with singing. We train to make those notes easier to access. You can sing them any old day of the week but it doesn’t mean they’re going to be pretty. And you also may not even have the confidence to TRY singing them and therefore may BELIEVE you can’t sing them, but you can.
With training, you can not only hit those notes, but you learn how to sing them easier, prettier, and with more confidence. Just like with physical work. You train to lift heavier, go longer, run faster. This is physical work, too. That’s what practice is all about.
Like I said, every female has the same range: three octaves at Eb. And every female also has the same vocal breaks in the voice. This is all with the Basic sound (or classical, legit voice). When it comes to belt and mix, there are no breaks at all. With mix, you have the same range you have with Basic, but without the breaks. With belt, you have about two of those three octaves, sometimes more, also without the breaks.
Two of the major factors that make upper and lower notes hard to reach are confidence that you can do it, and knowledge of how to do it safely and easily.
So, when you find yourself in a position of believing you “can’t” sing a certain note, remind yourself that you actually can and then find a coach to show you how.
Hi there. I’m a coach, and I can show you how!
[Katti] is the best singing coach I've ever had. I love working with her because she's so supportive, she has such a great ear, and she can get to the heart of any of my problems right away. She's positive, very knowledgeable, and most of all - one of the biggest reasons I would highly recommend Katti is that she's a great human being.
Katti…helped me realize that my voice will always be there, and I just need to trust that it knows what to do. The biggest change was our work with how forward my belt is going. I had learned how to do it before, but something wasn’t clicking for me to keep it forward. Katti listened to my fear about having true power in my voice and allowed me to have a safe place to start the work to let myself be heard. I ended up belting a note I had tried to… belt for 10 years!
Katti is BRILLIANT!!! I never thought I would be able to belt, but I was definitely proven wrong! Thanks to my ONE LESSON with Katti I have just landed a role in “Shout! The Mod Musical” and will be healthily belting my face off!
Katti is an unforgettable voice instructor. I came to Katti when I was 18 years old because I wanted to improve my musical theatre sound. I had absolutely no clue how to belt before beginning [Unlimited Vocal Health™] and when I graduated from Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York City four years later, I was the top belter in my class. The more lessons I took the more my confidence as a singer and an all around performer grew.
Katti Power is bar-none, hands-down, one of the very best voice teachers out there. I’ve been singing for 23 years, and have had several teachers over the years, from NYC to LA. Many of my teachers have been good, but I learned more in one lesson with Katti than I did several months with other teachers.
I’m most excited to know the difference between legit and belt voice and practice choosing how to sing and speak intentionally in a way that is healthiest for me.
I had the honor of working with Katti right before the Talent Quest National Competition. In only a few short lessons she had me miles above where I started out. Her methods help you stretch your range while keeping your vocal health. She continuously helped me get better each time we met.
I use to think my voice just couldn’t sing certain notes in certain ways, but that is completely false! I wish I had known these techniques back when I was struggling and performing every day. And knowing how to sing in my uncomfortable areas without hurting my voice is amazing. I feel like I could sing almost anything now!!
I’m so excited – I got the role I told you I was called back for (the initial audition consisted of a monologue and my singing “That’s Rich,” which I had worked with you in my VIP session)! Thank you so much, Katti, for your training! I’m thrilled, and will continue to make the efforts to sing without fear and apply the proper technique so I can sing without getting fatigued.
Thank you, Katti. I’ve learned so much from you; no words can express my gratitude!
I feel like I finally learned the secret of singing I’ve been looking for all my life! I always felt like my teachers didn’t quite “get” my voice and there was something either I really wasn’t getting or they really were not teaching. Now I know what it is! Thank you Katti!!
I believe you can always improve your craft, so for the past few years I’ve been working with internationally acclaimed vocal teacher Katti Power.
No joke, Katti Power is a complete and utter bad ass. She’ll turn you into one as well if you give her the chance.
Now that I have had that hour session I know how to overcome my straining and relax my throat when singing up high. The way Katti teaches, the illustrations she gives, and the exercises she uses help me to understand in a way I’d never thought about before…Knowing how quickly she fixed my problem, I feel extremely confident that she would be able to help anyone else…
Thank you so much for believing in me and for helping me become who I am today… You changed my life Katti.
I’m singing songs I did not think I would ever be able to sing!
I can sing higher again and I’m more confident in my belting abilities, as well as my breath support!
I’m really not sure where I would be without you. You have given me such confidence in so many areas and have given me the skills to take my performing to the next level.