I recently sat down with Brett Manning, founder of Singing Success and Jesse Nemitz, CEO of Singing Success to capture their perspective on the singer's common problem with singing high. One of things Jesse notes is that typically when singers attempt go higher, they change many things in ways that provoke unnatural forces and sounds.

“The mouth gets wider, vowels change, eyebrows raise, the larynx is stressed, and the voice gets louder,” he said. “But the goal is to get back to basics and make singing those high notes just as easy as speaking.”

But what’s behind the often obsessive fascination with wanting to sing high? That desire to hit those high notes is a part of opera mythology, Jesse says, when singers wanted a strong, resonant sound or “squillo” that would carry above the orchestra. But today the reasons are mostly tied to the impact that has on the

“With the higher voice harmonics and resonance are amplified, and the voice becomes other worldly with a super human aspect,” Jesse said. “It’s great for a good chorus where it cuts through over the mix. When executed naturally that higher voice is exciting and something you don’t hear everyday.”

But he said the superhuman aspect is more than just a highness of pitch, citing that a baritone can be impressive in sustaining E above middle C.

“That’s not exciting for a tenor, but when it explodes for a baritone then the audience erupts into thunderous applause,” Jesse said.

How Long Does To Take To Get Higher

Jesse says that reaching high notes is often attainable in just one normal voice lesson unless someone’s voice is damaged and thus requires therapy for full closure and healing of the vocal chords.

“We’re talking about full high note sounds and not like yelling and definitely not falsetto,” Jesse said. “But mastery of singing those notes may take years. For me personally it has taken five years from 2004 to be able to sing higher naturally. I’ve added an octave and a half of full voice.”

Among Jesse’s favorite examples of effortless high note singers are Bryan Duncan, Vince Gill, and the late opera icon Luciano Pavarotti.

“Paramore’s Hayley Williams has a great handle on getting higher into the voice now as does Leeland Mooring of Leeland, both students of Brett Manning,” Jesse said.

Singing Success vocal coach and founder Brett Manning agrees that the process of engaging and developing those higher notes does not take as long as one might think, as long as the voice is healthy and bad habits are not indulged.

“The average person can add an octave to his or her range in just one to three lessons,” Brett said. “Some people have genetic disposition of difficulty in producing range, but some terrible singers have worked with me with little result the first six months, but then had huge breakthroughs come in a single session. Some have gone on to be my favorite singers.”

Things To Avoid

Jesse feels that typically singers will shout or yell to get to those higher notes, distorting pure vowel sounds and hurting their voices. He also feels that record produces often push artists to hit high notes without helping the artists learn how to comfortably get there causing a definite gap between the record version and live performance of popular songs.

Brett Manning agrees that the instincts that untrained or improperly coached singers indulge is dangerous and can damage not only their voice but career potential.

“The hardest thing about singing is going higher without killing your throat,” Brett said. “Sometimes singing higher produces an achy feeling in the neck muscles. So what must be avoided is the tendency to force the voice to sing higher. Force will be met with musculature resistance. If you were using all your muscular might to hit a free throw on the basketball court and then found out that you could shoot free throws using very
little effort and more accuracy, well...you might be inclined to find out more about the finding the easier way!”

The Bottom Line for the High Pitch

Jesse points out that the goal of every singer is to communicate the message of the song.

“If you’re worried about hitting high notes, and that’s all you’re thinking about while you’re singing, the audience will pick that up,” Jesse said. “And they’ll get worried, too.”

Another key issue for Jesse is that every single voice is unique far beyond the classifications such as tenor, bass, baritone, and so on.

“I feel there are far too many subdivisions of voice. Each voice has natural weight.
Lyric tenors will vary. You can have ten guys sing the same note and they will each sound different,” Jesse said. “Honestly I think you could classify voices on as much as a one to 1,000 scale. For example I can hit tenor notes to from top to bottom of the piano with clarity. Quality will change on every pitch.”

A Singing Success Story

Worship leader Eddie Gilbert is for Jesse one of the most impressive examples of not only singing higher but vastly improving the voice overall.

“He came in very breathy and straining, but managed to develop five strong notes while singing in his first lesson,” Jesse said. “I found his pitch center. And being at an age of full vocal maturity he was definitely ready to go for those high notes.” 

Visit Eddie's website to check out his personal testimony to Singing Success. You can also hear some of our other amazing before and afters here.

“It's not where you start or how fast you move forward, it's where you end up and how tenacious you are in not quitting,” Brett Manning said. “Faith will take a singer
through insurmountable difficulties and turn dirt into diamonds.”

Jesse Nemitz is living proof of what Singing Success can do to radically and naturally develop a voice so that high notes are as second nature as breathing.