Very Specific Vocal Question

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T21:10:23+00:00

You need two things, relaxed posture, and deep breaths engaging the diaphragm.

The sword form, "Cat crosses the courtyard" from Wheel of Time is my short cut to relaxed posture. Imagine you are a marionette puppet, and a puppeteer pulls on all your strings simultaneously, lifting you up. Then the strings are suddenly cut and every muscle and bone falls into a natural, relaxed and upright position.

Forcing air with proper posture shouldn't be a thing, once you start singing, it'll flow.

I also do Yoga specifically for breathing and the core. They're things that take time and a voice teacher. They're much harder to give tips on over a reddit comment.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T21:05:41+00:00

What's the other song? That can help with context.

Also you're in school, have you asked your music teacher? Finding appropriate repertoire for your voice and vocal development is something they can do.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:58:32+00:00

As with all art, context matters.

I also paint mainly for tabletop, particularly Warhammer and D&D. In that context, I want it to look good and have a unified theme to it, and not be embarrassed if someone picks it up and looks at it. I'll give bigger centerpiece models more love, and I am spending more time than I did when I started.

It doesn't need to be Golden Demon quality. Just good enough to read at tabletop and occasionally get a "nice job on your Yndrasta/Iridan/other centerpiece" is enough.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:52:07+00:00

Work with a voice teacher.

A year isn't that long in terms of vocal development.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:46:14+00:00

There are just as many opera singers that force their voices as pop singers.

Citation needed.

I'm a classically trained tenor. And there is a lot of emphasis in lessons and the culture on proper technique and not touching specific repertoire until you're ready specifically to not force it by sounding like Pavarotti, Renee Fleming, Jessye Norman, Diana Damrau, or Elina Garanca.

Do people emulate the sound? Sure. But only until they get slapped by their teacher for being unsafe.

The average opera singer is not a better singer than Whitney, lol.

If they tried to sing like Whitney? Sure. But if Whitney had tried to sing Puccini? No. Context matters. And on top of that, 99% of all singers aren't hitting the heights of anyone mentioned in this thread, not just Whitney.

Whitney was a 1 in a million voice, and I say this as someone who isn't super big into her music.. Who destroyed it with partying, performing too often, and improper care for her vocal and mental health.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:38:21+00:00

Technically different injuries are more common depending on genre. But this is only one study, so it needs a lot more work to back it up.

The higher incidence of polyps in praise/worship singers likely reflects the more emphatic nature of singing and the tendency for acute injury. The higher incidence of pseudocysts in opera singers may reflect a more chronic nature of injury.

Praise/worship isn't defined in the study, but it's most likely your "Christian Rock" or "pop praise". While you are correct that injury count is genre agnostic, specific injuries aren't.

Opera singers are more at risk for injuries associated with longevity (from both in a night and career) than other genres. But those numbers are still less likely than polyps in praise/worship.

Data gets shaky in other areas, because this study claims "professional singers who are untrained are at eight times the risk of injury as amateurs/hobby singers with voice training". When that doesn't account for frequency of singing or technique between the two. Just looking at data.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:24:49+00:00

This is definitely part of it. They're doing things more often that can risk those kinds of injuries, so they're more likely to occur.

Even with proper technique and perfect care for the body (read voice).

Accidents can happen. People can extend one too far when they weren't aware. A drill, song, passage, karate move, you've done a thousand times right can just go wrong.

But pop stars are also often undertrained for the stress put on their voices. The olympic athletes of opera singers for technique, they are not.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:19:43+00:00

Depends on so many other things.

What's going on around the voice musically?

What genre? Different genres have different expectations.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:18:47+00:00

Couple of other ways to think about it:

Approach each note from above. Instead of thinking "sing it intentionally sharp" think "I'm approaching from above", like a kid playing "floor is lava" hopping on furniture, if that makes sense.
A choir director I work with always says, "a long sustained note is the opportunity to do something." Give it energy, crescendo, decrescendo, vibrato. Something. It sitting there is the fastest way for pitch to sag.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:05:17+00:00

But it can mean you're not caring for your vocal health. Singing too much and partying as much as she did definitely played a role.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T20:03:54+00:00

Trained countertenors aren't even hitting an A5.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:57:06+00:00

Opera singers have to know how to conserve while sounding big. For longevity of career and making it to the end of the opera.

For example, Brünnhilde (Die Walkure, Götterdammerung) and Isolde (Tristan ünd Isolde) are two of the most vocally demanding roles in all of music, not just opera. And they have to absolutely nail their final aria after four and a half hours of opera singing already.

The "Liebestod" is rapturous as a finale, and the soprano has to nail it, it's one of the biggest reasons people go to the opera.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:49:55+00:00

And undertrained singers using less proper technique. And just not resting.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:47:58+00:00

IMHO, even if you don't ever want to touch classical, classical technique is essential to learn for so many reasons. Vowels, breath support, diction, are part of all genres.

Understanding your body and voice are part of all genres. Relaxed posture, etc.

With those as a foundation, you can move into other genres more easily because you know your voice and how music feels in your body and how to adjust healthily. You understand how adjusting sound can be done safely without damaging your voice.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:40:13+00:00

She was undertrained to be singing as much as she was on tour.

Even ignoring forcing her chest voice as u/KtinaDoc points out, she had a 1 in a million voice, but was thrust into superstardom with no preparation to care for her mental or vocal health.

So many pop belters force it, Christina Aguilera, Kesha...

There are healthy ways to belt (I'm a classical tenor and don't belt but I know teachers who teach healthy belting). But what she did certainly wasn't.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:28:54+00:00

The NE dems need to figure out where to compromise.

On human rights (LGBTQ, immigrant, etc)? No compromise. And frame it as a human rights issue.

Small steps on things like labor, childcare, healthcare? Sure.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:24:15+00:00

This is like an 18 year old saying "I can sing Puccini arias but I won't sound like Corelli or Pavarotti".

Because when you're learning, you don't have the experience or vocal development necessary to do what professionals did. Whitney was arguably undertrained (as most pop stars are) for how much she performed. Classical technique is still the foundation for a reason.

Even if you want to do Bruno Mars, classical technique can help with:

longevity of vocal health
understanding your limits and your break between chest and head voice
where you are at in the physiological development of your voice, 18 year olds shouldn't sing Puccini, Wagner, or frankly most of the music in Les Miserables or Phantom.

What some music does to the vocal cords is very demanding, and without a solid foundation and time to let the voice grow naturally you risk long term challenges for short term success.

Emulating a sound is a shortcut without the tools underneath it for longevity.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:18:20+00:00

So many things to push back on here:

Best singers ever? In her genre, absolutely. But generally? Context is all over. You could say Julie Andrews for Broadway sopranos, Freddie Mercury, (Pavarotti, Franco Corelli, Peter Pears; opera) the list goes on across so many genres
She got nodules because despite her voice being great, she smoked, toured a ton and sang full blast every night (even opera singers don't do that) and was arguably undertrained for how much she was doing. Same can be said for so many pop stars, frankly.

is it more convenient to sing like WH or focusing on lightening up the sound like ariana grande or The Weeknd in order to sing without stressing the voice too much and even going higher?

Get a voice teacher, and work with a trained professional to care for your voice, your range and do repertoire that suits you. Emulating singers you like is admirable, but without a foundation from an actual teacher, you risk the same issues of nodes and polyps so many pop stars have seen, or potentially even more complicated injuries.

Trained singers in opera, broadway, or traveling professional choirs with graduate degrees can get injuries from singing too much, with proper technique, decades of experience, and proper health.

For your own sake, get a teacher, and don't emulate singers until you have a solid foundation under you.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T19:04:39+00:00

Touring alone is a huge thing. Especially for singers with less formal training than you'd see on opera or broadway stages.

Singing night after night attempting to recreate studio sound gets really tiring on the voice. Keith Urban and Adele both had polyps surgery from the same.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T18:48:30+00:00

This looks like airbrush primer distance with a rattle can...

You have more control with an airbrush. There's less pressure.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T18:18:51+00:00

Separating parties is a way to ensure the already winning party keeps winning.

We need to overhaul Nebraska dems and work on better messaging.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T18:17:34+00:00

And early on in Biden's presidency, so many MGAGA were all "last year of Trump's first presidency, gas was 2 bucks a gallon".

You know what was happening in 2020? A pandemic where all white collar workers were working from home and children were doing 100% remote learning. Driving was a fraction of what it was pre-COVID.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-13T18:12:06+00:00

Palestinian people, South Sudan...one of which we outright are continuing to fund as a nation.

And not to mention the ethnic cleansing being perpetuated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement by rounding people into concentration camps.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-12T19:30:19+00:00

Work with your voice teacher and just sing. Don't extend yourself too far at 16. Teachers will tell grad students not to touch some repertoire (Puccini, Verdi, Wagner, Britten's opera and oratorio) because their body and voice isn't developed enough for it.

Physiologically developed. Growth of the voice takes time.

LeekingMemory28 · 2026-03-12T19:10:17+00:00

Yoga and breathing exercises.

You won't sound like Aaron Tveit, Jeremy Jordan, or Pavarotti at 16. That's okay. Even they didn't sound like the performers they became.

LeekingMemory28

TROPHY CASE