13/07/2025
HOW AND WHY YOUR VOICE CRACKS WHEN YOU SING
PART 1
Nobody likes to crack. It's a very embarrassing and scary thing 🤣. However, can we really escape it? Yes. But everyone would eventually experience it in their singing journey. Especially when they start to get clarity on how their voice works.
No no. I'm not swearing for you people o 🤣😭😭. What if I tell you that even your favourite singers still crack till this very day, will you believe me? It's because they don't post the performance where the cracking happened. Bottom line is, nobody wants to crack.
Can it be avoided? YES! But if you have to crack, it has to be in your practice and not on stage. Because to a large extent, there are some techniques that in order for you to get it, you have to crack first, so you can experience the proper adjustments that will then prevent the crack from happening any further.
The problem is some singers don't know this and they don't have the coach to help train them to overcome the crack and give them the proper adjustments. So they just carry the voice like that to the stage and sing and crack and wonder why it happened. Well... Let me tell you how cracking happens 😁.... Get ready o. It's a wonderful revelation. 😁👇
Cracking PRIMARILY happens due to an imbalanced vocal cord compression. Ok before you think I'm making things complicated, let me explain what vocal cord compression is and how it's imbalance is the main cause of cracking...👇
Our vocal cords are inside our LARYNX. When we speak, the vocal cords come together. When we keep quiet, the vocal cords stay apart. Now the degree to which the vocal cords come together when we speak is called vocal cord compression. In other words, vocal cord compression is how close the vocal cords come together when we speak.
Now there are 3 kinds of vocal cord compression.
1. Tight compression: This is where the vocal cords come together too tight. I want you to speak while you're pushing a car or wall or someone punched you in the belly and you're trying to talk at the same time. You'll hear how tight you sound. Any time you sound like that, whether you're pushing an object or not, you are using a tight vocal cord compression
2. Breathy compression: This is when your vocal cords are decompressed. It is coming together but not firm enough and so it releases more air than voice. It is the direct opposite of tight compression. In this one eh, when we speak, we sound breathy. Imagine trying to speak after running. Or you're speaking like you're SIGHING. Basically, sounding breathy as you speak or sing means your vocal cords are decompressed. Your vocal cords are loosed here.
3. Balanced compression: Here, the vocal cords are not too tight and not too loosed. They're just balanced. This is the kind of compression we are looking for when we sing. This is the compression that is perfect for singing.
Now, cracking PRIMARILY happens when we try to sing with a too tight or too loosed vocal cord compression. Meaning if you're singing too breathy or too tight, the chances of cracking are very very high.
For most singers, the reason behind the cracking is because the compression is TOO TIGHT. In most cases o. It's always tight compression. Why??? That's because they always sing with a high larynx (your larynx moving upwards like it does when you swallow). And when your larynx is in that position as you sing, your vocal cords will automatically become tight. This situation usually happens when singers try to sing high notes the wrong way. They either push, drag/pull their chest voice, or scream with all their might. All this makes the larynx elevate to an extreme and the vocal cords become tight and cracking happens.
As for those who are usually singing with a breathy compression, their crack usually make them flip into falsetto when they try to sing high and powerful notes.
So these are the two situations that causes you to crack when you sing. And believe me when I say this... Some of your favorite singers still find themselves in this situation so this is to tell you that nobody is above cracking but it can be fixed.... How? By using the cracking to your advantage 😎😎. Stay with me o 😁👇
Now that we know the situation that mainly makes the crack happen, all we need is to just ensure we are using a balanced compression to sing. So the goal is to make sure the compression is balanced, and not tight or loosed when we sing.
How do we do that? WE USE THE CRACK. This is where cracking becomes a tool to fixing the crack 🤣. .....👉👉: So whenever we crack, we know that we are either too tight or too loose. And at that particular note that made us crack, we'll now know that we have to adjust our compression right there!!!
In other words, that note that makes you crack in a song, it means your cords are too tight or too loosed when you sing that note. So you will now have to make sure your compression is balanced at that area. Now how do you make the compression balanced if you're faced with this issue??? This is where the proper vocal exercises come in.
What you'll do is to find out what made your vocal cords tighten or loosen in the first place.
If it is too tight , then it was caused by your LARYNX moving up. You have to try to make sure your larynx doesn't careless move too high. Things that can raise your larynx up is a tight neck. So try to relax your neck when you're singing. But what if the tightness of the vocal cords is just a habit you have cultivated? Then you can use decompression exercises to loosen up that tightness until you achieve the right balance that will prevent the cracks.
If it's too loose, then you'll try to use vocal compressing exercises to bring the cords a little bit closer to avoid that BREATHINESS and prevent you from cracking.
Other factors that will help you make this a lot easier is having good breath support to give your voice stamina and control your Volume, and Resonance to remove pressure from your larynx and amplify your voice properly.
This is where your vocal coach/voice teacher comes in as they will give you the right amount of exercise to help you compress or decompress your vocal cords when you're too breathy or too tight, respectively. This will help you find the balance that will then prevent you from cracking when you sing a song or a particular note in a song. Bye bye cracking. 😁
So make sure you find a vocal coach around you. If you can't find one, fear not. You can simply join us for your online voice training class where we bring the physical training experience wherever you are around the world. See the comment section for more information or contact us for more information.
I hope this was helpful and always remember, as long as you can talk, you can sing
