Anyone Can Sing | Take A Minute To Sing Episode 7: Sustaining Long Notes

Episode 7: Sustaining Long Notes

Holding out a long note at the end of a phrase is difficult for many singers. Here are a few tips I have discovered over my forty plus years of teaching voice. The first example that comes to mind is the last note on Barbra Streisand’s version of “Evergreen” from A Star is Born. It’s a great exercise, but it’s rare for a note to be held out for 8 measures. It’s interesting that Streisand actually composed the music to that song. Only a singer who could do that would write an ending note that long!

Not only is it a great exercise for singers, but I am using this with one of my voice students with Parkinson’s disease. He told me of some speaking exercises he got from his doctor and we have adapted this for him.

Here are some of the main points to help with sustaining a long note:

Prepare the air by expanding the diaphragm along with a quiet surprise.
Practice a regular breath and a quick catch breath
Attack the note as you would when you energetically say “Hi!” to an old friend.
Start with a “Hah” sound on a single tone. As you hold the note, keep relaxing the throat open, especially when you are doing a decrescendo at the end of the tone.
Rehearse with vibrato, then try it by delaying the vibrato until the end. This will help with styles like pop and jazz.
One way to help keep the throat relaxed is to feel like the back part of the throat is constantly expanding very slightly. This helps keep the closing muscles from being activated.
Decide to only hold out the note as long as you can keep the throat relaxed. As a result, you will use less effort and less air, which will help you hold out the tone even longer.