How are you supposed to control the whistle notes? It was working okay. But when I’m trying to sing certain whistle notes, it’s like there’s no steering wheel. Landing on other notes I’m not trying to sing. Am I just strange or what?
Marty Ringo
Hello Marty,
You’re very generous — and brave — to ask this question, because it’s something that affects a lot of people. So let’s take this chance you’ve given us, to help you and to help our fellow singers.
Well, first of all, have you read the post on this blog about whistle register? Here it is: https://singingandyou.com/whistle-register/
See, I’ve known plenty of singers who complain that they will be singing and without any warning the voice will suddenly be on some other wild note, way off from the pitch that the singer intends to be singing. Obviously this is unsustainable.
What’s causing this freakish behavior from the vocal cords?! Let’s dive into this one. First of all “whistle register” is actually a terrible idea. This “whistle register” thing depends upon using the false vocal folds for making sound. But the false vocal folds are not even designed by nature to create sound. So you are forcing the false cords to make sound, and essentially the voice is rebelling. This is why the voice won’t work normally, if we are trying to sing with “whistle register” technique.
Every part of our body has some natural purpose, an important purpose, obviously. And the purpose of the false vocal folds is to close over the trachea (wind pipe) when we swallow. This keeps us from choking to death! So the false cords perform a vital function. They are like a shelf over the true vocal folds, so they are protecting the true vocal folds, always.
But the false vocal folds are not intended to make sound whatsoever. If we force this, naturally there will be problems that quickly arise. One of these problems will be that we can no longer control what pitch we are singing, at any given moment! My God, what a catastrophe for any singer! We have so many other aspects of good singing on our minds and we must be able to rely upon the vocal folds (vocal cords, same thing) for making sound on the musical pitches that we intend to be singing, from one second to the next! If we don’t even have this to rely upon, we really are not going to be able to sing — except for perhaps making our singing into some kind of a freak show. I doubt you want any such thing.
My advice is to send me a sound recording of your singing, so I can hear what is going on exactly. There is a good chance I can help. If it’s beyond my capabilities and requires a specialized rehabilitative vocal instructor, I will help you find the best person to help with this, absolutely.
But meanwhile, please give the above-linked blog post a chance, the post that is specifically about whistle register.
Can’t thank you enough for posting this one. Hang in there and we will do our best to help resolve this issue, so you can begin singing better than ever!
All the best!
Gretchen
