If you are serious about learning to sing, you will first need to find your vocal range. This is quite a complex subject, but you can use the following guidelines.

For women:

• If you can comfortably sing from C4 (middle C) to 2 C's above middle C (C6), you are most likely a soprano.
• If you can comfortably sing from the A just below middle C (A3) to the A two octaves higher (A5), you are most likely a mezzo-soprano.
• If you can comfortably sing from the F below middle C (F3) to the F two octaves higher, you are most likely a contralto

For men:

• If you can comfortably sing from the C below Middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5), you are most likely a tenor.
• If you can comfortably sing from the F two octaves below middle C (F2) to the F just above middle C (F4), you are most likely a baritone.
• If you can comfortably sing from the E two octaves below middle C (E2) to the E just above middle C (E4), you are most likely a bass.

The vocal ranges are only approximations, meant to give a general idea of where the singer's voice is the most comfortable. This means that there are many singers who can sing notes higher or lower than the range they are assigned - this is common and no cause for worry.
So how do you increase your vocal range?

Increasing one's vocal range is not something that can be done overnight. The voice, like any other muscle, must be stretched a tiny bit at a time in order to prevent injury and permanent damage.

If you are in a high vocal range, for example, and you wish to stretch your range lower, I'd suggest doing the following.

• Warm up properly. The importance of this cannot be overstated.
• Do descending arpeggios. Start at the highest note you are comfortable with, and work your way downward one half-tone at a time. Stop at the lowest point where your voice feels comfortable.
• Make a note of the lowest note you can comfortably sing.
• Start your descending arpeggio's again, but this time go one half-tone lower than the lowest note you can comfortably sing.
• "Stretch" your voice to this new low note for at least one week, preferably two weeks, until it feels 100% comfortable. Until your voice feels absolutely and completely comfortable with your new lowest note, do not go any lower. This can take anywhere from one week to some months.

Use the same principle when expanding your voice to include higher notes, like when you are a high tenor or a high baritone and you want to go even higher. Only go half a tone higher or lower at a time, and make very, very sure that your voice is completely comfortable with the new tone before moving even higher or lower.

Remember that your vocal range is only one of a number of factors influencing how well you sing. If you attempt songs beyond your register before you are ready to expand your register, the quality of your singing will necessarily suffer, because you are stretching your voice beyond its limitations. In a way, it's like training for a long-distance race and then deciding on the day of the competition to run the 100 meters. You simply will not do as well.

When you are beginning to sing, it is best to just find your natural voice and range and work on improving that before you start expanding your range. Having a huge range but a poor quality voice will not help you at all - as any professional singer will tell you, it is much better to have an excellent quality voice with a smaller range.

Click here to discover a lot more great singing techniques to improve your voice. Find out how you can easily learn how to sing like a pro.

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