How to Scream Sing

Co-authored by Tanisha Hall

Last Updated: February 9, 2023 References

You may have imitated vocalists in bands like Linkin Park, System of a Down, or Slipknot, attempting to crush the vocal screams you've heard in songs by these groups. But without proper form and technique, you could permanently damage your voice this way. If you want be able to scream (and talk!) long term, you'll need to do it the right way. This isn't a "no pain, no gain" situation. You have to protect your voice while screaming your lungs out. And with the right approach, you'll sound great doing it!
Warning: Scream-singing can cause damage to your vocal cords if done improperly. If you feel any pain or discomfort, take a break from practicing for a while to let your vocal cords rest.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Defending Your Voice from Damage

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Warm up your voice always. Trying to rip a scream with vocal folds that aren't properly prepared can leave you feeling raspy. Pushing your voice beyond what it is ready to do can lead to swelling and even damage, much like an athlete stands a much greater chance of injury when forgoing a pre-game warm-up.^{[1]
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Research source} There are many warm ups you might use, including:
- Regular scales at two octave intervals. Sing regular intervals from low in your range up two octaves and back down again. You can check your intervals by playing along with a piano; each white note step is corresponds with a one-interval step.
- Sing trills. This will warm up the muscles of your tongue and lips. Simple sing or hum a tone while you trill your tongue or lips. For your tongue, this will be a rolled sound like the 't' in 'water' or a Spanish 'rr.' Lip trills are like blowing a raspberry.
- Siren up and down. Use a vowel to gently ascend from your lower range all the way up to the your upper limits. Then descend in a controlled fashion, as smoothly as possible.
EXPERT TIP

Tanisha Hall
Vocal Coach
Tanisha Hall is a Vocal Coach and the Founder and Executive Director of White Hall Arts Academy, Inc. an organization based in Los Angeles, California that offers a multi-level curriculum focused on fundamental skills, technique, composition, theory, artistry, and performance at a conservatory level. Ms. Hall's current and previous students include Galimatias, Sanai Victoria, Ant Clemons, and Paloma Ford. She earned a BA in Music from the Berklee College of Music in 1998 and was a recipient of the Music Business Management Achievement Award.

Tanisha Hall
Vocal Coach

Expert Trick: The quickest way to warm up and stretch your voice is by doing sirens. Start at your lowest note and sing "Ahhhh" in a gentle, smooth tone, then slide all the way up to your highest note and back down to the lowest note. Do this about 5 times to give your vocal cords a gentle stretch.
2
Avoid unpleasant sensations. While a certain level of fatigue is normal when training your voice to sing a broader range or in a different fashion, as you are in scream-singing, you should listen to your body. If you feel pain, irritation, a burning sensation, or notice uncharacteristic changes to your voice, stop immediately.
- Pushing your voice can result in permanent damage.
- Long periods of rest can cure fatigue and minor strain.^{[3]
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3
Take breaks for your voice frequently. The strain you put on your voice while training it to scream-sing can lead to hoarseness and discomfort, but the same sensations can come about from normal intensive vocal practice.^{[4]
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Research source} You should break up your practice sessions so that you're not overly straining your voice and doing potential damage to it.
- Hydration is important for the health of your vocal folds. Use breaks to grab a drink of warm water or tea.
- Beginning singers will want to limit singing to about 20 minutes per day. With experience will come greater vocal strength which will translate to more practice time throughout the day.
- Even advanced singers should limit practice to several 15 - 20 minute segments. Each segment should start with a warm up, end with a cool down, and be followed by rest, and hydration.^{[5]
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Consult a doctor or expert to evaluate your voice. Serious singers will probably want to get a pre-evaluation from a medical expert to address an avoidable issues before they can cause damage. Some doctors specialize in treating the pathologies common to vocalists, including vocal fold swelling, nodules on the vocal folds, and hemorrhages. If one of these specialists is not available in your area, you should seek out an ears, nose, and throat doctor, explain your situation, and ask him to evaluate the condition of your voice.
- You should also see a vocal professional if you experience vocal discomfort or an uncharacteristic change in your voice for an extended period of time.
- A laryngoscopy is a procedure frequently performed on professional vocalists, where a small camera is used to inspect the condition of the vocal apparatus.^{[6]
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Hire a voice coach. A voice coach will have the experience to recognize production errors on your part when you try to scream-sing. This will allow you and your coach to isolate problem areas and protect your voice from overexertion and damage. Some experts even specialize in teaching scream-singing.
- You might look for a voice coach in the music department of at a local university.
- Seek out a voice coach at a local music school or institute.
- As a more affordable option, you might make use of video coaching. Some voice coaches provide pre-recorded videos for a fee, including helpful techniques on these recordings.^{[7]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Screaming while You Sing

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Know the component parts of scream-singing. There are four main parts of your body that you'll need to coordinate to properly scream-sing and save your voice from damage. Your mouth, your throat/pharynx, your chest, and your diaphragm. While screaming, each of these parts have "jobs".
- The diaphragm is a band of muscle that stretches across the bottom of your rib cage. It acts like a bellows, drawing down to pull air into your lungs or pulling up to press air out.
2
Adopt an unobstructed mouth shape. Your mouth will releases the sound and form your scream into words. Your mouth should be opened as wide as possible. Avoid distorting the sound with your mouth, as this will add strain to your vocal tract and can result in you hurting your throat.
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Open your throat for your scream. The throat has one purpose and one purpose only: to create the tone. It must be as open as possible. Refrain from adding distortion to your tone from the throat by constricting the muscles there.^{[8]
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- Get a feel for the open throat you'll need for your scream-singing by yawning. The upward shift of the back, upper regions of your throat is your soft palate raising.
- Your tongue should also be flat and somewhat retracted to improve the openness of your throat.
- Try breathing in on a 'k' sound. This will cause a greater space between the back regions of your tongue and your soft palate, helping you to feel the ideal shape for your throat.
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Breathe openly with your chest relaxed. Relax the muscles in the top of your chest, open your mouth wide, and breathe. That is the feeling you want in your throat while screaming. If you feel a "trapped" sensation, or feel a kind of blockage or lack of airflow, immediately stop.^{[9]
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Add distortion from your chest. The chest will be where the distortion of your scream comes from. This is the location where the windpipe is strongest. Therefore, this is where you want to constrict the sound.^{[10]
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- A trick you might use to constrict the sound in your chest is to place your hands on your chest and push inwards while keeping your posture straight.
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Control airflow with your diaphragm. When you are talking normally the air comes from your chest. To scream, you want the air to come from your diaphragm. All the force of your scream should originate and be sustained with your diaphragm.^{[11]
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Feel your voice progress through your vocal tract. The force/sustaining of your diaphragm will flex, releasing air to create sound that gets will be constricted and distorted in your chest. This scream should then pass through your open throat and out your mouth, which should also be wide open.
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Use low volumes for practice. As you perfect your technique and strengthen your voice for this kind of singing, you'll be able to increase the volume you produce, but even a well-trained voice can be strained by scream-singing too loudly. You should make use of microphones to prevent singing too loud and plan to take plenty of breaks to prevent overuse.^{[12]
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Use vocal fry to your advantage. Vocal fry, also called the pharyngeal voice, is a tone of voice in your lower register. Vocal fry creates crackle and creakiness commonly associated the pop and sizzle of scream-singing. While speaking or singing with vocal fry for extended periods can be bad for you, at low volumes with a mic up close, this technique can actually save your voice from serious damage that can be caused by a full-on scream.^{[13]
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- Female vocalists attempting to accomplish this technique should practice by aiming for a tone at around B♭4, or middle the B♭ above middle C on a keyboard.
- Male vocalists can practice this kind of voice by singing lower in the register, at about the range of D4 - E♭4, or the D - E♭ above middle C on a keyboard.^{[15]
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Record yourself and tighten up your technique. You can also take your recording with you to vocal lessons, if you have a voice coach, and receive critique to improve your scream-singing. Each voice is different; you'll need to familiarize yourself with vocal tension and make small adjustments to tweak your voice to achieve the sound you're aiming to produce.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Maintaining Your Voice

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Drink warm liquids, like tea. Warm liquids will sooth your voice, relaxing it from the tension and strain that have likely built up over the course of your vocal practice. Tea is frequently recommended by vocalists and voice professionals alike.^{[16]
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Research source} You may also benefit from the foul smelling vocal elixir, propolis, a drink made from bees wax.
- Another technique, steaming, can be used to improve your vocal healing. Boil water in a pot, drape a towel over your head, and use the towel to collect the steam and breath it in. Be careful not to put your head to close to the boiling water, or you may get scalded.
- Add a few drops of Eucalyptus essential oil to your water when steaming to improve the healing effects of your steam treatment.^{[17]
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Gargle with warm salt water. This will sooth your throat and reduce swelling in your vocal folds. You may want to do this as frequently as once an hour by dissolving 1 tsp (5 g) of salt in 8 oz (240 mL) glass of warm water. Frequent gargling can also be a preventative measure for throat soreness and vocal fold swelling.^{[18]
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Use hydrating throat sprays formulated for vocalists. Some throat sprays are formulated expressly with vocalists in mind. These do not have numbing agents, which can cause you to push your voice harder or further than is healthy. Two common sprays popular among vocalists include Entertainer's Secret and Vocalise.^{[19]
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Cool down from scream practice with hums. Once you are finished, you may feel slight tightness, or notice a "tired" quality to your voice. This is similar to the sore muscles that athletes get while strength training. You can reduce this quality by humming to cool down your voice. Simply:
- Choose a low, comfortable note.
- Gently hum as clear a note as possible.^{[20]
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Drink port to soothe, if appropriate for your situation. Port is a fortified red wine that is strong and sweet.^{[21]
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Research source} For younger vocalists, this will not be a legal option, but adults might use a glass to ease sore throats and help with vocal recovery.
- Generally speaking, alcoholic drinks are dehydrating and negatively impact vocal production. Port is generally accepted as an exception to this rule.^{[22]
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Community Q&A

Question

Can I learn how to scream sing if my voice is bad?

Community Answer

Anyone can sing if they practice. Just use your diaphragm, drink lots of water, practice breathing techniques and put lots of emotion into your singing.
Question

I can only scream when I'm full of energy. How can I build up energy?

Community Answer

Try staying still for long periods of time, so the energy builds up. There are natural remedies, of course, but you could always try caffeine instead.
Question

Can anyone learn to sing?

Community Answer

Anyone, even the most tone-deaf, can learn to sing or at least carry out a simple tune with enough practice.