Why Does My Voice Crack When Singing?

“Why does my voice crack when singing?!” – A complaint that rings out from many a singer. We’ve all been there. But why do these occur?

Voice cracks are a common issue — even famous singers have had them. But while they sound simple enough, voice cracks are not the real problem. A voice crack is a symptom, and the same symptom can occur in different singers for very different underlying reasons.

Possible Causes of Vocal Cracks

• Singing too heavy
• Singing too light
• Singing too inconsistent
• Singing too high
• Singing too low
• Singing with vocal damage

I’ve talked extensively about how the voice functions and what it takes to sing high notes and low notes. There is a particular balance that is meant to be present in every voice – not too heavy or over-muscled vocal fold behaviour, but not too light and under-tensioned vocal fold behaviour.

Any slippage in this fine motor control and finesse, particularly over just a single note or two, can lead to what we perceive as cracks in the voice. The timbre and even-ness disappears suddenly, leaving a literal gap in the voice. The more severe the misbehaviour, the more aesthetically painful the resultant crack.

But this can happen for a myriad of different underlying causes. Before we dive into the various root causes, if this is something you are deeply concerned with in your own voice, I’d love to help you resolve this issue.

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Singing Too Heavy

Many singers are too aggressive with trying to hit notes. This is true whether it’s a high note or low note. When the vocal folds are significantly over-muscled, being hit too hard by air pressure, etc, they eventually give up. It’s like someone going to muscular failure at the gym.

Moreover, the vocal folds are trying to behave in very fine motor control movements. Sometimes it’s pure muscular fatigue that causes them to give in, sometimes it’s just pure mechanical slippage due to imprecise movement.

Singing Too Light

Many singers, especially those copying modern RnB or breathier/lighter singers like Billie Eilish or Mariah Carey, tend to have too little muscular engagement and too much airflow.

This means the vocal folds are right on the edge of falling out of a manageable working condition. This can cause flips, weird squeaks, vocal disconnects or even rattly sounding vocal cracks.

Similar vocal cracks to singing too heavy, but for entirely the opposite reasons.

Singing Too Inconsistent

Some singers sing with too little muscular engagement lower down, then too much higher up. The disparity between how they approach singing between low and high is what causes a disconnect. Their voice tries to maneuver from being too light to too heavy, and this inherently causes spasmodic behaviour over time, leading to odd vocal cracks and vocal fatigue.

Singing Too High

A singer may not be overly heavy or light in the manageable part of their range, but if they constantly stick their voice in a range that they are not yet capable of controlling, then it may BECOME too heavy or too light in that range.

This not only leads to vocal cracks IN that top end range where they are changing approach, but can experience flips/cracks/breaks as they transition into that top range… because they aren’t actually yet capable of singing there smoothly.

Singing Too Low

This is less common, but it does occur, particularly with female singers trying to sing in the very bottom dregs of their voice.

The very last half octave of most people’s voices are typically accessible, but not terribly useful for long periods of sustained melody. If a singer is trying to sing notes that are technically within their range but realistically lower than optimal, they will discover spasmodic behaviour where the voice struggles to keep reproducing pitches with an even sound. This will often cause weird glitches in their voice as they try to wring a decent sound out of that lower range.

Singing With Vocal Damage

This is rare but not uncommon. Singers with an existing vocal health condition may discover regular breaks and cracks in their singing. Nodules, granuloma, chronic reflux, even poor sleep patterns can lead to recurrent chronic issues in the vocal folds/vocal tract. This can lead to cracking in someone’s range.

If their voice is functionally impaired – to whatever degree – as they try to sing in that curtailed range, they will experience all manner of inconsistencies that typically worsen during singing sessions.

Organic Variation, Especially With Mucus

The vocal folds are meant to be lined with a thin layer of mucus. Too much and too little can cause behavioural inconsistencies in the voice. Even a tiny globule (delicious!) at an inopportune moment can derail great notes. I myself can have this even on good vocal days, but these are rare, pain free, and don’t occur with such frequency that they create worry in the singer. Nevertheless, I mention so that people understand that vocal cracks can occur for MANY reasons, even in normal, healthy and skilled singers’ voices.

Conclusion

Vocal cracks are but a symptom. To identify and solve the underlying cause in a given voice requires working with a voice directly to assess and diagnose. Without a skilled ear, you will not be able to fully diagnose and solve these yourself.

Fortunately, almost all these issues are down to vocal training. No matter what the underlying cause for your vocal cracks, with the right assessment and choice exercises tailored to your voice, it is entirely feasible to fix these vocal cracks for good.