One of my biggest creeds as a professional vocal coach is know your limits as a singer. Everyone has limits. Equate it to being a professional athlete, if you will. Not one single person on this planet can jump without coming down or run or skate faster than the speed of light. Why should singing be any different? No one is capable of extending beyond certain vocal boundaries. Not everybody has a five octave range like Mariah Carey.
Knowing how low you can sing, how high you can sing, how loud your voice can go without straining or pushing, if you can do vocal runs and riffs, etc, can help you to figure out what kind of an artist you are and what type of material you should be singing.
Girls reach their potential (developmentally ) in their vocal chords in their late teens/early twenties. Boys are about the same, but their lower register definitely changes with age. For girls it's the opposite. Women have fuller voices in their upper register (head voice) in their early twenties.
So if you can't reach some of those lower register (chest voice) notes, or upper register/ head voice notes, don't be so hard on yourself. It will come with maturity, time, lots of practice and training.
A professional vocal coach, like myself, can help you to train your voice.
But know what you can and can't do, so that you can get better.
The worst thing for a singer us to get hung up on things that just may very well be vocally unattainable. Toss the bad, make the good better. Know your limits, and know that every single singer has them. Accepting this truth will definitely make you a stronger vocalist.
Andrea Ceron is owner of ACvocals and an instructor for Helen O'Grady Drama Academy. She can be reached at 1.403.923.0345 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it