I have to sing a solo in my school musical with notes that don't fit my range. My teacher won't let me change the notes. What should I do?!?

Breathe deeply and stand/sit up straight. Don't give up, you probably won't get the results you want the first time, but the more you work at it, the better you'll get. Practice, practice, practice!

Do NOT try to push your voice, as it is poor breathing and unhealthy. Remember, you will never be able to sing lower than your lowest note, but with enough practice it is possible to extend your range as high as you want (theoretically). You should be able to have at least 2 octaves with work.

Use warm-ups that concentrate on the front of your mouth and lips to bring the sound out of your throat. Another Good Technique for singing high notes is to first sing as low as you can go, this stretches your vocal chords so that when you sing higher they don't tighten as quickly increasing your range. Never strain when singing below your range as your voice may crack, causing you to lose your high notes.

Keep a wide space in your mouth by making a 0 shape and keeping your tongue down. It is best to know your range. Men especially take a long time to build range, and it doesn't help to force high notes that aren't ready to come out.

Once again, NEVER push your voice. It can result in damage to your vocal chords which may be permanent (google vocal nodes. It's what happened to Julie Andrews and it can happen to you!).

Watch celebrities who can hit high notes and watch to see if there are any special things they do, and then try them out. (Some singers who can hit high notes really well are Mariah Carey, Leona Lewis, Brendon Urie, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston.) For example, Adam Lambert sticks his tongue out when singing a high note. This helps open up the mouth/throat to hit higher notes.

You want to make your sound pretty. The best way to do this is by imagining you grabbing your voice, take it from the bottom of your throat, to the top of your head. You want your sound to be from up there, not straining from the bottom of your throat.

If you're a beginner singing high notes, and you try too hard, your voice will sound forced and that doesn't sound good. Make it natural. An easy way to know that you're producing your high notes correctly is to place a finger on your larynx (voice box or "Adam's apple"), then sing up a scale to see if your larynx moves up higher on your neck.

If so, this is the INCORRECT method. This is the most common mistake made by amateur singers. To overcome this will take time, patience and a lot of staring in your mirror.

My voice coach also made me hold my tongue with my fingers and sing to feel when my tongue was getting in the way of the sound. Don't take these methods overboard to "force" the correct sound to come out. Simply use this as a test like you would use a level to see if something is straight.

My throat really hurts. What should I do? If you are serious about singing you might want to consider investing in a personal steamer.

Personal steamers fill your throat with steam, clear out all the junk that might be there so you can sing in the upper part of your voice with more ease. These same tips apply for singing low notes, except play low notes with your instrument. Despite popular belief, hot tea and lemon are both bad for your voice.

Not only does lemon dry out your voice, but anything that is extremely hot or cold will hurt your voice! The best things for your voice are simple vitamins and room temperature water. It also can cause a poor performance if you eat or drink one hour before singing.

Previous tips have already covered this, but it is absolutely important not to strain your voice. Doing so could cause unfixable damage to your voice. You will get that high note you're having trouble with right now.

But if you constantly strain and hurt your voice you'll never hit those notes. Try not to drink or eat something cold. Get a voice teacher to help you.

You are more likely to accomplish something with a professional at your side. If you can't get a voice teacher, you'll have to work at home. It would be best to have some instrument at your side that will go high.

The best choice would be a piano or keyboard if one is available.