Extend Lower Vocal Range
I'm a 17 year old male with a comfortable range of D2-E2 to E4-F#4. I've been working on the low as well as high end of my vocal range, and while I've gotten better at the highest end, my lows seem unaffected and I can't seem to get any lower than that D2.
Is it because of my age? Do I have hopes of getting down to a C#2,C2 or even hopefully a B1 as I get older?
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When I have to hit low notes below my normal range, I cheat with vocal fry:
The vocal fry register (also known as pulse register, laryngealization, pulse phonation, creak, croak, popcorning, glottal fry, glottal rattle, glottal scrape, or strohbass) is the lowest vocal register and is produced through a loose glottal closure that permits air to bubble through slowly with a popping or rattling sound of a very low frequency. During this phonation, the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together, which causes the vocal folds to compress rather tightly and become relatively slack and compact. This process forms a large and irregularly vibrating mass within the vocal folds that produces the characteristic low popping or rattling sound when air passes through the glottal closure. The register (if well controlled) can extend far below the modal voice register, in some cases up to 8 octaves lower, such as in the case of Tim Storms who holds the world record for lowest frequency note ever produced by a human, a G?7, which is only 0.189 Hz, inaudible to the human ear.
As I've gotten older, my ability with vocal fry has gotten better. But my normal lower vocal range limit has remained the same.
Is it because of my age? Do I have hopes of getting down to a C#2,C2 or even hopefully a B1 as I get older?
In short, it is likely you will be able extend your lower range to an extent.
Certain vocal exercises will help with range on the higher and lower spectrum of your voice and while you are able to extend that range to a point, the lower range is trickier. The reason has to do with the physiology of your body, mainly your larynx (voice box, adam's apple) and vocal folds.
This website and this website help explain the anatomy of your larynx. The reason why you can sing in head voice or falsetto is because you are able to manipulate your vocal folds, specifically by lengthening or tightening the folds that raises the pitch. In contrast relaxing the vocal folds and cause them to vibrate slower causes the lower pitch. You can see why it's easier to extend the higher range because you have more to stretch, rather than a lower range because there is only so much you can relax, so to speak.
With this being said as you age, or learn to fully manipulate the folds to vibrate at a slower rate you will be able to lower the pitch. Anatomically speaking if the folds grow in size that will have an affect on range. Many older men in my choir as they age lower their range, not all, but many. Though much of this is what you are born with the more you practice in a healthy way to lower the range it will lower to an extent.
I am also 17, what a crowd, and I am able to sing from alto, all the way down to lower bass tones. This was all because I had a teacher that taught me how to stretch my vocal chords. If you google it, you can find many exercises to lossen up your vocal chords. After this, find a song that goes quite deep. (I used "far over the misty mountains cold" from the hobbit) When you sing along to it, sing as low as your voice will go WITHOUT STRAINING YOUR VOICE/THROAT (I cannot stress enough that if you feel strained in the throat, whether singing high, or low, you need to back off) Sing through to song at that octave, and every day sing at that octave (if it is off key to the song, its fine, we will get to that) Once you are comfortable at that dtage, take it a step down. Sing at the new octave daily until you feel comfortable, take a step down, etc. This really helped me, but you need to be careful you exercise your higher tones too, or your voice will get used to singing low, and not be able to sing high anymore. I hope this helps!
Just wait & see.
At 17 I had an easy 3½ octaves - full voice, no falsetto, down to a low E?. The next 30 years gave me another tone below that... that was it.
At the same time, of course, I lost half an octave off the highs.
In compensation, the tone I now have is better than it ever was.
Time will tell.
You can't force it.
It is, when push comes to shove, a physical constraint. You might squeeze a semi-tone or so by constant effort, but you won't ever really gain a huge step.
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