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DD sings a song with a high C, she can hit it (usually ) but get sooooo stressed worrying that she might not. It's a great song but she finds excuses not to sing it because she's worried about the note...and of course when she worries, she tightens up so it's more likely she'll crack . Has anyone got any great tips, or is it just practise, practise, practise?!?

My advice would be that if she isn't enjoying singing it she shouldn't sing it. I am not a voice teacher, but if her voice is 'cracking' it has to be a sign that all is not well in there and young people's vocal chords (or do we call them folds these days?) are very delicate. Pushing to a high C can cause damage.

There are plenty of songs that don't have high Cs in them that she can sing, enjoy and deliver really nicely. Stick to those while continuing with lessons that develop her technique. In time, her ability to hit the high notes with ease will become apparent to her and she can return to the high C with confidence.

Assuming that she is destined to be a soprano, rather than a mezzo or contralto, both of which are equally valuable and have superb repertoire.

The bottom line for me, as the mom of a young singer, is that she sings first and foremost for her own pleasure. Yes, she has to work at the technique, but at my DDs age (9) that work should be fun. If it isn't, don't do it, and find another way.

Hope this helps

Deb x

Thanks for that Deb, you're probably right. She does love singing the song and it is very funny and she's has no problem at home and in lessons, she just stresses that she'll fail if she's on stage so I wondered whether there was a way around that...but may just go for another song

The other thing I'd suggest is to just get the music in a different key. My DD struggles too with top C and yet lots of songs she seems to want to sing have it as a last (and loooooong) note. So what we do is use music room to transpose the music by normally 2 semi-tones, as she's fine with a b flat, and that makes all the difference. As you say, it's partly a confidence thing, so it's much better to be confident of hitting a lower note than worrying about not hitting the higher one.

If she can usually hit the note then it is certainly a confidence/ stress issue, so as other posters have suggested deal with those issues first. How old is she? Perhaps her voice has not "settled" yet.