Hoarseness from exercises

Yesterday I was working on lesson 6 with Camille's course, and also revisited some previous exercises, and afterward my voice felt hoarse. It was not quite painful, just not as clear or clean sounding and slightly uncomfortable. I went back and measured the pitch, and I think lesson 6's Yaws gets up to D5. Not sure if that has anything to do with it as I'm not too good at singing high. I was trying to figure out how to hit those notes. Also, after I hit a certain note, it got super muddy sounding until I went up another few steps, then it "clicked" back to normal. I don't know if that's normal, or if that could've caused the problem as well. I don't want to mess up anything but continuing to do something wrong. Any suggestions?

Hi, Jared! For most tenors + basses (low voices), you'll be most comfortable singing the octave below me. But if you want to eliminate the guesswork, please try Jonathan Estabrooks' course! He teaches from my outline, so we cover the same material, but he demonstrates in a lower range you'll be able to sing along with. Singing outside of your comfortable range could certainly cause unnecessary stress on your voice and result in the hoarseness you experienced. 

Jared, if your new. Pace yourself. Take it easy. Incorporate some simple exercises  lip trills or humming. These will help you develop without putting too much pressure on your vocal chords. Also if your new at singing. I like the gym analogy because the larynx is a muscle. You know when you start working and you have not been in gym forever. You feel tired or exhausted and sore quickly. Same thing here. 

Thanks for the suggestion Camille! I saw Mr. Estabtooks' credentials in symphony and opera in his description and thought he taught that kind of singing (which isn't what I want to learn). I'm glad I tried his course, like you said he teaches the same  skills that you do. No more problems with hoarseness.

Jim, thanks for the advice! I'm trying with those lip trills, I never seem to be able to hold them for more than a few seconds☹️

Good to hear, Jared!

Here's an article I wrote on lip trills, if you haven't checked it out: https://www.30daysinger.com/blog/lip-trills-all-about-the-vocal-exercise.

Ok, I'll check it out. Thank you!

I read the article. I'll keep trying. Maybe I'm using up my air too fast, as it said it's not really and air-intensive exercise. I guess I should put forth an exerted effort to use less air? Also I'll set a goal to be able to do a whole siren using my keyboard (I can only do 3/4 of a 6 second long siren) then a slower siren, then maybe a siren and a half? What do you think?

Sounds like a good plan, Jared! I do think using less air will help. Lip trills, when done efficiently, don't use a lot of air. But in order to accomplish that, your facial muscles will need to be developed enough to keep your lips together. If that's a struggle, use your fingers to support the corners of your mouth!