Today I vocalized several times up to an A4, which is only be the second time that I've been able to hit that note since my voice changed (I first hit it a little over a month ago at a voice lesson). Typically my voice flips into a falsetto mode at F#, but today I managed to sail straight up to an A several times, and an A# once, but beyond that my voice just broke.

To get up to it, at anything beyond an E, I was basically hitting everything at almost full blast. I wasn't pushing for it--I'm not stupid enough to do that, but to help keep the sound in the mask I had to get a lot of volume so I could really feel where it was being placed. At –all- times, I kept my teeth buzzing, my tongue flat but not stiff, my larynx mostly stable, and I kept the resonance on my hard pallet, right behind my top teeth—that’s where it typically is when I flip into head voice.

It didn't hurt -at all- when I was doing it, and afterwards my voice had the barest hints of being hoarse when I spoke for about fifteen minutes, but it wore off very quickly (which was what used to happen when I would struggle to sing up to the F--that's vanished now that I can hit the F in a more proper manner). However I do have a slight feeling of 'pressure' on my larynx.

It doesn't hurt, and my voice is completely clear now when I speak. So I'm wondering if I might have hurt my voice and I need to back off for a few days, or if it's just that the muscles around the larynx might be sore since I'm not used to exercising them so much. I should also say that I did about fifteen to twenty minutes more vocalizing today than I typically do, and those involved singing up to the A. I know—I should’ve done less, but I was pretty excited to be hitting the A, and never once did my voice actually start to give out, so I assumed I was in good shape and hitting it cleanly.

Any thoughts from anyone?

I should also mention--my falsetto is still clear as a bell, and feels as free as it ever does.

Typically when I hurt my voice, I either lose the falsetto completely, or it feels less flexible and sounds less clear.

That's not the case this time, so I'm guessing it's just my muscles being sore.

From everything that you've stated, it seems you just gave your cords a good workout. I'd have to say that I notice the temporary hoarseness after a good vocal workout, too. Lemme ask you, though...Do the 2 muscles on either side of your next feel like they're slightly bulged? I notice that mine seem to feel slightly bulging and quite muscular after a good workout. When you start doing vocal exercises more frequently, your neck size will increase somewhat because you're exercising those muscles just like you would any others. Anyways, send back an answer soon, but I think you're in the clear as far as any damage is concerned. One of the things that Jaime mentions in RYV is that you'll seem to have progress in leaps and bounds when first beginning, and then it slows down a bit after a while. Congratulations on your newly achieved A4 sir!