Sing Beautifully

Everyone can sing but not everyone can sing well. Much like any other instrument, however, singing beautifully is a matter of leaning the right techniques and practicing regularly. With focus, dedication, and attention to detail, anyone can sing beautifully. Beautiful singers have great posture, breath through their belly, and know how to shape their voice to make gorgeous music.

Steps

Proper Singing Posture

  1. Keep your shoulders back and down. Do not slouch your shoulders forward or hunch them up by your ears. Your posture should be relaxed and confident. Use your shoulders to slightly lift your chest up, making room for your lungs to take in more air. Think of Superman posing triumphantly.
    • Don’t force this posture unnaturally. Simply focus on keeping your shoulders as far back as possible while still feeling comfortable.
  2. Hold your head level. Your chin should be parallel to the floor. This is essential for keeping the airway in your throat open – looking up or down will constrict your vocal chords and limit your singing ability.[1]
  3. Flatten your abdomen. Do not bend forwards or backwards from the waist. Instead, stand up straight so that your shoulders are above your ankles and your back is relaxed.
  4. Stand with your feet slightly apart, one in front of the other. Your feet should be 6-7 inches apart, with one foot slightly in front of the other. This will keep you weight slightly forward as you sing.[2]
  5. Relax your joints. Keep your knees and elbows loose and slightly bent so that you are not standing rigidly in place. This helps more than just your posture – a relaxed, loose body helps you generate air and control your voice while you sing.[3]
  6. Practice good posture in the mirror. The best way to see your mistakes is in the mirror. Watch yourself from the side and from the front, fixing any mistakes as you see them. You can also practice against a wall—simply stand against it in bare feet, focusing on making your head, shoulders, butt, and heel touch the wall.[4] Remember:
    • Shoulders back.
    • Chin level with the floor.
    • Chest out.
    • Stomach flat.
    • Joints relaxed.

Proper Breathing When Singing

  1. Breathe deeply and evenly when singing. Your normal breathing pattern is shallow and quick because your body does not need as much oxygen as when you are singing. When singing, you need to be able to inhale a lot of air quickly, then exhale it slowly and steadily as you sing.[5]
  2. Use your abdomen for breathing, not your chest. This is the biggest change burgeoning singers need to make when breathing. Think of breathing ‘’horizontally,’’ so that your belly expands as you inhale and sucks in and up as you exhale.[6]
    • Think of a ring around your stomach and waist expanding as you inhale and contracting as you exhale, moving the air from the bottom of your lungs up to your chest and out your mouth.[7]
    • Note how, as you breathe normally, your chest rises and falls. When you sing, however, your chest needs to be still.
  3. Push your stomach out as you inhale. Put a hand on your stomach. When you inhale, focusing on filling your lower lungs by expanding your stomach as you breathe.
    • Your chest should not move.
  4. Let your stomach suck back in as you exhale. Again, your chest should not move. As you become more experienced you will feel your back slightly expand out as you exhale.
  5. Practice breathing deeply. You’ve spent most of your life taking shallow, natural breaths, so you need to practice proper singing breaths to make them a habit. Try the following techniques to perfect your breath:
    • Lie on the floor with both hands on your stomach. Inhale through your stomach so your hands rise above your chest, then exhale back to starting position.
    • Practice hissing. Hissing requires a steady, thin stream of air. Inhale for 4 counts (1, 2, 3, 4) and then exhale for 4 counts. Then inhale for 6 counts and exhale for 10. Progress with shorter inhalations and longer hissing until you can breathe in for 1 count and exhale for 20.[7]
    • The best signers actually use very little air to sing big, loud notes, so take this exercise seriously.
  6. Avoid common breathing mistakes. Because breathing while singing is so different from natural breathing, there are a number of mistakes that beginners make when trying to focus on breathing and singing all at once. Cutting these mistakes will lead to beautiful singing faster. Some to avoid include:
    • ’’’Tanking up:’’’ Trying to fill your lungs as much as possible so you don’t run out of air. Instead of focusing on having more air, think about exhaling as steadily as possible to preserve your air.
    • ’’’Pushing air:’’’ For a beautiful tone, think about letting the air out of your lungs instead of forcing it out.
    • ’’’Holding back air:’’’ An advanced mistake, this is when singers stop their voice in between inhaling and exhaling. Focus on breathing “into” your note, silently exhaling air right before starting to sing.[8]

Practicing Beautiful Singing

  1. Set a goal for your voice. Typically, beautiful singing is both “clear” and “resonant.” Everyone has a different definition of beautiful, but there is some common ground between all the best singers. Think about the singers you admire and the type of music you want so sing, as you develop your beautiful voice.
    • ’’’Clear:’’’ The listener should be able to hear the words and notes without strain.
    • ’’’Resonant:’’’ Resonance is the deep, almost subconscious vibrations that all beautiful singers access. Think of the long, powerful, and sustained notes of singers from Aretha Franklin to Luciano Pavarotti.[9]
  2. Sing from your chest. Most beginning singers feel themselves singing through their throat, and they can feel the pressure in their head and neck as they sing. While this may feel natural, it is the wrong way to sing if you want to sing beautifully. Focus instead on your chest so that you feel it vibrating as you sing. You should feel pressure in your chest, as if you voice is coming from your pectoral muscles.
    • This is easiest if you are correctly breathing through your abdomen
    • Think of singing from your diaphragm (the muscle under your lungs that controls breathing) if you are having trouble singing from your chest.
  3. Learn to hone your “resonators.’’’”’’’ At the core of beautiful singing is the ability to create resonance, which is when your notes take on a rich, full sound. Listen to any opera singer to hear resonance at its best. Your voice echoes in your chest, mouth, and throat to gain depth. When you are singing with resonance, you feel a slight buzzing or vibrating feeling. To develop resonance, think about your voice’s “placement.” Where do you feel the sound coming from? How does it move as you open your lips or move your tongue? Everyone is different, but there are some tips to keep in mind:
    • Start by humming a simple “ee” sound. “Move” this noise up and down from your chest to your mouth. These are your resonators
    • Move your tongue down towards your bottom teeth, opening up your mouth and making the biggest space you can.[10]
    • Never “swallow” your vowels, or sing from the back of your throat. When you do, they become muddied and unclear.
  4. Sing songs within your range, or comfort zone. Some people are not comfortable singing high-pitched songs, no matter how much they practice. Others feel most at home in the upper register singing soprano parts. Through careful practice you can find your range, which is the series of notes that you sing most comfortably. When trying to find your vocal range, focus on singing with your chest and not your “head voice,” which is where you feel yourself singing in your throat.
    • Sing the lowest note you can without cracking or creaking. This is the bottom of your range.
    • Sing your highest note without cracking or creaking. This is the top of your range.
    • Your singing range includes all of the notes in between this upper and lower limit.
  5. Hire a vocal coach for personalized, guided advice. This is essential for the burgeoning singing, because there is only so much you can learn on your own. Vocal coaches know mechanics, music theory, and how to diagnose problems you can’t hear yourself. Your voice sounds differently to you then to other people, so an experienced guide is necessary to truly sing beautifully.[11]
    • Your coach should make you feel comfortable, and have either extensive performing experience or a degree in vocal training.[12]

Preparing Your Voice

  1. Warm-up before singing. Just like an athlete needs to prepare their muscles, a singer needs to warm up their voice to prevent strain and injury. Don’t start with a song, or even vowels and consonants. Instead, run through some scales with simple sounds and breaths. Exercises for your warmup include:
    • Hum. Humming activates your breath without straining your vocal chords.[13]
    • Trill your lips and tongue to warm up your mouth and jaw (ie. roll your r’s)
    • Begin with a simple scale, going up and down slowly (doh – mi – sol – mi – doh).
    • Begin with the easiest songs you are going to practice, waiting 10-15 minutes to tackle the tougher parts.
  2. Stay hydrated. Vocal chords flap and vibrate to create sound, and they need to be properly lubricated to move freely. Drink 4-6 glasses of water a day and keep a full water bottle near you wen practicing. On the night of a concert, make sure that you drink water throughout the day and before performing.[14]
    • Make sure you start drinking at least 30 minutes before performing so that your body has time to absorb the water.
  3. Get plenty of sleep. You need to feel well rested to focus on your singing technique and prevent vocal fatigue or injury. Adults should get 6-8 hours of regular sleep each night in order to sing as beautifully as possible.
  4. Avoid large amounts of alcohol, caffeine, and dairy. Alcohol and caffeine dry out your throat, causing your to strain as you sing.[15] Eating or drinking a lot of dairy products promotes the creation of mucous, which can inhibit proper breathing techniques.[16]
  5. Try not to yell. Yelling strains your voice by forcing air violently through your vocal chords. Speak softly whenever possible to protect your voice when you need it,
  6. Avoid smoking. Smoking damages the tissue in your lungs and should be avoided at all costs. There are fewer things that can do permanent damage to your beautiful singing voice then smoking.[16]

Tips

  • Exercise your voice. Your vocal cords need warming up.
  • Keep fit and healthy. This is good because you can hold your breath longer when you're healthy
  • Try to feel the song. Let the song empower you so you can sing from within.
  • Try to smile when you sing.
  • Start vocal lessons if possible.
  • Try to understand the song, to help you sing it better.
  • Just keep practicing! Gradually, your voice will get better and better!

Warnings

  • If you feel pain in your voice, stop singing and see a doctor to prevent series injuries to your vocal cords.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://cmed.faculty.ku.edu/gummposture/posture.html
  2. ↑ http://www.vocalist.org.uk/posture_exercises.html
  3. ↑ http://www.vocalist.org.uk/posture_exercises.html
  4. ↑ http://cmed.faculty.ku.edu/gummposture/posture.html
  5. ↑ http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=quickRef&doc=Breathing_InAPinch
  6. ↑ http://www.vocalist.org.uk/breath_control.html
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sing/learning/breathing.shtml
  8. ↑ http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=quickRef&doc=Breathing_InAPinch
  9. ↑ http://beautifulsinging.com/singing/tracheal.php
  10. ↑ https://blog.udemy.com/how-to-improve-your-singing-voice/
  11. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130913-why-we-hate-hearing-our-own-voice
  12. ↑ http://www.vocaltrainingsecrets.com/vocal-coach/
  13. ↑ http://your-personal-singing-guide.com/vocal-warmup.html
  14. ↑ http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=articles&doc=CareForVoice
  15. ↑ http://your-personal-singing-guide.com/bad-singing-foods.html
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 http://www.jazzboulevard.com/bksample.html

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