Blog Musician

Singing Tips You Must Not Be Without

I personally cannot think of a better way to share yourself to others then through singing. Your voice is used for everything and we use it continuously. But really opening up and singing is not only enjoyable but a lovely art form. This does take some practice and proper building. Your voice is your instrument. So let’s go over some singing tips.

I come from the camp that believes we all can sing. Now I’m not saying that there aren’t singers out there that genuinely have a pure gift, but with some work and help anybody can sing. Singing must be worked at and practiced like everything else.

You train your voice with vocal aerobics to help increase strength similar to how we would exercise any other muscle. This means that like any other training we need to stretch, warm up and cool down our instrument.

The easiest and most perfect exercise to limber up or cool down is to lightly hum. You should do hums regularly. The buzzing thoroughly warms up the chords nicely and gets them lubricated. Now I know I don’t need to teach you how to hum but there is a correct way. Soft and comfortable with an M sound or even N hum. There should never be any stress or tightness in your throat or neck. Our goal is a gentle and easy hum.

Next we will practice these hums with actual scales going in both directions up and down. If you get too high and your buzz cracks, stop. Don’t look to force it up there. Just relax and move back down the scale nice and relaxed. Great singers do not force, we should never force a note out. Again we are keeping our throat and neck relaxed, never tight and forcing. Have patience, it does take time and practice to develop your voice.

So how can we sing without tension? Well with proper breath support. Breathing is a very important part of the process. You really need to learn about your diaphragm and how to breath from it. This is the muscle that regulates breathing. When the diaphragm gets confused the worst feeling in the world starts, hiccups.

I know this may sound strange but pant like a dog for a few seconds. Try that or use the “hut hut” like a quarterback. If you do this accurately you should feel the pressure from just under your ribs. Sometimes you hear people say “sing from your belly” this is what they actually mean. It will take time and exercise to get this diaphragm muscle functioning in sync with our voice but when it does, watch out.

Don’t ever finish vocal training without cooling down with at least a few more soft hums. Taking care of your voice is a constant job. You need to keep an eye on what you eat. For example fried, spicy, or dairy foods are not good for your voice. You also need to be aware of your volume, do not yell or scream as that will just blow your vocal chords out.

Singing well takes hard work and time. It is an all day job because we need to pay attention to what we eat, how we talk, and then spend time practicing. The benefits you will get back unquestionably make it worth it. Nothing can compare to letting your voice loose for all to hear and love! I can’t cover everything in an article and a vocal coach can be of great help, but hopefully these singing tips get you going.

Tags: Vocals