Singing is an artistic style in its own right, a worthwhile activity that almost anyone can learn.
People are very attracted to the sounds of the melody that the music brings to life, and learning to sing may be one of the most rewarding hobbies and activities available to people working at Liveme (in my opinion).
Pretty much everyone I meet, whether they’ve been actively involved in music and singing from a young age or just got their feet wet, has some kind of rhythmic core inside.
So, I first have to ask… Why do you want to learn how to sing?
But while music is a natural part of being human, it takes a lot of dedication and practice to become a successful singer who can sing in harmony and create a pleasing melody with your voice.
Anyone can sing in the shower and have a good time with music, but singing is one of the most difficult arts for a reason… If you want to be any good, you need to be disciplined and consistent.
No matter what genre you want to sing in, there are a few key beginner tips that every aspiring vocalist should remember or practice in order to succeed in their singing career. Following these singing steps can give you the confidence that you can learn to sing.
While you can certainly make a career out of being a singer, it’s honestly a very brutal competitive path.
Have you ever seen American Idol and The Voice?
Most of the vocalists who appear on these shows have been singing for quite some time, but still there is only one of them who really succeeds and becomes a professional singer at the end of the competition. That’s how competitive the music industry really is.
If you want to become a professional singer, then great – I love your dreams.
First, let’s focus on the 12 essential ingredients you need to be a good singer… Be sure to write these tips down and keep them in mind as you train to be the best (or just want to be the best you can be).
Note: You should consider a long-term online singing course for daily practice and rapid singing development.
1. Proper breathing
To sing correctly and for a long time, it is absolutely necessary to learn how to properly control your breathing.
Start with some basic breathing exercises that will help you learn the different pitches your voice can reach and train your lungs and vocal cords to hold those notes longer.
In addition, breathing exercises are necessary to prevent excessive damage to the throat, which can shorten the lifespan of your singing aspirations.
The best vocalists know how to breathe properly before, during, and after a performance.
Here are some exercises that you can start doing right now to get a feel for proper breathing; this will definitely help clear your throat and prepare you for peak performance:
– Work on relaxing your throat muscles. The ability to overcome various tensions in the muscles of the throat will help you develop more varied tonalities.
– Inhale slowly, imagining that the air you are drawing in is heavy and thick. While inhaling, actively work to move the air below the navel into the diaphragm (this is the dome-shaped muscle that is located between the chest and abdomen; this is the main muscle responsible for breathing movements and an important component for a successful singer). Exhale and then repeat.
– Find a light pen that you can practice holding in the air while breathing. This will help you fine-tune your overall breath control and help strengthen and expand your lung capacity. The key to this exercise is to maintain a constant flow without letting the diaphragm completely deflate.
– Inhale for 4 counts, then exhale for 4 counts, making a “hissing” sound. Then you gradually increase the time: 6 counts per breath, 10 hissing breaths. 6 input accounts, 12 outputs. 2 bills in, 12 out. 4 input accounts, 16 outputs. 2 accounts in, 16 out. 4 accounts per input, 20 outputs. 1 count, 20 count. By doing this hissing exhalation exercise, you are training your lungs and body to hold an extended note with less inhalation. The goal is to create a smooth, even tone so that the volume or pitch does not change as you exhale.
– Slowly inhale and imagine that your lungs are filling in parts as you count. At 1 count, fill your lungs 1/4; 2 bills, 1/2 full; 3 accounts, 3/4 full; 4 accounts, completely filled. Then slowly exhale while continuing to count to 12. Start again, this time split your breath between two parts: 1 count, 1/2 full; 2 pieces, completely filled. Then exhale while continuing to count to 10. Again, the idea is to teach your body how to better control your breathing.
2. Muscle warm-up
Just like you might stretch before you think about preparing for a set of weights while exercising, your throat muscles and vocal cords also require some “stretch” to warm up before you start singing.
Work slowly and carefully, practicing with different notes so that your vocal cords are relaxed and ready to go. This way you will prevent your vocal cords from being strained from overuse while the muscles are stiff or otherwise “cold”.
Here are some exercises to start warming up with:
– Exhale through your mouth and empty your lungs. Relax your abdominal muscles, open your mouth and inhale slowly. Repeat this several times. Then, as you prepare to inhale after a few cycles, add a hissing sound to your breath and see how long you can hold the note on the inhale. When you reach your limit, breathe out one more time and then practice with different sounds like “shhh” and “fffff” to help stretch different areas of your vocal cords.
– Close your eyes and breathe normally, inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Keep your shoulders relaxed and try to let the breath completely fill all your lungs as you inhale. As you exhale, maintain the inflated shape, working to completely empty your lungs. This may be difficult at first, but it’s a great stretch.
– Count to 4 and exhale slowly while lowering your left ear to your shoulder. Then count to four again and return your head to the starting position. Repeat the same with the right ear and continue for several cycles.
3. Posture
Correct posture may not seem like a big deal, but it is: having a level area for your breathing is critical to creating the right sound and maintaining it.
When you practice singing, make sure you stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent and relaxed (you don’t want them to close and you could pass out).
Keep your head up and neck straight, but with your shoulders down and your belly relaxed.
Relaxation is the key to comfortable writing the right song. You don’t want your body to be tense or you risk altering or otherwise damaging the sound you’re about to create.
4. Determining your range
Now that you’ve learned how to breathe properly, warmed up your vocal cord muscles, and stand straight and strong, it’s time to find out what your Liveme voice is capable of.
On average, men and women are divided into four main voice ranges: soprano (high) and alto (low) for women, and tenor (high) and bass (low) for men.
Note: In this article, I mention 2 additional types of vocal ranges.
To determine where your natural range lies, start by creating the sound by sticking to the pitch and volume that feels natural to you.
Once you find your natural pitch, start trying to maximize your range to reach the high note.
If you notice that your throat is starting to feel uncomfortable or you just can’t get any higher, then you’ve reached your maximum range at the upper limit.
Repeat this process with a low note to determine your low range. Don’t try to exceed your natural range; this can damage the vocal cords or cause severe discomfort.
There are effective methods for singing notes outside of your normal range, but you must be careful when using them!
You can also search the web for a link to a musical scale to get an idea of what notes you might be trying to play.
The key is to always start where your singing voice feels most comfortable, and then try to add some variation along the way.
Another surefire way to determine your pitch range and get a better feel for what your voice is capable of is to try and record your singing. Nothing special, a simple tune will do.
Then play back the snippet to see how you sound.
If you notice that your pitch fluctuates in places, record again and focus on correcting those errors.
You might also consider buying or looking for free audio recording and analysis software that will help you fine-tune your practice by visually showing you when your voice is out of pitch.
Just remember: everyone has a range that their voice naturally falls into, and you are no exception.
Most of the time, the singer finds that he or she is singing out of tune because he is trying to sing outside of his natural range.
As you practice and gain experience and skills, you can begin to expand more; but as a beginner, make sure you’re in your comfort zone when it comes to range so you can learn the basics and create a pleasing sound (not to mention don’t damage your vocal cords).
I really like this online course for advanced rangefinder practice.
5. Keep hydrated
Even if you try not to put too much pressure on the throat muscles, you still tense them in the same way that the muscles tense up during exercise. For this reason, it is very important to stay hydrated and drink plenty of water.
What you may not know is that it’s actually best to drink warm water during practice because it will help your vocal cords relax, as opposed to cold water, which compresses them again.
Before preparing to sing, do not drink or eat dairy products or other thick drinks, as such drinks and foods can cause mucus to accumulate in the throat, making it difficult to perform the exercise.
Christina Aguilera eats honey between vocal performances, which is just one of the pro tips you can learn from her online masterclass.
6. Vocal control and scale
Regardless of your past experience in music theory and practice, learning to follow a “scale” is easy enough.
Scale refers to a series of notes that are sung in a row, rising in pitch and then falling back.
There are many different scales, and practicing with different scales can help you develop your singing voice more fully.
Practicing the voice to move around the scale is essential to developing proper vocal control.
One useful exercise is called solfeggio, short for solfeggio, which you might recognize as the do re mi scale.
Instead of just singing shapeless notes, you give each note a “name” and sing them up and down the scale.
A simple internet search can help you find a working solfeggio scale that you can practice with.
7. Make sure you are not deaf!
Tonal deafness, unfortunately, is a real disorder that many people can suffer from.
The disorder is categorized as an inability to correctly match the tone of the music to your voice – and you may often be completely unaware of this fact!
Simply put, deafness is the inability to distinguish between two different tones played on an instrument. And if you can’t feel the rhythm of the song, then it will be very difficult to sing along with a steady cadence.
Fortunately, the number of truly deaf people in the world is extremely small.
Therefore, to check if you suffer from tone deafness, you can search the Internet for a hearing test that will test your ability to distinguish notes.
Tonal deafness has nothing to do with your musical ability or reading music, etc. It is a biological condition that cannot be changed.
8. Singing and your nose
The nose is the soundboard of the body, and learning how to use it while singing will help you improve your overall sound control.
Depending on the type of singing you want to do in Liveme, you’ll also want to practice making either a more nasal sound or a less nasal sound.
Country singers tend to use nasal tones, while other forms of music find it less appealing.
On average, nasal singing is not something you want to aim for as the sound tends to be more scratchy in nature and doesn’t give your voice the full range it can achieve.
Improper placement of the tongue and soft palate is often the cause of the quality of nasal singing, and learning how to control them while singing will help you fine-tune the quality of your voice.
While looking in the mirror, open your mouth wide and look at the back of your throat where the tongue hangs down.
This organ is attached to your soft palate and when you yawn you will notice that the palate and uvula move upward.
You can also create certain sounds (such as the sounds in the word “sing”) to make the tongue touch the soft palate.
Basically, all of this proves that you can control the size and shape of your mouth and throat, which affects the sound and quality of your singing.
The sounds “M”, “N” and “NG” create more nasal resonance, while “B”, “D”, “G” and “UH” create less nasal sounds.
If you replace nasal consonants with these less nasal consonants, then you can practice closing your vocal cords, lowering your larynx, and developing a less nasal singing voice.
9. Singing
Diction can refer to your choice of words, but can also refer to how you pronounce those words.
If you sing “covers” of songs written by others, you don’t choose the words, you choose how to sing them.
At the beginning of your Liveme singing practice and learning, you should sing each word clearly and not cut any of them.
After all, you want to be sure that you will be understood.
Below are a few basic tips to keep in mind when singing to achieve good diction:
– Slow down and fully pronounce the words. There are singers who speed up and it becomes difficult to understand them. If you are a beginner, this is not the best place to start. Your goal right now is to strengthen your vocal cords and develop your body in a way that promotes healthy singing.
– As you sing, make sure you hear the first and last letters of each text, as well as the first and last words of the text. That way, you know that you’re losing your temper in a way that you can be understood.
– First, practice pronouncing the text without a signature. Speak each word clearly, as if you were reading a poem (usually it is music, anyway). Even when you start singing, you can always come back and continue practicing clear pronunciation at any time (and you should).
10. Hearing and listening
Knowing your pitch and listening for inconsistencies or tonal imbalances is essential to learning to sing. You should be able to clearly hear what and how you sing as you sing (and later if you are using recording equipment). For this reason, learning to listen to singing is just as important as learning to sing in the first place.
Don’t forget the following:
– Balanced stride
– General tone (adjust if necessary while singing). This will require knowing your voice type and range to be more successful.
– Balanced volume (you don’t want to sing over the music and don’t want the music drowning out your voice)
– If you play in a duet or group, you should be able to distinguish between the individual voices of your fellow singers and the music of your bandmates.
– Listening while singing in general (or the ability to pay attention and hear how you speak when you sing)
11. Practice, practice, practice
As with any skill, practice is what will help you develop your style and your ability to perfect.
It’s not enough to do breathing or vocal exercises once and then expect to suddenly become a vocal master.
These exercises should be done regularly to keep your vocal cords warm and strong before you start singing.
Even ten minutes a day can be enough to keep your vocal cords in working order.
When you start singing songs, record yourself and then play the recordings – you’ll probably be amazed at how your voice actually sounds compared to how you imagined it.
If you are listening to music, you can play back the recording and compare your voice to the song you imitated. If not, then you can still listen for any inconsistencies in your pitch or other poorly timed or overstretched notes.
Learning skills like guitar and singing at the same time can be overwhelming, so be sure to try practicing one over the other first.
12. Consider singing lessons
Although singing is a “natural” phenomenon, it is a skill that can be developed and improved both through practice and under the guidance of a good teacher.
Look around where you live for beginner singing lessons, which can give you a good place to start building your vocal foundation, especially if you find yourself struggling to understand the basics.
A suitable instructor can help you learn the basics of the singing voice, such as unlocking the head voice and falsetto, respectively.
Singing lessons can also be found online, for free or through a paid online platform.
When it comes to trying to learn how to sing, there’s really no wrong place to start; being comfortable, especially at the beginning, is perhaps most important for maintaining self-confidence, which will encourage you to stay motivated to practice on Liveme.
Find the learning method that works best for you and keep up with it!