This problem can be the result of many different issues,
but the most common reason you experience problems is due
to incorrect breathing.

When a singer improves his or her breathing techniques the
quality of the singing automatically improves. Proper
breathing also allows you to increase your stamina. If you
become tired while singing it will show in your singing.

The great news is that these breathing tips will give you
immediate results. You will begin to see improvements
right away when you consistently do breathing exercises.

To get started you must first relax:

*Tip Number One – Relax by taking a full, deep breath. Let
it fill your lungs completely and let it out in a slow
stream. You can visualize that you are letting the air
escape through a straw. Repeat the exercise 10 times.

Next, take five more breaths while holding a note for the
entire breath. The note should remain the same in pitch
and tone during the entire breath.

Pick a note that is close to your speaking voice. Notes
that fall lower on the scale will help your throat relax.

For the next five breaths raise the volume of the note
from silent to a mid range volume and back to silent
during the breath. You can use a different pitch for each
of the five breaths.

Finally, Repeat the last portion of the exercise five more
times. During each repeat change the timbre of your voice.
Your timbre should change faster than the volume.

To accomplish this use the vowels – a,e,i,o,u. As you go
through the exercise it will sound like you are chanting
the vowels.

*Tip Number Two – Body position is important. When you are
in front of a microphone your abdominal muscles should be
tight and hold your body erect.

Your throat should be relaxed. A relaxed throat allows the
air to flow with ease.

*Tip Number Three – talking can put a great strain on your
vocal chords. A great tip is to not talk! Performers’
contracts sometimes stipulate that they must remain silent
so many hours before a performance.

*Tip Number Four – A basic tip used by many vocalists
involves the ear.

First, move the left ear and touch it to your shoulder
when you exhale. Count to ten. Circle your head to the
front and count to ten. Move so your right ear is on your
shoulder and count to ten.

Raise your head and count to ten. Finally, do this steps
again in the opposite direction.

*Tip number Five – Make sure to relax your jaw. It is
natural to want to clench your jaw and many new singers
have to fight to overcome this urge.

*Tip Number Six – Find additional ways to relax. Great
singing will not happen unless you are relaxed. You may
choose to include relaxation exercises like the one above
in your pre-show or pre-practice warm ups.

For the greatest success you will find that exercise,
hypnosis, yoga , and many other relaxing activities help
prepare your body and your mind for singing.

The best way to discover which breathing tips work for you
is to give each one a try. Breathing techniques, unlike
singing exercises, can be practiced on a daily basis. This
means results will be fast which is great news for you.

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 Training your ear will give you the ability to recognize rhythm, scales, melody, chords, and intervals.

   Training your ear is not an overnight process. You will need to dedicate yourself to practicing every day, for an hour a day until you begin to recognize the key components of music.

   However, once you do begin to develop your ear you will become a better singer.

   With an improved ear you will find you can play music by ear and sing by sight. Sight singing is when you look at notes on paper and sing the notes you see.

   You can actually hear what the notes will sound like just by looking at the sheet music. This is a great skill to have for any singer.

   Remember, you are not looking to develop perfect pitch. Perfect pitch means you can recognize any note. You want to develop your ear for relative pitch.

   This means you will be able to name a note when you compare it to a reference note. For example, if you hear a C note you will be able to identify the following notes played by recognizing the intervals between the notes.

   Now, let’s look at some great tips for training your ear.

   *Read musical rhythms out loud. This practice will let you learn the tempo of the music before you sing the notes. Start with simple one beat quarter notes and build up to more difficult rhythms.

   *Know your ‘do,re,me’ syllables. These are syllables you use for singing pitches. A ‘do’ equals a ‘C’, a ‘re’ equals a ‘D’ and so on.

   *Using short musical phrases, imitate the pitch and rhythm using the ‘do, re, me’ syllables.

   *As you practice the above exercise use longer and longer musical phrases and more complex rhythms. Repeat them over and over until you feel confident.

   *Do not spend all your time singing or practicing in a group. Singing in a group is great for harmony but it does not teach you to recognize individual notes.

   Make sure to spend time practicing on your own to train your ear for singing.

   Lots of fantastic singers grow their voice by listening to awesome singers. Maybe they listen to great singers for hours. Maybe they have a musical family and grow up surrounded by wonderful singing.

   Whatever they do, the best singers give themselves the greatest gift – a trained ear. They can feel the music, internalize it, and move to it. They know the melody and where it is headed before it goes there.

   A good ear equals a beautiful singing voice.

   So what else can you do? Besides following the advice above make sure to practice every day. In addition, record yourself singing. This will let you know what you sound like. Be critical and look for areas to improve.

   As an added bonus, a great smile can also improve your singing!

   I am not talking about the outer smile your fans see. The smile that changes the way you sing is the inner smile. This smile will raise the pads underneath your eyes and the roof of your mouth.

   Check this out for yourself by singing ‘la’ with a smile on the inside.

   *To get a great inside smile lift your eyebrows and pretend to yawn. Before the yawn really starts sing your ‘la’!

   This should give you a deep and rich tone. You will not believe it is your voice. Combine this technique with your new ear training for a one of a kind singing voice!

Good singing is much more than just belting out notes. You must control the notes so they express a warm, pleasing quality. It’s difficult to develop this skill without the guidance of professionals, because these singing qualities are only created through correct vocal placement. 

Vibrato Means Vibrancy

 Vibrato refers to the note fluctuations that add vibrancy to the sound. Anyone can sing a flat, off-key tune, but developing vibrato requires an understanding of how to bring out natural voice quality without any trembling sound. 

This is a rather elusive, yet very real, concept. The warmth in the voice is achieved through controlled breathing to create a regular pitch change. It’s not a tremor, but rather a nuance in pitch that almost pulsates. Vibrato is usually found in older voices, but not always. 

The sense of emotion comes from the variation in the pitch when vibrato is present. Of course, you will not always want vibrato, and this is fine. Because it is controlled by breathing, vibrato can be encouraged or discouraged. When managed correctly, it can add an interesting quality to any song. 

Chest Voice and Head Voice 

When you take vocal training lessons, you will also learn about vocal registers, also referred to as ”chest voice” and “head voice”. Register recognizes that a particular section of the vocal folds will create a vocal quality. This is another somewhat elusive concept, but one that is used frequently by singers. 

The two main types of registers are the chest voice and the head voice—but don’t get confused by the term “chest voice”. It really means a tone quality or timbre that resonates in the throat or sternum. Produced by vocal cords that tend to be thicker and vibrate slower, the chest voice has a heavier sound.

 The head voice, on the other hand, is a tone quality with a lighter timbre that seems to emanate more from the head. There is no feeling in the chest when this sound is made. Produced by thinner vocal cords that vibrate rapidly, a head voice is clear and carries a greater distance than a chest voice. 

The even voice refers to a balance of the chest voice and the head voice. It is important to blend registers so that the voice does not strain trying to hold in one register place. With lessons, you can learn to smoothly transition between registers with a break. 

Smooth Transition

 Teaching the smooth transition of sounds is one of the goals of vocal training lessons. Concepts like vibrato, chest voice, and head voice are not easy to master alone. There are different exercises you can do to improve your ability to manage voice pulsations and to blend registers. 

The best singers do not have sudden, jarring shifts in their sounds, but they do project emotion, mainly by controlling their timbre and voice registries. These types of qualities are what infuse a voice with fullness, warmth, and personality.

Singing Tip #1–Take a Vocal Lesson

Even if you’ve had extensive training in the past, it’s always helpful to get fresh, objective advice. Maybe you’ve slacked off on your breathing exercises, or fallen into bad vocal habits. Call your former teacher and schedule a “tune-up” lesson. Most professional singers and even singing teachers still get occasional lessons.

Singing Tip #2–Mix it Up

If you have been focusing exclusively on one technique or type of song, try something different. Pull out one of your favorite recordings from high school and sing along with it. Choose a new song to learn, perhaps one in a vocal style you haven’t done for awhile. When you return to your usual routine, it won’t seem so stale.

Singing Tip #3–Do a Self-check

Review the fundamentals and make sure you’re still using good posture, breath support, and tone placement. Check for any unwanted tension, especially in your face and neck, as this can detract from your vocal sound and make singing less fun.

Singing Tip #4–Relax

Start each practice session and performance warm-up with simple stretching and relaxation exercises. One easy relaxation exercise is the “rag doll”. Standing with your feet about hip-width apart, bend forward from the hips and allow your arms, head, and upper body to hang loosely. Shake your arms and head a bit, then let them dangle again. Relieving tension can make a huge difference.

Singing Tip #5–Get Some Exercise

If you have a hectic performance schedule, you may have gotten out of your regular fitness routine. If you are touring, most hotels have workout facilities; if not, simply take a walk. If the weather is inclement or you’re in an unfamiliar city, you can walk in the hotel hallways. Unless you’re toting equipment, use stairs instead of elevators.

Singing Tip: #6–Pamper Yourself

Spend some time in a hot tub, get a professional massage, treat yourself to a favorite dessert, or re-read a favorite book. Indulge in any small luxury; it doesn’t have to be expensive.

Singing Tip #7–Have a Jam Session

Get a group of musician friends together for an informal jam session and play some old favorites. Avoid performance material and just have fun! You may want to include a casual dinner, and ask everyone to bring part of the meal so nobody has to do all of the work.

“Wait a minute,” you may be thinking. “So far, only half of these so-called ‘singing tips’ involve actual singing!”

That’s right, but think of it this way: when a guitar gets hard to tune, you replace the strings. When a piano gets out of tune, you call in a tuner. As a singer, your instrument is your body. When your voice gets out of tune, you need to perform the proper vocal maintenance.

When your body is in good shape, you can return to your singing routine with new energy and enthusiasm. Choose some fun new material to work on and jump back in. Review your fundamentals and take the advice you received in your “tune-up” vocal lesson, and you should be back on track.

That may sound a bit odd, but it’s true. Air is what fuels the singing process, and how that air moves through your body is one of the main determinants of the quality of the result. You need to be able to control the rate of air passage out of the body, and you want to be able to hold notes as long as necessary without becoming breathless.

Taking Control of Your Breathing

When you start vocal lessons or begin vocal voice training, the first step is learning how to control the release of air from the lungs. What makes breathing for singing so different from breathing for talking is that you need to manage the air release depending on the words and notes you are using.

In other words, when you breathe normally, you have no specific pattern or need for air at a specific moment. You just breathe. When you sing, the air you exhale must be controlled so you don’t run out of air too soon in the middle of word sets. The only way to ensure that you can match the exhalation process to the singing is to learn control. This is fundamental in quality vocal lessons.

Below are a couple of beginning exercises that focus on the abdomen muscles, which control how fast air is expelled during the exhalation process.

Exercise 1

Stand using good posture

Place your feet approximately shoulder width apart

Extend both arms out until they are perpendicular to your body

Turn the palms down

Breathe in for 3 to 4 seconds

Hold your breath for 3 to 4 seconds

Breathe out for 3 to 4 seconds

Exercise 2

Stand using good posture

Place your feet approximately shoulder width apart

Breathe in deeply

Exhale as long as possible while making a hissing sound

These two simple breathing exercises teach you to control the release of air. In the first exercise, you can begin increasing the amount of time you spend inhaling and exhaling air. This will increase lung capacity and teach you to control the time it takes to release air.

In exercise two, you are learning to release air steadily. You don’t want your breath coming out in short bursts or gasps, as that is completely contrary to the act of singing, which requires a steady stream of connected sounds.

Training Your Breath

Most vocal voice training begins with breathing training first. There’s a good reason for this: songs have specific notes that require paced, timed breathing.

For example, long notes require extended steady exhalation without interruption. The range of pitches that you must glide through when singing also requires breathing control.

You should do your breathing exercises regularly until the techniques become almost like second nature. When singing, you won’t even have to think about your breathing pace or holding notes, because those things will come naturally.

There are a number of available breathing lessons that will expand your capacity during vocal voice training. While you are working on your breathing control, you also want to concentrate on avoiding tension. In other words, try not to exhale air to the point where tension is created in the vocal cords because you are trying to force air out that doesn’t exist.

Vocal Lessons For Beginners

Singing in the choir in front of church members is different than walking out on stage alone and facing people from all walks of life. Even artists backed by a live band get nervous, because all eyes are on the singer. 

Below are just some of the tips you can get from experts when you take singing lessons. 

Always Prepare! 

Whether you are singing at the local pub or doing a solo at the music theater, it’s essential to be well prepared. Thorough preparation can go a long way toward easing fear and anxiety. Fear can actually cause your body and throat muscles to tighten, which will impact your singing. 

A singing instructor will tell you to practice your music until it becomes second nature. This will reduce the chances of forgetting the lyrics, and allow you to ignore band mistakes or music mix-ups. 

In addition, you should always do stretching exercises and voice warm-ups before a performance. 

Have Confidence 

The more singing lessons you take, the more confident you will feel. Confidence is a powerful feeling that can carry you through almost any event. The only way to become more self-assured in your singing is by practicing and doing voice exercises to build strength and power. 

Think of your stage presence in the same way. Walk on stage with confidence. Your demeanor should tell the audience that you are happy to be there, are ready to entertain them, and can handle anything that comes up. 

Show the Microphone Who’s Boss! 

The microphone is an effective tool that can greatly enhance the impact of your singing performance. When you have the right microphone and learn to use it properly, it becomes a voice enhancer, allowing you to connect even more with the audience. 

Before each performance, test the microphone by holding it in your hand and singing directly into it. It’s important to know how far from your mouth you must hold the mic, and how to set it on the stand and remove it. 

Use a single hand to hold the microphone. Avoid moving the mic from hand to hand, as the movement can create a nervous feeling. 

Remember Your Singing Lessons 

It’s amazing how a performer can take lessons for a year, walk on stage, and then seem to forget everything that was learned. When on stage, you should maintain the techniques and strategies you learned in singing lessons, such as standing with good posture, using your abdomen to produce quality notes, and staying on pitch. 

Move Around, But Remember Your Posture 

It’s good to move around on stage, but don’t get too creative. Most of us would fall if we attempted to make those leaps Elton John used to do on his piano. Express yourself physically when appropriate, but remember to maintain good singing posture. 

Above all, keep on smiling! This will not only energize and connect with your audience, it will warm up your facial muscles too!

You should choose an online singing course using the same criteria you would use to choose an in-person teacher. First, define your goals. What style or genre of music do you want to sing? Will you be singing with or without microphones? Where will you be singing–church, bars/nightclubs, or with a musical theatre?

There is a wide variety of online courses available. Your choice will depend on what you want to learn. Some programs offer a comprehensive education in music history and theory, along with vocal technique. Others focus more specifically on performance aspects, such as tone placement and resonance, stage presence, and emotional interpretation of songs.

Whether or not you will be using microphones and electronic amplification is an important consideration. Some courses don’t teach you how to project your voice without it. If you can sing and project without a microphone, it’s not difficult to adjust to using one. The opposite, however, is not true. If you don’t know how to project and the sound system fails, you have a problem!

The best online courses cost about the same as ten to twelve in-person lessons. They include both guided audio lessons and text material that explains the principles and rationale of the exercises demonstrated in additional audio files. Some even offer email support. Two of the best programs are Singing Is Easy by Yvonne DeBandi and Singorama by Emily Mander.

The early lessons should teach you how the human voice works and how to improve it, as well as the fundamentals of posture and breath support, tone placement and quality. You will also learn a variety of warm-up exercises .

If you’re eager to get to the fun stuff, you may be tempted to skip the “boring” parts, like the breathing exercises. That’s not a good plan–you’ll only be shortchanging yourself, and you won’t get your money’s worth from the course. Professional athletes can’t play at their best if they skip the fundamentals, and it’s the same concept with singing.

With an online program, you’re pretty much on your own. Your only accountability is to yourself; there are no deadlines and no pressure. If you work well without close supervision, that can be a good thing. But when you run into problems, it can be a real challenge.

Lack of support is the main problem among all online singing courses. With in-person lessons, the teacher can suggest alternate exercises if a particular one doesn’t work for you. That isn’t possible with online singing lessons.

Also, you can’t get immediate feedback on your technique or your progress. Because our ears are located so near our vocal tract, we hear our own voice transmitted through our skull and sinuses, not through air as a microphone or listener would receive it.

The only way to hear yourself as others do is to make an audio recording of yourself and play it back. This allows you to compare your sound with the audio examples in the lessons. The only issue is that it can be difficult to objectively judge your own voice.

If you are honest with yourself about your areas in need of improvement, you will get greater benefit out of singing lessons online.

In both of these scenarios, your problem isn’t range: it’s tessitura. Tessitura is your comfortable range, in which you can sing the notes consistently, on-pitch, and without strain. The term is also used to describe the average pitch range of a song or choral part.

Many mezzo-sopranos, for example, can sing an occasional high C at the extreme of their range. But their tessitura is probably an octave to half an octave below that: perhaps from the A above middle C to the second A above middle C. If they’re trying to sing a piece in which the tessitura is from high G to high C, they will experience vocal strain and fatigue.

The key is knowing where your own tessitura is, so you can choose songs within that range. You may be able to sing higher than your natural tessitura, but you run the risk of straining your voice.

So, is it possible to raise your tessitura? Yes, but it takes work. The key is breath support, combined with upper resonance. If you try to sing higher notes from your throat without adequate breath support, the result is vocal strain. Over an extended period of time, you could cause lasting damage.

It takes more breath energy to sing higher notes than lower ones. You need to use all of your breath muscles—diaphragm, abdominals, spinals, and intercostals–and fully expand your midsection with each inhalation. As you exhale, keep everything expanded except your abdominals, which will control the rate of breath flow.

Once you are breathing properly, focus on your upper resonance, or “head voice”. Think of the tone as being vertical rather than horizontal, and imagine the sound coming from your forehead and the top of your head. Think of it as riding up in an elevator, with your breath as the mechanism that makes the elevator ascend.

You should feel the vibration in your sinuses and the roof of your mouth (soft palate). Keep your mouth horizontally narrow but vertically tall inside. One voice teacher tells her students to imagine trying to swallow something unpleasant, opening the throat enough so that whatever it is won’t touch the sides.

Keep your tone light; don’t try to force anything. Start with the yawn-slide or the vocal siren. For the yawn-slide, inhale and open your mouth as if to yawn, then exhale on “hoo” or “hee”, starting at the top of your range and sliding rapidly all the way to the bottom. Try to start each successive one a bit higher.

The vocal siren is similar, except that it starts at the bottom of your range and goes up. Do it on a hum. As your breath support gets stronger, do the siren up and down several times on the same breath.

Another good exercise is the rapidly ascending and descending five-tone scale. Start in the middle of your range and use either the buzz (also called lip roll or bubble lips) or a vowel sound, such as “oo” or “ah”. The pattern is do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do. Start the second pattern a half-step above the first and continue in that manner. Be sure to use good breath support.

With time and effort, you can raise your tessitura and sing higher notes more comfortably and easily. Just be patient, persistent, and realistic.

If gospel songs can be so powerful, why do they fall flat when the average church choir attempts them? To sing gospel music, you need a different mindset and different techniques than traditional, classical church music.

Gospel music arose from the Negro spirituals of the American South in the mid-to-late 19th century. African slaves were mostly illiterate (and in some areas forbidden by law or by their owners to become literate), so they were taught the Christian faith through repetitive call-and-response songs.

In a call-and-response song, a leader sings a line or phrase and the group repeats it back. There is usually a refrain or chorus that is sung by everyone. The structure is simple, the lyrics repetitive, and the emotion heartfelt.

Compare that to the classic hymns by such writers as Charles Wesley or Isaac Watts. Though beautiful, the lyric isn’t repetitive and there are multiple verses. A person who can’t read, can’t sing them! Far too many choirs and congregations deliver them with little to no emotion. In some churches, there is a general belief that too much emotion is inappropriate or unseemly.

The mindset required to sing gospel is, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!” Relax, let loose, and have fun! That doesn’t mean you should ignore vocal technique, however. Some believe that, after opera, gospel is the most difficult and demanding type of music to sing.

Singing gospel well requires a powerful voice and very strong breath support. The phrasing is long, dramatic, and emotional. You are telling a story, and to convey it effectively you need to feel it and believe it yourself. Your listeners will be able to tell if you’re not authentic.

If you want to sing gospel, the first step is to work on supporting and controlling your breath. A good way to achieve that is the Fontanelli exercise (named for the person who developed it). Stand with good posture and slowly breathe in through your mouth while mentally counting to four, then exhale slowly to another count of four, trying to expel all of the air you took in. Watch yourself in a full-length mirror to make sure you fully expand your midsection, and try to maintain that expansion while exhaling.

When you can easily do the exercise to a count of four, increase the count to five, then six, and so on. When you work up to seven or eight, add a hold phase. Breathe in for a count of four, hold for a count of four, and exhale to a count of four. Watch to make sure you achieve and maintain good expansion. Gradually increase the count.

The next thing to work on is dynamics. A good exercise for dynamics is called messa di voce (Italian for “placement of the voice”). Take in a good, well-supported breath and sing a comfortable pitch in the middle of your range. While sustaining the pitch, start very softly and gradually get louder, then gradually get softer again.

To work on expression, study the text of your song. Try reading it aloud as if it were a poem or story, then try to sing it with the same expression you used in speaking it. Watch videos of great gospel singers, such as Mahalia Jackson (there are several on YouTube).

The words are paramount when you sing gospel. Remember, it originated as a way to teach people who couldn’t read, so they had to be able to understand the text. Enunciate your words as clearly as you can. Again, watching videos will be helpful.

Above all, have fun! More than anything else, gospel music is JOYFUL. Sing it like you really mean it.

Backup vocals can be challenging at first, but there are some ways you can make your backup vocal performance shine. Try these helpful tips:

   Tip 1: Watch & Listen

To support a band with your vocals, you’ll need to listen to them play. Pay attention to their energy level, common notes, and volume. Watch the lead singer closely to get a feel for their pitch and phrasing.

Listen to the band’s recordings before you even get to a rehearsal, if possible. That way, you’ll be familiar with their style and you can jump right in.

   Tip 2: Learn to Harmonize

Backup vocalists have to harmonize with the lead vocalist and with other backup singers to produce a smooth sound. Harmonizing is more than just a matter of blending voices, though; it means singing complementary notes with other singers.

Harmonizing vocalists sound a bit like a chord played on a guitar. Different notes are sung simultaneously for a rich, vibrant vocal effect. Practice harmonizing with other vocalists, or with pre-recorded tracks.

If you’re using a track, turn down the volume until you can just hear the vocals. Try singing various notes to harmonize with the melody. If you’ve got a friend to help you, stand apart from them so that you can concentrate on singing higher or lower.

Once you’re able to harmonize effectively, you can start working on blending in with the lead vocalist during songs.

   Tip 3: Blend In

A backup singer should not be the center of attention. It can be embarrassing to start singing too soon, or finish singing too late, leaving your vocals in the spotlight when the lead singer has stopped.

The best backup vocalists know how to stop and start along with the lead singer. To do this, you must be able to see the singer’s face clearly. Take a position on stage where you can watch the lead vocalist for cues.

While the lead singer sings, you should be singing along in your head the whole time. This will help you know when to start singing, and will help you match the lead vocalist’s energy level and emotions when you come in.

   Tip 4: Perfect Your Phrasing

Proper phrasing is a big part of being a successful backup vocalist. You have to sound a lot like the lead singer in order to blend in and not distract from the lead vocals. You can do this by matching the lead singer’s phrasing.

Observe the lead singer and take note of their vocal habits, inflections, and vowel pronunciations. For the best blending, you’ll need to imitate them as much as possible. You want your voice to be like an echo of theirs, simultaneous and on pitch.

Some sounds, like ‘S’, naturally stand out when spoken or sung. To avoid an overly sibilant sound, try leaving off the S’s when you sing backup. For example, if you would normally sing, ‘Sally saw something sad,’ you could instead sing ‘-ally -aw -omething -ad.’

This technique might sound funny at first, but it comes across well during live performances and recordings. It works with any harsh-sounding letter.

As you can see, there’s more to being a backup vocalist than meets the ear. Just take your time and practice as much as you can. Taking advantage of singing lessons can help a lot. Remember that your voice is an instrument that helps the band produce beautiful music.

If you are a beginning singer looking to get your singing career off on the right foot, this is the program for you. Even if you have some singing experience, this program is so thorough and exacting that you can use it to advance to the next level of competence. Once you buy the software online, you can instantly download it to your computer and begin using it right away.

With both audio and visual material, the Singorama program is an ideal presentation for all learning styles. It comes with a set of lessons that cover all the important singing topics in great depth. There are also eBooks, a virtual piano, and other learning and reference tools.

Apply What You Learn Quickly!

All of the material is well written and carefully prepared. Unlike some singing software programs, the instructional material is presented in a methodical manner that is easy to follow. By the end of each lesson, you will have learned something new that can be immediately applied, making you anxious to continue onto the next.

The lessons cover everything from simple warm-ups to complex topics like singing with a band or harmonizing. You will learn all about pitch, rhythm, tone, key, and many other important concepts. From the start, you’ll be impressed by the thoroughness of the program.

What makes Singorama so unique is that it even teaches harmony, making it beneficial even for more advanced singers.

Like any other artists, singers need to constantly improve their techniques to maintain a fresh approach. The lessons in this program teach you to extend your vocal range and personalize your singing style. You will even find a lesson on singing a variety of genres, so you can have fun expanding into new musical areas.

Your Own Recording Studio

Singorama also offers a recording studio feature, allowing you to record your singing using your computer and the Singorama software. Then you can play back the recording to hear yourself singing, a great way to identify areas in need of improvement and to pinpoint problems.

What is truly amazing is how much you get for your money when you purchase this program. In addition to learning to sing from “scratch” and learning to improve your singing, you’ll also get plenty of instruction on presentation. Singorama is fully equipped to teach you how to sing at your best, whether you want to entertain at the family reunion or perform on a Broadway stage.

Great Bargain, Any Way You Look At It

People who have bought this software frequently comment on how easy it is to use. That is especially important for people just learning to sing, as they can spend their time absorbing new material and taking advantage of the features instead of struggling to learn complicated software. In a matter of minutes, you can download the program and get started.

Singorama doesn’t just give you the lessons and then leave you on your own. You can access consultations with expert instructors through email, allowing you to ask questions about your specific needs and challenges.

Any way you look at it, Singorama is a great bargain for the quality and depth of material you receive. If you want to succeed in teaching yourself to sing, this is hands-down the top product on the market. Any Singorama review you read will only back this claim up!

Find Out More About Sigorama Here…

Everyone uses the chest voice for normal speaking. In fact, your speaking voice can teach you a lot about your singing voice. The way you use your speaking voice can either help or hinder your singing voice.

Let’s start by exploring your speaking voice. Try making various non-speech sounds: laugh, cry, yawn, sigh. If you have a piano or pitch pipe available, find the nearest pitch to the sounds you made. Now speak a few monosyllables: uh-huh, mm-hmm, aha. Again, find the matching pitch on a piano or pitch pipe.

Now speak a few simple sentences, such as “my name is_____” or “I love to sing”. Once again, find the matching pitch. Ideally, the pitch should be the same for speaking as it is for monosyllables or non-speech sounds, but many people try to speak at a lower pitch than is natural for their voice. This is not a healthy thing to do.

Continue exploring your voice by speaking monosyllables at various pitch levels on a piano. Find the lowest pitch you can speak without sounding gravelly. The gravelly sound is called “vocal fry” and is not healthy to sustain. Your ideal speaking pitch should be about four to five steps above your vocal fry level.

Next, speak sentences or read a paragraph aloud. Experiment with higher speaking pitches to see how high you can go. Along the way, note where your voice is most comfortable and where you start to hear and feel strain.

When using your “chest voice”, you will feel vibration (resonance) in your chest when producing tones in that pitch range. Place your hand lightly on your upper chest, with your thumb and fingers resting on your collarbones. Do a yawn-slide (exhale on the syllable “hee” or “hoo” while sliding from the top of your range to the bottom). Your hand should feel vibration as you slide down into your chest voice.

Although it feels like the resonance is occurring in your chest, it’s actually happening in your throat and mouth. The vibration you feel is the result of air moving from your lungs and across your vocal folds.

A simple low-range singing exercise is the fifth slide. Starting in the comfortable middle part of your range, use the buzz (puckered lips vibrating as air is expelled) or a syllable such as “vaw” to sing the starting pitch and slide down five steps. In the key of C major it would be G-C, so-do. The slide should be smooth, not bumpy or creaky. Start each repetition a half-step below the previous one.

If you feel bumpy or creaky sensations as you descend the scale, you’re probably holding some tension. Pause and do some face and neck relaxation exercises. Gently massage your face and throat, then try again. As you descend the scale, close your mouth slightly from its starting position.

Next, sing an octave scale up and back down, again using the buzz or “vaw”. As you go up the scale, allow your jaw to drop and your mouth to open a bit wider, then reverse that as you come back down. It may be helpful to imagine your tone on a path leading away from yourself, with low notes nearest and high notes farthest away. Perhaps even move one hand away from your body as you ascend the scale and back to your side as you descend.

The arpeggio is another helpful exercise. Sing do-mi-so-do-so-mi-do on a vowel sound, such as “oo”, “ee”, or “ah”. Start each new arpeggio a half-step lower than the last.

As with any singing technique, adding to your lower range will take time and effort. If you are patient and persistent, you will see positive results.

Before you can improve your singing voice, you need to objectively assess the current condition of your voice and your musical goals. Record yourself singing and play it back. Do you like the way your voice sounds? Most people are less than thrilled the first time they hear their own recorded voice.

Think about the singers you admire. What is it about their singing that you want to emulate? Think about other singers whose work you don’t care for. What don’t you like about it?

Listen to a wide range of singers and write down what you like or don’t like about each one. Pay close attention to singers who perform the type of music you’re interested in and whose voices are similar to what you want yours to become.

Finally, even if opera isn’t your thing, listen to a few opera singers. Focus on their tone quality, vibrato, phrasing, and dynamics. It’s probably best if they’re singing in a foreign language, so you aren’t distracted by the lyrics.

Why do you sing? It may seem like a silly question, but the answer is important. Do you sing just for the joy of it, or did the church choir director twist your arm because they needed to fill a spot? (If that is the case, you should take it as a compliment. No matter how badly they needed people, they wouldn’t recruit someone with a horrible voice!)

What kind of music do you want to sing? What are your musical goals? Do you hope to become a professional performer or music teacher, or do you want a role in the next musical at your local community theatre?

The answers to these questions will give you an idea of how to proceed. You are essentially determining where you are now, where you want to go, and mapping out the route by which to get there.

Aim high, but at the same time be realistic. Achieving your goals and dreams won’t happen overnight—it will take hard work, discipline, and dedication. Once you have your road map, make a plan and follow it. Be willing to seek help and take advice from experienced professionals. Their job is to help you improve your singing voice.

If you can’t find a local teacher or can’t afford their fees, you might want to look into online singing courses. The main disadvantage is that you can’t get immediate feedback on your progress, as you would from an in-person teacher. Online courses also tend to take a one-size-fits-all approach, whereas a teacher can offer alternative strategies if a particular technique or exercise doesn’t work for you.

However, a high-quality online program, such as Singing Is Easy or Singorama, can teach you the fundamentals to improve your singing voice and polish your performance skills. Since there is no feedback from a teacher, it’s helpful to record your practice sessions and listen objectively when you play them back. You might want to also ask a trusted friend to listen and comment.

Objective feedback is important. You won’t improve your singing voice if you don’t know the specific vocal characteristics you need to work on. This doesn’t mean you should be hypercritical of yourself, just honest and realistic. Most online courses provide examples of good-quality tone for comparison purposes.

Any good method or course will require you to work and practice faithfully in order to reach your goal. If you are willing to do what it takes, you will improve your singing voice and be that much closer to your dream.

Whether you dream of having a professional career in music or are a purely recreational singer, you want your voice to sound as good as it can and to last your lifetime. The best way to preserve your voice is to keep yourself physically fit and in good overall health. To do this, maintain a healthy diet, adequate sleep, and moderate exercise. Avoid smoking, illegal drugs, and excessive use of alcohol.

The stereotype of the hard-partying rock star isn’t a reality in most cases. Most of the recording artists who have had the longest careers have taken good care of themselves and avoided the excesses that prematurely ended the careers of such talents as Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Elvis Presley.

If you want to be a serious singer, whether professional or recreational, you’ll need some training on how to sing. It’s essential for aspiring professionals, just as nurses and accountants have to go to school for their chosen occupations. You can either find a local teacher and take lessons, or use an online singing course. such as Singing Is Easy by Yvonne DeBandi or Singorama by Emily Mander.

Whichever method you choose, you need to learn how your vocal apparatus works and how to use it, and also how to deal with (or avoid altogether) any voice problems. With the right teacher or program, learning how to sing can be fun and exciting.

The first thing any good teacher or online course should address is your posture and breath support, which allow production of the best vocal tone. The best singing posture is to stand erect but relaxed, with your feet about hip-width apart and one slightly forward. Keep your shoulders back and your chest high, though not as rigidly as a soldier standing at attention.

Here is an easy exercise to help you achieve good singing posture. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your arms at your sides. Bring your arms in a rapid circular motion across your body and over your head, rising onto your tiptoes at the same time while taking in a good, deep breath.

Slowly start to exhale, bringing your arms down to your sides and coming down from your toes. As you exhale and bring your arms down, try to keep your chest and shoulders in the same position they were in at the top of your stretch.

Breath support enables you to produce a pleasant tone without straining your throat. When you inhale to sing, you should feel expansion all around your midsection. Your diaphragm, abdominal, and spinal muscles should all be working together.

Once you have taken in a good breath, breathe out on a hissing sound while trying to maintain the expansion of your midsection. It will take some time and effort to strengthen those muscles, but ultimately you will learn to sing in a healthy manner, with better tone and less vocal fatigue.

Posture and breath support are only the foundation of how to sing well. The next level is tone placement and quality. There are three primary areas where our vocal tone resonates: the chest, the pharynx (mouth and throat), and the head (sinuses). You use your “head voice” for higher notes, and your “chest voice” for the lowest ones.

In most cases, you will want to use what voice teachers call a “mixed tone”, with the sound coming from both the pharynx and the head. The combination is called mask resonance, because you want to feel the sound vibrations in the area that would be covered by a half-face Halloween mask.

You can feel mask resonance with this simple exercise. Take in a good, well-supported breath. Starting on a high note with the syllable “hoo” or “hee”, slide from the top of your range down to the bottom. It should feel a bit like yawning, and you should feel vibration in the soft palate (roof of your mouth) and in the triangle between your eyes and the bridge of your nose.

Mastering these basics is the first step in learning how to sing. It will take time, effort, and practice, but if you work patiently and consistently, you will see results.

Start With the Scales 

With harmony, one person sings a song using one pitch while another person sings in a different pitch and/or adds notes around the original pitch. 

To sing harmony, start by becoming familiar with the major and minor scales. A scale is really only a set of 8 successive notes within one octave, named with the letters A to G. 

The major scale has note intervals that run whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. A minor scale has note intervals that run whole-half-whole-whole-half-whole-whole. 

When you sing harmony, the notes are usually from a major scale. 

Find Two Voices 

When someone sings harmony, they sing around the original pitch and melody. The first person begins by singing a note from the melody. The chord can also be played on a guitar or another instrument. 

The second person will join in singing the same note, taking it to the next higher or lower pitch. 

This process is basically repeated multiple notes throughout a song, with the second voice singing above or below the melody the whole time. 

Making Harmony Work 

When you are first learning harmony, you will need to get really comfortable with the song. Many instructors recommend learning both voice parts. 

Normally it takes a lot of practice to make harmony work, but there are those lucky few who seem to be able to join a melody at a different pitch with ease. It’s called on-the-fly harmony, because the harmonizer just jumps right into the song and begins singing. 

A person who can do on-the-fly harmony has a knack for quickly finding center pitch and the melody. After listening to the melody for a small amount of time, they can determine the pitch and melody and then start singing. These are the same steps used in ear training. 

In fact, the exercises for ear training can be used to develop harmony skills as well. For example, you can play a particular note on a piano, determine the pitch, and then imagine yourself singing it. Next, you would actually sing it along with the note on the piano. Try it again, but this time sing a note higher than the note played on the piano. The third time, sing a note lower than the piano note. 

If you take online singing lessons, some programs have interactive pianos and voice feedback. Using the software, you can practice matching pitch and then going higher and lower. Practice is the best way to develop accurate pitch. 

No Mystery 

Harmony is used in many different types of singing, including country music, pop music, and rock music. The Oak Ridge Boys were famous for their ability to blend four very different voices into a melody with two or more harmonizing. 

Skillful harmonizers make it look simple. The principles behind this type of singing are actually not difficult to comprehend, but it takes practice to learn how to correctly identify pitch and then drop higher or lower.

 To learn how to sing harmony, the best approach is to take singing lessons for beginners.

Before you look for a teacher for voice lessons, take the time to define your goals as specifically as you can. Do you want to sing a solo in church on Christmas Eve, star in a community theatre musical, or be the next American Idol? Do you see yourself eventually teaching music? Or, do you simply want to be a healthier singer with better tone and breath support?

The best way to find a good voice teacher is to talk with anyone you know who is involved in music—a school music teacher, church choir director, or perhaps the staff at a local music store. They should be able to recommend several teachers in your area.

Most music stores keep lists of teachers for referrals and/or have bulletin boards where local singing instructors can post flyers and business cards. They may even have teachers on staff.

College or university music departments can also be good places to find a teacher. Many advanced music students need teaching experience to complete their degrees, and private students like yourself can help them meet that requirement. Some music professors also take private students, but they are likely to charge much higher fees.

When you contact a prospective teacher for the first time, be prepared to tell her a bit about yourself, such as your previous musical experience (piano lessons in grade school? church choir? school glee club?) and goals. You should ask about her expectations for practice time, whether she holds recitals for her students, her qualifications and experience, and her fees.

If you and the teacher agree that you have a good fit, schedule your first lesson. Ask what, if anything, you should bring with you. Most teachers will want you to come with at least a pencil and notebook, examples of music you have sung or would like to learn, and perhaps a portable cassette tape recorder and blank tape.

Your teacher will use the first few voice lessons to get to know you and your skills, almost like a job interview. He or she will probably start by asking you to sing a song you know well, and will then listen to your tone and observe your posture and breathing. The instructor will then ask you to vocalize various exercises, such as singing scales or arpeggios on various syllables (“ah”, “hee”, “voo”, etc.), to evaluate your range and resonance.

The teacher will share his or her assessment of your voice and pinpoint areas in need of improvement. A good instructor should be sympathetic and supportive, not hypercritical, recognizing that he or she was once a student just like you.

After the first few sessions, most voice lessons will follow a similar pattern. The teacher will review what you did at your last lesson, have you demonstrate your progress, and give you feedback on how you’re doing. If you are having problems, he or she will show you how to overcome them. If one particular exercise doesn’t work for you, the teacher should have a repertoire of others to try.

After the warm-up and technique exercises, the remainder of the lesson will be spent working on one or more songs. You and the teacher should collaborate in choosing the songs you will work on. The instructor should respect your preferences, but you need to respect his or her knowledge and experience when considering suggestions.

After all, you’re paying your teacher to help you build specific skills, and you need to trust his or her expertise. Some songs you like may not be well-suited to the skills you need to learn.

When learning a new song, the process will be similar for any type of material. To help you learn the melody, the teacher will probably have you hum it or sing it on a single syllable, such as “loo” or “va”.

You may also be asked to “buzz” the melody (produce the tone through puckered, vibrating lips) to work on phrasing and breath support. If the song has multiple sections, such as verse and refrain, you will most likely do just one section at a time.

When you have learned the melody on a hum or syllable, then you will begin to sing the actual lyrics and work on dynamics (loudness/softness), diction, and expression.

A side benefit of working with a teacher is the chance to meet other students, even if it’s just a passing exchange. There is a sense of camaraderie that comes with knowing other students are grappling with the same challenges and obstacles.

Many teachers hold annual or semi-annual group recitals for their students. This gives everyone the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned, and also teaches you how to deal with performance anxiety (“stage fright”).

A good voice teacher can give you a strong foundation from which to begin the musical journey of your life.

It may seem counter intuitive–more exercises to prevent overuse injury? Yes. Your vocal folds are controlled by tiny muscles, and when they’re warmed-up they are more flexible, easier to use, and less susceptible to injury.

Before starting your singing warm-up exercises, do some whole-body stretching and relaxation. Start with the “rag doll” exercise. From a standing position, bend forward at your hips, allowing your head and arms to dangle freely. Shake them a bit, then just let them dangle for another minute or so.

Follow that with a stretching exercise for proper posture alignment. Stand with your feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart, and your arms at your sides. Bring your arms rapidly upward and across your body in a circular motion until they are over your head. Rising onto your tiptoes, take in a good, deep breath as you move your arms up.

As you slowly exhale, bring your arms back down to your sides and come back down to flat feet. Try to keep your chest up and shoulders back, as they were at the top of the stretch, after bringing your arms down. You are now ready to begin singing.

The first warm-up exercise uses a technique that goes by many names: buzz, bubble lips, lip roll, or lip trill. Exhale through puckered lips to create a vibration, sounding a bit like a motorboat or a “raspberry”.

You will do the buzz slide between three tones: the base tone, up a fourth, and back to the base (do-fa-do): in the key of C major, it would be C,F,C. Repeat, moving up a half step each time (C#, F#, C#, then D,G,D, then Eb, Ab, Eb, etc.). You can also do this on the syllable “ee” or “oo”, but the buzz forces you to use good breath support.

The next warm-up exercise is the fifth-slide. Start on the fifth tone with the syllable “wee” and slide down to the base (so-do): in C major again, it would be G, C. Repeat on the same tones with “zoo”, then move up a half-step and repeat, “wee” and “zoo” on Ab and Db. Continue moving up by half-steps.

Next is the five-tone descending scale. Starting on the fifth tone, descend stepwise to the base: so, fa, mi, re, do. First do the syllable “na”, then “nay”, “noh”, and “noo”. Move up a half-step and repeat the scale on each syllable.

The fourth warm-up exercise is a descending 8-tone scale (do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do) on the syllable “noo”. Again, move up a half-step with each repeat. You can also try other vowel sounds, such as “nah”, “nay”, “nee”, or “noh”, or use “m” instead of “n” as the initial consonant. Try to feel your mask, or upper resonance, as you do this.

Follow that with a descending arpeggio: do, so, mi, do, on the syllable “nah”. Repeat on “nay”, “nee”, “noh”, and “noo”, then move up by half steps and repeat on each syllable again.

The final warm-up exercise is the octave slide. Use the buzz and start on the base note; slide up an octave and back down to the base: do, do, do. Repeat on “oo”. Move up a half-step, do the buzz, and then “oo”. Continue moving up by half-steps.

Finding good warm up exercises and then making them a habit is a critcal part of learning how to sing better.

It can begin with a feeling of slight discomfort and progress to full blown fainting, nausea, an inability to focus, a rush of adrenaline, the need to take flight.

Unfortunately, stage fright has the power to ruin a potential career.

You are not alone. Singing and speaking in public is the number one fear of people in America according to the Book of Lists. It beats out all other illnesses, financial problems such as bankruptcy, and fear of death.

We now know that the age old advice of imagining the audience naked does not usually work.

But there are easy and specific tips that can help you ease the symptoms of stage fright before they derail your career.

Relaxation – Yoga and other techniques that promote relaxation such as hypnosis and biofeedback offer excellent results for people who experience stage fright.

Tension, a result of stage fright, causes the muscles in your respiratory system and other vital body systems to contract and when this happens your vocal chords also contract.

When you relax you not only ease your stage fright, you open your vocal chords.

Breathe- Breathing is another great form of relaxation. Deep and slow breaths, at least twenty-five, will instantly relax your body and your mind.

Breathing draws oxygen into the brain and causes the parasympathetic nervous system to react against the fear.

See Yourself – Visualizing techniques allow you to walk through your pre-performance or your performance. This method is proving to really work in extreme cases of stage fright.

To visualize, first lay in a quiet, dim space. Next, slowly imagine the process of getting ready for the pre-performance or the performance.

Each time you feel your anxiety rising, intervene and step back to a time before – when you were more in control. Continue this process until you feel comfortable with the performance.

Self-Talk- Other people can tell you how great you are but, have you ever told yourself you are going to do okay? Self-talk allows you be in the driver’s seat.

Instead of doubting yourself you can override these feelings with positive phrases such as “I am really good at this” and “I know everything I have to do to succeed”.

The more often you practice telling yourself these phrases the faster you will begin to believe in yourself.

Preparation- singers and other artists who never experience stage fright note that they will have the symptoms when they are not prepared for their performance.

One of the best ways to avoid stage fright is to be prepared. This includes being prepared for the performance and being prepared for anything that could go wrong.

Get Physical- Adrenaline floods the body before a performance and is one of the causes of stage fright.

Use physical movement to expend some of this adrenaline before the performance, or during the first part of the performance.

Run onto the stage or have an opening number that involves a lot of physical movement. If you want to do a few exercises before you go onstage that is another great option.

In addition to specific techniques, some performers have rituals they perform before going onstage. This might include singing the scales, arriving at the venue at a specific time, or wearing a specific item of clothing.

Talismans and other good luck charms play a big role in abolishing stage fight, too. Anything you can do to give yourself the extra edge when performing on stage is worth a try.

Most importantly, do whatever you find works best for you. Try several techniques. You may discover a combination of different methods works or one single technique is all it takes to say good-bye to stage fright!

For a fun crash-course in overcoming stage fright, I recommend grabbing a copy of Singing Superstar karaoke software and inviting friends and family around for your own American Idol session!

More singing lessons for beginners

 Stretch Your Chords

Singing on key is harder when you haven’t warmed up
properly. Try never to sing with cold chords, because you
won’t sound good and you could even strain your voice.

One of the best programs I have found for learning how
to sing in pitch is Stephen Pierce’s Pitch Perfector.
Pitch Perfector is an online singing software and training
system that trains your ear and voice to address your
specific singing pitch problems. Stephen used his
impressive experience of 20 years programming, a degree in
vocal studies, masters program in music technology and
in-depth graduate research on vocal pedagogy pitch
problems to create this easy-to-use voice pitch
software program that gives you a FAIL-PROOF BLUEPRINT you
can use today to start fixing your own singing pitch
problems within 10 minutes. I highly recommend that you
check it out:

   http://www.singinglessons4beginners.com/go/pitchperfector

To stretch your range a bit, use the yawning technique.
Sing one continuous note, sounding like a yawn, that goes
from the lowest comfortable note to the highest you can
comfortably sing.

Then sing up and down the scale, spending plenty of
time on the notes at the top and bottom of your vocal
range. Then try singing one step higher than your highest,
and one step lower than your lowest.

These exercises will help you expand your range and
keep your pipes in great condition.

Stand Up Straight

Your posture has a lot to do with the quality of your
sound. If you’re having trouble staying on pitch while
singing higher notes, stand tall and open your arms away
from your body.

Keep your pelvis tucked slightly forward, and avoid
locking your knees while you stand. Hold your head up.
This will create the best possible posture for singing.

Practice Singing on Pitch

Listen to a musical scale and practice matching your
voice to the sound of each note. Take your time and listen
carefully. When your voice matches the note, you will hear
a certain resonance.

You can also use a feedback monitor to let you listen
to your voice on top of the song’s music. This is
especially useful for vocalists who sing with a band and
cannot hear their own voices when singing live.

If you sing with other vocalists, practice harmonizing
with them, with or without musical accompaniment.

Practice Without Music

 This is an effective way to prepare for a cappella
rehearsals or performances. Start by singing along with a
recorded song. Start by playing the song at a regular
volume, and then slowly decrease the volume as you
practice.

Hearing the song while you sing will help you find and
keep the right pitch. As you decrease the volume of the
music, you will have to rely more on yourself to find the
right pitch.

Train Your Ears, Lips and Tongue

It’s amazing how so many parts of the body work
together to produce proper pitch. Your ears play a vital
role because you’ll have to train them to recognize
different pitches and to identify when you’re singing off
pitch.

 The shape of your lips can also affect your pitch.
Experiment with holding them more open or more closed, and
try different vowel sounds to see which ones sound best at
high and low pitches.

Your tongue’s position can also make your pitch better
or worse. Try keeping your tongue flat against the bottom
of your mouth while you sing to create the greatest amount
of space in there.

Use Songs That Suit You

If you use all of these tips but still have pitch
problems, you might be choosing to sing songs that are too
far outside your natural vocal range. Voices of all
pitches can be beautiful, and yours will sound much better
if you work with nature instead of against it.

Select songs that stay mostly within your natural
range, or transpose songs into a lower or higher key that
better suits you. It might take some practice, but you’ll
sound best when you stay true to your voice. (And staying
on pitch will be easier than ever.)

 Don’t forget, if you want to really take your pitch to
the next level, Stephen Pierce’s Pitch Perfector software
is a must-have:

http://www.singinglessons4beginners.com/go/pitchperfector

Singing Lessons for Beginners

If you’re rehearsing a piece that calls for the extremes of your range, you will choose exercises geared toward that. If the material has a lot of fast runs or trills, you will do flexibility exercises. For a piece with many sustained notes, you would want to work on breath support and control. This article will suggest vocal exercises for a variety of purposes.

Vocal Exercises for Low Range

If you’re an alto or bass, these exercises are for you. They may also be beneficial if you’re a soprano or tenor singing a part that’s lower than your usual range.

Descending octave slides. Start on a comfortable pitch in the middle of your range. Using the buzz (also called bubble lips or lip roll), slide down the scale one octave from your starting pitch, moving down by half steps. You can also do this on various vowel sounds or syllables, such as “oo”, “ah”, “vee”, “voh”.

Fifth slide. Using the buzz or the syllable “vaw”, start on a comfortable pitch and go down a fifth (so-do), moving down by half-steps. Then add a third tone, back up to the starting pitch (so-do-so). Again, move down by half-steps. Finally, reverse it (do-so-do).

Vocal Exercises for High Range

These are especially helpful for sopranos and tenors, but altos and basses can also use these exercises if they need to work on their high range.

Up and down arpeggios. This is a simple broken chord up and down: do-mi-so-do-so-mi-do. Move upward by half-steps with each succeeding repeat, using the buzz or your favorite vowel sound or syllable.

Upward arpeggio and downward octave with turn. This is a slightly more complex variation of the previous exercise. Sing the upward arpeggio (do-mi-so-do), then do a turn (ti-do-re), then the 8-tone descending octave scale from do to do. Use vowel sounds; do a few on “ee”, a few on “oo”, and a few on “ah”. Start each new arpeggio a half-step higher than the last one, as shown in the pattern below.

ee—————————————

oo————————————- etc.

Upward arpeggio with repeated high note. Another variation of the arpeggio, this is especially helpful with keeping a light tone on the high notes. Using the syllable “ha”, sing the upward arpeggio (do-mi-so-do) and then repeat the high do, staccato, five or six times. See the pattern below.

Vocal Exercises for Flexibility

Ascending triplet scale. This exercise is complicated to explain, but easy if you read the notes below. Using the solfege syllables (do, re, mi, etc.), sing an eighth-note triplet upward starting on each syllable. When you get to the top of the scale, reverse and sing each triplet downward. Sing the exercise as rapidly as you can.

do re mi fa so la ti do ti la so fa mi re do

Ascending and descending thirds. This is easier to sing than to explain. Starting on the base note, go up a third, down a whole step, up another third, etc. until you reach the fifth tone, then reverse and go back down a third, up a half step, down a third, up a whole step, etc. Again, sing it as fast as you can.

Rapid repeated up and down five note scale. This one is simple—just go up and down a five tone scale (do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do) and repeat.

Vocal Exercises for Breath Support and Control

Buzz-slides. The buzz is one of the best exercises for breath support. Start on a mid-range tone and slide down a fifth—so-do. Repeat several times, moving down by half-steps. Then buzz the descending triad—so-mi-do–sliding between tones. Again repeat several times, moving down by half-steps. Finally, buzz a five\-tone descending scale—so-fa-mi-re-do.

Messa di voce. For this exercise, sing a comfortable mid-range pitch on “ah”. Sustaining the note, begin very softly and get gradually louder, then softer again.

The larynx plays an important role in the tones you produce while singing. A sound is formed by the following process:

You decide to sing and the brain prepares the vocal cords

• The vocal folds start to fold shut
• Air rises up from the lungs
• The air forces itself against the vocal folds, causing them to vibrate

If you look at a picture of the larynx, you will see the trachea tube running up to the vocal cords contained in the larynx, and above that the epiglottis. The air that rises up and forces the vocal folds to vibrate is called subglottic pressure.

You can easily feel your larynx by laying a finger gently at the base of your throat. The larynx will move down when you yawn and up when you swallow. The lower position of the larynx indicates the throat is in an open position. This means there is unrestricted air flow, which is good for creating solid, rich sounding tones.

Producing the Best Tones 

The subglottic pressure and the position of the larynx can both directly affect your singing. To learn how to sing better, you need to manage the flow of air to the vocal cords and keep your larynx in the lower or central position. 

When the larynx becomes tense, the vocal flaps may close completely as subglottic pressure is formed. When that happens, the flaps will burst open when the pressure becomes high enough. This can result in an odd sound, almost like a clicking noise, before a tone is even produced. This is called a glottal attack. 

When you begin to sing, the onset of tone resulting from the vibrating vocal folds is called the attack. Its name sounds more vicious than it really is; you don’t actually want pressure attacking your vocal cords, but you do want air flowing smoothly. 

To produce the best tones, keep in mind that: 

• Repeated glottal attacks can damage vocal cords
• Improper posture can lead to vocal cords not closing properly and allowing air to escape
• A larynx that is pushed upward will result in a nasal sounding tone
• Tense muscles around the larynx will cause the vocal cords to function improperly, leading to a poor tone
• Singers who sound breathy have too much air flowing through the vocal cords 

Clearly the larynx plays a big role in the quality of tones you produce. 

Keeping Control 

We don’t usually think of our vocal cords as something we can control, but even something as simple as the positioning of your head can affect their ability to open and close properly. That is just one of the reasons why you should also focus on good posture. 

To keep your larynx in the down position, hold your head up straight so your neck is in line with your spine. Keep your jaw relaxed and not tense. Tightening the muscles around the larynx can cause a tightening of the vocal cords.

Learning how to sing better involves a lot more than just forming notes. Good singers understand how the body’s components work in unison, and that includes the larynx.

It takes practice to master this challenging combination, and there are certain issues you will have to tackle. Below are some of the common problems faced by musicians:

• Singing on pitch
• Matching a particular song syllable to a particular guitar note
• Maintaining a strumming pattern while singing
• Maintaining coordination
• Maintaining timing for the duration of the song
• Keeping song rhythms in sync

Though it may seem like an impossible task to handle two different rhythms at the same time, thousands of people have mastered singing and guitar playing at the same time. Here are some guidelines to help beginners simplify the process:

Start Simple

One of the common mistakes beginners make is trying to do too much at once. They pick complicated songs that are either difficult to play on the guitar, difficult to sing, or both. The result is that one or the other suffers. Often the song is sung well, but the strumming pattern becomes repetitive with little or no variation. This is the place to start with in singing lessons for beginners.

It’s best to choose a song that is simple to play on the guitar and is also fairly easy to sing. If you choose a song within your voice range with a simple beat, you will have a much better chance of mastering playing and singing together.

To keep it really simple, try to first hum the song while learning to play it on the guitar. You should get so familiar with playing the guitar chords that you don’t even have to think about your hand movements. That will free your brain to concentrate on singing the words.

One of the most difficult problems many beginners face is timing. If the words are not sung at the right time, the guitar notes will get ahead of the song. In other words, there are certain musical notes and certain words or syllables that need to occur during the performance.

Once again, keep it simple. Sing the first verse and get it down pat before moving on the second verse. If you chose a simple song, you should be able to master the first verse fairly quickly.

Another way to keep it simple for beginners is to choose a song where the song rhythm and the guitar rhythm are about the same. That way, you don’t have to worry about your guitar hand and your singing getting out of sync.

Use Your Imagination

As a beginning singer, one of the important skills you’ll learn is to imagine pitch, envisioning your body in alignment and your voice producing the right note. You’ll need to use this same imaginative strategy when learning how to sing and play the guitar. Cultivating the imagination is often a big component of singing lessons for beginners.

For example, you can play the song in your head while also imaging yourself playing the guitar. If you know the song well, you can “see” your fingers creating the chords. Some people actually start with a recording of the song before even trying to play and sing it.

If you start with a recording, practice singing with actual music. That will develop your sense of timing so you can blend the rhythm of the singing to the rhythm of the guitar playing.

There is really no set rule for learning how to sing and play guitar. If there was, it would just be: “Practice, practice, and practice!”

Singing skill comes down to practice and technique. You must cultivate the correct physical and vocal techniques to produce rich, full, high quality sound. 

Physical Techniques for better Singing 

Learning how to sing better begins not with the voice, but with understanding how your posture impacts your ability to produce quality tones. A slouched or curved back prevents your abdominal muscles from contracting fully and expanding in the proper way. The muscles of the abdomen muscles help with upward air flow when trained properly. 

Singing is demanding on both the body and voice. An example of this is regulating breathing to control notes. One technique involves inhaling deeply and using the abdominal muscles to force the diaphragm to raise up. This technique is called appoggiare. This technique is employed to push air up into the lungs and then on to the vocal cords. 

In this method you keep the sternum lifted while exhaling in order to maintain control of the air flow. Once mastered appoggiare will prevent uncontrolled air pressure on the vocal cords. Use of appoggiare will train you to hold notes. 

Among the many other physical techniques, we can include forming of the lips, control of the palate and the mastery of proper tongue placement. All of these things will help you to learn how to sing better.

 How To Sing Better With Vocal Techniques 

By taking singing lessons you can learn a number of valuable vocal techniques. To learn how to sing better you must understand just how sound is produced. This will give you the knowledge you need to monitor and control the results of your practice. After you have learned the physical techniques of proper body position and breathe control you can begin to learn how to: 

• Maintain and end a tone
• Create full and solid sound
• Pick out and sing a pitch
• Enunciate vowels and consonants when singing
•  Hold the throat open to produce resonance
• Expand your range
• Increase amplitude
• Inject emotion into your singing

One can learn and and master various techniques but these are not all that is needed to truly sing like a professional. You must also master the elements of stage presentation, things such as walking onto the stage and holding the microphone, to truly connect with the audience. 

It is interesting to note that almost every thing you do affects your ability to perform well. Lifestyle is an important factor. You must be aware of things in your life that can affect your singing voice. Examples of this are smoking or drinking to much caffeine and other things which can damage or alter your vocal cords.

 The Big Picture 

To learn how to sing better, you need to look at the big picture. Hitting certain notes or singing on key are are not the only considerations.

 You must invest your time and best effort to learn how to sing better. It is said that you “have to find your voice”. Then you must push yourself to master the proper vocal and physical techniques to reveal it’s finest qualities. This effort is a journey of self discovery which can bring great satisfaction when you are singing at your very best for yourself and for others.

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