Don’t like the sound of your own voice? Wimpy singer? This thread is for you.
This is not a how to sing country, rock, jazz or any other style thread. It’s a how to sing better thread. It’s you being the best you you can be. No matter what style you sing. There is no right style to sing. Only right techniques. These techniques are universal.
Words and the way they are formed depends on the style of music you choose to perform. And more importantly, your personality. The amount of yourself you let go in your performance. Sining is more than just hitting a note. It’s making that note interesting. It’s more than just words. Singing is portraying emotions. How you say the words are just as important as being in tune. No matter what style of music you sing there are some techniques that hold true. From farther back than Bing Crosby to today. These techniques have been developed to allow singers more flexibility. Clear up a lot of unnecessary clutter.
Unlike ‘breathing and health’ these exercises could be done over scales. There are two good reasons to consider this. Both are beneficial
One. The muscles in your throat need to learn to form the vowels as you go up and down in pitch. It’s not uncommon for someone to find a few notes in their range they have trouble with. Use scales to strengthen these notes.
Two. This is an excellent way to stretch your singing range. More on that later.
My view on scales. If you can sing a tune in pitch now should you practice scales? Absolutely NOT. Not even as a warm up. If you can’t sing or find a note then try them for a wile. Scales should only be done to support something. If you have a hard time finding a note to sing. Or holding a tune in a bucket then use scales to support your learning. They are a great tool. But they can be overused to the point of causing your singing to become rigid. You sing like you practice. If you practice being staccato and ridged your going to sing staccato and ridged. Listen to your favorite singers. Listen to all the singers in the style of music you like. None of them sing staccato and ridged. Neither should you.
If you have read and got good at the first part of breathing and health techniques your already on the right track. If you haven’t you’ll benefit greatly by being good at them first.
Before you start any practice routine you should make sure your throat is hydrated and relaxed. Hydration is easy. Slowly sip some room temp water. Now relax your lips. Take a deep breath and make the B.B.B.B.B.B.B.B.B.B.B. sound. Let your lips flap in the breeze as you exhale. Sip some more water and do this again. It may seam like a waste of time. it’s not. Take care of your throat first. Then your music. Remember to take the time to rehydrate and relax derring your practice routine. Above all stay physically relaxed. Practice relaxed means you'll perform more relaxed.
Stand or sit with good posture. Slightly open your mouth. Like you have a head cold and can’t breath threw your nose. Keep your tongue relaxed. Do not move it derring this exercise. Keep your lips still as well. Think like a ventriloquist. Without using any part of your tongue or lips form the vowel sounds. Using your throat only. Right at the back of your mouth. Start with A. Take a short breath and immediately make the A sound as you exhale. Do the same for E, I, O and U. Don’t be concerned about what note your singing. Or if it’s the same note for each vowel. You’ll start to feel your throat change positions with each vowel. Once you get the hang of forming your vowels with your throat try this exercise.
Tap out a four count beat. On the And just after the four count ( 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 AND ) take a sharp breath. Then form a vowel sound for four beats. On the ‘and’ after the forth beat again take a deep breath and sing the next vowel sound. Keep dong this until you have a smooth instant transition between your air intake and the sounding of the vowel. Once your comfortable with that stretch out the time you sing the vowel to two four count measures. Do this for each vowel. Don’t be concerned of what notes your singing out at this time. The object here is to get comfortable with forming your vowels this way. This will help create much more open, rich and powerful sounding voice when you sing.
Once your prolific with forming your vowels and correct breathing try this.
Start with the lowest note you can comfortably hit. Use correct breathing at all times. Take in a short breath and sing A E I O U. Then do this again one note step higher. Keep doing this till you’ve hit the highest note of your comfortable range. Then go back down. Don’t push anything yet. The idea here is to start where your most comfortable with. End where your most comfortable with. We’ll work on expanding your range later. Remember, you sing like you practice. Don’t practice straining.
Enjoy!
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Most people have the misconception that a mic will give them a robust sounding voice. It's true that mics like the Sure 57 have what's called a proximally effect. Adds a low end to things. However adding a low end to a weak sounding voice only makes that voice sound weak with a low end. If your doing these exorcizes you hear a richer, more powerful sounding voice with just a little work. Imagine what it will sound like if you keep this up. That fuller voice sounds really good with music. It's what the pros do. That's why they sound like they do. It will help to make your voice stand out from the rest of a band. Or even just sound better if it's just you and a guitar.
There is an art to singing. It's taking words and making them into something more interesting than just communication. It's adding to them. Taking things away. Sometimes tuning them into nothing more than sounds. This next exorcize is listening.
Try this.
This will take a bit to get used to. Your going to have to fight your brains natural function. Relax and concentrate. It will get easier.
Pick five or more bands that you like. Now listen to what the singing is doing. Not what the singer is saying. But how the words are being said. Listen to how the vowels are sounded. If all the consonants are there. Especially at the end of words. Listen to how the words flow together. Sometimes even sung like a single word instead of a sentence. Now just for fun find a choir on line and listen to them. It's my good guess that none of the singers you were listening to sounded anything like that. Choir and classical singing is an art form. Each word is spoken out. Each vowel is sounded properly. Unfortunately that's how most people want to sing as well. The pros don't. You shouldn't either.
My choices would be,
Steely Dan.
ZZtop
Bob Seger
Neil Young
Fleetwood Mac
Jackson Brown.
Not one of these singers sounds like the other. Each one is unique.
On a side note. Your throat muscles are small. Very small. They take some time, patients and practice to strengthen without straining or damage. Yes, wile performing, you will need to push harder with your diaphragm. But you'll be doing that threw a more relaxed and stronger throat. We're just learning to walk now. Running comes later.
If your just starting to learn these techniques you will be thinking about a lot of stuff at once. Or you should be. Never practice hap hazard or carelessly. Music is what you put into it. Be absolutely serious when you practice. Be completely conscious of every aspect of your body when you learn these techniques. Because of this I would not recommend driving and trying to learn at the same time. WAY to many things to keep track of.
A cool science fact about practice. Cuz I'm a geek and I dig this kinda stuff. : )
This experiment was conducted multiple times with the same results.
Two teams of ten people. The first team was coached by a pro trainer to shoot free throws on a basketball court. They were then instructed to practice for ten minutes a day. The second team was coached by the same pro trainer to shoot free throws on a basketball court. They were instructed to think about every move they make to get the ball threw the hoop. But don't physically do it. Just think about what it takes to make a shot for 10 minutes a day.
After a few weeks both teams shot free throws with the trainer. Both teams improved. Both teams had the VERY SAME amount of improvement.
E-normous, if you can hear you have a limited range then you will have no problem expanding it. But don't let your range stop you now. There are plenty of singers out there with limited ranges.
Well get back to consonants later. There is enough between proper breathing and vowels to get everyone on their way. I haven't touched this in proper breathing but i'll ht a bit on it hear. Because it's best to start with good habits.
Diaphragm singing. Or pushing from your gut. Not your throat.
Best to start with being able to do the proper breathing technique. Keeping your throat hydrated and healthy is the most important part of singing. Start out the show singing strong. End the show singing strong.
Relax your throat. Then get as relaxed as you can. Remember to always practice hydrated and relaxed.
The idea here is to push lightly with your diaphragm. The set of muscles that control your breathing. Practice this. Take a quick breath. Now push it out slowly by lightly and gently pushing in with your diaphragm muscles. Don't tighten or tense your stomach muscles. Nor should your diaphragm be tense. This should be a deliberate but gentle push. Push lightly till most of your air has escaped. Each time you do this take the time to relax. Do this enough so you know your not tensing up your belly. Your stomach should be relaxed. Let your diaphragm gently do all the work.
Now let's make some noise. Take in a quick breath and make the A vowel sound. You should feel a vibration in your abdomen. Do this for each vowel sound. Don't worry about the notes your singing. More important now to get good at the ground work first. For now always keep your stomach muscles relaxed. Keep your diaphragm gently moving.
Pick up the guitar and play. But you wont sound like you did yesterday.
Bringing all of this to your performance. Tune your guitar to what ever key you like. It's very important to make sure your guitar is in tune. Now strum a chord. Remember everything you learned and sound out each vowel sound. Start out simple. After a minute or two stop and relax. Rehydrate. Be very aware of how your throat feels. Work this up until your wailing away the vowel sounds wile strumming that cord. If at any time you stop doing everything right stop. Evaluate what's happening. Are you still forming the vowels at the back of your mouth? Are you gently pushing with your diaphragm? Are you breathing properly? Remember to only practice the right techniques. No matter how much fun your having wailing away. I know what your wanting to ask. "But Rat, I can't wail away without pushing harder on my diaphragm. How is this possible?" That's right! You can't. But you can push without tensing. Right now learn to push gently. Even if you can't wail as wildly as you would like. Get into the habit of being relaxed and gentle.
Try this. Most everyone does vibrato. Practice doing it with your diaphragm only. It's a great way to get in tough with this set of muscles. It sounds better and is easier to control. And it's a great way to free up your throat even more. Your throat will thank you.
OK. Now that you doing proper breathing techniques. Using your diaphragm to relieve unnecessary straining on your throat. Forming vowels at the back of your mouth. And almost falling asleep wile doing all of this at the same time. Try this.
Say something out loud. Just something normal. Like your talking to someone. Now take a quick breath. Form all your vowels at the back of your mouth. Push ever so gently with your diaphragm and say the very same thing.
I never sing with anyone else around when I play and have wondered how to get started with singing a little. I seem to have very little range. Perhaps this will help...I have 30 minutes to practice every day driving to and from work.
Most people who practice scales practice hitting each note dead on. If you do that long enough you train yourself to sing staccato. Each note dead on. You also train yourself to only sing the notes in a perfect scale. Your not going to deliberately hit off key notes to add feeling to your singing. Your not going to slur pitch or slide from one note to the next. If your practice is a regiment of staccato scales your singing will be a regiment of staccato scales. If your using scales to support your sining style and not a staccato guideline then your smarter than most. And a bit ahead of this topic so far. Was planning on getting to great ways to use scales later. Vowels and consonants first. Kind of learn to talk before you learn to sing thing.
I did mention that scales are a tool. Use them to fix something. They are great for learning a foundation. Perfect for someone who doesn't know what notes can be sung over a set of cords. Perfect for someone who is just starting out. Great for training your ears and throat. But once you have it down then put the tool down and move on. Use it again if needed to fix something.
You don't have to sing scales with staccato all the time. You can, and should sing them with a variety of techniques. There are so many reasons that you should sing scales that suggesting that you don't on the basis that they will cause your singing to become rigid doesn't make any sense.
smilingdog1 > Patrick CurleyMarch 4, 2015 at 2:16pm
Communicating like this is difficult at best to transmit everything intended to say.
So I'm going give my understanding of what I think Cause the Blue rat is stating.
Hitting notes is fine but exploring additional vocal techniques will enhance your style and open up interesting vocal possibilities. Rat mentioned the need for foundation and added something which I interpret as stepping out of the box.
Replies
Most people have the misconception that a mic will give them a robust sounding voice. It's true that mics like the Sure 57 have what's called a proximally effect. Adds a low end to things. However adding a low end to a weak sounding voice only makes that voice sound weak with a low end. If your doing these exorcizes you hear a richer, more powerful sounding voice with just a little work. Imagine what it will sound like if you keep this up. That fuller voice sounds really good with music. It's what the pros do. That's why they sound like they do. It will help to make your voice stand out from the rest of a band. Or even just sound better if it's just you and a guitar.
There is an art to singing. It's taking words and making them into something more interesting than just communication. It's adding to them. Taking things away. Sometimes tuning them into nothing more than sounds. This next exorcize is listening.
Try this.
This will take a bit to get used to. Your going to have to fight your brains natural function. Relax and concentrate. It will get easier.
Pick five or more bands that you like. Now listen to what the singing is doing. Not what the singer is saying. But how the words are being said. Listen to how the vowels are sounded. If all the consonants are there. Especially at the end of words. Listen to how the words flow together. Sometimes even sung like a single word instead of a sentence. Now just for fun find a choir on line and listen to them. It's my good guess that none of the singers you were listening to sounded anything like that. Choir and classical singing is an art form. Each word is spoken out. Each vowel is sounded properly. Unfortunately that's how most people want to sing as well. The pros don't. You shouldn't either.
My choices would be,
Steely Dan.
ZZtop
Bob Seger
Neil Young
Fleetwood Mac
Jackson Brown.
Not one of these singers sounds like the other. Each one is unique.
On a side note. Your throat muscles are small. Very small. They take some time, patients and practice to strengthen without straining or damage. Yes, wile performing, you will need to push harder with your diaphragm. But you'll be doing that threw a more relaxed and stronger throat. We're just learning to walk now. Running comes later.
A side post for everyone's safety.
If your just starting to learn these techniques you will be thinking about a lot of stuff at once. Or you should be. Never practice hap hazard or carelessly. Music is what you put into it. Be absolutely serious when you practice. Be completely conscious of every aspect of your body when you learn these techniques. Because of this I would not recommend driving and trying to learn at the same time. WAY to many things to keep track of.
A cool science fact about practice. Cuz I'm a geek and I dig this kinda stuff. : )
This experiment was conducted multiple times with the same results.
Two teams of ten people.
The first team was coached by a pro trainer to shoot free throws on a basketball court. They were then instructed to practice for ten minutes a day.
The second team was coached by the same pro trainer to shoot free throws on a basketball court. They were instructed to think about every move they make to get the ball threw the hoop. But don't physically do it. Just think about what it takes to make a shot for 10 minutes a day.
After a few weeks both teams shot free throws with the trainer. Both teams improved. Both teams had the VERY SAME amount of improvement.
E-normous, if you can hear you have a limited range then you will have no problem expanding it. But don't let your range stop you now. There are plenty of singers out there with limited ranges.
Well get back to consonants later. There is enough between proper breathing and vowels to get everyone on their way. I haven't touched this in proper breathing but i'll ht a bit on it hear. Because it's best to start with good habits.
Diaphragm singing. Or pushing from your gut. Not your throat.
Best to start with being able to do the proper breathing technique. Keeping your throat hydrated and healthy is the most important part of singing. Start out the show singing strong. End the show singing strong.
Relax your throat. Then get as relaxed as you can. Remember to always practice hydrated and relaxed.
The idea here is to push lightly with your diaphragm. The set of muscles that control your breathing. Practice this. Take a quick breath. Now push it out slowly by lightly and gently pushing in with your diaphragm muscles. Don't tighten or tense your stomach muscles. Nor should your diaphragm be tense. This should be a deliberate but gentle push. Push lightly till most of your air has escaped. Each time you do this take the time to relax. Do this enough so you know your not tensing up your belly. Your stomach should be relaxed. Let your diaphragm gently do all the work.
Now let's make some noise. Take in a quick breath and make the A vowel sound. You should feel a vibration in your abdomen. Do this for each vowel sound. Don't worry about the notes your singing. More important now to get good at the ground work first. For now always keep your stomach muscles relaxed. Keep your diaphragm gently moving.
Pick up the guitar and play. But you wont sound like you did yesterday.
Bringing all of this to your performance.
Tune your guitar to what ever key you like. It's very important to make sure your guitar is in tune. Now strum a chord. Remember everything you learned and sound out each vowel sound. Start out simple. After a minute or two stop and relax. Rehydrate. Be very aware of how your throat feels. Work this up until your wailing away the vowel sounds wile strumming that cord. If at any time you stop doing everything right stop. Evaluate what's happening. Are you still forming the vowels at the back of your mouth? Are you gently pushing with your diaphragm? Are you breathing properly? Remember to only practice the right techniques. No matter how much fun your having wailing away. I know what your wanting to ask. "But Rat, I can't wail away without pushing harder on my diaphragm. How is this possible?" That's right! You can't. But you can push without tensing. Right now learn to push gently. Even if you can't wail as wildly as you would like. Get into the habit of being relaxed and gentle.
Try this. Most everyone does vibrato. Practice doing it with your diaphragm only. It's a great way to get in tough with this set of muscles. It sounds better and is easier to control. And it's a great way to free up your throat even more. Your throat will thank you.
OK. Now that you doing proper breathing techniques. Using your diaphragm to relieve unnecessary straining on your throat. Forming vowels at the back of your mouth. And almost falling asleep wile doing all of this at the same time. Try this.
Say something out loud. Just something normal. Like your talking to someone. Now take a quick breath. Form all your vowels at the back of your mouth. Push ever so gently with your diaphragm and say the very same thing.
Hear the difference? Your welcome!
I never sing with anyone else around when I play and have wondered how to get started with singing a little. I seem to have very little range. Perhaps this will help...I have 30 minutes to practice every day driving to and from work.
Thanks for the lesson.
Norman
Just an update. Didn't want folks to think this is a dropped subject. Looking for sound samples to help out the next part.
Most people who practice scales practice hitting each note dead on. If you do that long enough you train yourself to sing staccato. Each note dead on. You also train yourself to only sing the notes in a perfect scale. Your not going to deliberately hit off key notes to add feeling to your singing. Your not going to slur pitch or slide from one note to the next. If your practice is a regiment of staccato scales your singing will be a regiment of staccato scales. If your using scales to support your sining style and not a staccato guideline then your smarter than most. And a bit ahead of this topic so far. Was planning on getting to great ways to use scales later. Vowels and consonants first. Kind of learn to talk before you learn to sing thing.
I did mention that scales are a tool. Use them to fix something. They are great for learning a foundation. Perfect for someone who doesn't know what notes can be sung over a set of cords. Perfect for someone who is just starting out. Great for training your ears and throat. But once you have it down then put the tool down and move on. Use it again if needed to fix something.
Practicing scales will make your singing rigid?
You don't have to sing scales with staccato all the time. You can, and should sing them with a variety of techniques. There are so many reasons that you should sing scales that suggesting that you don't on the basis that they will cause your singing to become rigid doesn't make any sense.
Communicating like this is difficult at best to transmit everything intended to say.
So I'm going give my understanding of what I think Cause the Blue rat is stating.
Hitting notes is fine but exploring additional vocal techniques will enhance your style and open up interesting vocal possibilities. Rat mentioned the need for foundation and added something which I interpret as stepping out of the box.
After all, isn't variety the spice of life?