Voice training tips for beginning singers
Everybody loves singing, though not everybody can sing. But you will hardly find a person who never listens to music. Sometimes, inspired by someone’s songs and success, people tend to create a song. In the previous article about singing, Legit.ng told you how to make up a song. But there is one more, the most challenging task – to actually sing a song. Of course, to improve your voice, you may resort to taking on vocal lessons, but if you do not have time for this, but you still want to develop your unique style, we offer you several voice training tips to get the most out of your voice.
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Short voice training tips for beginners
We are going to give you several short pieces of advice on how to sing better. But to get a positive result, you should combine these tips with regular exercising. To know which exercises will help you to improve your voice, and now, we offer short and easy tips .
- Do not compare yourself with other singers. Every person’s voice is unique.
- If someone in your family says that you don’t know how to sing at all and that nothing will work out for you ignore it! If you really love singing, prove that you can do it. Improve your abilities and disappoint this person.
- Everyone does something better than the rest. If you are passionate about singing never let anyone dissuade you from learning and trying to do it!
- If you can not sing good, you must remember, that it is only the question of time and hardworking. The matter is that your vocal cords are muscles that can be trained with exercises. Gradually, you will begin to hear where you sing correctly and well, and where not. Work hard, and your singing technique will improve!
- You should do breathing exercises. It will help to develop correct movements of your diaphragm and, as a result, your voice.
- A good exercise is to sing along with karaoke versions of your favourite songs that you can find on Youtube. Besides, a large number of backing tracks for many favourite songs can be found on the Internet.
- Drink some water before recording. This is the prevention of the appearance of hiccups in the voice.
- Be patient and relax. It takes time to learn how to sing. Of course, vocal lessons give faster results, but that does not mean that you cannot practice singing on your own.
- Try not to overwork your with voice; otherwise, it may damage your vocal cords.
- If you are not able to determine for yourself whether you sing well or badly, try to focus your attention on the sensations that arise while singing in your throat and chest. If you feel that your lungs containing air let the air in and out smoothly and effortlessly, you do everything right. If you feel like choking and notes sound unnatural and not accurately, you will need to work on developing your voice.
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- Do not start singing practice with such singers as, for example, Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. These singers have extraordinary voices, and the beginners can not easily carry the notes the professional singers take. Try something more manageable.
- If you want to practice sounding like a particular singer, listen more to his or her songs and try to understand the characteristics of his or her voice. Sing together with them but never copy their manner of singing entirely, just borrow a couple of tricks, for example. It is doubtlessly an extremely helpful exercise to sing together with your favourite star, but adjust some singing moments to your own manner and develop it.
- Never sing if you have a cold or if you have a runny nose or. This may lead to your losing your voice for some time.
- Avoid damaging your throat and vocal cords.
- If you can’t sing a note cleanly, just try singing it every day and soon will succeed.
READ ALSO: How to write a song: guide for beginners
How to train your voice
Before telling you several beneficial exercises for vocal training, we are going to tell you about the factors you may not take into account during voice training. These tips on voice training may seem minor, but very often people who want to sing better neglect them and then ask in panic “how to train my voice?!” thinking that they will never manage to sing better.
Control your breath
Firstly, correct and deep breathing is an absolute necessity for training a pleasant sounding voice. Several times a day do a breathing gymnastics: take a deep breath in and slowly exhale making an AHHH sound. Then repeat, but, exhaling do your best to make an "OOHH" sound. Making such breathing practice you may feel the difference that is reflected in the movements of your diaphragm muscle and also in the tension created in your lungs. Breathing this way you let the air consistently out of your lungs and they become stronger. Later it will contribute to the mild dissolving of your voice and smooth transition between sounds.
Secondly, give up smoking
The smoke contaminates your lungs, and they become weak.
Go on improving your ear pitch
It is impossible to conceal a bad pitch in a song. While singing, you may sound either in tune or not. It means that you must improve the way you move between notes in a song. Just play a note using an instrument like a piano or a guitar. Let the note ring out, listen to it and hear it. Reproduce it in your head and sing along.
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Find your own suitable singing style
There are many amazing performers in the world, but none of them is perfect in every singing style. It is quite a typical situation that your abilities and voice range is limited. Depending on your voice type, your vocal range, age, gender, tone, and even your personal preferences it is for you to decide the genre of music to sing. You may be good at opera, jazz, rock, country music, folklore music or even afro pop.
You do not have to be similar to someone, be individual, do not imitate someone’s voice, and develop your own style. Remember that you are not, for example, Beyonce. Your pitch, tone, and volume also have some things to do with your physiology.
So often amateur singers, mimic their favourite artist and, singing in a very professional way, never reach success. The matter is that the world does not need the second Elton John or Beyonce. Be original, and you will have much more chances to succeed.
Learn how to project your voice
Never underestimate the power of external factors that may negatively influence your voice. Do not neglect to wear warm clothes to protect yourself from cold. Learn how to chose a moment for making a pause (to keep silence) to give a rest to your throat. Do not overdo with shouting out loud during football matches or any similar situations that can damage your throat or lunges and influence your ability to sing.
READ ALSO: Top 10 songs in Nigeria 2018
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Voice training exercises
The most important tip on how to improve your voice is training. To develop a voice for singing it is sufficient to perform the following activities regularly:
Stand in front of a large mirror, inhale as deeply as possible, and then as you exhale, pronounce one sound from the following sequence: “æ,” “e,” “a,” “o,” “u.” Each of them must be pronounced as long as it is possible, and it is strongly recommended not to change their places.
Pronouncing the sound "æ" helps to improve blood circulation. This sound carries the highest frequency, and if you are doing everything correctly, during the exercise, you will be able to feel a slight vibration of the skin if you put a palm on your head. All this indicates that your blood vessels begin to be supplied with oxygen much faster and this will stimulate normal functioning of vocal cords.
The next sound, "e," activates the work of the neck and throat. You can also feel it with your own palm, put under your chin.
The sound "a" has a beneficial effect on the chest and diaphragm.
Proper pronunciation of the sound "o" normalizes the work of the heart muscle and allows coping more effectively with the functions of the heart muscle.
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Finally, “u” has a positive effect on the lower part of the abdomen.
So, step by step, you descend along your torso, forcing all organs and systems to take part in the development of your vocal cords.
It is necessary to pronounce each of the vowels one after another, repeating them three times in a row.
After doing this complex of exercises, it is necessary to train the upper abdomen area. To do this, close your lips and say the sound "m" 3 times. You must feel the tension in your stomach and mouth and follow the energetic stream of air from your mouth. First, you have to do it as quietly as possible, then - a little bit louder, and, finally, as loud and powerful as you can. Doing the last task, you should definitely feel a strong tension in the area of abdomen and vocal cords.
It is also necessary to achieve the perfect pronunciation of all words. All you need is to relax the tongue. Slightly open your mouth, move your tongue around the mouth cavity. Go on exercising for five or eight seconds. Then take a break and repeat this two to three more times.
Tongue twisters will also help you to sound more distinctive. Repeat such tongue-twisters as:
- “Three free throws.”
- “She sells seashells by the seashore.”
- “The blue bluebird blinks.”
- “Freshly fried flying fish, freshly fried flesh.”
- “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
Pronounce them with aspiration and follow the tension in your vocal cords, lungs, and stomach. Alter the speed and volume.
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Say “Mm-mmm” as if you are buzzing. You must feel slight vibration of your face and tongue. Do this exercises several times and then start saying “Mm-mm” and “Mm-hmm.” Alter them.
Sing “Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do” up and down the scale. Repeat this several times. You can use the voice recorder to hear your progress.
Sing “Mah-May-Me-Moe-Moo” up and down the scale in one breath and also repeat this exercise several times.
Humming any easy motive will help loosen and relax your vocal muscles. Chose your favourite melody and hum it quietly.
It is possible to develop your singing abilities training alone at home. Remember that your vocal cords are usual muscles that demand training and working out. They also need time to get stronger so do not expect positive results after one set of exercising! Follow our tips and do not give up. We wish you good luck.
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Source: Legit.ng
