Studying the voice and learning how to sing well takes time, patience and above all, PRACTICE! You must allow your body AND your voice time to develop a ‘muscle memory’ so that it can remember how to respond when singing. Repetition is the key to developing a secure technique and this is achieved through regular practice – every day, wherever possible.
Preparing To Sing
Goal Setting:
Did you know, research shows that It takes 21 days to form or break a habit?
For us singers, this is great news because we can begin to set goals for ourselves, based on a 21 day cycle. In this way, we are regularly achieving short term goals which gives us a sense of progress and momentum and it becomes a source of inspiration.
Drinking water is the most valuable support you can offer your voice.
Keeping your body hydrated means that it has the resources to produce the lubrication that your vocal cords need in order to maintain proper function.
Record Yourself:
The best device to use is, of course, a video camera which will record not only the audio but the visual content of your ‘performance’ – whether that be exercises or songs. This way you can play back your recording and make constructive criticisms on things you can improve and more importantly, make notes of the things that you do well, in order to remember to do them again next time! If you don’t have a video recorder, a tape recorder or even a phone will do for the time being. It’s important that the quality of the recording is clear and undistorted.
Sing In Front Of A Mirror:
During lessons with students, I make sure they stand in front of a mirror. However, I often find that I am constantly reminding them to LOOK INTO IT!
The reason for this, is that it can often be easy to get carried away while you’re singing – especially when you’re singing a song that you are really connecting with – or focusing on a particular aspect of technique that requires alot of concentration.
So, if you decide to use a mirror, make sure you look into it!
You will need to make mental notes as you go along and remember to write down the things you want to work on along with the things you did well when you complete the ‘exercise’ or song
Voice Classification
What does this mean?
Well, it simply means that each of us START with a particular singing range – that means the range of notes (from say, lowest to highest, for example) that you are able to sing comfortably. Now, I want to say here, that many teachers will tell you that the voice you have now is the voice you must love and accept. However, so commonly I hear singers using about 1/3 of their vocal potential – focusing only on one ‘area’ of their vocal range. It is important to know what your approximate ‘starting range’ is when you learn to sing, not only so you can use the ‘right’ exercises and choose the ‘right’ songs for your voice, but so that you can start exploring your WHOLE voice with OUT putting it under undue strain.
Breath
Many people believe that to learn how to sing well, you must have an incredible lung capacity and that this is something that can take years of rigorous practice and exercise to obtain. Elements of this belief hold some truth – it is possible as well as beneficial, to increase your lung capacity through practice, as you do need to use all of your lung capacity whilst breathing IN for singing. However, it’s what you DO with that breath whilst you are singing, that REALLY counts.
Its not too often that singers have great difficulty in taking a good breath – granted, it can be a little tricky to co-ordinate or focus the breath into the right areas of your body, but mostly, singers generally have MORE difficulty controlling the outflow of that breath, once taken.
Common Problems
One of the most common problems that singers encounter, is vocal tension…
If you are experiencing tension in the throat or neck area when you sing, chances are you’re using the wrong muscles or maybe even excessive force. Experiencing tension can be frustrating, painful and at the very least, vocally restrictive not to mention destructive.
The muscles that surround the vocal apparatus are delicate and require patience and persistence in order to develop a sensitivity of them and therefore, learn to use them in a correct and healthy way. Tension surrounding the throat and neck area whilst singing, is usually brought on by engaging the muscles that we use for swallowing. These are found on the OUTside of the voice-box or ‘larynx’.
The reason WHY we often engage these muscles is due to an over-flow or under-flow of air pressure being sent through the vocal cords, causing them to stay open. The muscles on the outside of the larynx will then try to compensate by tensing up, thereby forcing the vocal folds/cords to close. Unfortunately, whilst this does in fact result in a stronger tone being produced – all-be-it within a small range of pitches, it also forces the larynx either up or down (depending on the height of the pitch you are singing at).
The tension you feel is the result of the larynx no longer being able to physically stretch any further up or down and thus, you experience a ‘pulling’ or tightening sensation. If you raise the larynx, the muscles above will close the throat. This is a swallowing action and cannot be turned off. You can’t swallow and breathe at the same time! Just like you can’t swallow and sing at the same time!The following exercise will enable you to not only take the pressure off the larynx but to help you engage and employ the use of the correct muscles used for easy, freer singing.
Warming up the voice prior to singing, is equally important to warming up the body before exercise. Those little scales or strange humming sounds you often hear from singers before a performance, is a limbering up of the muscles around the vocal system and a physical warming and gentle stretching of the vocal cords. This gets the blood circulating, awakens the lungs and the inter costal muscles between the ribs and engages the mind-body connection.
Singing is a physical exercise. We can often forget this…but think of an athlete going out onto the track or onto the ground without warming up and stretching their body…In most cases, even though most of the muscles used for gross motor skills are large and powerful, an injury could be expected. Now, think about how small and delicate the muscles surrounding the voice are …without a good limbering up session, damage can be caused easily and, at first, unknowingly.
So, always maintain a habit of including a vocal warm-up in your work-out session whether it be for practice or performance.
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