Learn to Sing Online & Get a Great Voice!

Are you too shy or embarrassed to sing in front to a crowd? Or maybe you are not confident enough to even see a singing coach to improve your voice? Perhaps you have the confidence but the time and money to invest in live tutoring is just too much? If any of these things are close to your situation you may be interested in how to learn to sing online!

Getting a better singing voice is not just in the hands of singing coaches as like any skill as long as you gain the knowledge and practice from somewhere you can master it. These days you can download software packages with many features that can aid you in the task just as well as any live tutor and with many other advantages too.

• Flexible learning styles. With audio, visual and text guides some software packages cater to a range of learners
• Flexible learning times. You can choose to learn at your own pace wherever YOU want.
• Private learning. By practicing by yourself in privacy you can gain the confidence and skills you need to perform to more people without stage fright and shyness.
• Cost effective. Most downloads you can buy are less than $100 and when you compare that to a singing coach over many weeks this is much cheaper and you can continue to use that download for as long as you need.

As you can see learning to sing online through downloadable guides and software can be a real advantage for those looking to start singing or those just looking to brush up and improve their singing to make it even better.

So if you are ready to learn to sing online click below for reviews of online singing guides and find the one that is best suited to YOUR needs!

Learn to Sing Software Reviews

Ask any professional athlete and they will stress the importance of a proper warm-up and stretching regime before the start of any strenuous workout. In their own way, singers are athletes, too – vocal athletes. So before you start belting out those show tunes or rock out on a retro Pat Benatar song, you need to warm up your voice. Just as you ease into a hamstring stretch before a gym class, warming up your voice needs to be done in stages. Here are seven techniques to safely and thoroughly warm up your voice.

Relax. Tilt you head to the right while gently lowering your left shoulder. Then tilt your head left while pushing down the right shoulder. Open your mouth and stick your tongue out as far as it will go. Shrug your shoulders, hold then slowly release. Repeat several times.

Get your diaphragm prepared. The diaphragm is located under the lungs and causes them to inflate. To warm up your diaphragm, take some deep breaths and slowly exhale. Concentrate on letting your stomach expand and contract.

Pay attention to your breathing. Take a deep breath, hold it, then exhale in short bursts. Repeat several times. Remember to be mindful of your posture.

Hum. Don’t go for any extreme – stay midrange to start and keep the volume moderate. Don’t hum melodies; hum sounds and do it with your mouth closed.

Perform vocal exercises. Make vowels sounds such as ahhh, ooooh exaggerating your mouth movement.

Do scales. First go slowly, holding each note as long as you can. Then sing up and down a scale, gradually increasing in volume.

Vibrate your lips. Purse your lips and make a motorboat sound so that your lips vibrate.

Singing is an expression of your body so pamper your voice by getting enough sleep, eating right, exercising and staying hydrated. If you take care of yourself, you voice will stay strong and healthy, too.

With the availability of information on the internet increasing each year, it has become the number one resource for answers. Many are even turning to the web for voice teachers and online lessons. Consider this, just as you would never teach someone to drive a car online or via skype, it isn’t the best way learn to sing either. Great singers rely on a real, live voice teacher for vocal development. Here are the top five characteristics of a good teacher.

A good teacher sees your weaknesses and works to eradicate them

Encouragement is very important, but if your teacher only focuses on what you already do well, your growth as a singer will be stunted. Look for a teacher who clearly and respectfully exposes your weaknesses while providing practical ways for you to work on them.

A good teacher helps you to develop a language for what to do, so that in performing situations you know how to stay on track.

Singing is a natural ability, so often, you will not be able to put into words how you do what you do. A good teacher will help you close that loop. Personal language is very important to develop since it is unlikely that your teacher will be by your side during every performance. Knowing how to correct and encourage yourself before and during performance is a trait of all world-class singers.

A good teacher uses techniques that encourage more and more vocal freedom the longer you study.

Consistent study should make you more confident in your vocal abilities and less dependent upon your teacher. The ultimate goal of study is to develop the connection between mind and body as such a high level that you are able to navigate any vocal terrain you encounter. In advanced study, your teacher should offer minimal correction instead, he or she should suggest ways to expand the boundaries of the voice.

A good teacher nurtures your strengths.

If you begin vocal study with fantastic high notes, phenomenal breath control or a beautiful vibrato, these qualities should not diminish due to vocal study. Everything that is already good about your voice should only get better and easier under the guidance of a good voice teacher. You should never leave a voice lesson hoarse, in pain or with an otherwise strained voice.

A good teacher communicates clearly and effectively.

A good teacher will explain things in various ways until you “get it.” Some singers learn best by doing, others by watching first then repeating. Still other singers must hear or have a detailed explanation before grasping a concept. Read More Voice Teacher Secrets.

Singing Dangerously

This article is goi ng to focus on vocal health, and in particular we will be talking about the first out of the two most common vocal damaging flaws: Glottal Shock. If I were to make a list of the most common factors that contribute to vocal chord injury, high on the list would be glottal shock and glottal stop. Both of these improper techniques are often addressed by voice teachers as well as throat doctors and both have ruined more voice careers than probably any other physical factor next to gastric reflux disease and vocal fatigue. Many times it will not just be apparent within the act of singing but in speech as well and can be a commonality amongst many school teachers, clergyman, lawyers and basically anyone who relies on there voice in there carriers.

Let’s now look at the first of these two dangerous singing techniques again called glottal shock. Glottal shock is a clicking in the voice that can be heard at the onset of words that do not begin with some sort of consonant. An example of this would be when we sing or say words such as apple or every, or only. these words of course begin with a vowel rather than a consonant. And, as you hopefully could hear, there was a sort of clicking noise in the beginning of those words.

This is glottal shock. You see what happens is this. If I were to place my vocal chords together before I sing, when I actually do go to sing the vocal chords are then forced open and then unfortunately slam shut, slapping themselves together causing the click heard on the words onset. This is known by the way as the words ‘attack’, and this particular attack is not only unhealthy to our vocal instrument but is very unmusical as well. This sound can be very distracting in speech as well especially when someone is clicking every other word. Imagine if you were listening to someone sayaaI always entered into their apartment upstairs and I understand why everyone else does the opposite.a When you start noticing this in others you can almost feel the damage that they are causing themselves.

Find out more about glottal shock with online singing lessons at VirtualVoiceLessons.Net.

There are always reasons for doing what we want to do. For some of us it is all about fun. That should be an incentive that is enough for children to take music lessons. However, some parents need a bit more prompting as far as reasons go. Here is what every parent needs to know when it comes to music lessons for children – benefits.

There are many aspects that as a child grows, these areas need to be trained. One of those is the cognitive and motor areas. This helps them so that they can manipulate their mind and their body. Other areas include problem solving. All of these can be worked with when a child does music lessons.

It has also been stated that those children who take music lessons throughout their life will be better in some areas as they are exercising certain parts of the brain. It is said that children do better verbally. They also do better at math. These areas are the ones that more and more schools are finding children having difficulty with. For whatever reason, much of it is because kids are trying to learn so much at one time, this is great news for children as they will do better in school. This is what we all want from children. Is it not?

The same is true for kids in high school. A study has been done by the Board of Education that has proven that while a child is in high school and is involved in either band or choir; they double their chances at doing well in math. This is the hardest sort of math that is out there as well.

We all know that school can be hard. Many kids who do not do well have found that they just want to give up. Music has been the thing to keep some kids who are ready to give up the incentive they need to keep going. There has been a relationship between music and kids staying in school that is.

There are social impacts that music lessons hold as well. Not only do children learn to have a mentor and to listen to their mentors, but they learn to work along side with people. They learn to talk things out.

They also learn to channel the negative emotions that sometimes run along with what many kids face from day to day. They are the racial injustices, the social economic standings, and much more. It is really interesting what all music can help children with.

As you can see, there are many things that can help children, but music lessons are just one thing you do not want to miss out on. The things that you can give your children just by allowing them to do this are amazing. The sad thing is, these are usually the first areas that schools cut when the budget gets too low. Look at all the things that can be accomplished just by letting them do this.

Take a Deep Breath:

Teaching the Inhalation for Singing More Effectively – Releasing Abdominal Tension

According to Gillyanne Kayes ‘awhen you breathe in, you will feel that your lower abdomen moves out as a result of the diaphragm pulling downa’1 This is true, but does assume that the student already breathes efficiently and correctly. It also assumes that the singer has a good awareness of the detrimental effect abdominal tension has on the inhalation. One of the main breathing challenges I have encountered in the studio is that students find the concept of letting the lower abdomen go into neutral difficult, hence the diaphragm does not depress fully and subsequently the lungs do not fill to capacity. The following are several methods and ideas proposed by both me and my students for helping to release abdominal tension.

1. Inhaling against a wall

A Kinaesthetic Approach

A student can gain insight into the deep breath required for singing through observing the mechanism when they are lying down. In this position the body naturally resorts to effective breathing. However I have found that not all students are comfortable with being asked to lie down on my studio floor during a lesson, albeit with a cushion to support their head and a throw to preserve their clothes. Occasionally students have back and knee problems and such a suggestion is simply inappropriate. As a teacher I do feel that breathing needs to be introduced within the first few weeks of lessons, yet a trusting relationship may not have developed sufficiently to permit what could be a vulnerable situation for the student.

As an alternative I have found that getting a student to check their breathing mechanism while leaning against a wall very effective. The student allows the wall to support them, turning their head to the side so that their cheek is flat against the surface. Arms are relaxed at their sides. I then ask them to lever themselves from this position by releasing the abdominals and allowing the diaphragm to depress, lungs to fill, rib-cage to expand and epigastrium to move forward. If the student ‘chest-breathes’ there is no leverage and this, due to the lack of release of the abdominal muscles, is immediately apparent to them.

I have found this to be an effective method because the student is already upright and experiencing the deep breath. One of the difficulties with breath work on the floor is getting the student to maintain the deep breathing they have so readily discovered when they return to a standing position.

This technique has been effective for about 75% of my students thus far. Effectiveness has been evaluated by how quickly and independently the student comprehends what is required and why i.e. the technique’s place within singing. One of the positive aspects of this exercise is that is allows students to self-evaluate immediately.

2. Abdomen as an Elastic Band -Visualisation

A Visual and/or Aural Approach

Students’ reactions to my explanations of breathing anatomy vary widely, ranging from eyes glazing over to keen interest. I have had to ask myself the question: just how much anatomical information do students usefully need to know and how can I accommodate these different levels of interest within different learning styles?

One of the less orthodox responses to my survey was that of a student who is a hypnotist by profession. This lady recorded a visualisation exercise, coming up with the image of the abdomen as a brightly coloured elastic band which released and expanded with the inhalation. I played this guided visualisation to a cross-section of students and the response was encouraging. Most found it immediately useful, helping them to clearly imagine the abdominal muscles’ activity. Several were very interested in the idea and stated that they would like to experiment further with it. One student who had long-term difficulty getting away from shallow breathing habits deepened her inhalation within one lesson of listening to this visualisation.

Only one student found it categorically unhelpful and preferred to visualise conventional anatomy when inhaling, unsurprising as this student normally approaches tasks intellectually.

The guided meditation was an antithesis to thinking conventionally about anatomy in that it used the imagination and was concerned with the essentials. I was interested to note just how many students related well to this. The recording was not a definitive guide, but a starting point for students to use their own imaginations in visualising the abdominal release.

3. Using Imagery

A Visual Approach

I suggested that several artist-singers in my group class create an image of how they understood the inhalation, in particular bearing in mind the release of the abdominals. The ‘spec’ I provided was that the image could be figurative or abstract and use any media. I also participated in this exercise.

The following week the selected students presented their works, which turned out to be figurative and concerned with the breathing mechanism in general. Given the interconnectedness of inhalation and exhalation this was understandable. Both drawings acknowledged the need for abdominal breathing. The images showed an appreciation of colour and movement which provided information about these students’ learning styles, i.e. visual and kinaesthetic. Interestingly, both drawings revealed a misunderstanding about the breath creating head resonance.

My own contribution was more abstract and based on how I visualise the experience of a deep inhalation.

The group proceeded to practice the inhalation while looking at each of the three images. Several of the group connected well to the latter image with one student stating that it was ‘asimple and had movement and energy’. The two figurative images were well received as interesting drawings, but less effective as stimulators of abdominal breathing.

Encouraging students to do drawings of the inhalation was very useful as the resulting work showed strengths and weaknesses in their comprehension. However, in distilling a method from images I would need to experiment further and ‘achoose them carefully and appropriately for each pupil’2, using my discretion regarding students’ personalities and learning styles. This would suggest the need for having worked with the student for some time.

Further Use of Imagery

I agree with Meribeth Dayme (nAe Bunch) when she states that referring to the inhalation as ‘abdominal breathing’ is less misleading than the term ‘diaphragmatic breathing’. While the diaphragm is acknowledged as being the most important muscle of inspiration the release of the lower abdominal muscles is vital for maximum functioning of the former.

During the past few months of my research I have collected several phrases evoking images that have helped facilitate ‘abdominal breathing’. They are as follows:

1. ‘Bellyful of breath’

2. ‘Pregnant with breath’

3. ‘Imagine a hole in the abdomen through which breath enters’

4. ‘Balloon filling the abdomen’ (student contribution)

5. ‘Sea rolling in and out’ (student contribution on inhalation and exhalation)

The use of imagery has proven very effective for most students and I would not hesitate to develop this method further. I have been very interested to hear students’ own creative ideas. If an image is personal it is likely to be effective.

4. SPLAT! (Singers Please Loosen Abdominal Tension)/ The Recoil Breath

A Physical Approach

Gillyanne Kayes talks about her own study of breathing, being advised by one instructor that ‘athe secret of breathing in was to breathe out.’3 My understanding of this quote is that if a singer has an insight into what their abdominal muscles are meant to do during the exhalation, they will learn what these muscles are not meant to do during the inhalation, i.e. contract. Janice Chapman is also an advocate of SPLAT!, incorporating it in her ‘Primal Sound’ technique.

SPLAT! involves exhaling at any given moment, a special preceding inhalation not being required. The singer draws their abdomen in towards their spine, pushing any lingering scraps of air out of their lungs. At the point when the exhalation has reached its limit the body will reflexively release the abdominal muscles, allowing the diaphragm to depress and lungs to fill to their capacity, i.e. the recoil. As with the wall leaning exercise I demonstrated SPLAT! in the first instance and students subsequently practiced it under my supervision. The exercise was attempted in a standing position.

SPLAT! had a diverse response. Some students grasped it well and others found it frustrating and strenuous. Over a period of several weeks it was clear that not everybody was releasing their abdominal muscles as a result of this work. In asking students for feedback I found that this was due to the power of old holding habits or simply a lack of clarity about the mechanics of the exercise*.

*The exercise revealed that a number of students had previously assumed the abdominal muscles were contracted during inhalation and relaxed during exhalation. I attempted to remedy this misunderstanding with the following phrase:

‘In=Out’ and ‘Out=In’

Simplified from:

‘Inhalation = Abdominals Out

Exhalation = Abdominals In’

I have noticed recently that when students get confused during SPLAT! they start to repeat this phrase to themselves before re-attempting the exercise. It does appear to help them focus their efforts.

Conclusion

My research demonstrated just how vital it is to fathom a student’s personality and learning style when teaching technique. Having several tools available is necessary and this requires a teacher to be open-minded while simultaneously grounded in facts of anatomy and physiology. I am pleased to come away with alternatives to my original teaching method of demonstration and use of anatomical drawings, a more intellectual approach. I won’t fully abandon this but nor will it be my default method in the future. Though traditional and time-tested, I was never entirely comfortable placing my hands on my students. It is timely to have more options that enable students to clearly practice and self-evaluate abdominal release.

Opposition to abdominal release came in several forms. Unsurprisingly many of my students were uncomfortable with having to release their lower abdominal muscles. The learned response is to hold these muscles tight and all of the above exercises focus on the necessity to ‘reduce the holding patterns in the abdominal wall’4. One student told me that the release was in direct opposition to maintaining the ‘central core’ required for Pilates, another activity she engaged in. Several dancers had the same concern. I was alarmed that so many students interpreted releasing the abs as an instruction for the whole body to slouch. It was vital to pause and address posture during the work.

Several students consistently contradicted my research, those who engage in shallow breathing without their capacity and control being compromised – and apparently without the usual resultant tension on the larynx. I am still considering how I need to go about advocating the benefits of abdominal breathing to these students, so my research continues.

As with any investigation there are as many questions raised as are answered. Svend Smith’s ‘Accent Method’ merits more research as does Janice Chapman’s work with ‘Primal Sound’ which interestingly combines deep, reflexive breathing with emotion. There are many other studies of technique that are not singing related such as breathing for yoga, re-birthing, Chi Gung and athletic activities, to name a few. I feel that it would be useful to have a working knowledge of these, if not to apply directly to singing then for the purpose of achieving a rounded understanding of the power of the breath in different situations. In short, there are many worthwhile and interesting avenues that can be followed for developing a thorough pedagogy for breathing.

Bibliography:

Kayes, G (2004) Singing and the Actor (Routledge)

Dayme, M (1997) Dynamics of the Singing Voice (Springer Wien)

Chapman, J (2006) Singing and Teaching Singing:

A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice (Plural Publishing)

Harris, P (2006) Improve Your Teaching! (Faber Music)

Footnotes/ Indices

1 Kayes, Gillyanne (2004) Singing and the Actor (Routledge)

2 Harris, P (2006) Improve Your Teaching! (Faber Music)

3 Kayes, G (2004) Singing and the Actor (Routledge)

3 Chapman, J (2006) Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice (Plural Publishing)

Cathryn VM Robson 2009

Learn How To Train Your Vocal To Sing

Are you dying to become a professional singer? Is it your dream to become the next American Idol? Are looking for ways to train your voice to sing? Well, do not worry here are some of the ideal tips to fulfill your dreams.

Online vocal exercise:
Now-a-days with the expansion of internet facility everything can be easily available. You can easily avail the services of online vocal exercise and utilize the various tools to train you voice to sing. Online vocal lessons are so methodical that they easily teach a mediocre singer to sing in perfect tune. Learning singing through internet is a very good idea for the beginners as it will help to attain knowledge over singing techniques. By going online you also save your precious time and effort.

Hiring a vocal instructor:
One can also learn singing by hiring a vocal instructor. A good and professional vocal coach can help you a lot to learn the nuances of singing. You can always get feedback of your performance. Experienced vocal coach can even teach you the right singing technique so that you might not hurt your vocal chords. Moreover you can learn the correct breathing technique while singing.
Opting for dance lesson programs:
Singing lesson programs are of immense help to the beginners. You can easily train your voice to sing without the help of a coach or anybody else. Singing lesson programs like ‘Singorama’ and others can help to you convert yourself in to a singing sensation with in short period of time. Moreover you can learn singing by maintaining complete privacy. These programs are well prepared keeping in mind the needs of beginners. They are very methodical and follow correct singing steps which are easy to learn.

Keep patience:
Singing is an art so it requires lot of time to attain mastery over it. You need to keep patience and keep on practicing regularly. It is difficult to have an attractive voice unless and until you go for regular rehearsals. Practice will not only make you perfect but also enable you to dig out your hidden talent. It is very important that you find out adequate time to continue your practice sessions time and again.

Singing is not as simple as it looks. To train your voice to sing perfectly, besides your talent you need to have a strong determination. If you have made up your mind to do something then definitely you would achieve that. The above tips will surely help to train your voice to sing and accomplish your dream.

If you’ve ever had a recording session early in the morning (many of you who are on-air talent will identify with this), you’ve really got to warm up those pipes to sound professional and alert.

Coming from a classical singing background and years of 7 a.m. choir rehearsals, I find it really helps if you are up at least one hour before you are expected to perform.

If you’re awake 60 minutes before you hit the mic, you’ll be alert (hopefully!) and also may have already spoken to someone, using your voice a wee bit to prepare for your warm up. During that interval, you may have possibly eaten breakfast, had a drink, showered, and dressed for the day.

Waking up earlier for an ‘early’ session does more than stabilize your vocal folds, it gets you in form mentally as well.

OK, so that’s getting up an hour before. How about these ones?

Have you ever tried humming?

A loose, gentle modulating hum is a nice way to ease in your facial muscles as well as create space for resonant sound. It gets your resonators going which in turn will help restore your vocal tone quality after sleeping for several hours.

One of the favorites at the Don Wright Faculty of Music was The Hum closely followed by lip trills.

On one occasion, a classmate of mine had to run from her residence at the main gates on Richmond Street over the bridge at UWO doing lip trills in the dead of winter as she scrambled to get to her lesson in the Music Building near Talbot College. She sounded great! Now, that’s a feat.

Also, another good trick to open up the passages is to descend on a nasal consonant sound. If you are a fan or student of IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), you know that there are a number of ways you can warm up your sinuses and nasal passages.
Take the English word onion for example. It’s quite nasal, particularly the second syllable. The ‘gn’ sound, as in the Italian “gnocchi” is precisely what I’m thinking about.

Take that ‘gn’ sound and lovingly stretch it, slide it, and descend glissando style. Go from the fifth down to the root of a scale on that with an ‘ah’ sound.

Another favorite warm up is voicing anything that ends in a Z, like buzz or fuzz. Linger on the Z to get resonating as well.

Back to some more ideas.

Articulate, articulate, articulate. This is one of the most important aspects of your performance. If you don’t articulate or enunciate clearly, no one is going to understand a word of what you are saying.

Here are five tongue twisters that are old hat for some but may be new to your repertory:

1. Unique New York, Unique New York, Unique New York…. (repeat and speed up as necessary)
2. A big black bug bit a big black bear
3. She sells sea shells by the sea shore
4. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
5. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

One trick to see if your diction is clear is to ask someone who doesn’t know you to listen to you speak. If they have trouble deciphering your message, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and really start spitting out those consonants.

Well, that may be good for resonators and articulators, but what about range?

Yawning is a good thing. Yawning naturally drops your jaw and regulates oxygen while extending your soft palate. With more oxygen flowing up to your brain, you’ll also find that you are more alert. Yawning is one of those involuntary responses produced by your autonomic nerve system.

Have you ever heard of the ‘yawn-sigh’?

You open your mouth as if to yawn and slide all the way down from the top of your vocal range to the lowest grumble you can muster. You’ll know when you bottom out. Only do this a few times tops per warm up and never start with this one – leave it until the end when you have already exercised your voice.

Now, those are just a number of things you can do to get going with your voice.

It may go without saying, but a good sleep the night before, about eight hours if you can swing it, and a well conditioned, lubricated voice is the best preparation for warming up at the crack of dawn.

If you’re a multi-tasker, you could probably fit your warm ups into your morning shower routine. The acoustics will be great and warm water is also a plus.

Just so that we’re all aware, these warm ups are not solely reserved for early risers but for any vocal activity at any time.

Also, please note: The sillier you sound and the better a warm up makes you feel, the more elastic, agile and comfortable your voice will become. Have fun with it!

Learn How to Sing a Song

How Beginners Can Sing a Song Like a Professional

People of all ages have wanted to sing a song like a professional they’ve seen or heard especially if it’s their favorite singer.

Even natural born singers have to get vocal training at some point in their life so they don’t wear out or damage their vocal chords altogether by using them incorrectly. If you are willing to put in the work and patience that it takes as a beginner, then singing will eventually feel natural to you also.

Getting Voice Coaching and Instruction

If you can afford a teacher for private lessons or can join some singing classes, this will be very beneficial to you in the long run. Only choose a teacher who specializes in the genre of music you want to sing or who has a variety musical background.

Most of them will usually start you singing the note scale of do, re, mi, la, fa, so, la, te to get you used to doing shifts in your tone. You may get tired of doing the same thing over and over again but singing the notes can help train your throat also.

Establish Your Vocal Range

An instructor should be able to tell you if you are an alto, tenor or soprano so you will know how high or low you need to sing a song. They will also show you how to breathe correctly so you sing from your diaphragm rather than through your nose.

Learn to Sing in Front of an Audience

Prepare yourself tosing a song in front of an audience so you get a feel for how professionals perform in the limelight.

The good thing about singing camps, classes or an instructor is that they may have you perform in front of an audience to showcase your talents and to overcome any stage fright that many beginners have. They also may pair you with other students if any who can give you some tips that work for them or to make you feel more comfortable singing.

Secrets of Professional Singers

There are tips that can help you sing a song better and that many professionals use. Singing or breathing slowly and deeply in a shower can open up your lungs more.

Also drinking water in between breaks or hot tea with honey will help the throat while soothing any strain from singing long hours. So you see, with the right training you can be singing professionally in no time.

Practice and Determination

But remember, none of these singing tips work unless you do! Get started and keep at it if you expect to make progress.

Learn to Sing Better: Tips on Better Breathing

Breathing studies have found that you can actually have peak health and a longer life, depending on how well you learn to breathe! Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But it is true as you will see below. Breathing properly is really healthy for you overall, as well as developing your ability to sing better!

Breathing properly for singing is the single most important factor in obtaining good solid technique in order to sing better. Every singing sound we make, at least, is dependent on consistent and steady airflow. If you have more control of this air flow, you will have more singing control and thereby have better quality of your singing, including strength, duration, and capacity.

Breathing for better singing should always include relaxation techniques for quiet inhalations, specifically. Exercises and stretches, include some yawning, yes you heard right, yawning exercises, as you inhale and exhale, to help relax the muscles surrounding the vocal cords.

First, stand relaxed yet tall and with good posture. For more information on this, go to www.breathing.com. They have some excellent details on breathing and posture.

Since breathing is a three-dimensional process, try this. Breathe in deeply to connect with the diaphragm (muscle that lies underneath the lung sacs, as the lungs are not muscles). Your rib cage should expand and you should have a sense of “expanding” clear around the rib/abdominal area, as the diaphragm lowers, thus, filling the lungs. Exhale completely.

Do the above for 4 counts in and 4 counts out….all the while thinking of not only the three-dimensional expansion, but the silent intake of air, using that “yawning” sensation, which is only a helper for this training…yawning may not work perfect for other vocal techniques, like voice placement, but it does help relax the muscles for a quieter, quicker intake of air. Push out with the belly muscles as you sing or do your vocal exercises. You can even lie on the floor for this one with a book or a couple books on your belly to see how your breathing is doing. Can you raise the book while inhaling? If so, that is just one aspect of the three-dimensional aspect of proper breathing. This is just to demonstrate how you should be breathing. A coach online or offline should assist you in keeping track of these, to make sure you are developing proper habits. Poor habits are so hard to change, so give yourself some time, training, and practice. Do the above everyday (except the book part) for better control of your breathing and forming proper breathing habits.

There are, of course, things you should not do while learning the above techniques, and that is you should not move your shoulders, head, or neck while learning these habits. Your chin should not go out or up or down to low, but be level. To breathe properly, specifically for singing, you will want to keep “the instrument” in the appropriate position. You should appear natural and the breathing should seem effortless.

There are also exercises that will assist you in developing better breathing control and stamina without hurting your singing voice. This includes exercises like breathing in through a pretend straw for better breath control and development. Try this. Pretend you are breathing in through a straw (a small pressure hole created by your lips) and perform the above 4-count breathing exercise. This will help strengthen your breathing strength, control, and stamina for those long “tah-dah” notes or just sustained notes that always seem to fall short. There are also many breathing exercises for assisting in developing breath control, strength, and stamina, such as inhaling (yawn) your breath, then “ha-ha-ha-ha-ha” exhaled for 5 times and seeing if you have any breath left, which you should.

Learning to sing better through breathing is such a critical step in developing your better singing voice. I just cannot stress that enough. I do hope these tips have assisted you in obtaining some breathing techniques to take with you for your overall healthier lifestyle and in singing better! Let’s march onward to assisting you in continuing your onward progress in taking care of your voice, breathing, and coming soon…warm-ups!