A great way to perfect your posture is to imagine you’re a marionette puppet on stage and that a string is holding you upright by the top of your head by a puppet master. [1] X Research source Your posture will be perfect but in a much more relaxed way. Maintain straight posture, but do it in a way that it doesn’t place too much tension onto your body. You want your focus to be on singing, not on how uncomfortable your body feels in that position. [2] X Research source
Support your voice through breath control. Pull breath from your diaphragm and abdomen muscles by breathing slowly and deeply into your belly. Regulate the amount of breath you use by releasing the breath in a controlled way versus exhaling quickly with force. While you sing, imagine that your mouth is a resonator guitar. Unlike typical acoustic guitars where the sound comes from the top of the guitar, sound leaves the resonator guitar through the bridge to the resonator, one or more of the spun metal cones. [3] X Research source A resonator uses vibrations to project along the guitar’s mouth. Replicate that effect and pull your singing voice to the areas around your mouth where you feel the sound vibrating to project while you sing.
Find this by practicing humming exercises. Hum at the end of “mmm” sounds. This will help you feel vibrations and resonance in your face near your mouth and nasal area. [4] X Research source Don’t pay attention to how you hear yourself in your head, instead focus on this area to learn where your voice will come from. This creates less force when you sing.
Place your focus on the back of the auditorium or the room to help the sound of your voice carry by giving its range a focal point. [6] X Research source Pick a person or an object in the crowd to help center your focus even further. Having someone in the audience to sing to is a helpful tactic in honing your focus. Choosing a tangible object as a focal point while you sing is equally effective. [7] X Research source
Although vocal rest can be done before performances to rest the voice and remedy vocals that have been over-practiced, vocal rest is also useful after performances as well. [9] X Research source Put yourself on vocal rest at least one full day per week, especially if you perform regularly and/or sing aggressively. [10] X Research source If you have laryngitis, you should put yourself on vocal rest for a few days so you have time to heal.
Warm ups should gradually build in intensity. Start gently and build slowly to volumes, efforts, and ranges of higher intensity. [11] X Research source When the voice is warmed up, start with less vocally challenging songs to sing. That way you give your voice time to continue to warm up and stretch before moving on to more vocally demanding material. [12] X Research source
Drinking herb tea with lemon or honey daily can help maintain your vocal capabilities. Dry throat can also be prevented with the help of sleeping with a vaporizer or humidifier that adds moisture in the air.
A tight throat is similar to the way your muscles constrict when you swallow. A loose, relaxed throat is how your throat feels when you yawn. Notice how even if you project a loud sound in that instance, it does not strain your vocals whatsoever. That’s the place you need to sing with. Practice vocal warm ups in front of the mirror to monitor and observe throat movements when you sing certain notes, especially with higher notes.
