To practice the right posture, stand against a wall with your heels, calves, buttocks, shoulders, and head touching it. Shift your weight slightly forward, closer to your toes.
Try talking to yourself while you raise your head high and low. Notice how your voice sounds open and natural when you’re level, but muffled when it’s not. Sing in front of a mirror so you can correct your head position and posture until they’re a natural part of your technique.
Exhale slowly through your mouth to complete the breath. Do 10-15 slow diaphragm breaths before you begin your vocal warmups to remind yourself what it feels like to breathe for singing. Keep your chest and shoulder muscles relaxed so that you’re only using your diaphragm and lungs to facilitate the breathing.
Do this exercise a few times and then practice singing A-E-I-O-U on one pitch, focusing on keeping your jaw open, until you can do it comfortably. Remember to keep your jaw relaxed when you sing actual lyrics so your vowels and vocal tone sound open and resonant. This small fix helps you sing louder and fuller without having to strain your voice. Most of the time, you’ll be able to hear the difference right away!
Your range might fit a different voice type than you previously thought you were. Remember, gender does not determine which type your voice is. Try this exercise when no one else is around so you can approach your lowest or highest notes without being self-conscious. The typical ranges for the most common voice types are: Bass: E2-E4 Baritone: A2-G4 Tenor: C3-C5 Alto: F3-F5 Mezzo-soprano: A3-A5 Soprano: C4-C6
Chest register: This is the lowest part of your range where you usually speak from. The tone here is naturally warm and resonant for low voices but breathy for high voices. These notes resonate largely in your chest. Middle register: This is the middle of your range and tends to be resonant for most singers. As you get higher, the tone may get breathy or pinched if the throat constricts. This is a middle ground between your chest and head voices. Head register: This is the upper end of your range where strain and tension are most likely to occur. These notes come most easily to high voices and resonate largely in your head.
Keep your home humidified so you’re not breathing dry air and irritating your throat, especially if you’ve got an important performance coming up. Avoid smoking or vaping (it will dry out and irritate your vocal cords). Limit alcohol and sugary mixers since they are dehydrating and inflammatory. Never sing if it hurts. Listen to your body and rest, drink water, and get good sleep. Pushing through the pain can result in permanent damage.
To avoid overuse or injury, try to sing a little bit every day instead of cramming in a few hours at the end of the week. If you’re a brand new singer, sing about 10 minutes a day. If you’re in high school or above and have some experience, aim for 30 minutes per day. Monitor the health of your voice—if it’s tired or you feel pain, take a break or go on vocal rest (there is such a thing as over-practicing!).
When you’re humming, keep your lips closed and use an “mmm” sound. Start on a comfortable beginning note, then raise or lower the starting note by half steps to explore your upper and lower ranges. A scale is a sequence of notes moving by step (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do). An arpeggio is a pattern with skips between the notes (do-mi-sol-do).
In singing, loose lips are a good thing—they help clear up your diction (pronunciation) and open up your vowel sounds. Lip trills force you to breathe deeply and use your diaphragm to control the speed of your air.
As you go to sing higher notes, keep your throat relaxed so the larynx doesn’t rise very much with the pitch. This keeps your tone open and full as you get higher. A low, stable larynx smooths out the transition between your chest and head voices (AKA where your voice is most likely to crack). [12] X Research source
Focus on releasing tension in the jaw specifically by opening and closing it slowly a few times. Try incorporating light yoga into your warmup routine twice a week or before big performances. It relaxes, stretches, and aligns your entire body.
This is an easy warmup to do on your way to karaoke or even while you’re doing some chores at home.
Keep your hand in a low position or point downward as a reminder to stay relaxed and steady rather than tensing up and pushing the sound. This exercise helps you start notes with a clear attack and keeps the sound forward in your throat instead of falling back.
Compare the sound of your voice with and without your hands up. Frequently, we think our voices sound louder than they actually do.
Sirens warm up the extremes of your range and help connect your registers together for a smooth, blended voice. This warmup is very effective if you struggle with voice cracks when you shift to your head voice.
Start on a comfortable note in your mid-upper chest voice and move a half step lower for each repetition.
Focus on short scale exercises, like ha-ha-ha’s and sirens, to practice hitting new notes safely. Don’t try too hard for extra high or low notes, especially during warmups. Your voice is a muscle and pushing it too hard results in fatigue and injury. Even if you can’t hit that epic high note yet, working towards it will improve your voice in its lower range, too.
If you play piano, practice singing new melodies while you play them on the keyboard to train your voice to sing in tune. If you struggle to hear tiny differences in pitch, enlist the help of a musically-inclined friend or a voice teacher.
Your voice often sounds different to the room than it does to your own ears. If you think a recording sounds bad, remember that it’s just one moment in time and it doesn’t reflect your true talent or potential. You don’t need fancy recording equipment to evaluate yourself. A voice note on your phone is good enough to show you how you sound.
If you’re still nervous even though you know the song, focus on a point or object that’s slightly above the audience instead of looking right at them.
Record yourself singing so you can hear the strengths and weaknesses in your performance and work on them before showtime. Experiment with hand gestures, different emotions, and new singing techniques while you’re alone so you feel confident doing them in front of others.
For some, simply getting on stage is the hardest part of performing. No matter how it goes, be proud of yourself for doing something you’ve never done before!
Ask your mini-audience for feedback, especially if you’re preparing for a bigger show or concert later on.
Reach out to places like local nursing homes or children’s hospitals. They’re usually looking for volunteers to come in and share their art with their members.
Karaoke is a great reminder that singing is fun. It’s great to take it seriously and want to improve, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let loose now and then!
Feel free to move around, dance a little, or swing your hips while you sing. It makes you look comfortable and covers up any involuntary shaking.
Most people who think they can’t sing (or that they sing badly) are trying to sing with their speaking voice, which is a low and narrow slice of your singing range. Your singing voice sits higher than your speaking voice, so embrace the higher pitches and brighter tone of your singing—it’s supposed to sound that way. Amusia (musical tone-deafness) is an affliction that only affects 3% of people. Chances are you’re not quite as tone-deaf as you may think you are. [31] X Research source
Hone your skills with consistent practice and dedication. A solid foundation in fundamentals and good technique will take you a long way. Remember, even the greatest singers of all time put in lots of hours of hard work and practice into their craft.
Your body is your instrument when you sing. All you have to do is train your brain to operate your body and singing voice the best you can.
