Learn How To Sing

Steps to Becoming a Singer

If you are interested in becoming a singer, the first thing you must do is commit to practicing every day. Singing lessons can be very beneficial, but if there is some reason that you’re not able to take them there are still some things you can do to learn how to sing on your own.

Sure, it’s going to take some time, but you will see results fairly quickly- especially if you are using SINGORAMA and try out these tips.

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Getting Started

Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Here are the steps for getting started on your path to becoming a singer.

First of all, you must understand that your voice is part of your body and the movement of the surrounding muscles has an effect on it. You have to make sure that your posture is correct and the supporting muscles, including your neck and shoulders, are warm and relaxed. If not, you could end up straining your voice and even risking injury.

Your posture is critical when you’re singing. Here are some posture tips to keep in mind:

Stand straight
Feet should be shoulder width apart, knees unlocked
Head upright, looking ahead of you
Shoulders should be down and abdomen relaxed
Relax- tension will keep you from producing good sound

Of course, breathing well supports your voice. When you try to sing without any breath is a very common way of tiring out your voice. Here are some steps that you can use to improve your breathing.

Take deep breaths from your lower lungs- try to imagine there is a rubber ring around your waist.
Inhale, trying to push the ring outward- when you inhale, breathe through your nose. When you exhale, breathe through your nose and mouth.
Make sure to keep your shoulders relaxed and level as you inhale- don’t raise them up.

To learn how to breathe correctly, lie down on the floor and place your hands on your stomach. As you breathe in, your hands are going to rise.

Then, as you exhale, your hands will lower. When you are in this position, you will find that it’s impossible to breathe improperly.

You should be breathing the same way when you are singing. Practice proper breathing on a regular basis to improve your technique and increase your capacity.

Here are some breathing exercises to help you with your breathing:

Hissing

The point of this exercise is to monitor your breaths to make sure you will be able to last through longer phrases. Always be economical with your breaths- they should be consistent.

Make sure that it is not louder at the beginning than it is at the end. The point is to have a smooth, even sound.

As you are inhaling, count to 4- then, as you exhale, count to 4.
Then, breathe in, count to 6 and exhale to the count of 10.
Inhale for 6, exhale for 12.
Inhale for 2, exhale for 12.
Inhale for 4, exhale for 16.
Inhale for 2, exhale for 16.
Inhale for 4, exhale for 20.
Inhale for 1, exhale for 20.

Snatched Breaths

As you are inhaling, think of your lungs filling up as you count. Focus on your diaphragm and don’t hold any tension in your throat.

Inhale to 1, your lungs are ¼ full.
Inhale to 2, your lungs are ½ full.
Inhale to 3, your lungs are ¾ full.
Inhale to 4, your lungs are full.
Gradually breathe out to 5-12.

Repeat this process, but this time, 1-2 should fill your lungs:

Inhale to 1, your lungs are ½ full.
Inhale to 2, your lungs are full.
Now, gradually exhale to 3-10.

Here are a couple of more ideas for practicing your breathing:

Start by taking a couple of deep breaths- as you breathe in, imagine that the air is really heavy. Allow the breath to fall into your diaphragm, below your belly button. Then, exhale. Repeat this process several times.
Try getting a light pillow feather and gently blow on it to keep it in the air. It’s almost like you’re juggling it with your breath. Slowly blow it up really high and try to keep it there. However, try to avoid allowing your chest to collapse as you do this- the air should be coming from your diaphragm.

These breathing exercises will help you be in control of your pitch and duration. It’s no surprise that those who are able to consistently breathe properly are able to get lots of range out of their voices.

Warming Up

Now that you have gotten your breathing under control, it’s time to start warming up. A singer is a lot like an athlete, they must warm up before they perform.

You can use warm-up exercises to make sure your voice is ready to work. Here are a few exercises you can do yourself to get warmed up and ready to sing.

The warm-up will help you avoid straining your voice and doing damage to our vocal cords. Always make sure that you take a deep breath before getting started.

You may want to try to yawn- this will open up your throat and help your voice resonate.

Release all of the air from your lungs by breathing out through your mouth. Once your lungs are empty, relax the muscles of your stomach and open your mouth to allow the air to flood back in. you will repeat this process several times. Now, as you are breathing in, add a hissing sound and see how long you can hold it. You can build different vocal muscles by using “FFF” and “SHH” sounds.
Spend some time breathing in through your nose and back out through your mouth, which is the way you should be breathing while you sing. As you breathe in, imagine the breath traveling to the lowest part of your lungs, making sure that you keep your shoulders relaxed and down. As you breathe out, work on maintaining an inflated shape and breathe out slowly until you are as empty as you can be.
Count to 4 as you breathe out and bring your left ear to your shoulder. Then, count to 4 as you bring your head back up. Repeat this with the right side.

Once you have gotten your breathing under control, it’s time to start warming up. You may not realize this, but your vocal chords are a muscle- much like your biceps- and must be stretched before you work them out.

You wouldn’t consider doing any heavy lifting without first warming up your biceps, would you? There are a variety of ways that you can warm up.

First, try practicing the major scales, starting with middle C and moving down in half-steps before moving back up. You should never push yourself before you are actually singing and move slowly if you can. Keep in mind that as you continue your warm-ups, you’ll get better with your articulation of all of the notes in the scales. You will start with the following notes and move up or down one half-step for each new scale: C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C.

At this point, you are going to find your range, which is the measure of pitches you are able to sing between your highest and lowest notes. Do a simple online search to find the classical music scales and figure out which notes on the top and on the bottom are impossible for you to sing clearly.

In order to find your range, start by singing the note that is most natural to you and then gradually take the pitch to the highest note you can without having to strain. Then, take it down to the lowest note you can without strain. Following are a few exercises to help you explore your range.

If you find that something doesn’t feel right, then stop doing it. Keep some room temperature water nearby and take a break in between each exercise you do.

Start with a comfortable note and slowly go down and up, much like a police siren, through your vocal range using an “NG” sound. Breathe slowly and snatch breaths when you run out to ensure that you have a continuous line. You can do this forever, but try other variations, such as buzzing your lips together, trilling your tongue, or “OOOH”-ing.
Start with a comfortable note and hum with your mouth closed. Then, gradually open your mouth until you are singing “AAAHHH”. Do this to the count of 8, feeling the resonance on your lips and opening to a pure vowel sound. Move up a note and hum, turning to an “EH” as you open your mouth. Move one more note up and turn the hum into an “EE” as you open. Move one note down from your starting note and hum, opening to “OR”. Move down one more note and turn your hum to an “OOH” as you open your mouth.
Start with a comfortable note and sing “mee-meh-mah-mor-moo”. Then, move up one note and repeat. You will do this all the way up the scale. As you increase your pitch, make sure you don’t lose the sound in the back of your throat and make sure you are using your diaphragm to avoid a “weedy” sound.
For women, you will start this exercise around middle C. For men, start an octave lower. Start with an “AH” sound and move up one step, making a “LA” sound. Then, move up a step, making a “MAH” sound and finally one more, making a “FAH” sound. Keep repeating this exercise again, starting at C and go through the vowels, “AH-EH-EE-OR-OO”.

Now, you are ready to start singing. Find a song that you love and set up a recorder nearby as you sing it. The music should be fairly quiet so that your voice is what the recorder actually picks up.

Once you are done singing, play it back and listen carefully to make sure that you are singing on key.

In addition, you need to check the following:

Your articulation:

You must make sure that you are articulating words, especially the vowels clearly. When you are just getting started, you need to make sure that you are over-articulating the words- focus clearly on making sure that you get them right.

Your breathing:

You must make sure that you are breathing correctly. The harder vocal parts are going to require that you stretch your voice out over a period of time. You are going to need to be a strong breather in order to do this.

Make sure that you are drinking plenty of water. Lukewarm water is going to give you the best results- it helps to loosen your vocal cords.

Make sure that your body has plenty of time to absorb the water. Make sure that you avoid consuming any dairy products or thick liquids such as smoothies right before you are going to be singing.

Set aside time to practice every single day. You should be practicing your breathing exercises, warm-ups, and record your singing.

Pay close attention to the parts that you are not able to hit with your voice and keep on going. You are going to find that it will take you several weeks of practice in order to get a single song perfect.

Develop Your Voice

When you are learning to sing, you must learn how to use your nose. After all, good singing requires partial nasal placement, which is your body’s soundboard.

However, to avoid a nasally sound, you need to open your throat and get your tongue out of the way. Learn to cover your voice to create a fuller, more resonant sound.

You can do this by limiting the nasal sound and opening your throat. Of course, you must be careful to avoid covering the voice too much or it becomes mushy and airy sounding.

Practice your vowels, vocalizing with your diaphragm. When you are singing, it is your vowels, not your consonants that you really need to be focused on. Avoid using your neck muscles when you are singing- it should be relaxed and upright.

Practice high notes, as they are the icing on the cake. Sure, they’re not always necessary, but they can be so beautiful when they are done properly.

By now, you should know your range so you know what notes you will be able to hit and what notes you can’t. Work on hitting the notes that you can’t reach so that you can stretch your range.

Picture yourself jumping up as you hit a high note. When you reach the highest point in your jump, you have reached the high note.

Take a deep breath, keeping your mouth open. Keep in mind that hitting the high note does not mean you need to increase your volume.

Keep Practicing Breathing

Your breathing exercises should be part of your ongoing training opportunity. The better you are at breathing, the easier you will find your vocal training to be. Consider using the following breathing exercise:

Breathe in & hiss out, making sure that your hiss is very consistent and even. The whole goal of this is to be consistent with your breaths.

Breathe in to the count of 4, hiss out to the count of 4
Breathe in to 6, hiss out to 12
Breathe in to 2, hiss out to 10
Breathe in to 4, hiss out to 16
Breathe in to 2, hiss out to 16
Breathe in to 4, hiss out to 20
Breathe in to 2, hiss out to 20

Pulling it Together

Now that you have mastered breathing and you’ve worked on developing your voice, it’s time to pull it all together. You can do this by doing the following:

Enter a singing competition. Of course, you want to make sure that you are reasonable about your expectations. If you have been singing for 3 months or less and you have no formal training, it’s going to be hard- but that’s what you need, right?

If you seriously want to be a singer, you are going to have to get used to singing in front of others and in situations that are stressful. Singing to yourself in front of the mirror in the bedroom is much different than singing in front of a big crowd of people.

If you seriously want to develop your singing skills, you should definitely consider getting a good voice coach. Your voice coach will be able to offer you some good feedback, as well as some tips and tricks to further develop your skills.

They will create a schedule for you and help you with meeting any goals that you set for yourself. A voice coach is critical for those who are interested in becoming a singer.

Once you have developed your confidence, try to perform a song without any accompaniment and upload it to YouTube or other social media site. The positive feedback that you will get will definitely outweigh the negative.

Don’t forget to use SINGORAMA to help you train your voice in the comfort of your own home- especially if you can’t afford or don’t have time for formal lessons.