Whether you have been a professional singer for many years, or you just dabble in singing as a hobby, here are a few tips that will get you farther than you are right now in a fairly short amount of time. After all, just because you were not born with a professional singer’s voice does not mean that you won’t be able to improve.
With the proper knowledge and plenty of practice, as well as help from SINGORAMA, you will see some drastic improvements.
This article will help you to:
- Sing in a way that you won’t be embarrassed by
- Sing with sustained power/tone
- Maximize vocal tone
Phrasing – Techniques for Being a Better Singer
During a performance, the wrong phrasing can result in a very embarrassing situation. In singing, the breaks/stops you take between the words and sentences is referred to as phrasing. This sounds most natural when done where there are punctuation marks.
Depending on how much you want to sustain certain notes, you may need some additional phrasing. You will need to learn to take a quick breath to finish the phrase without it being obvious to your listeners.
This may seem like overkill, but I can assure you that it will help you avoid a potentially embarrassing situation. In fact, public speakers use this technique all the time and helps you to avoid the odd inhale in the middle of a word/phrase and you’ll sound more natural.
Plus, it helps you avoid running out of air at the end of a phrase- because you can’t sing with power or on pitch if you are not working with the proper amount of air.
Simply sit down with your lyric sheet and mark out your phrasing- where your stops and pauses need to be. The amount of air and how long you decide to hold each note depends on you.
As you are marking your sheet, sing along to figure out where the most comfortable pauses are and make note of it. Use whatever symbol/marking you want to help you remember to breathe. This will also help you find the spots in the song that you may not have noticed before that give you the most trouble.
Sustained Power/Tone
You shouldn’t need a whole lot of convincing to see that the most critical thing to a singer is making sure they have enough air- right?
Once you have a good breath and you have learned to sing from your diaphragm, and how critical posture is- how can you create a full, sustained tone with power throughout a phrase? Don’t fret too much over that- it will come with plenty of practice.
However, following is an exercise that will help with breath support and help you develop your stamina so that you can sing the large phrases with power without having to catch a breath in the middle.
Bent Flame
This exercise is known as the bent flame because that is what you are doing. You are bending the flame without blowing it out, as well as keep it from flickering and avoid blowing wax off onto your hand.
All of these serve a purpose, which is to help get you acclimated to sustaining your breath and getting the most out of it instead of allowing it to quickly slip away.
A candle works best for this exercise. Light it and hold it about a foot from your face. This will help you not singe your eyebrows and give you room to avoid blowing out the candle too soon.
Now, you will blow on the flame, testing how long you can sustain the breath and bend the flame.
Vocal Tone
Vocal tone is a term that is used in reference to the color/timbre of an individual’s voice. It is what distinguishes one voice from another. In addition, while every voice is different, there are also vocal tone categories. You’ve probably heard voices referred to as “warm”, “shrill” or even “booming.”
The question is: how can you get the best tone out of your voice? The quick answer is that depends on how much space you are creating in your mouth/throat for the air to reverberate when you are singing.
Drop Your Jaw
One of the most important concepts you will learn in regard to singing is dropping your jaw. This doesn’t mean lowering your chin- it will naturally happen when you do drop your jaw, but they are not the same.
To get an idea of what dropping your jaw should feel like, follow your jawline with your fingers to where it stops under your ear, you’ll feel a little dip.
Place your finger there and yawn. The dip will open and you will also create more space inside your mouth and the back of your throat.
Try doing this with a closed mouth. This is what dropping your jaw means- this knowledge will increase your ability more than anything else. Don’t forget to try out SINGORAMA for more techniques to improve your voice.