3 Tips to Improve Your Singing From Shaan

Published by Sanjana Gupta on

Shaan

“Are You Unhappy With The Way You Sing?”

  •  You may always end up thinking that you’re stuck with the voice that no one likes. But you can change the way your singing sounds today and end up singing better than ever. Sound too good to be true? Well, it’s not.
  •  To develop areas of the voice, you will need to do specific exercises that are essential to better singing. It makes no sense to work on improving vibrato if singing on key is a weakness.
  •  When it comes to singing, depending on what your existing strengths are as well as your weaknesses, several factors are of utmost importance. So focus on the key areas that need improvement.
  •  Make it a ritual to always warm up your voice before singing. Warm-ups not only help to prevent vocal damage but in reality also prepares your voice to sing better. Warming up exercises will get you ready for singing, resulting in a happier and healthy voice.

1. Open Your Mouth to sing with a more confident Voice

  • The first thing to learn is the way you open your mouth.
  •  At times, you can see almost the back of a singer’s throat. Your singing will always remain suppressed or hidden-sounding if your mouth is barely open while singing. You have to create enough opening for the sound to come out. Don’t be conscious about wide mouth opening. How will your singing sound loud unless your mouth is not open wide enough for the air to escape? 
  •  So by keeping your mouth open as you sing you are actually letting your singing sound better. You will quickly hear a more robust and better sound the moment you do this small change. And you don’t need to be embarrassed ever about how your mouth is looking while singing. You’re a singer and the mouth part of your instrument. And it does not matter how your instrument looks what matters is how it sounds.
  •  Keep two fingers between your lower and upper front teeth and sing Ahhhhh sound….now remove the two-finger and keep singing Ahhh sound…
  • This exercise will train your mouth and brain to how much should your mouth be open while singing.

2. Remember to avoid singing too low or too high. Keep the pitch around your speaking voice.

  • Now add any one word of any song lyrics and repeat the same exercise.  Repeatedly practice each word of the lyrics. Start by going very slow and gradually build your speed until you can sing at a faster pace.

Tip: How long must you practice? The answer: Until whatever you’re working on becomes automatic.

  • Everyone is different. Some may see results quickly. For someone, it may take a little more time. Best results are attained by practicing for a few minutes every day as opposed to practicing hour-after-hour, for long periods, one or two days a week.
  • Every song you sing uses five basic vowels similar to those learned in school. The mouth changes position slightly for each consonant. The more you practice correct mouth position for each consonant, the better your voice will sound.

3. Breath Control: Learn to Breathe Correctly

  • Your singing sound rides on air. For this reason, you must learn to support your sound. One reason singers go flat is that the voice is not supported well enough.
  • Belly breathing or as some say diaphragmatic breathing, is essential to applying the right amount of support. Maybe the following will help you to understand this little better:
  • When you begin speaking or singing, air causes vibrations to occur, which produces sound and will continue until you run out of breath. If you are currently breathing in the air by the use just the chest you will not only run out of breath too quickly, but you may also find your sound is weak and breathy.
  • Learning how to inhale by inflating around your waistline takes practice; much practice. I would caution you not to get disheartened or give up on this technique. You’ll need to use this way of breathing to enhance your present voice, extend the vocal range, sing with vibrato, and project your voice.
  • As you work religiously to learn the belly breathing exercise, you’ll be unlearning the wrong way to breathe and replacing that with the correct way to breathe.

4. How to Breathe From the Diagram.

  • To learn to breathe using the belly/diaphragm, lay on the floor, and keep a book on abdomen centered at the waistline. As you inhale, expand the abdomen and lower ribcage which will lift the book up.

5. Learning the Belly Breath

  • Lie on your back with your knees in a raised position. Your feet will be flat on the floor.
  • Place a light book (or you can go heavy with the yellow pages, etc.) on your stomach centered at the waistline.
  • Once you feel entirely relaxed, lift the book using only your belly, which will then move upward. Hold this position for 5-15 seconds.
  • Now, lower the book very slowly until the belly returns to its natural flat position.
  • By lowering the book gradually, you are matching what happens as you sing. Your air must be released slowly to prevent running out of breath too quickly. Your goal is to control the amount of air your release so that you have enough to finish the phrase of lyrics.
  • Repeat this exercise several times, using a hissing sound as you release your air while lowering the book.
  • You will soon see how you are learning to control the amount of air, you emit during exhalation.

6. Breathe through your nose and mouth simultaneously.

  • When you have mastered the belly breath on the floor, try the same exercise in a standing position. Because you won’t have a book resting on the abdominal wall, place your hand where the book was kept in the floor exercise. Feel for the expansion around the waist and lower ribcage area.

Tip:

  •  Always Keep The Shoulders Still Upon Inhalation
  •  In a standing position, place hands on abdominal area centered at the waistline to monitor the expansion as you inhale. If you have trouble with this, return to the floor exercise. This must be practiced consistently and become automatic.
Categories: SInging