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Nowadays, a lot of people are asking themselves the question about how can I make myself sing better. This question is frequently raised due to the fact that the time and cost involved in learning to sing through a hired professional instructor are skyrocketing not including the strict supervision that you have to go through.
So, what’s the best possible way for you to learn such a complicated skill to a certain level that can draw the attention of the public to listen to your song the moment you start singing?
As you continue reading this guide, you’ll come to know how to answer your question. “How to sing better if I’m not a born singer?” By following some tips provided here, you’ll be able to improve your voice to sing really well and much better easily.
Identify Your Singing Voice Weaknesses & Problems
Yes, that’s right! Finding the weaknesses in your voice is the first thing you should do right now. You must dive deep into your singing voice and pinpoint the most vulnerable weaknesses/problems that killing your singing performance. That’s the fastest and straight forward way to improve your singing performance.
Step 1) Record Your Singing Voice
You can record your singing using your phone with the Karaoke recording apps. Most of my students use this kind of app. You can choose the song you want to sing, record yourself singing the song and replay or even share it with your friends after that.
Step 2) Ask For Criticisms
It’s the hardest part of finding your singing weaknesses. Sometimes, some of the criticisms can be like a sharp dagger to your heart. In the manner of facts, you have to accept it, be open-minded on the opinions and ask back more specific questions on the things they found you were not good enough.
Step 3) Pinpoint The Weaknesses & Problems
It’s time to brainstorm the criticisms you had received. You can replay the recording track listening to your singing if you don’t have someone to provide you some feedback on your voice. Try to identify the several most critical weaknesses that affect your overall singing performance. I would suggest that you can make a list of all your problems. Thus, you can tackle them one by one afterward to get a better singing voice over time.
Quick Fix Solutions
If you are running out of time to identify your voice weaknesses and problems, or maybe, you will be hitting the stage tomorrow. These quick-fix solutions guide is the most efficient way to get you to sing better at least several performances temporarily. Not a total transformation on your voice. But, at least a little bit better than your current state.
Step 1) Always Sing Within Your Vocal Range
Always pick the songs that are within your vocal range. It’s the most direct and temporary way to make your voice sounded better while singing that kind of song. Always pick the songs that are within your vocal range. It’s the most direct and quick way to make your voice sounded better while singing that kind of song. You have to test and find out your vocal range.
Step 2) Before Singing: Always Perform Vocal Warm-ups
The next essential step that you should render to improve your singing ability is vocalization or vocal warm-ups. This is very important for a singer just like what a dancer or an athlete does before performing an activity. If you can do this thing properly and regularly, then, it would be very easy for you to answer your question, how can I make myself sing better. There are many different kinds of warm-up exercises. Professional singing requires your voice to be in top form, after all. Like any athlete, a singer’s warm-up routine is key. If you don’t warm-up, you’re likely to suffer from unnecessary and harmful vocal strain. That will hurt your performance, not contribute to learning how to sing professionally. It’s just like an athlete who gets muscle cramps if he doesn’t warm up before competing.
Remember that in vocalization; you should be able to do it properly. At the same time, you should not neglect taking care of your voice.
Step 3) While Singing: Use Your Diaphragm instead of the Throat
Are you aware that when you sing through your throat, you’ll produce a bad sound while being sore, as compared to using your diaphragm? If you don’t use your throat in singing, you can observe that aside from being able to hold the notes, you can sing longer phrases with great ease without any difficulty in breathing.
Permanent Ways To Improve Your Singing Skills
If you are not a good singer, you should not worry, for I have a friend before who sounded awful when he first joined the choir five years ago, but now sounds better when singing. So, I asked myself: “Did he practiced often, or did he learned some tricks that made him sound better?
Of course, there is some truth in the saying: “Practice makes perfect!” So, I believe his long tenure as a choir member made his voice sounds better. If my friend who is not gifted with a good voice sounded better when he sings after several years of being a choral member, how much more would be those with endowed with a good voice.
1) Correct Singing Posture
While singing whether you are sitting or standing the posture should be correct for easy delivery. Stand erect so that there are proper vibration and the free flow of air throughout your body. Keep one foot forward to maintain balance. While sitting and singing, do not slouch or lean back in your chair. Instead, sit with your back straight and leaning slightly forward as if ready to rise from the chair. It will help you to sing better in a short period of time. Even when you’re just practicing to sing, you should emote well to attract the attention of the audience. Move your whole body including your limbs and face to feel the emotions inside you that can induce other people to feel what you feel when you’re rendering a song. Learn More About Posture Exercises for Singers.
Correct posture is essential to good singing. If your back is hunched, you will never really produce much sound. Always remember that your diaphragm and your lungs play a critical role in your singing. The more expanded they are, the better your lung capacity would be. And the larger your lung capacity, the deeper your voice will be.
But you can’t achieve your full lung capacity if your posture is not correct. So, make the necessary adjustment and correct your posture. In this way, you would be laying the foundations for correct and better singing.
2) Correct Breathing While Singing
This is THE most important factor for proper singing. Breathe deeply and evenly from your diaphragm taking long deep breaths. This helps in voice building, voice control, and voice resonance. Deep breathing allows you to hold notes for a long time, especially the endnotes. Sometimes there are sentences that have to be sung without a break, and only deep breathing exercises will help you do that. Ten minutes of breathing exercises will help you go a long way in singing better. Read More On Breathing Control In Singing.
3) Proper Diction
Have you heard some artists sing without proper diction? Well, their voice may be good, their pitch and tune may be good, but the entire song will sound garbled and meaningless. This is because of the lack of DICTION. Diction means correct pronunciation, clear enunciation, and distinct articulation. The correct pronunciation is the proper utterance of words about its sound, tone, and phonics. Clear enunciation is the clarity and texture of your voice while pronouncing. Articulation is the form of speech with distinct words, syllables, vowels and consonants and accents. Read More On Singing Diction Techniques.
4) Listen and Appreciate Criticisms
Singing is not an art which is learned or mastered overnight. It takes a long time and involves lot of hard work. So it is inevitable that in your initial stages you might hear negative opinions and criticisms. Do not be discouraged by this trend. Instead, use these for developing and improving your skills. For instance, if someone says your pitch is bad, or your diction is improper, make it a point to record your singing and listen to it. You might even agree with what they say, and this will help you work on your weak points. Take criticisms in your stride and use it to sing better.
5) Speech Level Singing
When you have reached the speech level in singing, you’ll realize that you can now relax your diagrastic muscles well. This is an excellent singing technique that enables you to sing with great ease just like when you’re speaking without any difficulty. When you have learned this singing process thoroughly, you’ll start developing a kind of voice that is awesome in tone, control, and singing range.
Once you master the speech level singing skill, you’ll be able to develop the kinds of muscles that are essential in the singing process. While these muscles are gaining strength, you’ll improve your voice faster than you expect. Learn More About the Speech Level Singing.
Practice this exercise regularly and search on speech level technique in singing to know more about it. If you can make it perfect, your singing skills can be improved rapidly.
6) Feel & Living Inside The Song
You can’t sing better if you’re not doing anything to improve your singing ability like feeling your song, then, it would be difficult to go to the next level of becoming a pro singer. While the application of technical skills is essential in drawing the crowd to hear your song, emotion is also a vital part of it.
7) Open Your Mouth While Singing
You may look awkward when you sing with a wide-open mouth, but it is undoubtedly necessary to sing with a wide-open mouth. The reason is simple—when you sing with a wide-open mouth, you produce more resonance in your notes. This leads to a louder volume without necessarily forcing yourself to go loud. If you can sing louder with less effort on your vocal cords, then your voice will surely improve. You can produce cleaner and longer notes by just opening wide your mouth.
On the other hand, if you barely open your mouth while singing, you suppress your tone, and you don’t create much space for your voice to come out. If you feel naive and embarrassed when opening your mouth, then you will never really become a good singer. So, imitate the professional singers whom you often see on YouTube and television. They do let their mouth open wide while singing, and you can almost see their uvula.
8) Use Vowels
This is essential to good singing. You can open your vowels by practicing how to do it. You can achieve this by starting with “ah” or uh.” Elongate your mouth sans, widening it. Detach your soft palate from your tongue. Then, keep them detached or separated while belting a song.
Afterward, you can practice saying A-E-I-O-U. Pronounce them as Ah, Eh, Ee, Oh, Oo. Close your jaw and let it move down. Keep singing these vowels until your mouth becomes accustomed to opening wide.
9) Continuous Improvement
The practice is the one and only path to better and successful singing. However advanced an artist is, he still has to keep practicing if has to continue singing well. If you can get a coach to help you, it would be better. Self-improvement is a laudable quality. However, a coach may be able to improve your skills better and faster. Any professional singer always has their vocal coach as their mentor and open for any possibility of taking good voice lessons. Everyone is different, after all. You have individual needs and goals, which a vocal coach could help you to meet. They can teach you how to sing professionally, based on your current skill level.
Most Common Vocal Problems That Holding You Back From Singing Better
Problem 1: Breathing Problem
One mistake that many people commit in singing is that they are trying to hold their breath whenever they sing instead of just allowing the air to flow naturally while singing. If you cannot render enough breath in singing long notes, you should try to develop your breathing habit through an appropriate exercise.
Solution: Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises
In achieving this, you should breathe air into your diaphragm below your lungs rather than engage in the so-called chest or belly breathing also known as diaphragmatic breathing. In doing this kind of breathing exercise, you should put your hand on your chest and the other hand on your diaphragm, then, start to inhale and exhale in a steady manner.
When you’re doing this exercise, be sure that your hand which touches your chest is not moving at all, while in the case of your other hand, it should move along with your diaphragm which continues to expand and retract. When you can breathe efficiently and sing in a manner without holding back, then, you’re on the right track of moving forward.
Problem 2: Vocal Strain
Vocal strain is usually caused by bad techniques in singing. Once you learn the tips on how to sing well, you will end up reducing the vocal tension that causes singing problems. So, if you follow the correct tips, you can access notes with less tension.
Solution: Vocal Cords Shortening Exercise
If you sing correctly, your singing becomes natural as if you are pressing the keys of the piano. You don’t need to push that hard to create the note and melody. You simply glide through the process like an eagle that flies effortlessly.
Vocal tension, of course, is caused by muscle tension in the vocal cords. Always remember that the vocal cords are made of tissues and muscles that can become stressed or relaxed. As your vocal cords tense, the sound that you produce also becomes affected. Great singers have learned how to train their vocal cords to shorten as they traverse the higher range. This shortening action is called bridging, and great singings always employ this process.
Solution: Relax Your Vocal Muscles
You may find the act of singing effortful, but it could also be done in a relaxed manner. If you sing with relaxed muscles, you’ll end up singing better. So, try to reduce muscle tension when you sing. Lower your shoulder when you sing and take a deep breath. Let the tensions out of your body. When you sing, do it as if you are meditating. In this way, your whole being is relaxed, allowing your vocal cords to relax likewise.
I am 79 years old, have not sung for ages and have never learnt how to sing tenor. I was in an excellent church choir as a boy and performed all the church services regularly at our parish church. I also attended church services at Wells Cathedral in the UK once a year and also attended other festivals in Wells once a year with my school choir. As a man I attended a BBC festival once a year for two years, prior to Christmas. These were events that were open to the general public.