I have been coaching voices now for well over 10 years. In that time, I've developed an efficient way of balancing out the registers in the voice, connecting a student to the different tonal centers with in that voice, and helping them to understand the correct feelings of singing, this helps them to stand out from all the other singers.
Just doing vocal exercises without understanding how this can be applied to singing will never help you cross over to being a great singer. Yes, doing scales will strengthen your voice, and if you are lucky blend your registers, but for most people, this is not the case. They do the scales blindly in the hope that this will make them a better singer, only to be disappointed.
The secret is that you need to be able to recognise the correct sensations (feelings) while you are doing these vocal exercises. If you can then translate this into singing songs, then your voice would improve, and quickly! The best way to do this is with an experienced vocal coach who can help you to filter out the incorrect feelings - as to start with it can be a little frustrating if this is not natural to you, due to the sensations being very subtle!
Within hours of using these proven vocal exercises, you will start to feel tension release, and be well on your way to singing with an open, balanced voice.
After a couple of months doing this vocal program, you will notice significant improvements in your range, tone, flexibility, dynamics, breath support, pitch, vocal tension and confidence.
The vocal techniques that I use are designed to target tensions in the voice, Jaw, tongue and throat. Loosen up and activate your breath support in a natural way. Exercises to connect and coordinate all parts of the vocal instrument seamlessly. In order to create, one long, connected voice, from vocal fry to chest register to the mixed reg, head reg and then finally to your whistle register. Learning to do this subconsciously (at will) so that you can focus on enjoying singing.
They repaired my damaged voice, they have helped all my students to find there voice, and they will help you to find yours.
They have also been used to heal vocal fold damage, correct bad speaking habits, and of course help singers to sing with a natural amazing voice.
- Increase your singing range
- Giving you a polished, natural well balanced tone that will make you stand out.
- A flexible, predictable and stable voice.
- A stronger voice so that you can sing for hours with no hoarseness night after night.
- Understanding your voice - knowing how to interpret all the sensations so that you know when you are doing it right, and how to fix it when it’s wrong.
- You will understand how to blend tones with dynamics to create the allusion that you are really living the lyrics and grab the attention of your audience.
- Blending tones and styling so as to be able to sing in any genre from Rock, Pop, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Alternative, musical theatre to classical.
- Understanding singing diction completes your vocal toolbox that you can use to blow people away with no real effort – remember its all about discovering notes not pushing and powering your way through.
- With all these tools at your disposal you will have learnt to sing with Confidence!
Believe me, if I thought that I couldn’t give you a great singing lesson online then I wouldn’t offer it, technology has come along way, and I now can say hand on heart I can teach you online. I can hear and see you fine. That’s all I need to teach you to sing.
English may not be your first language, in which case you may need me to go over your lyrics, so as to make sure, that you are singing them correctly.
If you’re in a band, that’s touring. Then you could have a vocal coach at the end of a web cam, or phone, when ever you need. If there is a problem area in a song, or your voice needs a good warm up then I will be there to help you to perform at your best.
Online singing lessons are cheaper than going to a one on one singing lesson. They are less, time consuming - no travelling time, and cost no petrol at all!
Why not give it a go, what have you got to lose. You will get e-mail support from me, downloadable Singing Exercises, that you can do at home at your own pace, and of course, I'll be online to help you understand and find your voice.
Yes, there is an initial start-up cost for equipment, but it’s extremely cheap these days. Check out my singing lessons page to see the costs.
The breaks, register changes, or lifts as they are sometimes called, or obvious in the voice when the voice is held rigid, with tension and as a result is not allowed to move. If you think of the changes in the voice as gears, if you go higher then you are supposed to in one gear you will be revving in the red, as soon as you change gear the revs come right down again and you can go faster, in the same you way must change gear in order to go higher.
The sensation of going to high in the lower register is that of feeling like you have just hit a roof and that something must change, this is where going a bit quieter and allowing the sound to get lighter will help you move up. The opposite is try when coming sliding down or going down a scale, it feels like you have hit floor and can’t go any lower, here you must go a little louder then the higher notes and feel like the notes are getting weighty. This is a good rule for going down until you get below b2 to A2 where there is another register change, and going into vocal fry will help you to relies tension here, later on the muscles will get stronger and you will be able to turn these into full notes, another way to work the low end is airy and light, but never breathy or pushed! If you use the above techniques on something as simple as a slide then it will very quickly start to blend over the breaks in your voice and give the illusion that you have one seamless voice, but you are actually still moving through all the registers. This is a healthy way to connect the voice, never push or muscle your way through with tension, your throat in the long run will just not last!
Try this exercise for a start slide from comfortably high to comfortably low – there should be no tension in the voice, now work on sliding down from a shoo (as in shoe) to AH as you go lower, allow your voice to move into vocal fry – which is the natural lower extension of the chest voice. For more exercise e-mail me for my singing with confidence vocal program.
Do
- Warm-up your voice and body before singing
- Get lots of sleep
- Drink lots of water throughout the day and only warm water when you are singing.
- Mark the music when you are rehearsing a lot to protect your voice
- Rest your voice if your throat feels fatigued
- Gargle warm salt water or eat an apple - helps to clear phlegm
- Warm-down after singing
- Healthy diet ( heart burn can effect the vocal folds, especially at the top of your range).
Don't
- Sing from your throat
- Shout if the monitor mix is too quiet, get the sound engineer to turn it up!
- Consume dairy products
- Smoke
- Shout or talk loudly, when at a gig especially after a performance
- Eat spicy food
- Take drugs
- Cough (try gargling to clear the tickle).
- Clear your throat too heavily (try some water and swallow strongly to clear the phlegm).
- Eat a big meal before you sing (you will find it hard to get a good deep breath, and thus hold a note).
Remember we are all different, so what works for one person may not work for another, ues this list as a starting point, and work from there.
I would just like to go over the second point on the don't list, if you shout because you can't hear yourself,
the chances are that everybody else can hear you just fine so when you start to shout people will wonder what is going on,
but worst of all you will start to go out of tune, the dynamics of the song will be lost and people will think that you
are a bad singer. Make sure the monitor mix is at a good level for you, sound engineers expect you to tell them if the volume is wrong for you, so don't be shy.
I hear this one a lot, the answer is no, singing lessons will not change your voice (tone), but they will give you a more versatile voice, with more tones that you can just switch on and off at will.
Normally when people ask this question its because they think that you are going to turn them into a classical singer, well that is not the case, unless that’s what you want, the uniqueness of your voice will be kept and made better with singing lessons.
The classical sound comes from singing with a low larynx and this is not the case for pop, where the best place for the
larynx is in the middle. This is normally where you speak.
The answer to this is the same answer as to ″how long is a piece of string″, who knows. It depends what level you are when
you start, what you want to be able to do, and your commitment to working on it.
Strictly speaking it's not a matter of key but where the tessitura of the song lies. This is what you are told when some one is
quoting it, but in the real world we all have area's in our voice that we find it easier to sing in,
for example I have a 4 octave
range, but I find it most comfortable to sing between C4 down to C3, I feel like I could sing there all
day, this is my tessitura area, so any song I sing with the bulk of the melody notes in that area would be, for me, very easy, even though
I can sing in any key.
If you have a more limited range the key is important, if you can't sing the high note in one key you will need to drop the key until you can sing those high note.
We all suffer from nerves a bit, it's good for you, keep's you on your toes, gets the adrenalin pumping which helps you to give that bit more on the night, but
when you get it so bad that you are sick that's not a good thing. I have found the following to be very helpful in calming me down; you can use this whenever you are feeling anxious,
not just before singing:
- Sit, stand comfortably (not hunched over) or lie on the floor.
- Close your eyes, just listen to your breath going in and out of your body.
- Now inhale as if breathing in the scent of a rose for the first time, notice how deep into your lungs the air goes it should feel like your stomach is filling with air (although it's not).
- Breathe deeply and slowly in through the nose, and then slowly out of the mouth just listen to the breath and forget everything else, if your mind wonders off that's fine on the next breath bring it back
- Now as you breathe out (Exhale) focus your mind on where your jaw connects to your skull (the two joints at the sides of your skull) and as you exhale let your jaw just melt into the ground do this until you notice that your jaw is slightly open, this is your jaw relaxed for the first time. Remember a closed jaw is under tension, and that's not good for singing.
- Now start to focus on your shoulders and as you breathe out just let them sink into the ground, do
this until your shoulders feel really relaxed.
- Then concentrate on your neck and then go through your body one part at a time checking for any tension, when you find some use this technique to get rid of it.
When you do this right you will feel really relaxed, I mean REALLY RELAXED, but try to stay awake! This exercise is a great why for you to get in touch with your body, after doing this for a while you will be very aware of any tension in your body, and you will know how to get rid of it.
Yes,
First lets try to get you feeling the difference between good vocal fold effort (a focused sound) and an unfocused sound
(a breathy tone).Do a nice relaxed yawn, do it until it feels really easy and totally relaxed, you should notice how easy
it feels and how open your throat feels, if not keep doing it until you feel it.
Now try aa aa aa! (as in cat) as if you where telling someone off, do this a little louder than your speaking voice,
do it until you feel a pinching or closing feeling in your throat, now do the yawn then switch over quickly to aa aa aa!
Notice the difference? Now hold that aa and change it to AY, you should notice that its louder than how you normally
sing, this is because it's more focused a sound, you must keep the same feeling that you had on aa aa aa! or you will not
notice a difference.
Another way is to say mmmmmeeeee really slowly and stop before you get to ee so that your lips are closed and you are
humming with your lips vibrating (this will tickle!!) then slowly change this to an EEE (as in me) focusing (aiming the
sound in exactly the same place as the vibration) when you do this correctly you will feel that the sound is louder again,
also you will not run out of breath so quickly!!!
Firstly have a singing teacher check out your technique, as you are doing something wrong! Then rest totally for
a day (24 hours), and by that I mean no talking at all, no grunting and certainly no whispering (as this will do more
damage than talking!). Then start talking again, if it still hurts, go and see your Doctor. Once you have
been checked out, and as long as everything is fine, do the following.
You need to get in touch with your singing instrument; you will know when you are ready as it will feel
fine, a little dull throbbing no probs, any sharp feeling then back off! (You will know what I mean if you
feel it!) just take it easy, try vocalizing on NG as in sung, this is a nasal constant, try sliding it
gently down your range to start with then up and down, gently going a little higher every time, until you
reach the end of your range.
Another good one is to sing in falsetto to start with as this is great for healing the vocal folds as it
encourages them to work on the thin edges, again slide it up and down your range in the vowel OO as in you,
make sure it's not to breathy. When you do this correctly for a couple of minute your throat should feel
great and when you speak it should sound nice and clear without any croakiness. You could add this into your
warm up and warm down exercises, if you liked.
Copyright © 2007 Dylan.J.P.Ball. All rights reserved.