how to sing
Find a teacher
Singing is one of the most unusual arts
in that it is very difficult to describe how to sing properly.
You can point to a keyboard or a fret board or a drum kit and
say, do it this way or that,
press here, push there but it becomes much more difficult to describe
how to sing.
The vocal
chords themselves are your instrument and as such they are
hidden and cannot be seen. Learn to take care of them and protect your
voice as you learn to sing. This makes it
more difficult to explain how to sing to the beginning student;
what a vocal chord is,how it works and how to best use it. This is a very unique challenge
to the teacher of music, but one which
can be overcome with a
willing student and, of course, practice.
Let it first be said that the best way to learn how to sing is
with a qualified teacher. There are many other instruments that one can go a long way on your own without a one-on-one teacher, but singing
is not one of them. If you
cannot afford a good teacher one of
the best ways to learn how to sing is to
take a singing class at your local
university, adult school or high school. If you cannot find or afford a teacher at first, I
recommend the fine course
from Singorama or Brett Mannings' SingingSuccess.
You may join a choir or vocal ensemble but this is not where you will typically get much one on
one instruction. I must emphasize the importance of learning how to sing properly when you are first learning so
you will be set up for success later on.
If you are worried about singing
in front of other people, don't worry too much. In a classroom setting everyone has the same fears and the teacher should guide you through this
phase
of learning how to sing and
progressing to singing your first solo.
Learn to breathe
It may sound very funny to have
to learn to breathe, but you do not breathe as a singer the way you breathe in your everyday life. We will go into it in much more detail in
another lesson, but you will have to
learn to breathe from the "diaphragm" and not from your chest. Sing from your stomach
not from your nose. This means
to support your breath with
constant pressure from your stomach (diaphragm) and not using your throat to pinch off your
vocals.
Try this;
lie down on your back and place
a fairly heavy book on your stomach. Now take a deep breath and try to make your stomach push the book upwards as you inhale. This is what we
mean when we say breathing with
your diaphragm.
Taking this a step further,
breathe and push the book upwards and when you have a full breath, begin to exhale slowly while keeping the book from coming down. You will not
be able to keep it from coming
down, but in this way you can begin to see what we are trying to accomplish here. Breathing deeply from the stomach and
exhaling with constant pressure
from the stomach and the diaphragm supporting your breath. Learning how to sing is challenging and
rewarding.
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