How to Instantly Improve Your Singing
No, this is not clickbait
Have you ever wanted everyone at the bar to fall in love with you on karaoke night by nailing your performance? Or maybe you want to sing your heart out in the shower without giving your cat PTSD?
If either of those options applies to you, then this is for you! Even if you’re the lead vocalist in a band or an aspiring rapper, the information below will be valuable to you.
This article is for anyone who would like to improve the sound and power of their singing without hurting themselves.
Note: I am not a professional vocalist. However, I have learned many things that have improved my singing skills. My knowledge can help you too.
First, a little about my singing background.
When I first began singing, I couldn’t sing anything well. The sophomoric band I found myself in had some half-baked covers we played around with.
The greatest success that band saw was trying out for the high school talent show. We played “Know Your Enemy” to a group of unenthusiastic kids. The teacher assigned to oversee the auditions was the only one who seemed to enjoy the Rage Against the Machine song from a bygone era.
I screamed my way through our songs, hoping anger and determination alone would carry me to greatness. I was often sorely disappointed, and my throat would be sore after each jam sesh.
Five years later, I’m significantly better. My new band was about to start playing live shows when Covid 19 hit the United States.
The improvement I saw in my vocals was due to practice and knowledge gained over the last five years, which I will share with you now.
The Breath
The first and most important point: your breath is the fuel that your body needs to sing. This seems obvious, but it’s useful to know how to breathe when singing.
Reservoir of Air
I used to take one massive breath and proceed to use up all of my air fairly quickly when singing. Often there were still words left in the phrase, and I would have to rush to catch up, which never sounded good. However, I haven’t had that problem since having learned what I’m about to teach you.
When most people breathe, the chest and shoulders rise and fall with the breath. You don’t want that. The best way to breathe, even outside of singing, is with your diaphragm.
Here’s an exercise to help you locate and utilize your diaphragm:
Put your arms at your side and fill your lungs with air without moving shoulders. You should feel your ribs expanding to the sides and the upper part of your belly swelling. That’s breathing with your diaphragm. Practice it a few times.
In her 2005 DVD, The Zen of Screaming, the world-renowned vocal coach Melissa Cross says:
“By expanding [your] ribs at the same time [you] take an incoming breath, [you] create a reserve tank of air that you aren’t going to lose.”
You want to keep a reserve of air in your ribs at all times when singing, especially if you’re belting or screaming.
Refilling the Tank
To keep that reserve tank of air topped off, you need to take small, quick breaths continually. It’s best to take these breaths in between sentences or during any downtime in the song when you’re not singing.
Practice quick “refill” breaths with your diaphragm. Put your hand on your stomach and feel it swell with air when you do this breath. Taking short and quick breaths will help to keep your air reserve filled.
Turning Up the Intensity
For a long time, I sang improperly. I would yell as hard as I could, using up all of my stamina after just one or two songs and leaving me with a sore throat for a few days. This is because I was using my throat to increase the power of my voice.
Use your diaphragm for power rather than your throat. Let me show you:
Try making an “Ssssss” sound like a snake. Now get louder with it. Do you feel that pressure in your diaphragm? That’s what it should feel like when you’re belting notes.
If air is the fuel, then your diaphragm is the engine.
Scott McCoy, the associate editor of Journal of Singing, says,
“We manage this phase of breathing by bearing down into the pelvis (like defecation or childbirth)…”
So yes, belting correctly feels similar to pooping.
A Few Principles of Singing
Now that we’ve covered breathing let’s get into the singing itself. Here I’ll teach you a few tips and tricks to really improve your singing. You should practice these tips occasionally if you want to see real results.
The Pencil Trick
When singing, you want the sound to seem like it’s coming from your head. The sound isn’t actually coming from your head, but by visualizing it that way, you open your throat up for more resonance.
If you hold a pencil in between your teeth, it makes this very easy to visualize. Sing one note and try and make it go over the top of your finger or pencil. Try to think of it as a reverse game of limbo for your voice.
Notice how there’s much more resonance in your head? You should feel a slight buzzing in your skull.
When you do this, your larynx is rising, which is what you want to happen when you’re singing. If you’re like me and barely even know what the larynx is, then the “singing above the pencil” trick is the easiest way to visualize it.
Hear the Notes Before You Sing Them
Think about the note in your head before you sing it, and you’re more likely to nail the note when you open those vocal cords up.
In a pitch-matching test conducted in 2018, experts found:
“Inaccurate pitch-matching individuals may be skilled at discriminating pitches, despite the poor performance in executing.”
Although many people can’t hit a specific note to save their lives, most people are naturally great at telling the differences between pitches. Once you’re on the right track, it should be relatively easy to keep up and internally hear the notes before singing them.
Bonus Tips
- Let your jaw relax when you’re singing. It’s much harder for your voice to crack when your jaw is hanging loosely.
- Create solid support when singing. The optimal position is standing with a straight posture, so your lungs have room to retain more air.
- Have fun! Don’t worry about sounding perfect.
Let’s go over what we’ve learned.
- Your breath is the fuel, and your diaphragm is the engine to singing.
- Create a reservoir of air in your lungs and top it off with quick breaths when you can.
- When you want to make your voice more intense, use the diaphragm rather than your throat.
- Sing above the pencil.
- Hear the notes before you sing them.
I’m not a professional by any means, but I hope you all learned something from this miniature singing lesson with your amateur vocal coach.
Now have fun and kick some serious butt on karaoke night!
References
Cross, M. (Producer), & Korycki, D. (Director). (2005) The Zen of Screaming [DVD]. United States, Loud Mouth inc.
McCoy, S. (2014). VOICE PEDAGOGY. On Breathing and Support. Journal of Singing, 70(3), 321–324.
Xavier Fadel, C. B., Ribas, A., Lüders, D., Fonseca, V. R., & Lima Cat, M. N. (2018). Pitch-Matching Accuracy and Temporal Auditory Processing. International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology, 22(2), 113–118.