Beginners Book
WHAT IS SINGING? 2
THE HISTORY OF SONG 3
UNDERSTANDING SOUND 5
THE HUMAN INSTRUMENT 6
GOOD VIBRATIONS 6
WHAT MAKES YOUR VOICE DISTINCTIVE 7
THE VOCAL CORDS 7
REVIEW OF THE VOICE MECHANISM 8
NOW, GETTING BACK TO SINGING. 8
GETTING THE BEST PERFORMANCE FROM YOUR VOCAL CORDS 9
WHEN DO I GET TO START SINGING? 9
TAKE IT EASY 26
AIM FOR A QUALITY TONE 27
THE FIRST STEP IN TRAINING 28
CHEST VOICE VS. HEAD VOICE 28
VOICE TYPES 30
MASTERING THE BELT VOICE 30
MASTERING THE CLASSIC SOB 30
FINDING THE BREAK 31
CONNECTING THE VOICES 32
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EXERCISES TO BRIDGE THE GAP 32
READY FOR MORE? 33
BREATHING 35
BREATHING IN 35
BREATHING OUT 37
POSTURE 37
ARTICULATION 38
VOWELS 39
DIPHTHONGS 41
CONSONANTS 41
WHY VOWELS AND CONSONANTS MATTER 42
TAKE A BREATHER 43
VOCABULARY REVIEW 44
EXERCISE 48
FOOD 48
DRINK 48
STEAM 49
MEDICINAL REMEDIES 49
TIMES OF THE YEAR 49
WHATS MOST IMPORTANT 50
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Welcome to SINGORAMA!, the easiest book on singing youll ever pick up! You
may have tried the other books out there felt your eyes glaze over at all the
strange words leafed halfheartedly through the exercises and left the book in
that stack in the corner, promising to pick it up again someday. Of course, you never
did.
With this book, youll find singing made fun! Youre going to have to learn all the
tricky vocabulary, what qualities make a good voice, and practice all the boring
exercises anyway. At least, with this book, Ill make sure that youll enjoy the
process!
Im even going to make you wait until you get to the advanced stage before I teach
you the tricks about microphones, auditions, and putting a song together, because I
dont want you to focus on the fun stuff at the expense of the real knowledge you
need to know. In this beginners book, Im going to take you step by step through all
the basics. By the end of this book, youll be able to talk to ANYONE about singing.
Youll wow your friends with your mastery of concepts like vibrato, articulation,
Solfeggio, and arpeggios. This book will give you the edge that puts you miles
beyond a mere karaoke king or queen.
So start humming and pick up a pen. Youre going to start learning about how sound
gets produced, what creates the perfect singing voice, how to practice, and the
basics of vocal technique. Youll learn about blending, breathing, articulation, and
vocal health. It may sound like a bunch of gibberish right now, but I promise you that
the professional singers already know about these concepts. How else do you think
they got where they are today? Natural talent is just a starting pointvoice training
is what takes them to the stars!
This book also offers you what no other book on the market offers: two fun games to
teach you to sight-read music and develop a knowledge of the musical roots
around which a melody is placed by recognizing notes as you hear them. You will
also get the SINGORAMA! Mini Recording Studio to train your musical ear and help
you with the exercises. Plus, youll receive a bonus e-book called The Ultimate
Guide To Reading Music. Take the time to enjoy these bonuses before starting
this book! With minimal time and effort, youll be reading sheet music, recognizing
notes, and recording your own melodies. To help you even further, Ive recorded
audio examples of the exercises. Whenever you see the audio button ( ) play the
indicated track.
Studying singing can often seem like getting mini-courses in anatomy, music theory,
and Italian all at once. Dont let the amount of vocabulary scare you off! Ive
included handy vocabulary lists at the end of each chapter, which can help you
refresh your mind about what all those crescendos and contraltos are.
And dont forget: this book is ultimately about your voice, your singing, and your
musical future!
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CHAPTER 1. What You Need to Know if Youre Going to
Sing
What is Singing?
What distinguishes singing from the variety of other sounds we make? We often
assume that song is easily distinguished from speech, but it isnt always the case.
For example, rap music tends to sit on the boundary between song and speech.
Someone may speak in a melodic voice to lull a baby and thereby sing the child to
sleep. There may not be as much of a difference between song and speech as we
thoughtand why thats important will become clear in the next few chapters.
Usually, we consider someone to be singing when they are using their voice for
musical effect. In other words, rather than focusing on the communication of certain
words or content, they are focusing on the artistic effect that their melodic utterance
creates.
Track01: The leaves on the trees sing in the fresh summer breeze.
Now, try to sing the words, using a similar voice to your speaking voice.
Track02: The leaves on the trees sing in the fresh summer breeze.
Can you see how changing your pitch, tone, and/or volume adds an artistic
effect?
The vocal apparatus that we use for speech and song is identical, but singing utilizes
it in a more deliberate, focused way, by taking advantage of its resonant capacities.
Singing tends to be more sustained than speech and involves a greater range of
sounds.
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The History of Song
The human voice is the original musical instrument. Singing is such a natural activity
that there isnt a single culture discovered that does not sing. The earliest musical
sounds people made were likely imitations of sounds found in nature. As human
cultures evolved, music came to play an important part in religious rituals,
celebrations, and as a lyrical record of events. This folk music expressed the life of
its community and was usually anonymous, a collective artifact of the culture that
created it.
Art music, or music composed as artistic expression, did not emerge until later.
The first cultures to create music for arts sake were probably located in early
Mesopotamia. These early cultures even had professional musicians, and the
earliest noted music on record is a Sumerian hymn dated before 800 B.C.E.
The Egyptians, Greeks, and Jewish people all valued music deeply and created
highly developed musical cultures. But it was Christianity, under the Roman Catholic
Church, that came to dominate the next thirteen centuries of Western music. The
original plainchant style (also known as Gregorian chant) gave way to polyphony
(music with more than one melodic part) in the ninth century. By the beginning of the
1600s, the theater had emerged as a new secular venue for music, and the grand
age of opera began.
Although opera seems outdated to us today, it was enormously popular for centuries.
Everyone went to the operato see their friends, to hang out, to be seen, to make
business deals, to eat and sometimes to actually watch it. Composers wrote
frantically. New singers with the ability to sing ever-more-difficult parts were sought.
From Spain came the first castrati, or adult men whod had their testicles removed
before puberty could change their voices. The beginning of the eighteenth century
saw the first divas, as female sopranos claimed their place as the darlings of the
stage.
It wasnt until after the First World War that popular music would surge in
significance. As classical styles became less accessible and less attractive to
modern audiences, the public turned to jazz, blues, and swing. People no longer
had to go to the opera or concert hall to listen to music, as technology such as the
phonograph and the wireless radio brought music into the home. Electronic
amplification enabled singers to use a more natural, conversational singing style.
Hollywood, taking its lead from Broadway, began churning out musicals with gusto.
By the middle of the century, the appearance of a singer became all important,
especially as television began broadcasting performances. Les Pauls invention of
the electric guitar after the Second World War prepared the ground for the
development of rock and roll.
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most people. The proliferation of burned CDs and songs in the easily-downloadable
MP3 file format have enabled a wide variety of international musical styles, sounds,
and genres to flourish and find niche audiences.
Making your own music has never been easier. Microphones, amplifiers, keyboards,
and mixing equipment are easily available in models for almost every budget level.
Karaoke bars give anyone a chance to try out their singing skills in front of an
audience, while competitions like American Idol encourage aspiring vocal artists to
dream that they can be a pop star.
Is there any better time to be learning to sing than right now? (If you were living in
the Middle Ages you might be asked to intone through your nose, or sing with a
forced nasal tone!) So enjoy the benefits of the modern world you live in, and flip the
page to learn about the science of song.
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CHAPTER 2. The Science of Singing
I know that this chapter title may remind you of the long, boring days spent in
science class, but I promise that this will be a lot more funand useful to you!
Just as you cant tune a car without understanding what its parts are and how they
work together, so you cant tune your singing voice without understanding how
sound is manufactured and how the parts of your voice machine affect its quality.
Understanding Sound
First of all, an overview. You may be familiar with wind instruments. Examples
are the clarinet, trumpet, and harmonica. These instruments produce sound when
someone blows through them, creating a column of air that causes vibrations at a
range of frequencies, amplified by the resonant spaces inside the instrument. What
result are sound waves.
Sound waves can be described using terms such as pitch, tone, and intensity (or
volume). For example, a high-pitched sound will have waves scrunched up close
together (high frequency). A low, deep sound will have very long, lazy waves (low
frequency). A loud sound will have very tall waves (high amplitude). A quiet sound
will have waves that are barely perceptible bumps (low amplitude).
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You gotta love sound. Sound is what your voice is. Its what music is. Without
sound frequencies you wouldnt have pitchand that means your C sharps and B
flats would have to be thrown out the door. Without amplitude you wouldnt have
amplifiersand that would be a sad world indeed.
You are an instrument. You may not have realized it before. But your body
produces sound in the same basic way as a wind instrument. The action of your
lungs pushing air up through your windpipe creates the initial column of air. The air
then interacts with the instrument of your voicebox (or larynx) to produce an initial
sound. That sound is then amplified by the resonant spaces above the larynx before
leaving your lips and broadcasting your own unique sound creation to the world.
Good Vibrations
Without vibrations, there wouldnt be sound. As sound travels through your resonant
areas, you will be able to feel the vibrations in your head. Think about the different
parts of your head: the mouth, the throat, the tongue, and the lips. Each will vibrate
differently. Also, different vowel and consonant sounds will produce different
vibrations.
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Try this exercise.
o Hum. Can you feel the vibrations in your head and mouth?
o Make an ng sound (as in sing), with the mouth only slightly open. The
sound should feel as if it is coming from your nose, at the back of the
bridge.
Now pinch the bridge of your nose. Can you feel it vibrate?
o Make an ah sound with your mouth open. Can you feel the vibrations
in your mouth?
You may think that the voicebox is responsible for what makes your voice unique.
Not so. While the larynx produces the initial buzzy sound, it is the resonators
(which include the oral cavity, nasal cavity, and pharynx or throat) that amplify and
shape the final sound quality so that it is transformed into your own, unique, personal
voice.
Answer: No more than you could change the range of sounds producible by a
particular instrument without changing its shape.
Articulators finish off the sound by shaping it into clear, understandable words. Your
articulators include your lips, tongue, and soft palate. The soft palate is the soft,
spongy bit in the back of the roof of your mouth that opens up when you yawn.
When you sing, it should naturally be in a slightly raised position.
Yawn, then sing a note. Compare the sensations. Can you feel your soft
palate raise, as it did when you yawned?
The larynx contains the most important organs in the human body for the production
of sound: the vocal cords. The vocal cords are a set of muscles and ligaments
barely over a half-inch in length. Their opening and closing produces sound while
controlling the pitch and intensity of your tone.
Basically, when the vocal cords remain closed, air pressure builds up behind them.
Then they burst open, releasing the air in the form of a sound wave. This happens
at a rate of hundreds to thousands of times per second.
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Making a Louder Sound. When theres an increase in the air flow behind the vocal
cord, the air blows the vocal cords wider apart. As a result, the vocal cords stay
apart longer and increase the amplitude of the resulting sound wave.
Making a Higher-Pitched Sound. When vocal cords are stretched thinner, making
them shorter, they are moved more easily by the air pressure behind them. As a
result, they open and close much faster, producing narrow sound waves that follow
closely on one another. The thickness of the vocal cords, which you cannot change,
also affects how high a pitch you can produce.
Are you confused yet? Lets take some time for a little review.
Below is a list of the steps involved in speaking. Put them in order from 1 (the first)
to 7 (the last):
When you study singing, you may hear about a variety of voice problems that require
you to understand vocal anatomy, such as a high larynx, vocal cord tension, or
excess air pushing through the vocal cords.
Its natural to wonder how you can adjust your vocal cords when you cant even see
them, wiggle them, or feel that theyre there. Nonetheless, you do have some
important clues as to how theyre functioning.
First and foremost, of course, is the sound of your voice. Clues may be whether
your voice breaks at a certain place in your range, or whether it sounds deep,
wooden, brassy, etc. Another clue is the place in your body that you feel your voice
coming from. For example, your singing voice may feel as if comes from the area
around your eyes or nose, while your speaking voice may feel as if it comes from
your mouth. You should also feel physical vibrations when you sing, such as tingling
in the area above your lips.
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Last of all, you need to be wary if you feel tension in your face and throat. Although
singing is a form of physical exertion, your face should not be scrunched up. Your
head should be in a natural position, not craned up or tilted down. If you feel
muscular tension in your neck, chin, or jaw, do some simple stretchessuch as neck
rolls, or pretending as if you were chewing a wad of bubblegumto relax them.
Relaxation plays a key role in the optimal functioning of the vocal cords. Ever
noticed that when you were at home singing away, your voice sounded great, but the
minute you stepped in front of an audience, your heart pounding, skin clammy
that great voice fell all to pieces?
When you are tense, stressed, or trying too hard, your vocal cords suffer. Your
breathing becomes less free and easy, and the air trying to leave your lungs has to
fight its way free. As a result the air that eventually hits the vocal cords is
concentrated and pressurized. The vocal cords react by locking up. Its almost as if
youre choking your voicebox.
You need to allow your vocal cords to open and close smoothly through their entire
range of motion, without any strain or pressure. Do that by relaxing your body,
getting rid of the tension, and eliminating any strain. Your voice will thank you.
The next time you feel tension, take deep breaths and visualize opening and
clearing a passage through to your voice and voicebox.
Producing a good sound with your voice is the result of good techniquenot a result
of a good song. For that reason, instead of starting you off singing songs, Im going
to take you right back to the fundamentals of sound.
The exercises in this book will focus on training your body to be the best instrument it
can be. It isnt about making beautiful musicyet. If you improve the quality of the
sounds you can produce, youll be amazed to discover how wonderful even Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Star can sound if youre the one singing it. And thats the ultimate
goal: not to learn more songs, but to be able to sing any song in a voice that brings it
to life.
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Vocabulary Review
frequency the quickness with which waves follow one another; pitch
hard palate the hard, forward part of the roof of your mouth
larynx voicebox
pharynx throat
resonators the parts of the body that reinforce or dampen sound waves,
depending on their frequencies
sound wave a pattern of energy (or disturbance) that moves through air
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CHAPTER 3. You and Your Voice
You cannot learn how to sing well or become a good singer without first knowing
everything about your own voice. For example, do you know what your range is?
Do you know what sort of tonal qualities does your singing voice exhibits? You
should have experimented with all the ways in which you can shape your own
mouth, throat, and body to get a variety of different sounds.
So, before we jump right into vocal technique, lets spend a little bit of time getting to
know you. Do you think you have a terrible voice but friends tell you its
awesome? Do you think you sound too reedy, too nasal, too breathy? Did your
choir teacher classify you as an alto when you think you have it in you to be a
soprano? Are you worried that youre too old to sing?
If you have of the above concerns about your singing voice, drop them! In this
chapter Ill discuss why you never sound to others as you sound to yourself, the
reason you should enjoy the distinctiveness of your own voice, how vocal range is
classified, the effects of age, and the basics of good vocal practice.
Do you think you know what your voice sounds like? Ill let you in on a secret. The
biggest problem in learning to sing isnt having an imperfect voice. Its having
imperfect hearing.
Im not talking about not being musically inclined, or thinking youre tone deaf, or
having terrible pitch. Im talking about the impossibility of being able to hear yourself
as you actually sound while youre singing.
The reason is simple. Your audience hears you when the sound waves leaving your
mouth enter their ear drums. You hear yourself from the inside, through the bony
structure of the head. Thus, when you have a cold and are feeling congested, you
may think that your voice sounds nasal and muffled, while those around you think
that your voice sounds the same as always. The difference isnt your voice; its your
hearing.
As a result, an invaluable tool for any singer is a tape recorder. By recording your
own voice, you can play it back to yourself and hear your voice as others will hear it.
It may be hard to admit that your voice doesnt sound as good on tape as it did to
yourself. But that sort of objectivity is crucial if you want to be someone who sings to
an audience, not just in the shower.
Fortunately, you dont need to go out and buy a tape recorder and tapes. Included
with this e-book is the SINGORAMA! Mini Recording Studio that enables you to use
the microphone on your computer to record and playback your voice. The sound
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quality is sufficient to show you whether or not youre on the right track. The
program also includes a Virtual Piano so that you can practice singing scales, or
just get the first note of a song so that you can get the right key inside your head.
Have you heard that cupping one hand by your ear and the other hand by
your mouth will enable you to hear your voice more accurately? It doesnt
work! You cant turn off your inner voice, which is what causes the distortions.
Although you cant hear the sound waves you produce accurately from inside your
head, you can and should develop your ability to mentally hear music or notes,
using your imagination. For example, think of the tune of your favorite song. Can
you hear how it goes?
All of us have an auditory memory that stores sounds in the same way our memory
stores images and smells. Some composers can even compose music inside their
head, with no instruments at all. This auditory memory is essential for reading
music, as it allows us to associate a note on a staff with a particular sound.
When it comes to actually singing that sound from memory, things become much
more difficult. It can be almost impossible to sing a middle C without having just
heard a middle C played on a piano or other instrument.
Few people can hit a note out of nowhere. However, what you can do is listen to the
note and use it as a base to hit notes above and beneath it. This is called relative
pitch. With the aid of an instrument to provide the base note, most people can
easily hit the rest of the notes they wish to sing.
In Chapter 4 youll learn more about how to train your musical memory, so that you
can hit the pitch you need.
Every voice is distinctive, and the best singers realize this. They take advantage of
what separates them from the rest and develop a style and repertoire that shows off
their unique voice. For example, Tom Waits didnt let his raspy, gravelly voice keep
him from singing. Similarly, dont let any unusual qualities in your own voice keep
you from becoming the best singer you could be.
Many singing students begin their study of singing with the hope of being able to
imitate a singer or style that they admire. They may want to rock out like Metallica,
croon like Harry Connick, Jr., or hit the high notes like Celine Dion.
Singing in a particular musical style (such as rock or jazz) will come at a later stage
in your vocal career. While listening to talented singers is valuable, you shouldnt
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start your vocal career trying to imitate anyone. You should always sing with your
voice instead of against it. See what your particular, unique voice can do; be willing
to experiment and make new sounds. You may just surprise yourself and discover
the powerful singer inside with a musical style youd never thought of trying before.
Vocal Range
You can practice and train your voice to extend the range of sounds that you can
produce, but ultimately you were born to be either a tenor or bass (for men), or
soprano or alto (for women.) This classification system is also referred to as SATB
for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass.
You can usually tell what vocal range you have by the quality of your speaking voice.
For example, if you are a female with a high-pitched speaking voice, youll probably
sing as a soprano. If you are a male with a deep voice, youre probably a bass
(pronounced base).
Soprano: the highest female vocal range. Sopranos are generally able to sing from
the G below middle C to the E two octaves above middle C.
Alto: the lower female vocal range. Altos are generally able to sing from the E below
middle C to the B almost two octaves above middle C.
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Tenor: the higher male range. Tenors are generally able to sing from the C below
middle C to the G an octave and a half above middle C.
Bass: the lowest male range. Basses are generally able to sing from the E two
octaves below middle C to the G above middle C.
Find the low point of your range by starting on middle C and singing down to
the lowest note you can. Figure out which note this is by using the
SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano. Now, compare it with the piano diagrams
above. Where do you fall on the chart?
You may think that you should sing the highest note you can produce to find where
your vocal range lies, but it will not be accurate. For examples, altos and sopranos
could sing equally as high with training. But, although you can train your vocal cords
to thin to reach those higher notes, you cannot train your vocal cords to produce a
lower sound. This is because the low point of your range depends on the thickness
of the vocal cords. Thicker vocal cords produce a lower sound. (So men have
thicker vocal cords than women.) As a result, matching the low point of your range
to the classification will be more accurate than matching the high point.
These classifications give you a general idea of the range of notes that you can
produce. For individuals who find that their singing voice doesnt fit one of the four
general ranges, there are additional subsets, like mezzo soprano and baritone.
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WOMEN
MEN
Not everyone fits perfectly into one of the classifications, and thats okay. You
should never let your official classification range limit you! Figuring out which
classification you fit into is less important than getting to work on extending and
improving the range you have.
Most vocal ranges span two octaves, or 13 to 14 white notes on a piano, although
perhaps only one and a half octaves of those will be able to be sung consistently
with good quality and pitch. With proper practice and vocal training, however, a
singer can extend his or her vocal range to three octaves or more. For example, a
typical soprano should be able to sing any note from middle C to the first C above
the treble clef staff (in other words, two octaves higher).
If this talk of middle C and the treble clef staff is way too confusing, read
the free bonus e-book included with this book, The Ultimate Guide To
Reading Music!
You can never be too old or too young to sing! Singing is fun at any age. Children
as young as 8 or 9 years old can be taught the basics of good singing, although
voice training must be adjusted to avoid damaging their voices during the changes of
puberty. Adults can benefit from voice training throughout their life.
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The most obvious vocal changes occur during the change from childhood to
adulthood, and a young male may find himself in possession of a clear, high singing
voice one day and a cracking, strangely deep one the next.
A boys voice changes drastically during puberty. Along with the physical changes,
his larynx enlarges, and his vocal cords thicken and lengthen about one centimeter,
causing his voice to drop several notes. A boy in this stage of growth may feel as if
hes lost control of his voice, as it may crack or shift from deep to high without
warning.
Despite the changes, there is no reason why a young person with a changing voice
should not continue to keep singing, as long as the following precautions are taken:
9 Dont try to push your range. If the range that you can sing comfortably is
only six notes, so be it. This does not mean avoiding upper notes!
9 If a song has several notes that do not fit your tessitura, change the notes to
suit your voice.
If you are an older singer, you may find that your voice has grown rusty over the
years. All the more reason to start singing and loosen it up! Start slowly and build
up, as you may find that singing takes more energy, dexterity, and breath than you
remembered. You may benefit from breathing exercises to improve your ability to
release a sustained, measured flow of air, as well as legato voice exercises to
control any vocal wobbles.
Youll be happy to know that, with training, most voices only improve with age!
Developing a Plan
Now that youre ready to head into the heavy-duty section of the book, Id like you to
take a minute to consider your plan of attack. You can either read through the rest of
this book, absorb what it says, and go away and forget it allor you can set some
goals for yourself now and figure out how much time you can dedicate to exercising
your voice.
As I said before, theres no way you can develop a good singing voice by thinking
about it. You will have to practiceand that means every single day, if possible. Im
not talking about hours. Marathon singing practices can end up damaging your
voice instead of improving it. You may want to start with anywhere from 10 to 20
minutes, from once to three times a day.
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Right now, as an exercise, I want you to see if you can find room in your schedule for
two 15-minute practices everyday.
Practice Session #1: I will practice for _________ minutes at __________ oclock.
Practice Session #2: I will practice for _________ minutes at __________ oclock.
In order to inspire you for those times when you feel as if you cant manage to make
the time or dont have the energy to practice singing, fill in the following sentences:
Now, imagine the best singing experience you could dream of and answer the
following:
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Tips for a Perfect Practice
There are three important things to remember about your voice practice sessions:
Vocal practices always begin with a warm-upand Im not talking about stretches
and jumping jacks. Rather, your vocal muscles need warming up just like your body
does. For example, have you woken up in the morning and found that your first word
came out as a hoarse croak? Your voice wasnt warmed up! What happened was
that during the night, fluids collected in your throat tissues. Mucous built up, and
your vocal cords became dry. Because your vocal cords need to be damp to move
well, you found yourself unable to speak normally in the morning. A great place to
do your vocal warm-ups is in the shower, because the steam opens up your throat
and windpipe and is soft on your vocal cords.
Too, remember to drink lots of waterand that doesnt mean juice, milk, coffee, or
soda pop. Those liquids cant compare when it comes to water for keeping the vocal
cords moist and functioning at their best. The best singers keep hydrated and may
drink up to a gallon of water a day. Keep a water bottle with you at all times.
You cant warm up just by singing a song. Good warm-ups take you through your
chest voice to your head voice without building pressure.
Fortunately, there are some simple warm-up exercises you can do.
o Now, continue making the ng sound, but start with a low note and
siren a scale all the way up to the top, and back down again.
Make sure that you clearly pass through each note in the scale,
but keep the sound smooth.
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Listen to the example:
Track04
o If you are able, shift your initial note a half step (the next colored key on
a piano) and do another ng siren.
o Keep sirening until your top note is as high as you can go.
If it gets too high, lean forward and drop your head slightly while
you are still sirening.
o Make a br sound, revving it up until you can feel the vibrations in your
lips.
This takes quite a bit of air!
o Now, try something more difficult. Continue doing your lip roll while
singing up the scale for five notes, then sign back down to your original
note, finishing with ah.
o Shift your starting note up a half step and do another lip roll.
o Keep doing lip rolls until your top note is as high as you can go.
o For additional practice with breath and breath control, do your lip roll
while singing all the way up the scale and back down again.
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Try this exercise.
Consonants
The purpose of these exercises is to loosen the lips, mouth, and jaw, and
relax muscles, so they may be done either speaking or singing (i.e., as
scales). Do them quickly! This may be difficult first thing in the morning.
o Say words with b sounds, m sounds, and l sounds. Or, sing scales
on bah, mee or loh.
When you begin your training, shorter practice sessions several times a day is better
than one big practice session every few days. The shorter practices will enable you
to keep your focus and not tire the new vocal muscles youre beginning to stretch.
When you do each exercise, you need to focus on what the exercise is supposed to
accomplish. Feel the physical sensations that each exercise causes. Note the
change in sound it produces. The more aware you become of your singing
apparatus, the more control you will have.
Finally, when youre done, your throat should not feel tired or tense. If it does,
chance are you havent been using proper technique. The discomfort may be
caused by using your outer muscles too much, forcing sounds out rather than letting
them flow naturally, or singing your exercises too loudly. (A moderate volume is best
for practicing.)
Do you feel embarrassed or shy when others can hear you practice your
singing exercises? One great place to practice singing is in the car! Do your
vocal warm-ups on your way to work, to the store, or to school. The commute
will seem much shorter and no one will look at you twice.
Coming Up
Getting excited? After a brief chapter laying down the basics of tone, pitch, and
sightreading, youll plunge into the basics of good vocal technique. Chapter 5 is
probably most important chapter in the book, so take it slowly and master each
concept.
20
Vocabulary Review
alto lowest female voice, also called contralto, ranges from the E
below middle C up to the first B above the treble clef staff
baritone middle male voice, also Bass 1, ranges from the low G on
the base clef staff up to the B above middle C
bass lowest male voice, also Bass 2, ranges from the first E below
the base clef staff up to the G above middle C
chest voice low register; voice that feels like it resonates in your chest and
leaves through your throat
dramatic tenor tenor voice with a heavy, resonant quality, like Pavarotti
head voice high register; voice that feels as if it resonates in your nose and
forehead, and leaves through the back of your head
lyric tenor tenor voice found commonly in pop music, like Paul McCartney
mezzo soprano similar to a lyric soprano, but with more power in the lower range
tenor highest male voice, ranges from the C below middle C up to the
G above the treble clef staff
21
CHAPTER 4. Mastering Pitch
Im going to have to tear you away from singing for a moment to lay a brief
foundation for your study of singing.
Youre not going to be able to escape musical theory if you want to sing. Mastering
musical concepts may feel boring when there are more exciting things ahead, such
as actually getting to sing! But if you dont have a basic grasp of tone, pitch, and the
easiest form of sightsinging music, you wont understand many of the concepts and
exercises that are to come.
The concepts of tone and pitch can be confusing to new singers. Your tone is the
quality or type of sound that you produce, e.g., bright, dark, strident, brittle, full,
throaty. Your tone is unique to you, and descriptions of tone tend to be subjective.
Your pitch, on the other hand, is the frequency of sound, e.g. high or low. Pitch is an
objective measurement, and a specific pitch will sound the same whether a voice or
instrument produces it. Notes represent the pitches most commonly used in music.
It is very difficultand rareto have perfect pitch. Some are born with a natural
sense of pitch, while others must train their ears to memorize a note (such as middle
C) and base other pitches off from that note. The latter technique is the best way to
improve your ability to recognize pitch, and can be practiced and perfected over
time. The following section, Stay on Pitch, will explain a method of sightsinging
that uses one note as a base to hit any other note you need to sing.
Never fear that you may be tone deaf! Being tone deaf means that you are
unable to distinguish between pitches. Although you may not be able to
produce a sound that is right on key yet, you should be able to develop your
mental ear sufficiently to tell whether one note is higher or lower compared
with another note.
Using the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano, play any two notes, without looking at
the piano but just listening to the sounds. Which is higher? Which is lower?
This may seem easy, until you get to notes that are very close in pitchsay,
only a half step apart, as in a black key and the next white key.
You must be able to hear the differences between pitches before you can correctly
sing them.
22
Try this exercise.
2. Now, choose a segment of 10 to 15 keys. Play them all from bottom to top
and again from top to bottom as you sing along. Pay attention to the pitch
and try to stay as close to the sound of the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano as
possible.
Often people will sing along to a song, but not even sing the right notes, although the
song is playing at the same time. Your goal in the beginning should not be to
harmonize, however. It should be to produce exactly the same pitch as the one you
hear. Then you can work on understanding your voice and how to get it perfectly in
tune.
Stay on Pitch
When you start singing, youre going to find quite quickly that you need to have some
background in sightreading or sightsinging music. Even if you cant read music
yet, you can use a simple method with a rather complicated name to be able to sing
songs right on pitch. Its name? Solfeggio.
If you want to use the Solfeggio method, you must know the sequence of syllables:
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do
(Doh Ray Mee Fah Soh Lah Tee Doh)
Track09
When you have a sheet of music in front of you, all you have to do is rewrite the
notes in terms of these syllables.
Do represents the first pitch in a scaleregardless of what that pitch might be.
(La will be the starting point for the minor scale.) Each note afterwards represents
a step up.
23
Try the following exercise.
2. Now, play Track11 and listen closely to how the Solfeggio symbols
work.
Do Re Mi Re Do
Do Mi So Do
Do So Do
Do Do Do
Do Mi So Mi Do So Do Ti Do
When learning a song, you want to ingrain the root of the major key in your head.
This will form Do, the starting note from which youll be able to reach all the other
notes perfectly. As a result, youll be able to stay on pitch and find difficult intervals
and notes throughout the song.
Now youre in for some memorization. I know that it doesnt sound fun! But without
it, you wont be able to recognize immediately how high or low your voice needs to
jump from one note to the next.
Play each pair of notes on the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano. Then try memorizing
what each interval sounds like. It helps to use songs you already know as a clue.
For example:
You can use these examples, or think of your own! The most important thing is to
find examples that youll remember.
24
You can also do the intervals in reverse order, from Do downwards. For example:
If you are confused right now, dont feel stressed! In the Advanced Book Ill give you
more insights into how to use the Solfeggio method to sightsinging.
Right now, the most important thing you can do is just to become familiar with the
intervals between each note. There is a great website that will enable you to do just
that.
http://www.musicalintervalstutor.info/
Interval training is essential. With it, you will be able to vocally jump from any
syllable to the next, hitting each one right on key. Thats the foundation for your
singing, because it wont matter how good a sound you can produce if you cant
manage to stay in tune.
25
CHAPTER 5. Vocal Technique
Singing shouldnt be work. You dont have to think to talk; similarly, you shouldnt
have to think to sing. Vocal training should not make singing any harder; what it
should do is strengthen your singing muscles until good technique becomes
completely automatic and effortless.
Basically, a good singing voice is produced at exactly the same level as a good
speaking voice: both should be comfortable, easy to produce, free flowing, and
natural. When singers try to hard to produce a singing voice, they unconsciously
start using other musclessuch as those they use to chew and swallow, or open the
throat widerto control their larynx. As a result, their voices sound unbalanced, and
they find themselves unable to sustained prolonged singing without getting hoarse or
tired.
If you want to be a singer, you have to trust that your voicebox can do everything you
want it to, effortlessly. Your best singing voice will emerge from the larynx without
help from any other muscles.
Take It Easy
You must be able to note when tension starts building in your face and vocal cords
so that you can stop, relax, and loosen up again. Tension is a sign that you are not
singing properly.
As mentioned in Chapter 2, nerves cause your vocal cords to become dry and
constrict. You may feel a choking sensation around your voicebox. It may seem
hard to make much sound, especially a clear sound. If this happens, open your
throat up again by taking deep breaths, visualizing the passage opening, and feeling
relaxation spread through your body. Do not clear your throat or cough! Both
actions damage your vocal cords and dry them out. A better response would be to
drink some water and swallow several times.
If you stay just as relaxed while singing as you are when you speak, you should be
fine!
26
Aim for a Quality Tone
2. Using a voice as similar to your speaking voice as possible, sing the lines
and record it with the SINGORAMA! Mini Recording Studio.
.
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
3. Write down a few words describing how your face, voice, and throat feel
when you sing as compared to when you speak. It may help to look in a
mirror while you see, so you can see any changes. For example, did you feel
your throat tighten or your face start to scrunch up? From where did the
sound feel as if it was coming? Did you feel any vibrations? If so, where?
4. Now, sit back and listen objectively to the recording. Write down a few
words describing the tonal quality. Is your tone bright or dark? Hollow or full?
Nasal or rich? Muddy or clear?
When you sing, you are looking to develop depth of tone. In other words, the sounds
you produce should be full, rich, and clear. You dont want a nasally, breathy,
muddy, or brassy tone.
Can you hear the difference? The second voice displays admirable qualities of
roundness and clarity. But that doesnt mean that the singer in the first example
doesnt have the potential of becoming just as good as the second singer. It just
means that the she needs more practice and vocal training before she achieves the
quality of tone shes aiming for.
Id like to introduce you to two new concepts that might help you visualize what
youre aiming for: falsetto and the glottal stop.
Falsetto is not the same as your head voice. It begins with a breath, which is
followed by a high-pitched tone. For example, when you sing the word hot, the
breath comes first and is followed by the o sound.
Compare a falsetto tone to the glottal stop. This is a harder, much more forceful
sound, caused by a momentary complete closing of the glottis in the back of the
throat. For example, think about the words egg and know. The consonants are
quite harsh, even guttural.
27
What you want to achieve a clear tone is the breath and tone occurring at the same
time. This is called a simultaneous onset. The sound will still be forceful, but not
harsh to the ear.
One word that is good to practice this on is miaow. Listen to the example on
Track14.
Now, say miaow yourself. Make sure the m is forceful with no breathiness.
Pronounce all the vowels clearly.
Now that you have an understanding of what youre aiming for, the first stage in your
voice training wont be memorizing songs or jumping straight into nailing those
higher notes. Unlike other music books, I am not going to make you work on your
breathing, pronunciation, or posture yet, either.
Rather, your first step in becoming a singer is learning about your two types of
voicesyour chest voice and head voiceand exposing the break between them.
You will then have to work to connect your two voices by training your vocal cords to
thin and shorten automatically when you sing. As this is one of the most difficult
tasks for all singersincluding many professionalsyoull be ahead of the rest if you
start now!
The biggest problem among singers isnt being able to hit those higher notes, hold a
note for longer, or deliver more volume. It is something much more complicated and
tricky: blending or bridging their chest voice and head voice.
28
The head and the chest are the two most common resonating areas. Try placing
your hand on the top part of your chest (your sternum, or breastbone) and singing a
note from the lower end of your range. Can you feel a slight vibration? Now, try
singing in a high pitch. Where is the vibration now? It should feel as if the vibration
is in your eyes, nose, even your forehead.
This is because your chest voice and head voice are actually in different registers.
When you produce sounds that resonate in the top of your chest or throat, your vocal
cords vibrate along their full length, produce long sound waves of a low pitch. When
you produce sounds that resonate in your head, the ends of the vocal cords close off
until only one-third their length is free to open and close. As a result they move
much more rapidly, producing short sound waves of a high pitch.
You also have a middle voice. This is when about half the length of your vocal cords
is free to vibrate. The best singers can move seamlessly between their chest voice,
middle voice, and head voice. When you can do this, your voice is said to be
connected.
29
Voice Types
You can think of the range from head voice to chest voice in this way.
1. twang
2. opera
3. sob
4. belt
5. speaking
The top represents the strongest head voice, while the bottom of the list, your
speaking voice, is almost entirely a chest voice. Some think of the middle voice as
somewhere between #3 and #4an excited and forceful sob, or a softer belt.
Notice that the type of voice does not have a direct relationship to how high or low
you are singing. You can sing the exact same pitch with your chest or your head
voice. However, each type of voice adds a different quality to your singing.
This is the classic chest voice. If you sing from your belt or belt out a song, you
can feel the sound originating in your chest area. This voice sounds more rich,
deep, gutsy, and bold, and is best in lower ranges. Many altos use a belt voice, as
the belt voice has a limited upper range.
Listen to the speaking voice on Track15. Now, listen to the same voice in belt
mode: Track16. Can you hear the difference?
You will learn more about how posture and breathing can affect your belt voice in the
next chapter. For example, when you learn to be grounded, or firmly connected to
the ground, you will be able to produce a belt voice with more force and boldness.
You may also notice that the belt voice may not sound as musical as an opera
voice, because the belt voice has no vibrato. Vibrato is a rapid variation in pitch for
the duration of a note. It gives warmth to a tone, but when overused can sound like
a wobble.
This voice is the classic head voice. You can sing in the sob voice by pretending
that you are going to cry. It produces a thinner sound than the belt voice, though still
deep, and has the vibrato that the belt voice lacks.
30
You can sing with a sob voice in lower ranges, but it is stronger and easier to use in
the higher register. Most womens singing voices naturally fall into the sob style.
You may find it easier to sing this style if you raise your eyebrows or look up. If you
do so, remember not to change the position of your head; remain looking forward.
Your chest and head voices do overlap, but they do so in the middle of your range.
You need to be careful of this area, as switching too often between chest and head
voice causes a song to sound disjointed and unpleasant to listen to. What you want
to do is to visualize your sternum and head working in balance, so that all the notes
you produce sound blended.
Thus, as a singer, your goal should be balance and connectivity between your chest
and head voices. You should be able to move smoothly and seamlessly from the
lowest notes in your range to the highest, without effort. Your vocal cords will open
and close freely through their entire range of motion, without effort or strain.
Unfortunately, the major barrier to a seamless, connected head and chest voice is
the break, the point at which your voice sticks as you change register.
1. Sing a scale, using the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano to set the initial note.
Choose a note which is toward the bottom of your range.
2. Now, go up a half-step for the next starting note, and sing another scale.
Make sure that your tone is clear, not breathy. Pay attention to which area
(your sternum or your nose/forehead) is vibrating.
3. Continue until you find an area where your voice jams up or shifts in
quality, where you feel as if you have to switch voices to get those higher
notes. This is your break, or the point at which your chest and head
voices are disconnected.
Now that you have found your break, use the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano to help
you locate the area that your break falls on. Color in those notes on the piano below.
(Middle C is lightly shaded in.)
31
Connecting the Voices
Your task is not just to find your breakbut to eliminate it. This is very difficult and
can take years. Some singers dont even bother to connect their chest and head
voices; instead, they incorporate the two separate voices into their style.
Nevertheless, the most agile singers find that a connection between their two voices
enables them to create music the kind of music of which theyd only dreamed.
One excellent exercise to blend your head and chest voices is the ng siren
introduced in Chapter 3. Along with that exercise, you can do the following:
On a tah sound
1. Using the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano, play a note which is a few notes
above the area you shaded in earlier (i.e., in the upper register, or your
head voice range).
2. Sing this note in your head voice as if you are crying. The feeling of crying
should come from inside your mouth. This is your sob voice, and you may
experience some vibrato.
4. Stop when you can no longer stay in your head voice but need to move to
your chest voice.
5. Color in this note on the picture of the piano below. (Middle C is lightly
shaded in.)
6. Now sing down the scale again. Start in your head voice, but as you
approach the shaded note, try to transition into your chest voice when you
feel it coming on. Come in lightly to the chest voice; do not fall into it.
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7. Keep practicing this until you hear no definite break between your two
voices.
Repeat the exercise, this time singing from low to high. Move cleanly from
your chest voice to your head voice.
Make sure that you retain good posture and do not move your jaw.
In this case, the arpeggio will be Do, Mi, So, Do, So, Mi, Do, where the notes
move from Do upwards to the Do seven notes above it, then down again to
the original Do. Sing the arpeggio slowly, paying close attention to blending
your two voices into a uniform tone.
You can feel these exercises working by thinking about which parts of your chest
and head are vibrating during the exercise. Around your break area, or transition
point, you should feel a smooth continuation of vibrations between your sternum and
your mouth/nose/forehead. With enough practice, you will find that you will no longer
have a jump between your chest and head voices. Rather, as you reach the break
point that you shaded in on the piano diagram earlier, you will feel both areas of your
body vibrating.
Wow! Youve just navigated an immensely difficult chapter probably the most
important chapter in the entire book! How are you feeling? Is singing training like
you expected?
Laying the foundation for a singing-quality voice can feel like enormous work at first.
However, once you have gotten used to training those unfamiliar vocal muscles,
youll find that all these seemingly difficult exercises are actually quite easy and fun!
Now, Im going to take you into the secondary aspects of good singing: breathing,
posture, and articulation.
33
Vocabulary Review
arpeggio a breakdown of a whole cord, where each note of the
chord is played individually
falsetto a way to sing in the high part of your range without strain;
produces an airy tone that is not very intense
simultaneous onset when tone and breath come out at the same time
Solfeggio method method of sightsinging using do, re, mi, fa, o, la, and ti
sternum breastbone
34
CHAPTER 6. Breathing, Posture, and Articulation
Many vocal teachers spend a lot of time on these concepts. However, good
breathing, posture, and articulation should serve to support the goals of (1) a
connected voice and (2) a quality tonenot supplant them. By no means should
you focus on breathing or articulation at the expense of the exercises in the previous
chapter. Nevertheless, as you learn the concept of being grounded and anchored,
you will find that you have more control over your sound.
Breathing
You may think that the breathing practice you have had playing sports or playing an
instrument will help you with singing. Not so. The way a singer inhales and exhales
differs slightly from normal inhalation and exhalation.
When you sing, you must control how much air you need, at what rate you will
breathe in, and at what rate you will breathe out. The rate at which you exhale is
important, as this determines how much air you send to your vocal cords and for how
long. The actual process of exhalation is distinct, as you must be able to keep your
rib cage expanded while using your abdominal muscles to push your diaphragm
against your lungs, releasing air in a steady stream to your vocal cords.
If you try to control your breathing too consciously as you sing, youll create extra
tension in your body, which can only affect your singing negatively. Never contract
your stomach muscles in an effort to breathe more forcefully. The best thing you can
do is simply have correct posture and know how a full breath should feel.
Breathing In
Most beginning singers are familiar with the concept of breathing from the
diaphragm, or area at the bottom of the ribcage. This description of proper
breathing technique is misleading, because what you really want to do, as a singer,
is engage all areas of your body around your lungs and rib cage in the act of
breathing. Therefore, I would suggest that you dont think of breathing from the
diaphragm but rather imagine yourself breathing with your whole body.
35
Try this exercise.
1. Lie on your back on the ground. Take a deep breath and feel your upper
chest and abs expand upwards. Do not tense your abdominal muscles in
any way.
Notice that your shoulders do not move. You could stop here, and say
you have learned how to breathe from your diaphragm. However,
theres more to it than that.
2. Take another deep breath and feel your entire chest and abdominal
areaall 360 degreesexpand. Your chest should expand outwards, not
upwards (as you tend to do when youre standing), and you should feel
your back and side muscles expand as well. This is the kind of breathing
you want to achieve while youre singing.
1. Sit in a chair, lightly resting your lower back against the back of the chair.
2. Take a deep breath, feeling yourself expand in all 360 degrees as you
learned in the previous exercise.
3. Feel your back pressing into the chair. Make sure that you dont raise your
shoulders!
36
Breathing Out
All that air with which youve filled your lungs is there for slow release over a long
period, not for using all at once. When you are singing, you may think that the more
air you use to sing the better. This is not the case at all. Forcing too much air
through your vocal cords will make you sing worse, because your vocal cords must
tighten to hold back the volume of air. A good tone can be produced without much
air at all; in fact, using less air will actually make it easier to reach those higher
notes.
Just think of Goldilocks: you dont want too much air, you dont want too little air, you
want the amount thats just rightwhich is the amount that your vocal cords can
handle.
Singing with too much air can produce a sound that is airy and breathy. The solution
is to focus your breath on the note so that no air is wasted.
Sing a scale on ah from the middle of your range and record it on the
SINGORAMA! Mini Recording Studio. Now play it back and scrutinize the
sound. Is it thin and breathy? Or is it focused?
2. Take a reasonably-sized breath and sing a note on ah. Try to use up all
your breath in a 5-second span. Thats exactly 5 seconds no more, no
less.
3. Repeat as many times as you like, using larger or smaller breaths. Again,
the goal is to use up all the air in 5 seconds!
The above exercise teaches you to focus your breath for the purpose of filling those
five seconds with no wasted air. Try it again, using a longer time period than 5
seconds. It may help to visualize filling the room with all of your sound, while using
up your breath completely. With sufficient practice, youll achieve a clearer, focused
sound and better breath management.
Posture
Posture is related to good breathing techniques. The way you are standing will
enable your lungs to fill with air entirely or will constrict the passages you need to
send a free stream of air flowing through your lips. (Can you guess why sitting as
you sing is not recommended?) Usually, proper posture can be described as a
shoulder-width stand, with loose knees, tucked in pelvis, shoulders down and loose,
37
spine centered, and chin aligned naturally so that youre looking straight ahead
(rather than down at sheet music or up into space). You should never need to drop
your jaw or lower your head to sing out those low notes nor crane your head high
to sing the high notes. Always keep your head straight, as though youre talking to
someone.
Those are the basics of good posture. Nevertheless, Im going to offer you an
alternative notion of posture of which you may have not heard before. Youre going
to learn to be grounded. In other words, you will imagine yourself standing firmly
connected to the ground, with a solid basis from which you can take full breaths and
produce a full sound.
Ground yourself.
Stand with your feet approximately 1 foot apart (or shoulder width), with one
foot slightly in front of the other. Your body should not be stiff, but rather
firmly weighted. Lean slightly on your back foot, as if you were pulling a rope
in a game of tug-of-war. Now sing a scale on dah. It may even help at first
to actually pull on something or someone, and feel and listen to the difference
it makes in your voice.
You may find that using this posture feels a bit silly, but you will soon find that it
produces a larger sound that comes across as more urgent and intense.
You should practice grounding when you are learning to sing. However, after you
are familiar with how it feels and it adds to your voice, you can return to a normal,
relaxed standing posture, while keeping the basics in your mind.
Articulation
Many voice teachers spend ages training their students to pronounce vowels and
consonants in an exaggerated, hyper-enunciated way. The reason is that words
often sound different when sung than when spoken. Singing depends on vowel
sounds, with only a minor role played by consonants. Yet without the correct
articulation provided by consonants, the words of song lyrics can be lost.
The basics of good pronunciation are simple: try to move your lips and jaw only
when you are producing consonants, while keeping the same open mouth shape for
all vowels.
38
Vowels
Unlike consonants, vowel sounds come from the voicebox or throat, not the
articulators. They are pure sounds, and your singing depends on them, but altering
them by moving your mouth will muddy their clarity.
1. Stand in front of a mirror with your mouth open in a relaxed oval (not too
wide).
2. Make the following vowel sounds without moving your lips or jaw.
ah ay eh ee i oh uh oo
Feel the way your throat and tongue move to create the different vowel
sounds.
3. Now, allow yourself to move your mouth and say the vowels again.
ah ay eh ee i oh uh oo
See and hear the difference? The tone will most likely be less full and
sound much less professional.
When you sing vowel sounds, then, you should always make sure that your mouth
remains in the proper shape, but doesnt move. Dont drop or raise your jaw when
you sing notes at either end of your range. You want your voice to sound natural
and for you to feel natural while youre singing.
39
1. Play middle C on the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano to set the starting pitch.
Sing up a scale, where each note in the scale is a different vowel sound.
ah ay eh ee i oh uh oo
2. Now, sing an arpeggio on each vowel sound (Do, Mi, So, Mi, Do).
ah ay ee oh oo
3. Try singing the vowel sounds in different ways, and record your
experiments using the SINGORAMA! Mini Recording Studio. Afterwards,
play them back and listen to your tone. Try to answer the following
question as objectively as you can:
Certain vowels will pose more of a problem than others. For example, when you
sing the vowel sound ee, you may find yourself opening your mouth sideways.
This produces a thinner sound.
The solution is to keep your mouth still and try to form the sound in the back and
upper back part of your mouth. As a result, you should find yourself producing a
fuller and deeper sound.
40
Diphthongs
When you are singing a diphthong (a compound vowel), emphasize the initial
vowel, adding only a hint of the second vowel sound at the end. For example, the
word around can be pronounced like this:
Track26
Or, like this:
Track27
You do not want diphthongs forming where a single vowel sound should be. For
example, if you sing the word mine, you may find yourself singing my-een, with an
ee sound added after the ah sound.
You should sing the word with the ay sound only: mine.
Consonants
Consonants are the spice to your singing: they add definition, clarify words, and
bring out flavors, but the main body of your song should be vowel sounds.
Use consonants only as necessary for the lyrics to be understood. Remember the
glottal stop? This is necessary to separate words, so they dont run together into
gibberish. Often, the final consonant will run together with the starting vowel of the
next word. A glottal stop between the words will mean that they can be fully
understood.
You should always emphasize the initial consonant in a word instead of the last. For
example, if you are singing the phrase, can I stay, you could sing it like this:
Track30. However, you should sing it like this: Track31.
As you become more familiar with the way your voice connects different sounds,
youll be able to break down the component word sounds in a musical phrase to
convey the most clarity while preserving the best quality. For example, when singing
consonants, you should:
41
Avoid holding onto an R sound. In other words, add just a hint of R at the
last moment not a helping.
Avoid holding an M or an N sound in the middle or end of a word. Keep
yourself from giving into the tendency to make a humming sound when
singing Ms and Ns.
Finally, you also need to be aware of whether your tone and breath are coming out
at the same time (a simultaneous onset). You may want to practice by again
singing, Miaow. The initial M sound should be firm, and each vowel sound should
be heard. Make sure that there is no breath before the tone.
Try this exercise.
Sing or speak the following, making sure you keep up your speed:
Bah Beh Bee Boh Boo
Now, replace the B with one of the following consonants, and repeat until you
have done them all: D, M, G, T, L, P, H.
You may wonder how you can correct your pronunciation at such a minute level
when youre singing. When all of us sing, we tend to see a word on a sheet of
music, sing it, and have no time to think about whether we sang it right before were
off singing the next word.
The way in which you can correct your pronunciation at song level is by breaking the
song down into its component parts and perfecting each one before adding the next.
If you are singing a new song, you should first sing the melody through on ah to get
the notes right. Listen to the example of this being done with Shenandoah, a
traditional American folk song:
Next, you will speak the song out loud to yourself with only the vowel sounds in place
to familiarize yourself. Then, sing it with just the vowel sounds. Remember that
vowels sound different when they are sung than when they are spoken. At this point,
you should note where any sounds give you problems, such as diphthongs.
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Listen to the example:
Track33
Once youve mastered that, you can sing the song with the consonants in place.
You may wish to practice some consonant warm-ups beforehand, such as the
bubblegum exercise you learned in Chapter 3, or the consonant exercises you
learned earlier in this chapter. (Remember to clearly enunciate the consonants at
the beginning of words instead of the end, although the emphasis should not be
obtrusive).
Listen to the example:
Track34
You will learn more about the process of breaking an unfamiliar song down into its
component parts in Chapter 1 of the Advanced Book.
Take a Breather
Whew! Now that youve got piles of exercises to practice and a grasp on the basics
of good vocal technique, take a few days to absorb what youve learned. In the next
chapter, Im going to give you a review of some bad singing habits and how to
eliminate them. Afterwards, in Chapter 8, Ill show you how to take care of the fine
instrument that youve just learned how to play: your body.
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Vocabulary Review
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CHAPTER 7. Breaking Bad Habits
All of us find that bad habits are easy to pick up, especially when we are first learning
something new. The best cure for a bad habit is to realize youre doing it! The
following list gives you some typical problem areas for both new and established
singers, as well as some suggestions for improvement.
This is perhaps the most common problem among singers and is extremely hard to
overcome. The best way to connect your chest and head voices is to practice,
practice, practice, by using the exercises in Chapter 5.
Vowel Sounds
You may find yourself producing dull, irregular vowel sounds, or creating diphthongs
where only one vowel sound is needed.
One mistake that many beginning singers make is thinking that singing loudly or
oversinging will make them sound better. Not so. Being loud is harsh and non-
musical. Furthermore, the sound from oversinging wont just be unpleasant on the
earsit will be hard on your vocal cords as well.
This does not mean that your singing voice should be hard to hear. Volume, in
music terms, is not the same as loudness. Having high volume and intensity is like
projecting your singing voice, while retaining your musicality.
High volume and intensity can be achieved by focusing your breath on the notes and
not pushing too hard. It may help to imagine yourself projecting from your
diaphragm.
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Singing Out of Tune
There are two major mistakes that singers can make: they can either sing the wrong
note, or sing off pitch (out of tune).
In order to solve this problem, you need to go back to the concepts introduced in
Chapter 4 and develop your mental ear.
You cannot escape your study of music without a sense of pitch. The best way to
achieve a sense of pitch is memorize a note (say, middle C) from which you base
other notes.
Practicing sightsinging can be a great help. Find some simple sheet music that you
can read. Try to use your musical ear and memory to first internalize the notes,
then sing them. Record yourself on the SINGORAMA! Mini Recording Studio. After
you are done, play back the recording to the accompaniment of the proper notes on
the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano. Make sure all your actual notes are correct, even
if you may not be perfectly in tune.
Once you are able to hit all the notes, shift your focus to trying to be perfectly on
pitch (in tune).
The only cure for singing off pitch is lots of practice! You can use pitch-meters,
which tell you how close you are to being in tune (i.e., how sharp or flat you are, on a
scale).
Try to pinpoint certain areas within your range where you may go off-key. This will
generally be in the lowest and highest parts of your range. In fact, it is easy to fall
out of tune when singing high notes. For example:
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Tone
Breathy
As mentioned in the previous chapter, one cure for a breathy tone is to practice
miaow in order to produce simultaneous onset of breath and tone.
Falsetto
A falsetto tone may be fun to sing, but its musical quality is poor: breathy and thin.
To avoid this, do exercises to ensure that you have a simultaneous onset, or
produce the tone and the breath at the same time.
Vibrato, if you remember, is the repeated fluctuation of a pitch that gives a tone
warmth. It is usually a desirable quality and almost always present in the sob voice.
However, the purest voices (such as choir boys) have no vibrato at all, and many
professional singers now seek to use less vibrato when they sing.
In other words, a little vibrato is good but too much is bad. An excess of vibrato
can make your voice sound wobbly and unpleasant. Problems with vibrato tend to
be due to poor breath control. Practice breathing exercises to improve your control:
try to make your breath move faster, and keep it focused.
Bad Posture
Slumping wont do your posture any good, but what it does to your lungs and vocal
mechanism is worse. If you are going to sing, you must practice good posture.
Never sit while you sing if you can avoid it. By standing, you keep your entire vocal
apparatus free and clear. Always keep your head straight instead of tilted up or
down, and avoid raising or dropping your jaw as you sing.
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CHAPTER 8. Vocal Health
You may have seen divas who belt out opera from bellies the size of the opera
house rockers chugging beer between sets or husky-voiced lounge singers
chain-smoking cigarettes. If you copy them, you may cut your singing career short.
While there will always be exceptions to every rule, keeping your singing voice
healthy means keeping your body healthy. Keeping your body healthy means
maintaining a healthy weight, drinking plenty of water, and avoiding anything that will
dry out or disrupt your vocal cords including alcohol and cigarette smoke.
Exercise
Singing is exercise, and a strong respiratory and cardiovascular system will carry
you through its demands. Some voice teachers recommend a routine of abdominal
exercises to strengthen your core muscles, cardio exercises to improve your lung
capacity, and yoga to improve your posture and focus your breath.
Food
Before you sing, you should avoid eating. In particular, there are a number of foods
you should avoid: citrus fruits, dairy products, chocolate, fatty foods, and anything
that is particularly difficult to digest.
These foods cause extra mucous to secrete onto your vocal cords, interfering with
the vibration process. As a result, you may find yourself clearing your throat often as
a result of too much phlegm in the back of your throat. Clearing your throat in itself
is harmful to the vocal cordsalong with coughing and sneezing. Instead of clearing
your throat, try to swallow.
Drink
In two short words: drink water. That doesnt mean water with something added, like
juice drinks or tea. That means 100% H2O.
Keeping your body hydrated is the most important thing you can do for your vocal
cords. Water enables your body to produce the lubrication that keeps your vocal
cords functioning properly. Without it, your vocal cords can swell, redden, and even
form nodes as a result of friction.
If you are going to be a professional singer, or if you are going to use your voice
beyond a normal amount, you need to think beyond the recommended eight glasses
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a day. Professional throat doctors recommend that you drink double that amount.
Thats one gallon of water every single day.
Beverages like soda pop and juice dont cut it. Thats because they contain additives
like caffeine (which acts as a diuretic and actually promotes dehydration), sugar
(which may lead to the production of thick mucous in excess amounts), and citric
acid (which creates phlegm). Milk is a prime culprit for phlegm production. Alcohol
gives you a double whammy: it not only leads to dehydration but also produces a
sedative effect.
You may think that if your voice is sore, a hot drink is the perfect solution. Wrong.
Heat causes the blood vessels in your head, neck, and throat area to swell, affecting
your vocal cords. On the other hand, anything too cold (e.g., with ice cubes floating
in it) will cause blood vessels to constrict, causing tissues to become dry. The best
solution is to drink cool or lukewarm drinks if you want your voice to be at its best.
Steam
Youd think that saunas and steam baths would be great for your voice, but instead
they cause you to sweat, drying out your body and your vocal cords. A better option
is to sit in front of a cool humidifier, which allows water droplets to come directly in
contact with the vocal cords and moisten the tissues.
Medicinal Remedies
I dont know a single voice teacher who recommends a medicinal spray or throat
lozenge to cure problems with the voice. These products will sooth irritated
membranes in the throat, but they have no effect on the vocal cords themselves. As
a result, they wont help you sing better though they may make your throat feel
better.
You may have seen singers walking outside with scarves wrapped around their
throats and mouths, even when it wasnt that cold outside. Keeping your singing
apparatus warm and well protected is a good idea.
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Whats Most Important
If you could only choose three lifestyle changes to which to commit as part of your
plan for becoming the best singer you could be, I would select the following: stop
smoking, drink as much pure water a day as you can, and minimize your
consumption of dairy products. Though these may seem like huge steps, you can
start as small as you like. Perhaps your first step will be to carry a bottle of water
with you at all times and drink when you remember. You can try replacing cheese
pizza with pasta in a tomato sauce. You may want to commit to cut out all dairy
products for a week and see if it makes any difference to your singing voice.
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What Now?
Congratulations! You have completed the SINGORAMA! The Complete Guide to
Singing Like a Professional! Are you feeling overwhelmed? Confident? Excited?
Now that youve learned the basics, go forth and practice! What you have learned in
this book is so basic that it can be applied anywhere, at any time. If you learn
nothing more than what youve learned here, youll still be able to improve your
singing voice beyond measure.
In the SINGORAMA! Advanced Book Ill teach you everything you wanted to know
about how to apply your vocal technique to songs, the details of phrasing, style and
interpretation, as well as the fun stuff about microphones, auditions, and even how to
choose a singing teacher!
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