Singing Lessons

A good singing technique is the best vocal hygiene, but in addition the singer should know how to maintain good vocal condition, which is at least partly dependent on good general physical condition.

When we say that a singer has a good technique, the implication is that he knows how to sing correctly. Actually, a good singing technique involves several techniques: singing in the normal or “bell” quality; singing agilely; singing loudly and softly; singing in the low, middle, and high registers; breathing deeply; supporting the speaking voice as well as the singing voice; and controlling the breath.

In addition to developing a good singing technique, a singer needs to condition his vocal mechanism and keep it flexible. There is no substitute for intelligent vocalization to accomplish these ends.

The teacher should not allow a student to lose sight of his primary objective, which is to establish a good legato of normal or “bell” resonance quality. Lyric legato singing with emphasis on the vowel sounds is the building process, whereas dramatic, nonlegato singing, with emphasis on the consonants or emotional stops is the destructive one.

Good vocal condition is dependent on good physical condition. A singer should live a moderate, well-ordered life, avoiding excesses in eating, drinking, and smoking. Physical exercises in moderation, such as golf, tennis, swimming, and horseback riding should be helpful in maintaining good physical condition. Heavy exercising, such as weight lifting, ballet and acrobatic dancing, distance running, in fact, any exercises that call for heavy breathing or sudden closures of the vocal cords, are not conducive to good vocal condition.

Keeping the voice in good condition

A teacher of singing should teach each of his students how to know his own voice and how to keep it in good condition. This involves the student knowing his normal or “bell” quality; what and how much to vocalize; the song literature he should sing to fit his stage of development; how to solve his range problems, and a basic rule for diction to establish a good legato; what physical exercises to use, and what foods to avoid.

Students should be cautioned against yelling at any time.

In case of hoarseness or loss of voice, the best suggestion is to rest the voice. Do not use the voice at all.

Students should be warned against singing in drafts, and against over-fatigue from singing or practicing too long at one time.

Using eucalyptus oil or tincture of benzoin in boiling water, inhaling the steam through the mouth, should hasten recovery from hoarseness. Every singer should have for his own use an atomizer with an adjustable tip for intertracheal treatments. For this purpose, or for spraying the nose or throat, a preparation called chloretone inhalant is recommended.

For the intertracheal treatment, which is a matter of spraying the vocal cords, the nozzle of the atomizer is inserted to the back wall of the throat with the adjustable tip turned down. The bulb of the atomizer is then squeezed, with the vocal cords in approximation by saying or singing ay or ah. A gagging reflex takes place immediately when the oil spray touches the approximated cords. Enough medication is left, however, for curative purposes. Prolonged colds or vocal difficulties should be treated by a specialist.

A conclusion based on teaching singing in private lessons and in class lessons is that the playing of wind instruments is not conducive to good vocal production. This is particularly true of instrumental playing where a highly developed embouchure (lip tonus) is desirable. In addition, many teachers of wind instruments teach low abdominal breathing with no expansion of the rib-cage, and a relaxed throat condition. Neither of these fits in with intercostal high abdominal breathing or pharyngeal control.

It may also be said that singing is not conducive to a good instrumental playing condition. Therefore, an individual with an unusually promising voice who has also a decided aptitude for playing a wind instrument should make an early decision as to which field is the more important to him.

Now you know how to care for the voice and maintain it in peak condition.


By:Jimmy Cox
About the Author:

Follow My Free Singing Lessons And You May Just Be The Next American Idol.

Click Here For Free Online Ebook
http://www.freesinginglesson.net/

According to medical studies, a person can have a longer life depending on how good you are at breathing. It may sound silly but it is true. There is proper way of breathing, and by doing this you can have a healthy life and you can also become a great singer too.

If you are aspiring to become a great singer, you must know that in order to have a good foundation in singing, it is important for you to know how to breathe properly by using a good and proper breathing method. What makes the sound we make in singing a great one is the stable and continuous flow of air we breathe. If you can learn how to control the flow of air, your singing will have a better quality, as well as duration, capacity and strength, this will also enable you to control your singing.

Techniques in relaxation, especially in inhalations should be included in proper breathing method. It is important that you do some exercises and stretches in order to relax your muscles that border the vocal cords. These exercise include yawning in a proper posture. To have more information about this, I encourage you to read our reviews on to breath properly at www.learntosing.com. There you can see a detailed explanation about the above mentioned topic.

Another important thing to do is deeply take a breath using your diaphragm. The diaphragm is a mucle in the sacs of our lungs. Feel your rib cage and expand your abdominal area as your diaphragm presses on them. In this case your lungs will take more air in. And then, exhale by pursing your lips together.

It is important for you to do this exercise with 4 counts of inhaling and also with exhaling. Bear in mind that you have to consider doing the inhalation of air quietly with the use of yawning exercise. To do this method is a very good exercise for you. This method helps your muscle relax to inhale air quietly and fast at the same time. While doing vocal exercises, I suggest that you try pushing your belly muscles in an outward position.

To be able to know that you are doing the method properly, try to put some books just above your belly or lie flat on the floor and try to breath. If you can see that book is raised, then that is just quite right and keep doing it. If you find it hard to do, ask someone who has experience to guide you in developing these proper breathing habits. So it is important that you spend some time in proper training. Do this proper breathing method to have a great control over your breathing and form good breathing habits that would be helpful in your singing ability.

Please take note that while doing these exercises, avoid some movements like moving your shoulder, neck or head. Your chin should be positioned on its normal level. The true description of proper breathing properly is effortless and natural.


By:Sarah J. Walthers
About the Author:
Do you want to know how to learn to sing professionally? Read our reviews on singing and breathing.

One of the most important but often overlooked aspects of good singing is to develop a good breath control technique. Many new or untrained singers don’t even have an inkling that by breathing correctly, they are not only able to hold a note longer, have a more steady tone and will not become breathless easily. That is why having good singing lessons before a singer launch his/her singing career is so vitally important.

Many people must have thought that why should they care about breathing techniques when they already know how to breathe. If they don’t how to breathe then they would have already croaked, wouldn’t they?

Come on, singing breath control is more than simply knowing how to breathe. It is a breathing technique and can make a world of a difference if you want to sing well.

To most people, breathing simply means that you are just filling 2 bags (your lungs) with air and then squeezing them out over your vocal cords, right? WRONG! It is much more than that.

So what is the correct singing technique? Well, have you heard of singers talking about singing from the diaphragm? Well, what they are talking about is the singing breathing technique or breath control by your diaphragm.

When you take a breath, are you letting your belly move out of the way of at bottom of the bags (lungs)? If not, you won’t start with enough air to get you through a number of notes without having to breathe in again. Thus you will get breathless pretty quickly.

The correct way to take in air is to breathe in a nice, deep breath and imagine breathing that breath into your tummy. If you do that, your stomach will expand outwards, out of the way of your fast filling up lungs.

The means that your lungs will have more capacity to take in more air and when you breathe out or release the air when singing, the natural motion of your tummy coming back in acts like an accordion, regulating the outflow of air. It this way, your singing tone will be more steady and pleasurable to listen to.

Because you are now getting more air with each breath, you are now able to hold notes longer, able to hit higher notes and will not get breathless as easily too.

Now the next thing to learn is to let your vocal cords be the controller of the air supply, allowing what it needs to pass through and at the same time breathing normally.

There are many of philosophies on breathing techniques for letting the air passed through your vocal cords, like do you “let” the air out, do you “hold” the air back, do you “push” the air out.

You see, the most common problem with running out of breath when singing has little to do with breathing although it does play a part! That problem has to do with allowing too much air to escape when you are emptying your lungs during a song. If your vocal cords are coming together with a nice firm seal, it takes very little air to sing a strong and firm tone!

However, if you are singing into falsetto or if you have not found your chest voice at all (some women actually have this problem), you will be letting excess air escape while you are singing and you will be running out of breath much sooner than you wish to. So by using the correct method of breath control when you sing and you will never get breathless again.

Want to sing better, then master your singing breath control technique.


By:Chris Chew
About the Author:

Chris Chew owns a music education website at Why
is that singer singing so badly? and How To Sing Higher Notes Easily

If you are a singer, you are concerned about protecting your voice. It goes with the territory. Your vocal cords are your instrument and not only must you exercise them, you must take care of them. However, there will be times when you notice your voice becoming a bit ‘husky’. Most of us notice our voice getting a little raspy after a night of cheering our favorite ball team or meeting a friend for dinner at a smoky restaurant or nightclub.

But no need to despair! You are not condemned to a life of never knowing when your voice will give out or give you less than perfect pitch. There will be times when circumstances are out of your control and your voice fails you, but you can also have many more times when you are able to sing beautifully because you put a few tips into practice. If you take the following list to heart, your voice will maintain its strength and reliability much more often.

1. Rest your voice. Now this seems obvious, but that doesn’t make it any less true. If you are coming down with a cold or notice a bit of a raspy voice, rest your vocal cords. Don’t feel embarrassed to communicate through notes and email. If you have a singing engagement, saving your voice is paramount.

2. Don’t clear your throat. Throat clearing is a big no-no. When you clear your throat it causes your vocal cords to hit each other. All this does is cause irritation and damage. If you feel yourself wanting to clear your throat try taking a deep breath and yawn. The breath pushes air over the vocal cords and yawning can break up tension within the cords. If the need to clear does not completely disappear, it will at least lessen until you are able to take a drink of water.

3. Avoid oily foods and dairy products. If you have a speaking or singing engagement after a meal, avoid any type of mayonnaise at that meal. These foods are known to increase the tendency to clear your throat, which, as we just discussed, causes vocal cord damage.

4. Treat acid reflux. If you suspect that you have acid reflux disease, by all means treat it. You will relieve yourself of constant discomfort and prevent potential larynx damage. The esophagus is near the larynx and the excess acid in the esophagus due to acid reflux, is bound to damage your larynx. Take the time to visit your physician, mention all your concerns and that you are a singer and then follow their advice. You will be much better off than if you let the acid reflux go untreated.

5. Avoid smoky and dusty places. Breathing in toxins of any kind are damaging to a singer’s vocal cords. Sometimes it is unavoidable and you find yourself in the middle of a smoky bar or dusty construction site. If you are worried about your voice after a temporary visit to one of these places, use a steam inhaler once you get home. These devices are relatively inexpensive and may just save your voice!

6. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! I’m sure you’ve heard of this tip, but a reminder never hurt anyone. Include ‘wet foods’ in your daily diet. Wet foods include soup, fruit and, of course, decaffeinated beverages. Keep a bottle of water nearby at all times. The one time you don’t have a drink handy, you will go into a coughing fit – it’s Murphy’s Law. If your profession involves speaking all day, make sure that you drink water continually throughout the day. It will keep your vocal cords hydrated along with the rest of your body!

7. Don’t eat 3-4 hours before bed time. Avoid the potential for heartburn by not eating before bed. During digestion and due to the position of the body in sleep, acid can creep up into the esophagus and damage the larynx. If you have been ill or feel a cold coming on, sleep is wonderful medicine. This allows the vocal cords the time they need to heal.

It really doesn’t take much extra work to protect your vocal cords. Drinking more water and avoiding smoky places are somewhat common sense, but when combined with a few other pointers, they help to protect your singing instrument. Tired and sore vocal cords are more easily damaged and once they are damaged, the only remedy is rest. By taking a proactive approach and protecting your voice, you will feel more confident in your instrument and your abilities.


By:Kevin Sinclair
About the Author:

Kevin is the publisher and editor of musicianhome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.