Singing Lessons

Most people think that singers with good voices are born with them. Yes, although some people have better singing voices than others, most, if not all good singers undergo vocal training to improve their voices.

Most of the singer’s training is done through specific vocal exercises to achieve certain effects such as singing powerfully, getting vibrato into the singing voice or even expanding your vocal range so that singing higher notes is a breeze.

Unfortunately, this article cannot do that as the exercises must be physically demonstrated and manually practised. So instead of learning how to get a good voice, this article will show you how to protect and preserve your singing voice because your voice quality can be destroyed by bad habits that you may not even know you have.

Your voice is produced by a delicate mechanism and when used correctly, it rarely gives you any problem. So take good care of your precious voice and will serve you well for your lifetime.

The first golden rule to having a good voice quality is not to take up smoking and if you are already a smoker, do quit smoking before this nasty habit destroys your singing voice further.

The thousands of irritants and chemicals in cigarettes damage your voice and will certainly shorten your singing career and even your life unless you are a rock singer and need to have a raspy and coarse voice.

Always stay hydrated and as such, you need to stay away from caffeine, alcohol and other substance that dehydrates you. The vocal folds must be hydrated at all times to stay healthy and lubricated. So drink plenty of drink as much water everyday to keep them hydrated.

If you are on medication, check with your doctor or pharmacist whether the medicine you are taking is dehydrating. As a general guide, your body should be well hydrated when your urine is clear and not cloudy.

Everyone’s voice has its own limitations. So get to know yours. Shouting, talking loudly or even singing forcefully is damaging to your vocal cords, this is sheer common sense, but many singers still abuse their voices this way. So don’t shout.

Unfortunately, some people think that to sing powerfully, they have to shout. No, they don’t have to. You can develop a powerful voice with the correct vocal exercises without having to shout.

Your vocal cords collide with each other more than a million times everyday when you produce a sound and so, any extra harsh activities like shouting puts further strain on the already overused vocal cords.

When recovering from a coarse voice like say, from a sore throat, avoid any unnecessary conversations or phone calls to let your voice fully recover. Otherwise your recovery will be slower and even then, small permanent damages may occur.

You need to know that your vocal cords are muscles and therefore like any muscles, they need a thorough warm up before it can perform at its peak when you are singing. By the same token, they need to be cooled down with vocal exercises after your performances.

Just because you get away without warming up or cooling down now does not guarantee that you will not damage your voice in the future.

Next on the list is to avoid late night eating because this may end up with your stomach acid spilling into your larynx when you lie down to sleep and causing a hoarse voice and over the long term, permanent voice damage.

These are just some of the many things that you should not do to preserve, protect and maintain your voice producing mechanism so that you can have a good singing voice permanently.


By:Chris Chew
About the Author:
Chris Chew owns a music education website at Learn How To Sing With Confidence and Learn How To Be A Better Singer

According to some studies, you can gain a longer life and great health depending on how good you are at breathing! It just sounds ridiculous right? However, this is very true. There is a proper way of breathing. And doing this can make you fit and healthy while making you a better singer.

In order to have a good foundation is singing; you have to learn how to breathe properly by using a good breathing method. The stable and continuous flow of air is what makes the sound we make in singing great. Your singing as well as duration, capacity and strength will have better quality if you learn how to control the flow of air which will enable you to control your singing amazingly.

Relaxation techniques specifically on quiet inhalations should be included in a good breathing method. In order to relax your muscles that border the vocal cords, you have to do some exercises and stretches. These include yawning while you are inhaling and exhaling.

Stand calm and straight in a proper posture initially. In order to have more details about this, try reading our reviews on how to breathe properly at learntosing123.com. A detailed explanation can be seen there.

Deeply take a breath by using your diaphragm. The diaphragm is a strong muscle that is located below the sacs of our lungs. Get to feel it, you have to feel your rib cage as well as the abdominal area expand as your diaphragm presses on them. This will enable your lungs to take more air in. And then, exhale with your lips pursed together.

You have to repeat doing these exercise 4 counts on inhaling as well as exhaling. Keep in mind that you also have to consider doing the quiet inhalation of air with the use of yawning exercise. It can be very useful to do this method. Even though it may not be much needed on voice placement, it is very helpful since it helps the muscles relax to inhale air quietly and fast. While you are doing you vocal exercises, try pushing your belly muscles outward.

For you to see if you are doing it properly, try to put some books above your belly or lie flat on the floor and breathe. If you see that the book is raised while you breathe, then that it just quite right and keep at it. Develop these proper habits and ask someone who has the experience to guide you if you find it hard. It is important to do so because getting rid of bad habits is difficult to do. So spend some time in training or rehearsing. To have a good control over your breathing and form good breathing habits, do this good breathing method ( the books on the belly part is excluded).

While you are doing the exercise, avoid some movements like moving your head, neck and shoulders. Your chin should just be positioned on its normal level, not beyond or below. Effortless and natural – that is the best description of breathing properly.

It is a very crucial part to develop your singing skills by using a good breathing method. You have to practice constantly and have the determination to learn. I hope that this article have helped you in acquiring the methods and techniques of breathing and contribute to giving you a healthy and long life. You can achieve your dream of becoming a better singer if you are just patient.


By:Sarah Smith
About the Author:
Are you interested on how to learn to sing? If yes, visit our site learntosing123.com. From there you can see some helpful and free article about Voice Lessons and Practice. So what are you waiting for? Learn to sing now!