How would you like to totally transform the way you sing and accomplish that in no more than three months? How would you like to sing with an ample vocal range, hitting every note impeccably? How would you like to anticipate practice sessions that are more like fun than hard work? You may not believe it now but you even might end up being able to sing like an expert nightclub entertainer or recording artist. It's inside you: You merely have to express it and, to accomplish that, you have to discover how. I'm talking about training your ear to get perfect pitch and about singing from your soul, not merely your mouth. How about learning to hit each note with expert precision? What do you think? Does that sound great to you?
Wherever you decide to have your singing lessons, you will be able to learn various exercises to help you with the very basics of singing, and breathing in the right way. People seem to get the wrong idea about singing lessons and make it much harder than it needs to be. Granted you will have to put some effort in and spend time between lessons practicing yourself, but all the work will be worth it in the end.The whole point of learning to sing is because you want to enjoy it, and to get the full amount out of your lessons you will need a fair bit of tuition. This is where if you decide to have one on one tuition you will make a rather large hole in your wallet as the weeks and months go by.
A lot of times, even great self-taught vocalists are sent to take singing lessons in preparation for recording and touring because unless you know how to use your voice properly, it's going to disappear on you and maybe even get seriously damaged. A lot of pop and rock singers especially seem to feel that it's somehow selling out or compromising your "sound" by getting vocal lessons but almost any professional musician will tell you that more music education only HELPS your chances at becoming successful.
You'll also probably be surprised to know that some of your favorite singers took or currently take voice lessons. Brandon Boyd of Incubus comes to mind as an incredibly powerful singer who was good before he took lessons but now he's just incredibly solid, in tune and relaxed and guess what...his sound is still the same! If you're still in high school, join the choir or the band. Playing an instrument always helps your singing because it improves your ear and general musicianship. But who do you go to for voice lessons? You'll find the most competent vocal coach at a university or college that has a music program.
Many people will maintain quite strongly that singing is a natural ability that you are born a singer or you're not. Now I will concede that there are many 'natural' singers in the world and I wouldn't even be surprised if the vast majority of professional singers were naturally gifted. But given will and determination almost anyone can learn to sing.
You see, like pretty much all of the major arts, singing is an extremely technical study. There can be a thousand ways to do something wrong and only 3 ways to do it right and only the eyes and ears of a highly skilled and experienced vocal coach can give you the immediate, actionable feedback you need to correct you AS you're actually performing the act.But, if for whatever reason you can't or don't want to take singing lessons - which, many people don't, and yes, they're very expensive! - then there are still A LOT of resources you can learn from and apply to your singing on your own.
Even just the act of sitting down in a room with some music playing and mindfully singing along to your favorite songs can help you gain awareness of your body, voice tone, range limitations, etc. On top of that, there are TONS of books on singing. Many of them have really great advice, although some of them can get a little technical with information about anatomy, acoustics, etc. I'd say that Richard Miller's "Art of Singing" and most books about SLS (speech level singing) are great places to start to begin understanding the fundamentals of healthy vocalism, although chances are good you already have a somewhat intuitive understanding of what good singing is and bad singing is; what sounds brilliant and what sounds god-awful.
Most of them anyway... Expect to run into some really unsavory people. But that's with any industry. As you take voice lessons and/or sing your gigs, keep continually educating yourself on all the different aspects of music: music history, music theory, aural theory, orchestration, arranging, harmony, etc. Essentially, you've just gotta keep working your butt off and growing and more and more opportunities will come your way. Remember, you're your own number 1 teacher. Even a great vocal coach who's your friend and mentor and an amazing singer and teacher can NOT replace your own drive and desire so be careful of emotional dependency, transference and vicarious living through your teach.
To get a physical feel for what your breathing is really like try this. Place your left hand over your stomach, with your thumb on your belly button, place your right hand on top. Now take a deep breath in through your nose and let your hand feel the expansion in your stomach as your belly fills up with fresh oxygen.Now try and hold it there and count to five, it's difficult I know, especially if this is your first time. OK it is time to exhale on a slow count to five release your breath mellow and slow, conserving every last bit of it. Was it difficult?
The above breathing exercise is the most basic breathing exercise you can get, it is one you should do every day - four or five times a day. It's something you can do on the train, walking down the street, standing looking in through a shop window and no one will ever know you are doing it. Given a little time and practise you will soon learn to master your breathing and as you do start to increase the breathing count - eight, twelve, fifteen and as far as you can go.
I remember my somewhat progressive choir director (she was hot, too) telling me that "singing is singing" and I was like "pfft, not it isn't. There's right singing and wrong singing, my opera singing books told me so!" Man, what a jackass I was! Pardon the language, but it illustrates how easy it is to drink the "my way is better than your way" kool aid.The point is, she was right. Singing IS singing. But with that said, every singer needs to learn how to sing in tune, how to sing high notes with ease, how to keep their body relaxed, how to listen, etc., regardless of your favorite style of singing. These are just fundamentals.After leaving my singing career, I began to see singing education more objectively and democratically and now I realize that the modern singer can and should add as much as possible to their singing toolbox and even the best teacher in the world will be wrong sometimes and it's good to consult with other sources. One person can't know it all, especially when it comes to something as incredibly rich and complex as singing.
Wherever you decide to have your singing lessons, you will be able to learn various exercises to help you with the very basics of singing, and breathing in the right way. People seem to get the wrong idea about singing lessons and make it much harder than it needs to be. Granted you will have to put some effort in and spend time between lessons practicing yourself, but all the work will be worth it in the end.The whole point of learning to sing is because you want to enjoy it, and to get the full amount out of your lessons you will need a fair bit of tuition. This is where if you decide to have one on one tuition you will make a rather large hole in your wallet as the weeks and months go by.
A lot of times, even great self-taught vocalists are sent to take singing lessons in preparation for recording and touring because unless you know how to use your voice properly, it's going to disappear on you and maybe even get seriously damaged. A lot of pop and rock singers especially seem to feel that it's somehow selling out or compromising your "sound" by getting vocal lessons but almost any professional musician will tell you that more music education only HELPS your chances at becoming successful.
You'll also probably be surprised to know that some of your favorite singers took or currently take voice lessons. Brandon Boyd of Incubus comes to mind as an incredibly powerful singer who was good before he took lessons but now he's just incredibly solid, in tune and relaxed and guess what...his sound is still the same! If you're still in high school, join the choir or the band. Playing an instrument always helps your singing because it improves your ear and general musicianship. But who do you go to for voice lessons? You'll find the most competent vocal coach at a university or college that has a music program.
Many people will maintain quite strongly that singing is a natural ability that you are born a singer or you're not. Now I will concede that there are many 'natural' singers in the world and I wouldn't even be surprised if the vast majority of professional singers were naturally gifted. But given will and determination almost anyone can learn to sing.
You see, like pretty much all of the major arts, singing is an extremely technical study. There can be a thousand ways to do something wrong and only 3 ways to do it right and only the eyes and ears of a highly skilled and experienced vocal coach can give you the immediate, actionable feedback you need to correct you AS you're actually performing the act.But, if for whatever reason you can't or don't want to take singing lessons - which, many people don't, and yes, they're very expensive! - then there are still A LOT of resources you can learn from and apply to your singing on your own.
Even just the act of sitting down in a room with some music playing and mindfully singing along to your favorite songs can help you gain awareness of your body, voice tone, range limitations, etc. On top of that, there are TONS of books on singing. Many of them have really great advice, although some of them can get a little technical with information about anatomy, acoustics, etc. I'd say that Richard Miller's "Art of Singing" and most books about SLS (speech level singing) are great places to start to begin understanding the fundamentals of healthy vocalism, although chances are good you already have a somewhat intuitive understanding of what good singing is and bad singing is; what sounds brilliant and what sounds god-awful.
Most of them anyway... Expect to run into some really unsavory people. But that's with any industry. As you take voice lessons and/or sing your gigs, keep continually educating yourself on all the different aspects of music: music history, music theory, aural theory, orchestration, arranging, harmony, etc. Essentially, you've just gotta keep working your butt off and growing and more and more opportunities will come your way. Remember, you're your own number 1 teacher. Even a great vocal coach who's your friend and mentor and an amazing singer and teacher can NOT replace your own drive and desire so be careful of emotional dependency, transference and vicarious living through your teach.
To get a physical feel for what your breathing is really like try this. Place your left hand over your stomach, with your thumb on your belly button, place your right hand on top. Now take a deep breath in through your nose and let your hand feel the expansion in your stomach as your belly fills up with fresh oxygen.Now try and hold it there and count to five, it's difficult I know, especially if this is your first time. OK it is time to exhale on a slow count to five release your breath mellow and slow, conserving every last bit of it. Was it difficult?
The above breathing exercise is the most basic breathing exercise you can get, it is one you should do every day - four or five times a day. It's something you can do on the train, walking down the street, standing looking in through a shop window and no one will ever know you are doing it. Given a little time and practise you will soon learn to master your breathing and as you do start to increase the breathing count - eight, twelve, fifteen and as far as you can go.
I remember my somewhat progressive choir director (she was hot, too) telling me that "singing is singing" and I was like "pfft, not it isn't. There's right singing and wrong singing, my opera singing books told me so!" Man, what a jackass I was! Pardon the language, but it illustrates how easy it is to drink the "my way is better than your way" kool aid.The point is, she was right. Singing IS singing. But with that said, every singer needs to learn how to sing in tune, how to sing high notes with ease, how to keep their body relaxed, how to listen, etc., regardless of your favorite style of singing. These are just fundamentals.After leaving my singing career, I began to see singing education more objectively and democratically and now I realize that the modern singer can and should add as much as possible to their singing toolbox and even the best teacher in the world will be wrong sometimes and it's good to consult with other sources. One person can't know it all, especially when it comes to something as incredibly rich and complex as singing.
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