subject: How To Sing And Conquer Stage Fright [print this page] Everybody knows how to sing, well at least that is what most people feel. We all have a thinking that everybody knows how to sing. Sure, we all can sing but there is a right way of doing it and there's the wrong way. Or, we can rephrase that and say, there's a healthy and sustainable way as opposed to unhealthy and potentially harmful ways.
Pamper Yourself and Your Voice
You must take care of your body in order to take care of your voice, whether you want a glamorous career in music or a recreational singer, you must take care of your voice to sound as good as it can. The best way to preserve your voice is to keep yourself physically fit and in good overall health. In order to do this, follow a healthy diet, take enough sleep, and do moderate exercises. Avoid smoking, illegal drugs, and excessive use of alcohol.
In public image, those hard-partying rock star is most often than not, is not real. Most of the recording artists who have had the longest careers have taken good care of themselves and avoided the excesses that prematurely ended the careers of such talents as Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Elvis Presley.
If you want to be a serious singer, whether professional or recreational, you'll need some training on how to sing. Aspiring professionals like nurses, engineers and accountants must got to school to pursue their chosen occupation. You can either find a local teacher and take lessons, or use an online singing course. Example of online singing courses are Singing Is Easy by Yvonne DeBandi or Singorama by Emily Mander.
You need to learn how your vocal apparatus works and how to use it, and also avoid or deal any voice problems regardless of which method you choose. Remember that learning how to sing can be fun and exciting with the right teacher or program you got.
In producing the best vocal tone, it's important that you are aware of the correct posture and breath support, which should be the first thing that nay good teacher or online course should discuss first. The best singing posture is to stand erect but relaxed, with your feet about hip-width apart and one slightly forward. For shoulders, it should be in back and the chest high but it does not the same as a soldier standing at attention. Not that rigid but a little relaxed.
Here is an easy exercise to help you achieve good singing posture. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your arms at your sides. Bring your arms in a rapid circular motion across your body and over your head, rising onto your tiptoes at the same time while taking in a good, deep breath.
Slowly start to exhale, bringing your arms down to your sides and coming down from your toes. Try to keep you chest and shoulders in the same postition they were in at the top of the stretch as you exhale and bringing your arms down.
Without straining your throat, breath support enabled you to produce a pleasant tone. You should feel expansion all around you midsection when you inhale to sing. Your diaphragm, abdominal, and spinal muscles should all be working together. During this time your abdominal and spinal muscles should all be working together as well as your diaphragm.
Breath out on a hissing sound once you have taken a good breath and try to maintain the expansion of your midsetion. It will take some time and effort to strengthen those muscles, but ultimately you will learn to sing in a healthy manner, with better tone and less vocal fatigue.
Posture and breath support are only the foundation of how to sing well. The next level is tone placement and quality. The chest, the pharynx (mouth and throat), and the head (sinuses) are the three primary areas where our vocal tone resonates. For lower notes, you use your "Cheast voice" and you use your "head voice" for higher notes.
There are times, that you may want to use the sound coming from both the pharynx and the head. Voice teachers usually call it "mixed tone". The combination is called mask resonance, because you want to feel the sound vibrations in the area that would be covered by a half-face Halloween mask.
With this simple exercise, you can feel the mask resonance. Tale a full deep, supported breath. Starting on a high note with the syllable "hoo" or "hee", slide from the top of your range down to the bottom. It should feel a bit like yawning, and you should feel vibration in the soft palate (roof of your mouth) and in the triangle between your eyes and the bridge of your nose.
Mastering these basics is the first step in learning how to sing. It will take time, effort, and practice, but if you work patiently and consistently, you will see results.
