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There are many reasons why vocal warm-ups are so important. Your warm-up regimen should include breathing exercises, as well as vocal exercises. Warming up keeps your voice healthy, helps you sound your best and protects you against vocal damage. They also stretch your vocal cords and help clear your throat. It is the best way to prepare you voice for singing. The first part of your vocal warm-up regimen is breathing exercises. For instance, inhale rapidly through your nose with…
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Singing or playing piano with a specific style depends on a few things. How do you interpret the lyrics for a song? What do they mean to you? What feelings do the words awaken in you, and how can you evoke those feeling to the audience? Where does it make sense to increase or decrease volume? Also, the rhythmic pattern you choose to use will create a specific feel and style to the song. Whether it’s Pop, Country, Opera, Classical,…
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Any aspiring singer should aim to achieve clear enunciation (to articulate, pronounce each syllable). The right inflections (rise and fall of pitch), diction (the style of enunciating) and pronunciation (the way you sound out a word) affect the feeling of a song. If you are mumbling the words you are singing, you will not get your message across because no one will know what the song is about. A good singer will have clear enunciation and they will craft each…
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To begin writing your own songs can be a bit intimidating. The starting process of writing a song can take just as long as finishing the song. Choose the idea or subject. The idea or story you want to tell can take some thought and brainstorming. Here are some tips to help you along. Working with a few people can help in the beginning. You can bounce ideas off each other and help get the creative process going. If you…
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Singing is a physical production and actually has cardiovascular benefits. Even if you do not move around, the muscles in the torso, neck and the lungs are being used. A singer creates sound by using the abdominal and back muscles, the rib cage, throat, oral and sinus cavity. The vocal folds (cords) snap open and closed when you sing. There are so many different bodily functions going on when vocalizing. If you are performing a live show, the physical activity…
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Do singing voices age? Yes, as you get older your larynx, vocal cords and the rest of your body ages. Your skin goes through the aging process, it thins and stiffens. The larynx and vocal cords begin shrinking as well. As the vocal cords lose flexibility, a singer can lose control over the top of their head register, become less flexible and a singer’s voice can shift and drop. Many changes will happen over time as you age. As a…
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The singing voice is believed to be the first original musical instrument. No one really knows who invented music. There is no historical evidence that exists to tell us when the first song was created. No one knows who made the first rhythmic patterns that resemble the music we know today. The only thing researchers know is that music was created thousands of years ago. The vocal production of music is so basic and predates the development of the spoken…
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Is singing a skill or a talent? It is both natural talent and a taught skill. Some people are just naturally talented vocalists with great tone and pitch, while others have to work at the skill. A good singing voice can be taught. Talent is subjective, it’s a personal feeling, taste, or opinion. To be a successful singer, you must have a pleasant-sounding voice. If you speak with a nasal tone, you will sing with a nasal tone. An appealing…
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What is twang? It is a technique used in performance to help singers have more power in their voice through amplification. Inside your larynx, which is the voice box, houses your vocal cords. When the vocal cords vibrate, they create sound when you sing. At the top of your larynx is the epiglottis. The epiglottis is a flap of tissue and cartilage located above the vocal cords. It is beneath the tongue at the back of the throat. When you…
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Your voice is like any other musical instrument and it has its own special resonating chambers for your tone. The vocal cords produce a tone, the tone resonates or vibrates through open ducts and chambers. Your resonating chambers are in the chest, mouth, nose (sinus mask) or head. These different chambers represent various vocal colors. For instance, a voice can go from dark (chest) resonance to a bright (nasal or head) resonance. This allows the singer to achieve a spectrum…
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