My apartment is a very musical one. We all randomly break out into song. Some of us can hit the notes and some... Well I'm surprised our light bulbs haven't blown. In an attempt to increase the quality of singing, I decided to give my roommates a lesson. This was going to be fun :)
Before I begin I'd like to refer you to one of my older posts for the history of singing. I also would like the reader to be secure in the knowledge that I am qualified to give singing advice. I have been taking singing lessons for six years and have won multiple solo competitions. It turns out, though, that teaching is not so easy...
Breathing is one of the most important aspects of singing. You have to breathe a certain way in order to sustain the note and have the right amount of air to vibrate the vocal chords to hit the correct note. The video below explains how the diaphragm is the muscle that we use to inhale and exhale. Notice that the shoulders do not move during inhalation.
To check that you are breathing deeply enough, lie down on the floor and place a textbook upon your stomach. When you breathe in, the books should move up. Slowly let the books down with your stomach when you breathe out.
The trick with singing is not to push the breath through the vocal chords. Let it just soar! The breath will do all the work, you abs should not be pushing air out of your lungs. Forcing air through the chords will cause tension in your throat so that you will not be able to reach higher notes without sounding like a screeching harpy. Sure, some people can get away with it, but as you continue in a singing career you'll notice that it gradually gets harder to sing. In the end your voice could be fried.
After working on releasing the breath, we focused on space in the mouth. Space created in the mouth makes the sound resonate within the skull so that when it exits, it sounds 'ringy' and gorgeous. To get that space, breathe in on the letter K. It'll sound kind of like "KAH". This opens up the back of the throat ready to sing. You want to try to keep that kind of space when singing.
Though this was not a very long session, I think I may have helped Sydney to use her voice better and be able to use the breath to get to the higher notes she loves instead of pushing for them. I guess we'll find out when we sing in the church choir on Sunday.
Before I begin I'd like to refer you to one of my older posts for the history of singing. I also would like the reader to be secure in the knowledge that I am qualified to give singing advice. I have been taking singing lessons for six years and have won multiple solo competitions. It turns out, though, that teaching is not so easy...
Breathing is one of the most important aspects of singing. You have to breathe a certain way in order to sustain the note and have the right amount of air to vibrate the vocal chords to hit the correct note. The video below explains how the diaphragm is the muscle that we use to inhale and exhale. Notice that the shoulders do not move during inhalation.
The trick with singing is not to push the breath through the vocal chords. Let it just soar! The breath will do all the work, you abs should not be pushing air out of your lungs. Forcing air through the chords will cause tension in your throat so that you will not be able to reach higher notes without sounding like a screeching harpy. Sure, some people can get away with it, but as you continue in a singing career you'll notice that it gradually gets harder to sing. In the end your voice could be fried.
After working on releasing the breath, we focused on space in the mouth. Space created in the mouth makes the sound resonate within the skull so that when it exits, it sounds 'ringy' and gorgeous. To get that space, breathe in on the letter K. It'll sound kind of like "KAH". This opens up the back of the throat ready to sing. You want to try to keep that kind of space when singing.
Though this was not a very long session, I think I may have helped Sydney to use her voice better and be able to use the breath to get to the higher notes she loves instead of pushing for them. I guess we'll find out when we sing in the church choir on Sunday.
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