Your voice
The first mistake that most people make is trying to sound like their favourite singer … and usually failing. At this point they assume that they cannot sing … and give up trying! They never realise the full potential of their voice, and the world loses the chance to hear what could be another great singer. Your voice is totally unique and, with the correct training and health care , you can turn it into a beautiful finely tuned instrument that will bring pleasure to yourself and others. Most people mistakenly believe that they cannot sing or are “tone deaf”. They believe that you are either born with the talent of singing or not. Yet no one would assume that we can automatically play the guitar, ride a bike, or climb the Alps. These are skills that come about through training and experience. Why should you consider your voice to be any different? You had to learn how to talk … so why believe that you shouldn’t have to learn how to sing? Think of it as learning a new language. It is vital that you train your voice. Look for a singing teacher you can get on well with – and who is prepared to work, at least part of the time, with the type of music YOU want to sing. If you are still at school or college and they have a choir – go and join it – it’s training for FREE! … and you will meet other like minded singers who might want to start up a group with you. Use the following links to jump straight to the section you need: Introduction
Fundamentals of singing
How many voices do you have?
Chest voice
Middle voice
Head voice
Karaoke singing syndrome
Fatigue and tightness of the Vocal Cords
Using too much energy in your singing
Singing off pitch
Limited range or a weak singing voice
Introduction
If you have never sang before or even if you have but never understood the physical mechanics behind singing, it is very important you know exactly what is happening when you sing. Many coaches do not even tell their students what the physical parts of the voice are doing when they sing. In ideal circumstances a voice has no registers, it is one smoothed out instrument. From lowest to highest pitch the singer moves without ‘breaks’, and without noticeable shifts to the listener. All with ease, no forcing or pushing needed. But even some trained singers do not have a voice devoid of breaks.
A singer without bridges that are smoothed out often sounds like they are singing with two or three separate voices. Without the breaks smoothed out a singer often hurts their voice because they do not know when to shift seamlessly to the next register.
Back to top Fundamentals of singing
These are the things that you must absolutely know how to do to have a great singing voice. Breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is easily learned with a good tutor. A strong singing voice needs strong support and you will need to be able to maintain your stamina. Chord adducting. If you cannot shorten your vocal chords, there is no way you will be able to hit high notes in your range without pushing up chest and straining. You will also have great difficulty smoothing out your bridges. Larynx control. To have total control over your tone, and make it full or thin as desired, you need to have the ability to control the position of your larynx while singing. Resonance, Once you have mastered the fundamentals listed above you will have resonance.
Back to top How many voices do you have?
There are six useable parts of a persons voice, they are; Vocal fry, Chest voice, Middle voice, Head voice, Whistle, and Falsetto. We will describe just Chest, Middle, and Head. The others voices are used almost entirely for style, and should be worked on after smoothing out the most common bridges.
Back to top Chest voice
This is the voice that most people talk in. When you sing in your chest voice the vocal chords are all the way apart and air flows over the whole length of them. As the name implies this is a deep full sound. Most of the resonance is felt below the cords in the upper chest and comes straight out of the mouth without stopping at the back of the pallet or the mask. It is the voice most abused by singers that do not know how to adduct or shorten their vocal cords while singing. Chest voice is only supposed to be taken to the point where you can no longer go comfortably up in pitch. A lot of singers force higher notes that they should be hitting with middle or even head voice – ending up singing in their middle voice or mixed voice as some term it. Some coaches will argue that it does not exist. Most of these coaches are classically trained or choir directors. Their training guides them to sing low notes with chest voice and sing high notes with head voice. Unfortunately many students have taken their advice and found their voice is useless for commercial use. If chord shortening is done correctly once you reach the limit of your chest voice, the voice shifts to middle.
Back to top Middle voice
Why is it called middle? First of all the chords are shortened and they produce a higher sounding pitch than chest but not as high as head. Secondly because of the sound it produces, middle voice is the voice that singers are looking to master (whether they know it or not.) It has a higher output and a commercial sound. It possesses the best qualities of both chest and head voice. If you have ever listened to a singer and were amazed at how full their voice was, or how easy they made it seem to hit high notes, it was because they have smoothed out their bridges and have a mastery of middle.
Back to top Head voice
When your middle voice has reached the comfortable limit the chords keep shortening and head voice is reached. As the name implies most of the resonance is felt in the head. The resonance is felt strongest from the middle of the pallet to the mask, with almost none felt at the back of the pallet. This is the voice most people break into when first trying to smooth their registers and make them seamless. It sounds light and hollow, like a flute, and is most often used by women singing in church choirs. If you really need to sing this high, with more practice it is possible to develop a mixed head voice that is suitable for commercial use.
Back to top Karaoke singing syndrome
Many students sing well from the start tonal wise, but when they attempt to sing something of their own creation their voice falls apart. This is due the fact that they never sang on their own before. They were always singing along to another singers voice. They end up psychologically dependant on this. Singing along to another singer is one of the worst ways to train your voice.
Back to top Fatigue and tightness of the Vocal Cords
Even a good singer will experience these if they do not do the proper warm-ups and warm-downs. It is important to learn about exercises that will massage and loosen your vocal cords to keep them in a healthy state and help achieve your full potential.
Back to top Using too much energy in your singing
Many untrained singers are guilty of this. Most often singers pull up their chest to create a bigger sound but do not know how to make a resonant powerful tone without forcing excess air out. With training you can learn how to hit the same pitch both powerfully and gently with very little physical effort. This will enable you to sing for longer periods without over-tiring and help to maintain breath control.
Back to top Singing off pitch
There are only a few reasons someone cannot sing on pitch. Either the breaks/bridges between their different ranges are not smoothed out yet, or they have not allowed themselves to consolidate their tones first before attempting them while doing scale work. Working with scales is an essential part of vocal work
Back to top . Limited range or a weak singing voice
Again this has to do with vocal cord shortening and smoothing out the bridges. If you cannot shorten your cords to go up in pitch you have to force your chest voice. Singing with this wrong approach you hit a wall and your range is limited. The same applies to having a weak voice. People who sing very airy or gently and then fail if they try for a more powerful tone - simply do not have good control over cord adduction. When they try for a full tone they have not trained their cords to withstand the air flowing over them in a shortened position and the cords break apart.
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