Tuesday 17 September 2013

Learn To Sing Like A Pro

By Denise N. Bates


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?

Sounds terrific, doesn't it? But, right about now, you are undoubtedly asking yourself how all this can be completed in just three months. Let me tell you about Singorama, a professional vocal learning course that is now to be had at a VERY realistic and reasonable cost, especially considering all it offers you.It makes absolutely NO difference WHY you aspire to sing well. You may merely want do it for the simple pleasure of it. Maybe you would like to get a gig with a band, enter a karaoke contest, sing in church, or even reach stardom! The principal thing, in any event, is that you discover how to sing like a pro. Even if you are already a successful performer, you'll be astonished at how much more excellent you can become with a little structured practice utilizing this professional system.

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.

You love singing along with your favorite singers and bands, but sometimes you find yourself straining to hit a high note or singing out of tune and think "whoa" that sounded like crap!" You chuckle at yourself for a minute but then realize that you actually genuinely love to sing and you'd like to learn to do it better.Usually, what you'd do is go find yourself a singing teacher and take a few voice lessons. The problem is, that vocal coaching is really expensive (Like $40+ an hour). Plus, it can be hard to find quality instruction from a competent teacher, which is a big deal because bad vocal habits get engrained in muscle memory and are very hard to unlearn.

But how does a 'non-singer learn to sing. Well it's down to three main elements: training, technique and above all else practice. Don't think for one moment that professional singers walk on stage and start singing. They don't, they've all got their favourite warm up routines, most of them will clear their throats and give it a good wash by drinking a large glass of water. Nothing more. Watch a singer on stage and see how often he takes a sip of water, water is oil for the vocal chords and when they are not on stage they practise constantly.

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.

As you're learning, remember the part about singing being a very technical subject because you WILL find yourself frustrated often by this challenging yet ultimately rewarding and beautiful art/skill.A step up from books about singing are all the various video courses and tutorials about singing that you can find both in stores and online. Some of these are really excellent and fairly comprehensive; others are total garbage; and others still are good but only cover specific things while leaving something else out. For instance, if one singing tutorial doesn't teach you much about breathing, then a second tutorial DOES, but neglects to discuss how to sing high notes.There's no cure-all product or solution. Singing is a huge subject with a lot to cover, so no ONE course could possibly teach you everything you need to know!

Even if you take voice lessons weekly, it's good to go visit another teacher and get another perspective. Working with high quality singing software programs will also put you way ahead of the curve. Sing With Freedom is great for increasing your range and relaxation while Singorama is a fantastic musicianship course. Learning To Sing As A Hobby If you've read the first section, your probably thinking...crap, I've gotta go through all that when learning to sing? Well, no.

That's only if you want to do it professionally. But if you just love singing and want to be a better singer, learning singing is going to be a lot less time consuming for you. Of course, I still recommend that you take voice lessons once a week or so because it'll hold you accountable and keep you on track and progressing, whereas if you were left to your own devices you'd probably let your singing stagnate.

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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