Singing (singer, band, Soprano, Alto, Countertenor)

VEGANGELICA · 10-19-2009, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OceanAndSilence

truth of the matter is if you want to be a great singer (that is powerful AND consistent) you have to practise singing techniques for at least half an hour every day. it's like learning an instrument; the process is slow. you must do vocal exercises and it takes at least 6 months for good results. i went to uni and had vocal lessons however i never practised them, and i still don't. so i know the techniques but haven't bothered practising them. i'm too lazy. luckily my voice has a pretty good range naturally, but i still struggle sometimes with any note over A5 in my chest register (since you're actually meant to use mixed register) and an F#6 in falsetto.

the main aspect of singing effortlessly is keeping you larynx stable... focus on that and the rest really comes naturally. i've never run out of breath while singing.

Hello OceanAndSilence,
I feel your advice to practice at least 30 minutes every day is very good. During the last 2 weeks, while I was practicing for a musical, singing an hour every day helped me improve my consistency, such as my ability to keep my throat position stable as I sang lower and then higher notes (preventing a break in the sound as I switch from one to the other).

We finally had our two performances last Thursday and Friday, and I felt I was able to sing the songs much better than I was able to sing them 2 weeks ago, before we began daily singing practices. I will try to continue to practice regularly.

During run-throughs and the actual performances, I found I had to remember two things before every song: (1) take a full, deep breath, and (2) open my mouth quite wide (as if I were going to exclaim, "Ahh!") before the first note. I actually wrote "Breathe! Open!" at the top of each song to remind myself. It turned out we used microphones for singing, so I didn't have to project as much as I thought I'd need to, yet the deep breath and the reminder to open my mouth wide helped ensure I actually got a clean first note with my throat in more of an open, yawning position.