Time to bid adieu to those faces that your family and friends end up making every time you start singing.  Singing in front of your crush can get embarrassing if you are a bad singer. You can be a bad singer, and I want to bust one of the biggest myths of all time.

If you’re a bad singer, you cannot become a good singer. The fact is anyone can learn singing with the right techniques and mentorship.

So, let me walk you through the techniques that will help you improve your singing. I have split the blog into two parts: Basic Techniques and Advanced Techniques.

You will learn from scratch how to sing and become a good singer.

Basic Techniques for Singing

The basics of singing include posture, breathing and vocal range. Let us walk you through each of these basics in detail.

Posture:

Correct posture will boost your performance as it improves your singing voice.

Did you know that one sings better while standing against while they are sitting? But here is the catch. You need to stand in the correct posture to hit the right notes and vocal ranges.

How to get the right posture for singing?

• Stand tall with an elongated spine.

• Align your feet, hip, and shoulder in a straight line. The feet should be shoulder-distance apart with a slight bend in your knees.

• Keep your chest high to give your lungs enough room to expand and collapse.

• As you start singing, keep your tongue and throat in check to ensure they are in a relaxed state.

In nutshell, you need to ground yourself yet be comfortable at the same time. A firm posture impacts your breathing; thus your singing voice.

Let us move on to the next point; breathing exercises to improve singing.

Breath through Diaphragm:

The way you breathe affects your voice, determining if you can hit the right notes. Since our childhood, we have been taught to pull our stomach in as we inhale. But, when it comes to singing, you need to let your stomach expand as you inhale and contract while exhaling.

So, how do you know if you got it right?

Stand in front of the mirror and try breathing through your stomach. If there is any movement in your shoulder or chest, psst… something is off.

Further, for many of us; “shallow breathing” through the chest is the default. Thus it is necessary to learn “deep breathing” through the diaphragm.

Did you know the secret sauce to hit high notes while singing?

Deep breathing through the diaphragm and letting your stomach expand as you inhale. This strengthens your abdominal muscles allowing you to breathe in more air.

The next step is to become aware of your breathing and take deep breaths through your diaphragm. This will retrain your body to breathe deeply. Then you can shift your focus to mastering vocal ranges.

Vocal:

Before we move on to discuss anything about vocal range, there are a few things that you should be aware of. It is essential to warm up our vocal cords, else you might end up straining or damaging your vocal cord.

What are some good warm-up exercises for your vocal?

Humming and Lip Trills: The technique is also called “Lip Bubbles.” It is fun and easy to do this exercise. You need to make the noise of the engine revving up while playing with the toy race car.

Keep your mouth closed and the lips relaxed as they roll or buzz together.

How do you know you’re doing it, right?If you can feel the steady airflow through the lips while making noise with your vocal folds at the same time, you have aced this warm-up technique.

Tongue Twisters: Yes, one of our favourite games from childhood. As singers, it is crucial to spell out words clearly. Here we’re sharing some tongue twisters to help you warm up your vocals. Say them out loud as fast as possible. 

• “Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?” 

• “Which witch switched the Swiss wristwatches?” 

• “Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup.”

As you practice, these tongue twisters emphasize relevant sounds or words.

Once you complete warming up your vocals, it is time to work on improving your vocal range. For this, I would recommend you sign up for online singing lessons that can provide you with instant feedback.

Advanced Singing Techniques

After working through the posture, breathing technique and warming up your vocal, the next is to

• Get trained under an expert. But if you cannot afford or spend time for the same, you can always practice online. I can understand practicing online with unstructured content is tedious. Thus, I’ll recommend you learn through apps that offer you personalized feedback. 

• If you need help with your vocals, you can hire a vocal coach to assist you and help you get better. 

• You can further join local choirs to practice with like-minded people. 

• Ensure you are taking some time out of your busy schedule to practice.

To conclude, one can always learn how to sing all by themselves. If you need a friend to practice with you, Riyaz is always here for you.

Related Articles

• How to Sing Better: Vocal Flexibility
• Singing Exercises: Importance of Vocal Warmups
• How to Sing Better: Voice Culture
• How to take care of your voice?