VOICE TRAINING TIPS

Table of Contents

1.General Tips

2.Useful Practice Tips

2.1Introduction

2.2Training Exercises

3.Voice Aids

3.1Things That Soothe The Voice

3.2Things/Foods To Avoid Just Before Singing

1.General Tips

The voice is a natural God given instrument that should be understood, developedand taken care of appropriately for better performance and output.

Find below some general rules for maintaining a good voice:

1.Don't abuse or misuse your voice. Avoid yelling or screaming, and try not to talk loudly in noisy areas. If your throat feels dry or tired, or your voice is getting hoarse, reduce your voice use. The hoarseness is a warning sign that your vocal cords are irritated.

2.Keep your throat and neck muscles relaxed even when singing high notes and low notes. Some singers tilt their heads up when singing high notes and down when singing low notes. "The high notes are on the ceiling and the low notes are on the floor," According to Rosenberg, a voice trainer: "Over time, you'll pay for that"—not just with strained vocal muscles but also by causing future limits on the vocal range.

3.Don't clear your throat too often. When you clear your throat, it's like slamming your vocal cords together. Doing it too much can injure them and make you hoarse. Try a sip of water or swallow to quench the urge to clear. If you feel like you have to clear your throat a lot, get checked by a doctor for such things as acid reflux disease, or allergy and sinus conditions.

5.When you're sick, spare your voice. Don't talk when you're hoarse due to a cold or infection. Listen to what your voice is telling you.

6.When you have to speak publicly, to large groups or outdoors, think about using amplification to avoid straining your voice.

7.Humidify your home and work areas. Remember, moist is good for the voice.

8.Do lip or tongue trills in the morning (try it in the shower or on your drive to work) to facilitate better use of airflow and breath.

9.Perform gentle humming and cooing to warm up your voice in the morning.

10.If you do more vocally complex warm-ups too, such as vocal scales, do the simple warm-ups first.

11.Repeat these exercises throughout the day to reduce muscular tension in the neck, shoulders and jaw.

12.At the end of the day, perform a cool-down of the voice with similar vocal tasks.

13.Drink water to keep your body well hydrated, and avoid alcohol and caffeine. Your vocal cords vibrate very fast, and having a proper water balance helps keep them lubricated. Important note: Foods containing large amounts of water are excellent. Hydration-conscious snacks, including apples, pears, watermelon, peaches, melons, grapes, plums, bell peppers and applesauce are great.

13.Allow yourself several "vocal naps" every day, especially during periods of extended use. For instance, teachers should avoid speaking during the breaks between classes and find quiet ways to spend the lunch hour rather than talking in a noisy staff room with colleagues.

14.Don't smoke, or if you already do, quit. Smoking raises the risk of throat cancer tremendously, and inhaling smoke (even secondhand smoke) can irritate the vocal cords

15 Keep good posture.Keep both of your feet flat on the ground and imagine a string over your head, holding your body in line. In order for air to flow easily through your system, you must maintain good posture.

16.Record yourself. If you don’t like listening to yourself sing, start getting used to it. Every singer needs to listen and critique themselves, whether they want to or not.(You can use your phones or any other recording device) to determine where you need improvement. It will also be a good way to track your progress and see how far you have come. A step forward is to choose a song you will like to perform already done by a professional singer and try to sing the song like the singer. Record your singing and compare with the original version. This will help you see where your deficiencies are and where you need to improve. You can keep doing the recording, comparing and making necessary corrections until you are perfect. The major aim of this is not just to sing exactly like the singer for the fun of it but to try and develop the skills they have so that you now use those skills in your own singing.

17.Don’t strain. Your body should never be in any pain while singing. If it does, then you’re either singing out of your range or doing something wrong. Any pain from singing too loudly is usually because you aren’t supporting your voice well enough with your breath, meaning your vocal cords are doing all the work. If you feel pain when trying to hit very high or low notes, you should probably sing something more in your range. No matter how good your breath control is, you may still not be able to hit certain notes.

18.The position of your tongue is very important. The tongue plays a bigger role than you probably expect when it comes to vocal tone. Bring your tongue forward and make sure the tip of it is touching the bottom of your teeth. This allows more airspace and should help you produce a more vibrant, resonating sound to your singing. By pulling your tongue down towards your throat, you will create a deep, darker classical voice.

19.Larynx position -while singing, the larynx constantly moves up and down. When having a conversation with someone, the larynx tends to be relaxed and is stable. The goal is to experiment and be conscious of where you want it be positioned. Ideally you want your larynx stable when you are first starting out, but a more experienced singer will be able to control it the way he or she wants to. Lowering the larynx will produce a darker tone while raising it will brighten the sound noticeably.

20.Sing often. It’s important that you constantly work your vocal chords to help produce a stronger voice. Sing in the shower, in the car, or whenever you have a chance to. Just like your muscles, your vocal chords grow stronger as you use them more often. Just make sure you are still practicing proper technique and form so you don’t form a bad habit.

21.Study other professionals. There’s nothing wrong from learning from the best.Mimic their performances and imitate their voices if you want to. Watch their posture, breathing, and movement and take notes. The odds are they probably did the same when they were still learning how to improve their singing voice.

22.Smile. If you’ve ever noticed a singer smile when they are hitting a really high note, it’s not necessarily because they are very happy.Smiling helps hitting high pitches, as it opens up your mouth and produces more airflow.

2.Useful Practice Tips

2.1Introduction

The voice is only as good as the training, exercises and experience it has been exposed to. The worst of voices can sound like a professional if given the right training. Just like the athlete needs to do exercises daily to keep the body in shape, so does the singer need to do vocal exercises daily to keep the vocal cords trained and in shape. Experts sayVoice warm-ups and vocal exercises should be done at least 20 to 30 minutes daily to keep the voice flexible and in good shape. This duration should how ever be increased when preparing for a performance.

2.2Training Exercises

Below is a list of some voice training exercises along with their YouTube links for practice. Some of the exercises may not be common but what is important is to get the technique and what part of the body it seeks to strengthen so that you do it correctly and improve your voice.

1. Finding your voice range.

This helps you to find your voice range and hence the part that suits you most and gives you the best possible output without straining.

2. Practice breathing exercise

Good breathing is very key to good singing. A note can't be good if you can't sustain it. Before you work on your voice, you have to work on your breathing. Just like holding your breath comes easier with time, so does prolonged expulsion.

Start by breathing in for 4 counts and exhaling for 8. Increase the exhale by 4 until you hit 28! You're not stretching the capacity of your lungs; you are learning how to control the air.

Breathing out on a hiss will make it easier to control the air and give a tonal quality to the power behind it.

You can check the links below for further understanding and practice

3. Tips for singing high notes

4. Vocal cords exercises

5. Quick tips for singing better

6. Warm ups for better singing

Voice warm-ups should begin with gentle and easy exercises before moving to the more complex ones.Warming up loosens those muscles, helps to remove excess mucus and improves the quality of the sound you produce and reduces the risk of a vocal injury.

Examples of warm-ups are breath relaxation, jaw release, lip thrills, tongue thrills, vocal fry, humming or cooing while running the octave.

7. Riffs, Runs and Control

8. How to sing in pitch

9. Other useful exercises

3.Voice Aids

3.1Things That Soothe The Voice

  • Honey and warm water first thing in the morning.
  • Lots of water
  • Lemon and honey tea
  • Ginger Tea
  • Licorice tea or candy (try if this sooths you)
  • Steam
  • Honey
  • ¼ teaspoon ofbaking soda and one cup of warm water or salt and water.Alittle amountshould begargled and thrown away (not to be swallowed). This brings the vocalcords to contact and rise. Spit it out and repeat several times.

3.2Things/Foods To Avoid Just Before Singing

  • Milk
  • Potatoes
  • Cream
  • Overly spicy food and coffee (Can irritate the throat)
  • Fatty Foods
  • Dairy foods (They add mucus to your throat)
  • Chocolate
  • Ice-cold foods or drinks(This causes the throat to constrict)
  • Citrus fruit and alcohol (dries out the throat)
  • Sodas and fizzy drinks (These puts lots of air in the stomach)
  • Heavy eating (A full stomach prevents the movement of the diaphragm makes it difficultto take full breaths and makes you prone to burping)