If I sing songs with different vocal ranges according to the singer, are there any ways to make those songs suit my voice?
Definitely, yes!
The brutal truth about many singers is that their passionate love for music inspires them to go for any vocals on their day. And, it is incredible how a singer recollects a substantively peculiar vocal style and does the same song comfortably in a manner that suits his/her own natural voice.
If you are up to elevating your singing exploits to such standards, which is cool, here are five tips to make you sing the different songs in your natural voice.
- Listen to the original singer really well.
Fast forward, listen, and listen. Repeat listening to the song from the original artist. This is where most aspiring musicians miss the point. Yet, it holds such a strong influence on the outcome of the first efforts in singing songs with different vocal ranges in your voice. At this point, you need to identify which singers to copy from and filter off those that aren’t your match. Remember, it’s not practical to follow every other legendary vocalist the world has seen.
Make sure you’ve developed your list of favorite talented singers and their songs. Study how they sing carefully.
- Find your unique style of singing.
Top singers may sing with around 5-6 different voices, although they apply the various voices to different musical contexts. For instance, they can switch from anything sweet-soft angelic melodies to a screaming metal voice and a breathy voice depending on which song they are performing. You will need to practice with this versatility of voice range. And you can be sure you’ll need to dig into several voices for practice supposing you are looking to emulate 3 to 4 famed singers.
How does learning the different voices help? Well, it forms the footprint for your choice of style or voice with which you can sing very comfortably. After you practice or experiment with the different voices, you notice with time that there are certain voices you prefer as they tend to flow more naturally.
I other words, you identify your perfect singing voice, which would be your go-for style of singing.
- Practice the technique
You’ve identified your voice, and now you want to keep it, grow on it, and own it. Practicing the voice is the only sure way to get you right at the pinnacle. There are different ways to approach this – including the shower test where you sing the songs as you bathe. Also, record your voice as you sing; this gives you a great tool to compare both how you sing versus the original artiste’s style. Then use this detail to see how you are keeping up the pace.
You want to make noticeable progress. So, from this initiative, you build your vocal strength, power, and ability to sing higher notes in your vocal range.
- Choose the right songs for your voice.
It is super-important you select songs that are easy for you. The problem with going for complex songs for the first time is in the after-effects – you can damage your vocal muscle quite easily. So keep it simple and easy, and you will have all the freedom to sing in your style.
If I sing a song, I find it difficult to control my head voice, and once I use my head voice, my voice is never loud, are there ways to rectify this problem?
Yes, absolutely, there are ways to do this.
The head voice is a powerful vocal arsenal any talented singer should have at their disposal. It encompasses a range of notes at the top of your voice or simply high notes. So, you have to sing from the thin vocal muscles to unleash this type of vocal register. Many times singers complain about how it’s hard to hit the top of their vocals, and when they do, the element of straining is bolded across the entire tune. While the head voice is sweet, inspiring, and heart-springing, it does come at a price of continuous learning and practice.
If you are struggling to control your head voice, it is probably because you haven’t worked to build the desirable strength required to access its authority. However, the next hacks can help you to learn how to sing head voice without straining and yet, still sound sensationally loud enough for yourself and your audience.
- Use your face actively and properly.
The face. This is the most crucial part of developing and having access to the head voice effortlessly. And the reason? Because this is the dominant platform on which the head voice is grounded, expressed, and resonated. Put in another way, the head voice resonates typically above the mouth that’s around the nasal and head cavities. That’s its niche. What’s even more intriguing is that you have to organize and recollect your singing into the facial resonance while emphasizing tonal focus. Otherwise, the notes won’t qualify or translate into good quality, pleasant voice. There won’t be any stability or consistency of the voice – no one wants this, to be honest. At this point, snapping out of the vocal context can spoil your objective.
- Emphasize learning and memorizing lyrics.
Learning lyrics for memorization is a simple tip. But it is a foundational component for a successful control over your voice and also if you want to project your voice to be heard clearly. Let’s think about it, can you sing a song you’ve never heard about? If you don’t know the lyrics from off the head, you are doomed to struggle all the way. Even during your repetitive practice sessions, keep the lyrics at heart. It will help your free-flow of singing; it boosts your confidence and makes you ready to face your audience.
You can memorize lyrics by reading text and then singing along the song as you look at the words. Furthermore, try to also sing the song without having to look at the lyrics. This allows you to try and remember the words. Here’s the punchline; don’t think you will sing without a proper understanding of the song’s lyrics.
- Find a real vocal teacher for one-on-one lessons.
While the online tutorials are great places to start your journey, you’ll need a qualified music expert, teacher, or coach to help you physically in the long term. There are mistakes you will make as you learn. And for any meaningful learning, feedback is a rule of thumb and a great little tool for your growth and development. By the way, you must get a teacher who’s not only a professional in the field but also sings and is passionate about what he or she does. You want this to be a mentor
If I can sing the lower notes with these thicker cords or chest voice, should I attempt to keep singing with chest voice as I ascend to the high notes?
You can also sing high notes in your chest voice in what is musically referred to as belting. Should you attempt to sing high in your chest voice? Yes, the possibilities are unending, and a high belt is a showstopper that will let you unleash string emotions into your audience’s souls. It denotes a singer’s creative ability to explore their vocal range and willingness to depict a strong musical sound. A high belt drives your fans crazy, and you can be dead-on sure they would love this moment a lot.
With that said, many youngster singers want to jump into it just like that quickly. What they forget is the burden of responsibility attached to this musical activity – it is pretty easy to hurt your vocal muscles when belting is conducted improperly. Worse, you end up shouting or yelling at your audience. Seriously? Yes, that’s right. Thankfully, you can always learn how to do it better. All in all, it is about practicing and being patient with every little step.
For example, hold proper breath energy for support. And by no means do I mean forcing out large chunks of air to drive the belt from the chest, nope. That’s what many starters tend to think, but it’s all hogwash and can only hurt your vocal cords. Instead, you want to start producing as little air as you can possibly do. Make sure to build your chest or diaphragm and pectoral strength, especially by exercising physically. They can help your course to unleash a provocative belt when the right time comes. In addition, observe the correct standing/upright sitting posture to engage your whole body and not just the small throat only. Besides, you can also go for the mixing technique whereby you let the head voice blend into the chest voice resulting in a more powerful, higher-pitched sound with great chest voice quality.
Back to the question, should I attempt to keep singing with a chest voice as I ascend to high notes? The answer is, you have to have the patience to practice from small steps until you get there. You won’t simply blast through the wall in a day. Besides your dedication, studying this art over time is another super-duper way to get through any possible barriers on your way. With continued practice, it occurs that sooner than later, you will be doing it better, much easier, and in a unique style while being able to explore many possibilities in your vocal range.
How do I sing in head voice for pop music?
For a reason, pop music singers have their own specific style of singing, which is distinctly free of head voice technique. Classical singers, including opera singers, may find it daunting when it comes to switching genres. Although they can learn to sing pop in head voice any day as long as they practice for it. This adaptation, however, will take thorough practice for one to start singing pop music. In similar events, a few pop artists would dream of doing classical vocals.
So, how do I sing in head voice for pop music? Work to change the shape of your resonance (specifically, that’s the shape of vowels in the resonance). This method should help you sound better with high notes of your voice when singing pop music. You don’t need to alter anything except the pronunciation of vowels. To elaborate on this point, pop vowels are pronounced in a much wider tone that’s more relaxed
But just as a headstart, part of your practice ought to be preceded by repetitively listening to several high-quality pop music. Having to listen and study pop pieces exposes you to the whole idea – which is a foundational thing for entry into any genre by the way. While listening, you get to understand lots of stuff, the tweaks, the dips, tone set-up, and more elements that characterize pure pop music.
As for the diaphragm support and breathing, there is not a new concept that is different from what you already know with other classical song genres. For instance, breathing has to be from the diaphragm. Talking about breath, you don’t have to push the tone by releasing a lot of air, you just need a bit less air than the classical genre.
Another way to sing in head voice for pop music is by learning how to use the glottal. Glottal is attacking a vowel sound with increased vocal cord closure. The result is that the hitting of vocal cords creates a poppy sound or effect. By making use of the glottal or subglottal popping effects combined with your natural mixed voice, your voice sounds stronger and clearer when you do attempt singing in the higher notes of your vocal range. Additionally, you can sing high notes in pop music by exercising sirening. The siren, whether police or ambulance siren, should start from the lower notes through the highest and back down.
In a nutshell, anyone can sing pop music. It doesn’t matter what your genre is. The most important thing is to try and learn about a few elements about the class and put in plenty of practice. Getting a first-grade contemporary pop vocal teacher will make you a great deal. You want somebody to watch your progress and advise you on the next steps. Just don’t grab any other music teacher on the street.
Are you struggling to sing lip trill exercises?
What are lip trills and why are they good for singing?
Lip trills are a form of vocal exercise in which a learner imitates the sound of either a car, a plane or an animal. When practicing lip trills, your mouth keeps in an almost closed shape while the lips hit each other as you make the sound and allow air to pass through them. Lip trills have become common exercises for any practicing singers, including the beginners. It is a good warm-up tool for your delicate vocal cords. Lip trill exercise is essential for expanding your vocal range.
They help you to develop strong control and consistency in your vocals. And if you are learning how to integrate chest and head voice in singing, lip trills can kickstart your journey as well.
Having said that, for some beginners, doing this exercise is not as easy as many depict it. Some guys literally struggle to sing lip trills. That’s pretty unfortunate, but here’s how you can do it right and effortlessly.
- Start by relaxing your lips and cheeks as this drives away any possible tension there could be.
- Put your two fingers right on the sides of your cheeks and push them against the teeth in an upwards position.
- Breathe in enough air through the nose and release this air via the mouth. What happens when you release this air is that the lips rapidly open up due to the exerted pressure of the exiting air.
- In the next session, try now with a sound added to the trill. For instance, try it out by producing a long comfortable note of sound V.
- Next, you can attempt to do sirening from the lowest note of your voice to the highest and then back again.
- Then during your song work, do the melody on the lip trill
- Make sure you repeat this exercise to let the lip trill sink.
There are certain factors that you need to put into the big picture when doing the lip trill exercises. For instance, you should build up just enough pressure to make your vocal folds produce a firm vibration when releasing air through the mouth. Second, make use of your lips rather than the hands when creating air pressure. You just have to remember that your lips will do the singing job and not your hands. So, positioning the lips in their picture-perfect position provide you with a better chance of voice control during singing. Third, ensure you develop proper control of the soft palate which is not only important for efficient lip trill singing but also helps to determine the passage of air appropriately.