Sean MacR.

Yes, sing. Join a choir, or theator. Even if you only have spoken parts you will learn to improve your voice in ways that translate to singing. Most churchs have a choir, if you attend one (even if only chrismas and easter) join the choir, and sing in it every sunday. Singing in a group is fun, even if you don't otherwise like the music.

Beware of overdoing it though. You want to improve your voice, not lose it or devolpe nodes.

Finially depending on what you want to sing consider investing in a good microphone and speaker system. Some songs need projection at soft volumns, and those who try to force their voice to do it lose the song. If your voice is natuarlly soft you may have to do this anyway.

All the best,
Dan

It's like your vocal chords. They draw tighter to make the higher "squeak". But you DON'T want to TIGHTEN UP YOUR THROAT! The secret is to tighten your diaphram and all the muscles around your torso.

For maximum air capacity, keep your ribcage up, and let your lungs expand downward. Hint: if your shoulders rise when you're taking a breath you're doing it "wrong". That is to say, you don't get as much air that way.

After drawing a good breath, set the muscles. You've got a good breath, tight muscles down below, yet relaxed in the shoulders, neck and throat.

When singing the high notes, you'll need lot's of muscle push from below; lot's of pressure pushing the air over the taught vocal chords. As you sing lower, you'll need to relax the muscles, and even let more air pass to cause those loose vocal chords to vibrate.

Singing teachers constantly try to describe the whole process with visual images, such as thinking of yourself as a big oak tree, so firm and strong in the trunk, but with branches freely swaying in the breeze.

It's a lot to think about, but after you practice breath control, it becomes second nature. I hope this is what you wanted!

Margarita

infortunately I live in Glasgow at the moment and so cannot easily attend any singing groups in Ireland.

John.

At last! An opportunity to answer a question instead of ASK one!!!

Here are the exercises my vocal coach has given me, and they feel so good, I don't have a problem getting me to do them.

1) The Breathing Part: a) lie down on the floor on your back. b) take a deep diaphragmatic breath (your stomach should rise if you're doing it "right" c) hold it in d) let it out e) hold it out f) repeat twice more (total 3 repetitions) g) roll onto side with legs bent, and roll back into a sitting position, legs straight in front, hands behind for support, and keeping your abdomen slack h) repeat the breathing done in steps b-e once i) slowly, stand up, keeping the abdomen slack and repeat b-e two more times. By the time you're standing, you may feel what I call an "energy rush" in your whole body, but you'll feel really soft and relaxed.

2) The Hangover Part: a) let your chin drop down to your clavicles. b) relax and slowly bend forward as if someone were pushing your head toward the floor. let your arms dangle freely and don't lock your knees. stop where you are comfortable c) keeping your chin tucked, slowly nod your head as if being agreeable d) slowly shake your head as if being disagreeable. e) slowly rise back to a vertical stance.

3) The WOWS: a) Yawn a few times b) take a deep diaphragmatic breath c) relax your throat, and in a soft but natural speaking voice repeat the word WOW until you are out of air. You'll probably be surprised at the length of time you can keep saying wow.

What this series of exercises does is change your blood chemistry. The amount of oxygen in your blood goes up, as does the amount of "feel good relaxation" hormones and neurotransmitters. Your breath control will improve dramatically, and without apparent conscious intervention. If you feel your abdomen getting tight as you sing, take a soft, deep breath, and relax it. I know all this relaxation sounds contrary to the "tree trunk" school of thought, but the effect is a voice that can manage significant dynamics within its range.

For range exercises, I have a bunch of pitch perception and production exercises I'll share. All of them produce a feel-good stimulus also, so I don't have to talk me into doing them.

Best of luck,

V

Forget about mentholated cough drops, and all the so-called throat "soothers" -- what they really do is constrict your throat, and leave you with LESS of a singing voice.

Also, sugar has a tendency to dry up your throat.

When I sing professionally, I introoduce myself as "Matt don't-quit-your-day-job Bram" -- referring to the fact that my voice is no great joy to begin with, so I need all the help I can get. That's why I keep a full supply of candies in my guitar case, available for an instant voice improvement.

Sean

1. If you can, try yawning on purpose.

2. While you're doing it, pay attention to the way your throat (right at the back of your tongue) opens up when you do.

3. Now try doing that on purpose.

4. Now try doing that on purpose, while singing.

As soon as you can sing with that opening, you'll hear a major improvement in the sound that comes out. I even knew a woman who deliberately yawned through every note of "Summertime" and it was amazing!

The purpose of the yawn is to raise the soft palatte in the back of the throat. When the soft palatte is raised it helps to direct your vocal sounds towards the areas that resonate the best. You can make your voice resonate in different areas on purpose. For example, you can easily sing through your nose.

If you look in the mirror and raise your soft palatte, you'll notice that your nostrils always flare when you do it successfully. That is a visual que for you.

Also, if you "yawn" while inhaling, you won't get noisy breaths and you can take in a larger volume of air faster!

Margarita

1) The bottom line: a) hum a couple of tunes you know well and that do not stretch your range, then; b) sing "ahhhhh" on the middle note of your range; c) sing "ahhhh" one third below that; d) sing "ahhhh" one third below that; e) sing "ahhhh" a minor second below the first note; repeat steps c, d, and e descending by minor seconds until you reach the bottom of your range.

2) Raise the Roof: a) sing "ahhhhh" on the middle note of your range; b) sing "ahhhh" one third above that; c) sing "ahhhh" one third above that; e) sing "ahhhh" a minor second above the first note; repeat steps c, d, and e ascending by minor seconds until you reach the top of your range.

For both 1 and 2 above, keep your throat OPEN. Yawn between each note if you have to. Stop BEFORE it feels strained. Do not try for volume--your most comfortable singing voice is all you want here.

3) Find the Pitch: a) pick a note in the bottom half of your range; b) sing the ascending notes at chromatic intervals up one octave alternating with your root note. i.e. "one two" "one two" "one three" "one three" "one four" "one four" "one five" "one six" "one six" "one seven" "one seven" "one one" Repeat in descending order.

Again, keep it open, do it soft and slow and yawn a lot.This one trains your ear to detect intervals and your voice to be more accurate. Again, no volume--just a natural, comfortable power.

4) Get dynamic! a) pick a note in the middle of your range and sing it normally, b) slowly and keeping your throat open, increase your volume, c) slowly and keeping your throat open, decrease your volume to your starting volume, d) stop and yawn, e) sing the note again, f) slowly and keeping your throat open, decrease your volume to a whisper, g) slowly and keeping your throat open, increase your volume to your starting volume. Repeat with two other notes. The general tendency is to go sharp when increasing and flat when decreasing, so feel for accuracy feel what corrections you have to make to ensure accuracy, so your body can reproduce them for you.

5) Ha Ha Ha! a) pick a note in the middle of your range and sing "HA" b) inhale c)sing "HA" d) inhale e) sing "HA" Repeat with two other notes. The objective is to move a lot of air with your diaphragm at an accurate pitch, with a quick, but relaxed and large, diaphragmatic breath. Do not strive for any more volume than your exhale can produce--as the diapragm gets fitter, the volume will increase on its own.

Start to finish, including the breathing, I spend about 20 minutes doing all this stuff before I rehearse or record. I do as much as I can as a warm up before gigs. The payoff is that I can now sing for 2 to 3 hours at a clip, recording or rehearsing, or performing, without getting strained, tight, or hoarse. Or course, I'm not singing like Janis Joplin, either--more like Joni Mitchell.

Mileage may vary, as they say...but I've been amazed at my improvement. My coach is an older gentleman by the name of Charles Frink, and he's incredibly cool. Now if I could just get a regimen for the guitar that works as well....

Good Luck and let me know how you make out!

Vixen

(baker_victor@sirus.commnet.edu)

http://www.bgsm.edu/voice/singing.html http://www.upmc.edu/upmcvoice/dos.html

Cheers, BK