Many people believe that good singing is all about talent and voice. That is not necessarily true; the best singers are the ones with good tone, talent and proper singing techniques. Proper technique involves a variety of different methods that train your voice to produce the exact sounds you want. If you plan on singing professionally or, even just for long periods of time, then it is essential to master proper technique in order to avoid damaging your voice and your vocal cords.
The first step in developing proper singing techniques is to learn your vocal range. The method for finding it is really simple, all you need is an accompanist and properly tuned piano. Start at the D-scale and sing the first five notes of that scale. Once you complete those you can continue moving to higher scales singing the same notes. Be sure to remain relaxed and try not to strain your voice or tense your body. Once you have identified the highest scale that you can comfortably sing you can reverse the processes from D-scale to find your lower range. It might take a bit of time and set up, but finding your vocal range is necessary to developing great singing techniques.
The next steps in developing proper singing techniques is to learn good posture and proper breathing. Good posture means standing straight and tall with your legs slightly apart and your chest high enough to give your lungs room to expand. There are several methods to teach you how to breath correctly when singing. One of the most important things to keep in mind is that breathing should be done in your stomach not your chest. These techniques can be complicated to learn from just reading, it’s best to have someone show you or rent an instructional video from the library.
O.K. So you know your range and have great posture and breathing mastered…what’s next in learning great singing techniques? You should prepare for lots and lots of practice. You must practice your singing, pronunciation and scales. (Before you practice be sure to have good techniques for warming up and cooling down your voice to avoid strain.) You should practice as often as you can, just consider your voice as a muscle that you are building.
