singorama beginners

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Table of ContentsBeginners Book

CHAPTER 1. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IF YOURE GOING TO SING 2

WHAT IS SINGING? 2THE HISTORY OF SONG 3

CHAPTER 2. THE SCIENCE OF SINGING 5

UNDERSTANDING SOUND 5THE HUMAN INSTRUMENT 6

GOOD VIBRATIONS 6WHAT MAKESYOUR VOICE DISTINCTIVE 7

THE VOCAL CORDS 7REVIEW OF THE VOICE MECHANISM 8

NOW,GETTING BACK TO SINGING. 8GETTING THE BEST PERFORMANCE FROMYOUR VOCAL CORDS 9WHEN DO IGET TO START SINGING? 9

CHAPTER 3. YOU AND YOUR VOICE 11

YOURE NOTYOUR OWN BESTJ UDGE 11DEVELOPING A MENTAL EAR 12ENJOYINGYOUR OWNVOICE 12VOCAL RANGE 13HOW AGE AFFECTSYOUR SINGING VOICE 15DEVELOPING A PLAN 16TIPS FOR A PERFECT PRACTICE 18HOW OFTEN AND HOW MUCH? 20COMING UP 20

CHAPTER 4. MASTERING PITCH 22

TONE VS.PITCH 22STAY ONPITCH 23

CHAPTER 5. VOCAL TECHNIQUE 26

TAKE IT EASY 26AIM FOR A QUALITYTONE 27THE FIRST STEP INTRAINING 28CHEST VOICE VS.HEAD VOICE 28VOICETYPES 30

MASTERING THE BELT VOICE 30MASTERING THE CLASSIC SOB 30

FINDING THE BREAK 31CONNECTING THE VOICES 32


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EXERCISES TO BRIDGE THE GAP 32READY FOR MORE? 33

CHAPTER 6. BREATHING, POSTURE, AND ARTICULATION 35

BREATHING 35BREATHING IN 35BREATHING OUT 37

POSTURE 37ARTICULATION 38

VOWELS 39DIPHTHONGS 41CONSONANTS 41WHY VOWELS AND CONSONANTS MATTER 42

TAKE A BREATHER 43VOCABULARY REVIEW 44

CHAPTER 7. BREAKING BAD HABITS 45

DISCONNECT /BREAK BETWEEN CHEST AND HEAD VOICES 45VOWEL SOUNDS 45VOLUME AND INTENSITY 45SINGING OUT OFTUNE 46TONE 47BAD POSTURE 47

CHAPTER 8. VOCAL HEALTH 48

EXERCISE 48FOOD 48DRINK 48STEAM 49MEDICINAL REMEDIES 49TIMES OF THEYEAR 49WHATS MOST IMPORTANT 50

Copyright 2005 Barosco Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permissionof the publisher.


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Welcome to SINGORAMA!, the easiest book on singing youll ever pick up! Youmay have tried the other books out there felt your eyes glaze over at all thestrange words leafed halfheartedly through the exercises and left the book inthat stack in the corner, promising to pick it up again someday. Of course, you neverdid.

With this book, youll find singing made fun! Youre going to have to learn all thetricky vocabulary, what qualities make a good voice, and practice all the boringexercises anyway. At least, with this book, Ill make sure that youll enjoy theprocess!

Im even going to make you wait until you get to the advanced stage before I teachyou the tricks about microphones, auditions, and putting a song together, because Idont want you to focus on the fun stuff at the expense of the real knowledge youneed to know. In this beginners book, Im going to take you step by step through all

the basics. By the end of this book, youll be able to talk to ANYONE about singing.Youll wow your friends with your mastery of concepts like vibrato, articulation,Solfeggio, and arpeggios. This book will give you the edge that puts you milesbeyond a mere karaoke king or queen.

So start humming and pick up a pen. Youre going to start learning about how soundgets produced, what creates the perfect singing voice, how to practice, and thebasics of vocal technique. Youll learn about blending, breathing, articulation, andvocal health. It may sound like a bunch of gibberish right now, but I promise you thatthe professional singers already know about these concepts. How else do you thinkthey got where they are today? Natural talent is just a starting pointvoice trainingis what takes them to the stars!

This book also offers you what no other book on the market offers: two fun games toteach you to sight-read music and develop a knowledge of the musical rootsaround which a melody is placed by recognizing notes as you hear them. You willalso get the SINGORAMA!Mini Recording Studio to train your musical ear and helpyou with the exercises. Plus, youll receive a bonus e-book called The UltimateGuide To Reading Music. Take the time to enjoy these bonuses before startingthis book! With minimal time and effort, youll be reading sheet music, recognizingnotes, and recording your own melodies. To help you even further, Ive recordedaudio examples of the exercises. Whenever you see the audio button ( ) play theindicated track.

Studying singing can often seem like getting mini-courses in anatomy, music theory,and Italian all at once. Dont let the amount of vocabulary scare you off! Iveincluded handy vocabulary lists at the end of each chapter, which can help yourefresh your mind about what all those crescendos and contraltos are.

And dont forget: this book is ultimately about your voice, your singing, and yourmusical future!


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CHAPTER 1. What You Need to Know i f Youre Going toSing

What is Singing?

What distinguishes singing from the variety of other sounds we make? We oftenassume that song is easily distinguished from speech, but it isnt always the case.For example, rap music tends to sit on the boundary between song and speech.Someone may speak in a melodic voice to lull a baby and thereby sing the child tosleep. There may not be as much of a difference between song and speech as wethoughtand why thats important will become clear in the next few chapters.

Usually, we consider someone to be singing when they are using their voice for

musical effect. In other words, rather than focusing on the communication of certainwords or content, they are focusing on the artistic effect that their melodic utterancecreates.

Try the following exercise.

Speak the sentence:

Track01: The leaves on the trees sing in the fresh summer breeze.

Now, try to sing the words, using a similar voice to your speaking voice.

Track02: The leaves on the trees sing in the fresh summer breeze.

Can you see how changing your pitch, tone, and/or volume adds an artisticeffect?

The vocal apparatus that we use for speech and song is identical, but singing utilizesit in a more deliberate, focused way, by taking advantage of its resonant capacities.Singing tends to be more sustained than speech and involves a greater range ofsounds.


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The History of Song

The human voice is the original musical instrument. Singing is such a natural activity

that there isnt a single culture discovered that does not sing. The earliest musicalsounds people made were likely imitations of sounds found in nature. As humancultures evolved, music came to play an important part in religious rituals,celebrations, and as a lyrical record of events. This folk music expressed the life ofits community and was usually anonymous, a collective artifact of the culture thatcreated it.

Art music, or music composed as artistic expression, did not emerge until later.The first cultures to create music for arts sake were probably located in earlyMesopotamia. These early cultures even had professional musicians, and theearliest noted music on record is a Sumerian hymndated before 800 B.C.E.

The Egyptians, Greeks, and J ewish people all valued music deeply and createdhighly developed musical cultures. But it was Christianity, under the Roman CatholicChurch, that came to dominate the next thirteen centuries of Western music. Theoriginal plainchant style (also known as Gregorian chant) gave way to polyphony(music with more than one melodic part) in the ninth century. By the beginning of the1600s, the theater had emerged as a new secular venue for music, and the grandage of opera began.

Although opera seems outdated to us today, it was enormously popular for centuries.Everyone went to the operato see their friends, to hang out, to be seen, to makebusiness deals, to eat and sometimes to actually watch it. Composers wrotefrantically. New singers with the ability to sing ever-more-difficult parts were sought.

From Spain came the first castrati, or adult men whod had their testicles removedbefore puberty could change their voices. The beginning of the eighteenth centurysaw the first divas, as female sopranos claimed their place as the darlings of thestage.

It wasnt until after the First World War that popular music would surge insignificance. As classical styles became less accessible and less attractive tomodern audiences, the public turned to jazz, blues, and swing. People no longerhad to go to the opera or concert hall to listen to music, as technology such as thephonograph and the wireless radio brought music into the home. Electronicamplification enabled singers to use a more natural, conversational singing style.Hollywood, taking its lead from Broadway, began churning out musicals with gusto.By the middle of the century, the appearance of a singer became all important,especially as television began broadcasting performances. Les Pauls invention ofthe electric guitar after the Second World War prepared the ground for thedevelopment of rock and roll.

Today, popular music is everywhere: on the street, in the buses, in homes, inworkplaces. There are few places you can go without hearing music. Liveperformances, in venues ranging from concert halls to local bars, are accessible for


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most people. The proliferation of burned CDs and songs in the easily-downloadableMP3 file format have enabled a wide variety of international musical styles, sounds,and genres to flourish and find niche audiences.

Making your own music has never been easier. Microphones, amplifiers, keyboards,and mixing equipment are easily available in models for almost every budget level.Karaoke bars give anyone a chance to try out their singing skills in front of anaudience, while competitions like American Idol encourage aspiring vocal artists todream that they can be a pop star.

Is there any better time to be learning to sing than right now? (If you were living inthe Middle Ages you might be asked to intone through your nose, or sing with aforced nasal tone!) So enjoy the benefits of the modern world you live in, and flip thepage to learn about the science of song.


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CHAPTER 2. The Science of Singing

I know that this chapter title may remind you of the long, boring days spent inscience class, but I promise that this will be a lot more funand useful to you!

J ust as you cant tune a car without understanding what its parts are and how theywork together, so you cant tune your singing voice without understanding howsound is manufactured and how the parts of your voice machine affect its quality.

Understanding Sound

First of all, an overview. You may be familiar with wind instruments. Examplesare the clarinet, trumpet, and harmonica. These instruments produce sound whensomeone blows through them, creating a column of air that causes vibrations at arange of frequencies, amplified by the resonant spaces inside the instrument. Whatresult are sound waves.

All sound waves originate from some object thatcauses a vibration. The vibration creates a pattern ofdisturbance in the air (consisting of energy), whichmoves away from the source like a wave. The soundwave can be modified as it moves outwards,depending on what surfaces it passes through, reflectsoff, or refracts from.

Sound waves can be described using terms such as pitch, tone, and intensity (or

volume). For example, a high-pitched sound will have waves scrunched up closetogether (high frequency). A low, deep sound will have very long, lazy waves (lowfrequency). A loud sound will have very tall waves (high amplitude). A quiet soundwill have waves that are barely perceptible bumps (low amplitude).


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You gotta love sound. Sound is what your voice is. Its what music is. Withoutsound frequencies you wouldnt have pitchand that means your C sharps and Bflats would have to be thrown out the door. Without amplitudeyou wouldnt haveamplifiersand that would be a sad world indeed.

The Human Instrument

You are an instrument. You may not have realized it before. But your bodyproduces sound in the same basic way as a wind instrument. The action of yourlungs pushing air up through your windpipe creates the initial column of air. The airthen interacts with the instrument of your voicebox (or larynx) to produce an initialsound. That sound is then amplified by the resonant spaces above the larynx beforeleaving your lips and broadcasting your own unique sound creation to the world.

Good Vibrations

Without vibrations, there wouldnt be sound. As sound travels through your resonantareas, you will be able to feel the vibrations in your head. Think about the differentparts of your head: the mouth, the throat, the tongue, and the lips. Each will vibratedifferently. Also, different vowel and consonant sounds will produce differentvibrations.


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Try this exercise.

o Hum. Can you feel the vibrations in your head and mouth?

o

Make an ng sound (as insing

), with the mouth only slightly open. Thesound should feel as if it is coming from your nose, at the back of thebridge.

Now pinch the bridge of your nose. Can you feel it vibrate?

o Make an ah sound with your mouth open. Can you feel the vibrationsin your mouth?

What Makes Your Voice Distinctive

You may think that the voicebox is responsible for what makes your voice unique.

Not so. While the larynx produces the initial buzzy sound, it is the resonators(which include the oral cavity, nasal cavity, and pharynx or throat) that amplify andshape the final sound quality so that it is transformed into your own, unique, personalvoice.

Think about this: Can you change your own voice?

Answer: No more than you could change the range of sounds producible by aparticular instrument without changing its shape.

Articulators finish off the sound by shaping it into clear, understandable words. Yourarticulators include your lips, tongue, and soft palate. The soft palate is the soft,

spongy bit in the back of the roof of your mouth that opens up when you yawn.When you sing, it should naturally be in a slightly raised position.

Try this exercise.

Yawn, then sing a note. Compare the sensations. Can you feel your softpalate raise, as it did when you yawned?

The Vocal Cords

The larynx contains the most important organs in the human body for the productionof sound: the vocal cords. The vocal cords are a set of muscles and ligamentsbarely over a half-inch in length. Their opening and closing produces sound whilecontrolling the pitch and intensity of your tone.

Basically, when the vocal cords remain closed, air pressure builds up behind them.Then they burst open, releasing the air in the form of a sound wave. This happensat a rate of hundreds to thousands of times per second.


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Making a Louder Sound. When theres an increase in the air flow behind the vocalcord, the air blows the vocal cords wider apart. As a result, the vocal cords stayapart longer and increase the amplitude of the resulting sound wave.

Making a Higher-Pitched Sound. When vocal cords are stretched thinner, makingthem shorter, they are moved more easily by the air pressure behind them. As aresult, they open and close much faster, producing narrow sound waves that followclosely on one another. The thickness of the vocal cords, which you cannot change,also affects how high a pitch you can produce.

Review of the Voice Mechanism

Are you confused yet? Lets take some time for a little review.

Below is a list of the steps involved in speaking. Put them in order from 1 (the first)

to 7 (the last):

_____ Articulators shape words._____ Air passes through the windpipe to the larynx._____ The vocal cords blow open._____ Sound waves leave your body._____ You exhale._____ Resonant spaces amplify the sound, augmenting some frequencies and

dampening others._____ Air pressure builds up behind the vocal cords.

Now, Getting Back to Singing.

When you study singing, you may hear about a variety of voice problems that requireyou to understand vocal anatomy, such as a high larynx, vocal cord tension, orexcess air pushing through the vocal cords.

Its natural to wonder how you can adjust your vocal cords when you cant even seethem, wiggle them, or feel that theyre there. Nonetheless, you do have someimportant clues as to how theyre functioning.

First and foremost, of course, is the sound of your voice. Clues may be whetheryour voice breaks at a certain place in your range, or whether it sounds deep,wooden, brassy, etc. Another clue is the place in your body that you feel your voicecoming from. For example, your singing voice may feel as if comes from the areaaround your eyes or nose, while your speaking voice may feel as if it comes fromyour mouth. You should also feel physical vibrations when you sing, such as tinglingin the area above your lips.


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Last of all, you need to be wary if you feel tension in your face and throat. Althoughsinging is a form of physical exertion, your face should not be scrunched up. Yourhead should be in a natural position, not craned up or tilted down. If you feelmuscular tension in your neck, chin, or jaw, do some simple stretchessuch as neckrolls, or pretending as if you were chewing a wad of bubblegumto relax them.

Getting the Best Performance from Your Vocal Cords

Relaxation plays a key role in the optimal functioning of the vocal cords. Evernoticed that when you were at home singing away, your voice sounded great, but theminute you stepped in front of an audience, your heart pounding, skin clammy that great voice fell all to pieces?

When you are tense, stressed, or trying too hard, your vocal cords suffer. Yourbreathing becomes less free and easy, and the air trying to leave your lungs has to

fight its way free. As a result the air that eventually hits the vocal cords isconcentrated and pressurized. The vocal cords react by locking up. Its almost as ifyoure choking your voicebox.

You need to allow your vocal cords to open and close smoothly through their entirerange of motion, without any strain or pressure. Do that by relaxing your body,getting rid of the tension, and eliminating any strain. Your voice will thank you.

Try this exercise.

The next time you feel tension, take deep breaths and visualize opening andclearing a passage through to your voice and voicebox.

When Do I Get to Start Singing?

Producing a good sound with your voice is the result of good techniquenot a resultof a good song. For that reason, instead of starting you off singing songs, Im goingto take you right back to the fundamentals of sound.

The exercises in this book will focus on training your body to be the best instrument itcan be. It isnt about making beautiful musicyet. If you improve the quality of thesounds you can produce, youll be amazed to discover how wonderful even Twinkle,

Twinkle, Little Star can sound if youre the one singing it. And thats the ultimategoal: not to learn more songs, but to be able to sing any song in a voice that brings itto life.


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Vocabulary Review

amplitude the height of a sound wave; corresponds to intensity, or volume

articulators parts of the body that shape clear, understandable words

frequency the quickness with which waves follow one another; pitch

hard palate the hard, forward part of the roof of your mouth

intensity volume or loudness

larynx voicebox

pharynx throat

pitch how high or low a sound is; frequency

resonators the parts of the body that reinforce or dampen sound waves,depending on their frequencies

soft palate the back part of the roof of your mouth

sound wave a pattern of energy (or disturbance) that moves through air

tone the sound of a certain pitch, its quality; a note


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CHAPTER 3. You and Your Voice

You cannot learn how to sing well or become a good singer without first knowingeverything about your own voice. For example, do you know what your range is?Do you know what sort of tonal qualities does your singing voice exhibits? Youshould have experimented with all the ways in which you can shape your ownmouth, throat, and body to get a variety of different sounds.

So, before we jump right into vocal technique, lets spend a little bit of time getting toknow you. Do you think you have a terrible voice but friends tell you itsawesome? Do you think you sound too reedy, too nasal, too breathy? Did yourchoir teacher classify you as an alto when you think you have it in you to be asoprano? Are you worried that youre too old to sing?

If you have of the above concerns about your singing voice, drop them! In thischapter Ill discuss why you never sound to others as you sound to yourself, thereason you should enjoy the distinctiveness of your own voice, how vocal range isclassified, the effects of age, and the basics of good vocal practice.

Youre Not Your Own Best Judge

Do you think you know what your voice sounds like? Ill let you in on a secret. Thebiggest problem in learning to sing isnt having an imperfect voice. Its havingimperfect hearing.

Im not talking about not being musically inclined, or thinking youre tone deaf, orhaving terrible pitch. Im talking about the impossibility of being able to hear yourselfas you actually sound while youre singing.

The reason is simple. Your audience hears you when the sound waves leaving yourmouth enter their ear drums. You hear yourself from the inside, through the bonystructure of the head. Thus, when you have a cold and are feeling congested, youmay think that your voice sounds nasal and muffled, while those around you thinkthat your voice sounds the same as always. The difference isnt your voice; its yourhearing.

As a result, an invaluable tool for any singer is a tape recorder. By recording yourown voice, you can play it back to yourself and hear your voice as others will hear it.It may be hard to admit that your voice doesnt sound as good on tape as it did toyourself. But that sort of objectivity is crucial if you want to be someone who sings toan audience, not just in the shower.

Fortunately, you dont need to go out and buy a tape recorder and tapes. Includedwith this e-book is the SINGORAMA!Mini Recording Studio that enables you to usethe microphone on your computer to record and playback your voice. The sound


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quality is sufficient to show you whether or not youre on the right track. Theprogram also includes a Virtual Pianoso that you can practice singing scales, orjust get the first note of a song so that you can get the right key inside your head.

Have you heard that cupping one hand by your ear and the other hand byyour mouth will enable you to hear your voice more accurately? It doesntwork! You cant turn off your inner voice, which is what causes the distortions.

Developing a Mental Ear

Although you cant hear the sound waves you produce accurately from inside yourhead, you can and should develop your ability to mentally hear music or notes,using your imagination. For example, think of the tune of your favorite song. Canyou hear how it goes?

All of us have an auditory memory that stores sounds in the same way our memorystores images and smells. Some composers can even compose music inside theirhead, with no instruments at all. This auditory memory is essential for readingmusic, as it allows us to associate a note on a staff with a particular sound.

When it comes to actually singing that sound from memory, things become muchmore difficult. It can be almost impossible to sing a middle C without having justheard a middle C played on a piano or other instrument.

Few people can hit a note out of nowhere. However, what you can do is listen to thenote and use it as a base to hit notes above and beneath it. This is called relativepitch. With the aid of an instrument to provide the base note, most people can

easily hit the rest of the notes they wish to sing.

In Chapter 4 youll learn more about how to train your musical memory, so that youcan hit the pitch you need.

Enjoying Your Own Voice

Every voice is distinctive, and the best singers realize this. They take advantage ofwhat separates them from the rest and develop a style and repertoire that shows offtheir unique voice. For example, Tom Waits didnt let his raspy, gravelly voice keep

him from singing. Similarly, dont let any unusual qualities in your own voice keepyou from becoming the best singer you could be.

Many singing students begin their study of singing with the hope of being able toimitate a singer or style that they admire. They may want to rock out like Metallica,croon like Harry Connick, J r., or hit the high notes like Celine Dion.

Singing in a particular musical style (such as rock or jazz) will come at a later stagein your vocal career. While listening to talented singers is valuable, you shouldnt


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start your vocal career trying to imitate anyone. You should always sing with yourvoice instead of against it. See what your particular, unique voice can do; be willingto experiment and make new sounds. You may just surprise yourself and discoverthe powerful singer inside with a musical style youd never thought of trying before.

Vocal Range

You can practice and train your voice to extend the range of sounds that you canproduce, but ultimately you were born to be either a tenor or bass (for men), orsoprano or alto (for women.) This classification system is also referred to as SATBfor Soprano, Alto, Tenorand Bass.

You can usually tell what vocal range you have by the quality of your speaking voice.For example, if you are a female with a high-pitched speaking voice, youll probablysing as a soprano. If you are a male with a deep voice, youre probably a bass

(pronounced base).

Soprano: the highest female vocal range. Sopranos are generally able to sing fromthe G below middle C to the E two octaves above middle C.

Alto: the lower female vocal range. Altos are generally able to sing from the E belowmiddle C to the B almost two octaves above middle C.


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Tenor: the higher male range. Tenors are generally able to sing from the C belowmiddle C to the G an octave and a half above middle C.

Bass: the lowest male range. Basses are generally able to sing from the E twooctaves below middle C to the G above middle C.

Try this exercise.

Find the low point of your range by starting on middle C and singing down tothe lowest note you can. Figure out which note this is by using theSINGORAMA! Virtual Piano. Now, compare it with the piano diagramsabove. Where do you fall on the chart?

You may think that you should sing the highest note you can produce to find whereyour vocal range lies, but it will not be accurate. For examples, altos and sopranoscould sing equally as high with training. But, although you can train your vocal cords

to thin to reach those higher notes, you cannot train your vocal cords to produce alower sound. This is because the low point of your range depends on the thicknessof the vocal cords. Thicker vocal cords produce a lower sound. (So men havethicker vocal cords than women.) As a result, matching the low point of your rangeto the classification will be more accurate than matching the high point.

These classifications give you a general idea of the range of notes that you canproduce. For individuals who find that their singing voice doesnt fit one of the fourgeneral ranges, there are additional subsets, like mezzo soprano and baritone.


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WOMEN

Soprano highest female voiceo coloratura high, light, agileo lyric soprano standard soprano voiceo mezzo soprano more power in the lower range than lyric soprano

(soprano 2)o dramatic soprano wide and powerful range, quite rare

Contralto (Alto) lowest female voice, can be warm and rich ordark and heavy

MEN

Tenor highest male voice, most popular male voiceo lyric tenor leading man voice, includes most famous male

pop singerso dramatic tenor heavier and more resonant than lyric tenor, found

in classical music or opera

Bass (bass 2) low and heavy, powerfulo baritone (or bass 1) lighter than bass, very popular, lyric quality

Not everyone fits perfectly into one of the classifications, and thats okay. Youshould never let your official classification range limit you! Figuring out whichclassification you fit into is less important than getting to work on extending andimproving the range you have.

Most vocal ranges span two octaves, or 13 to 14 white notes on a piano, althoughperhaps only one and a half octaves of those will be able to be sung consistentlywith good quality and pitch. With proper practice and vocal training, however, asinger can extend his or her vocal range to three octaves or more. For example, atypical soprano should be able to sing any note from middle C to the first C abovethe treble clef staff (in other words, two octaves higher).

If this talk of middle C and the treble clef staff is way too confusing, readthe free bonus e-book included with this book, The Ultimate Guide ToReading Music!

How Age Affects Your Singing Voice

You can never be too old or too young to sing! Singing is fun at any age. Childrenas young as 8 or 9 years old can be taught the basics of good singing, althoughvoice training must be adjusted to avoid damaging their voices during the changes ofpuberty. Adults can benefit from voice training throughout their life.


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The most obvious vocal changes occur during the change from childhood toadulthood, and a young male may find himself in possession of a clear, high singingvoice one day and a cracking, strangely deep one the next.

A boys voice changes drastically during puberty. Along with the physical changes,his larynx enlarges, and his vocal cords thicken and lengthen about one centimeter,causing his voice to drop several notes. A boy in this stage of growth may feel as ifhes lost control of his voice, as it may crack or shift from deep to high withoutwarning.

Despite the changes, there is no reason why a young person with a changing voiceshould not continue to keep singing, as long as the following precautions are taken:

9 Sing in your comfortable mid-range, or tessitura. If you find yourself strainingto reach the notes (by stretching your neck, thrusting your chin out, orclenching your jaw), then stop or drop out.

9 Dont try to push your range. If the range that you can sing comfortably isonly six notes, so be it. This does not mean avoiding upper notes!

9 Use your head voice to reach the high notes.

9 If a song has several notes that do not fit your tessitura, change the notes tosuit your voice.

If you are an older singer, you may find that your voice has grown rusty over theyears. All the more reason to start singing and loosen it up! Start slowly and buildup, as you may find that singing takes more energy, dexterity, and breath than you

remembered. You may benefit from breathing exercises to improve your ability torelease a sustained, measured flow of air, as well as legato voice exercises tocontrol any vocal wobbles.

Youll be happy to know that, with training, most voices only improve with age!

Developing a Plan

Now that youre ready to head into the heavy-duty section of the book, Id like you totake a minute to consider your plan of attack. You can either read through the rest ofthis book, absorb what it says, and go away and forget it allor you can set somegoals for yourself now and figure out how much time you can dedicate to exercisingyour voice.

As I said before, theres no way you can develop a good singing voice by thinkingabout it. You will have to practiceand that means every single day, if possible. Imnot talking about hours. Marathon singing practices can end up damaging yourvoice instead of improving it. You may want to start with anywhere from 10 to 20minutes, from once to three times a day.


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Right now, as an exercise, I want you to see if you can find room in your schedule fortwo 15-minute practices everyday.

Practice Session #1: I will practice for _________ minutes at __________ oclock.

Practice Session #2: I will practice for _________ minutes at __________ oclock.

In order to inspire you for those times when you feel as if you cant manage to makethe time or dont have the energy to practice singing, fill in the following sentences:

1. I want to sing because _____________________________________________.

2. When I sing, I feel _________________________________________________

3. I want to get better at my singing because ______________________________

4. When Im really good at singing I hope to _______________________________

Now, imagine the best singing experience you could dream of and answer thefollowing:

Where are you singing? __________________________________________

How big is the audience? _________________________________________

What are you singing? ___________________________________________

Is it for a certain occasion? ________________________________________

What are you wearing? ___________________________________________

Do you know anyone in the audience? _______________________________

What happens when you finish the song? ____________________________


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Tips for a Perfect Practice

There are three important things to remember about your voice practice sessions:

1. Start with a warm-up.2. Shorter and often is better than longer and infrequent.3. Concentrate.4. Dont overdo it.

Vocal practices always begin with a warm-upand Im not talking about stretchesand jumping jacks. Rather, your vocal muscles need warming up just like your bodydoes. For example, have you woken up in the morning and found that your first wordcame out as a hoarse croak? Your voice wasnt warmed up! What happened wasthat during the night, fluids collected in your throat tissues. Mucous built up, andyour vocal cords became dry. Because your vocal cords need to be damp to move

well, you found yourself unable to speak normally in the morning. A great place todo your vocal warm-ups is in the shower, because the steam opens up your throatand windpipe and is soft on your vocal cords.

Too, remember to drink lots of waterand that doesnt mean juice, milk, coffee, orsoda pop. Those liquids cant compare when it comes to water for keeping the vocalcords moist and functioning at their best. The best singers keep hydrated and maydrink up to a gallon of water a day. Keep a water bottle with you at all times.

You cant warm up just by singing a song. Good warm-ups take you through yourchest voice to your head voice without building pressure.

Fortunately, there are some simple warm-up exercises you can do.

Try this exercise.

Shower Warm-up (Sirening)

o Make an ng sound. Hint: the same sound in singing. Your mouth should only be slightly open. Make sure that your jaw does not tense up too much. Keep it

along with your mouth and lipsstill. The sound will vibrate, and you should feel it in your nose.

Listen to the example:Track03

o Now, continue making the ng sound, but start with a low note andsiren a scale all the way up to the top, and back down again.

Make sure that you clearly pass through each note in the scale,but keep the sound smooth.


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o If you are able, shift your initial note a half step (the next colored key on

a piano) and do another ng siren.


o Keep sirening until your top note is as high as you can go. If it gets too high, lean forward and drop your head slightly while

you are still sirening.


Try this exercise.

The Lip RollThis is one of the best warm-up exercises you can do. It can be used toextend your vocal range and improve breath control. However, it is also quitedifficult, as it utilizes so many areas of your vocal mechanism. I promise,however, that it will become easier with practice!

o Relax your face, mouth, and lips.

o Make a br sound, revving it up until you can feel the vibrations in yourlips.

This takes quite a bit of air!

o Sing a low note while continuing to do your lip roll.

o Now, try something more difficult. Continue doing your lip roll whilesinging up the scale for five notes, then sign back down to your originalnote, finishing with ah.


o Shift your starting note up a half step and do another lip roll.

o Keep doing lip rolls until your top note is as high as you can go.

o For additional practice with breath and breath control, do your lip rollwhile singing all the way up the scale and back down again.


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Try this exercise.

ConsonantsThe purpose of these exercises is to loosen the lips, mouth, and jaw, andrelax muscles, so they may be done either speaking or singing (i.e., asscales). Do them quickly! This may be difficult first thing in the morning.

o Say words with b sounds, m sounds, and l sounds. Or, sing scaleson bah, mee or loh.


o Say the word bubblegum.

How Often and How Much?

When you begin your training, shorter practice sessions several times a day is betterthan one big practice session every few days. The shorter practices will enable youto keep your focus and not tire the new vocal muscles youre beginning to stretch.

When you do each exercise, you need to focus on what the exercise is supposed toaccomplish. Feel the physical sensations that each exercise causes. Note thechange in sound it produces. The more aware you become of your singingapparatus, the more control you will have.

Finally, when youre done, your throat should not feel tired or tense. If it does,chance are you havent been using proper technique. The discomfort may be

caused by using your outer muscles too much, forcing sounds out rather than lettingthem flow naturally, or singing your exercises too loudly. (A moderate volume is bestfor practicing.)

Do you feel embarrassed or shy when others can hear you practice yoursinging exercises? One great place to practice singing is in the car! Do yourvocal warm-ups on your way to work, to the store, or to school. The commutewill seem much shorter and no one will look at you twice.

Coming Up

Getting excited? After a brief chapter laying down the basics of tone, pitch, andsightreading, youll plunge into the basics of good vocal technique. Chapter 5 isprobably most important chapter in the book, so take it slowly and master eachconcept.


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Vocabulary Review

alto lowest female voice, also called contralto, ranges from the Ebelow middle C up to the first B above the treble clef staff

baritone middle male voice, also Bass 1, ranges from the low G onthe base clef staff up to the B above middle C

bass lowest male voice, also Bass 2, ranges from the first E belowthe base clef staff up to the G above middle C

chest voice low register; voice that feels like it resonates in your chest andleaves through your throat

coloratura a high, light soprano, like Mariah Carey

contralto see alto

dramatic soprano soprano voice with a wide, powerful range

dramatic tenor tenor voice with a heavy, resonant quality, like Pavarotti

head voice high register; voice that feels as if it resonates in your nose andforehead, and leaves through the back of your head

legato notes sung smoothly together

lyric soprano standard soprano voice

lyric tenor tenor voice found commonly in pop music, like Paul McCartney

mezzo soprano similar to a lyric soprano, but with more power in the lower range

soprano highest female voice, ranges from the G below middle C up tothe E above the treble clef staff

tenor highest male voice, ranges from the C below middle C up to theG above the treble clef staff

tessitura the mid-range, or comfortable middle area of a singers range


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CHAPTER 4. Mastering Pitch

Im going to have to tear you away from singing for a moment to lay a brieffoundation for your study of singing.

Youre not going to be able to escape musical theory if you want to sing. Masteringmusical concepts may feel boring when there are more exciting things ahead, suchas actually getting to sing! But if you dont have a basic grasp of tone, pitch, and theeasiest form of sightsinging music, you wont understand many of the concepts andexercises that are to come.

Tone vs. Pitch

The concepts of tone and pitch can be confusing to new singers. Your tone is thequality or type of sound that you produce, e.g., bright, dark, strident, brittle, full,throaty. Your tone is unique to you, and descriptions of tone tend to be subjective.

Your pitch, on the other hand, is the frequency of sound, e.g. high or low. Pitch is anobjective measurement, and a specific pitch will sound the same whether a voice orinstrument produces it. Notes represent the pitches most commonly used in music.

It is very difficultand rareto have perfect pitch. Some are born with a naturalsense of pitch, while others must train their ears to memorize a note (such as middleC) and base other pitches off from that note. The latter technique is the best way to

improve your ability to recognize pitch, and can be practiced and perfected overtime. The following section, Stay on Pitch, will explain a method of sightsingingthat uses one note as a base to hit any other note you need to sing.

Never fear that you may be tone deaf! Being tone deaf means that you areunable to distinguish between pitches. Although you may not be able toproduce a sound that is right on key yet, you should be able to develop yourmental ear sufficiently to tell whether one note is higher or lower comparedwith another note.

Try this exercise.

Using theSINGORAMA!Virtual Piano, play any two notes, without looking atthe piano but just listening to the sounds. Which is higher? Which is lower?This may seem easy, until you get to notes that are very close in pitchsay,only a half step apart, as in a black key and the next white key.

You must be able to hear the differences between pitches before you can correctlysing them.


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Try this exercise.

1. Play every single note on the SINGORAMA! Virtual Piano in order,starting from the left-most key and going right to the end, then from the right-

most key all the way back down.

2. Now, choose a segment of 10 to 15 keys. Play them all from bottom to topand again from top to bottom as you sing along. Pay attention to the pitchand try to stay as close to the sound of the SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano aspossible.

3. Now, turn on the SINGORAMA! Mini Recording Studio to record yourvoice, and try to sing those notes without the use of the piano. Play back yoursinging. Use the SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano to compare your notes with thecorrect notes. How close did you get?

Often people will sing along to a song, but not even sing the right notes, although thesong is playing at the same time. Your goal in the beginning should not be toharmonize, however. It should be to produce exactly the same pitch as the one youhear. Then you can work on understanding your voice and how to get it perfectly intune.

Stay on Pitch

When you start singing, youre going to find quite quickly that you need to have somebackground in sightreading or sightsinging music. Even if you cant read musicyet, you can use a simple method with a rather complicated name to be able to sing

songs right on pitch. Its name? Solfeggio.

The Solfeggio is a centuries-old method of sightsinging. It was immortalized in themovie, The Sound of Music with the song Do Re Mi. The song, which begins,Doe, a deer, a female deer/Ray, a drop of golden sun, is actually a musicallearning device to memorize the Solfeggio syllables.

If you want to use the Solfeggio method, you must know the sequence of syllables:

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do(Doh Ray Mee Fah Soh Lah Tee Doh)

Track09

When you have a sheet of music in front of you, all you have to do is rewrite thenotes in terms of these syllables.

Do represents the first pitch in a scaleregardless of what that pitch might be.(La will be the starting point for the minor scale.) Each note afterwards representsa step up.


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1. Sing a scale using the Solfeggio syllables:Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do

Track10

2. Now, play Track11 and listen closely to how the Solfeggio symbolswork.

Do Re Mi Re DoDo Mi So DoDo So DoDo Do DoDo Mi So Mi Do So Do Ti Do

3. Finally, sing the exercises yourself!Do Re Mi Re Do

Do Mi So DoDo So DoDo Do DoDo Mi So Mi Do So Do Ti Do

When learning a song, you want to ingrain the root of the major key in your head.This will form Do, the starting note from which youll be able to reach all the othernotes perfectly. As a result, youll be able to stay on pitch and find difficult intervalsand notes throughout the song.

Now youre in for some memorization. I know that it doesnt sound fun! But without

it, you wont be able to recognize immediately how high or low your voice needs tojump from one note to the next.

Play each pair of notes on the SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano. Then try memorizingwhat each interval sounds like. It helps to use songs you already know as a clue.For example:

Do to Re major 2nd(2 keys) Happy BirthdayDo to Mi major 3rd(4 keys) Have Yourself a Merry Little

ChristmasDo to Fa perfect 4th (5 keys) Here Comes the BrideDo to So perfect 5th (7 keys) Twinkle, TwinkleDo to La major 6th (9 keys) NBC chimesDo to Ti major 7th (11 keys) Bali Hai (from South Pacific)Do to Do octave (12 keys) Somewhere Over the Rainbow

You can use these examples, or think of your own! The most important thing is tofind examples that youll remember.


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You can also do the intervals in reverse order, from Do downwards. For example:

Do to Ti minor 2nd (1 key) step downDo to La minor 3rd(3 keys) Hey J udeMi to Do major 3rd (4 keys) SummertimeDo to So perfect 4th (5 keys) My GirlDo to Fa perfect 5th (7 keys) FlintstonesDo to Mi minor 6th (8 keys) Nobody Knows the Trouble Ive

Seen

If you are confused right now, dont feel stressed! In the Advanced Book Ill give youmore insights into how to use the Solfeggio method to sightsinging.

Right now, the most important thing you can do is just to become familiar with theintervals between each note. There is a great website that will enable you to do justthat.

http://www.musicalintervalstutor.info/

Interval training is essential. With it, you will be able to vocally jump from anysyllable to the next, hitting each one right on key. Thats the foundation for yoursinging, because it wont matter how good a sound you can produce if you cantmanage to stay in tune.


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CHAPTER 5. Vocal Technique

Singing shouldnt be work. You dont have to think to talk; similarly, you shouldnthave to think to sing. Vocal training should not make singing any harder; what itshould do is strengthen your singing muscles until good technique becomescompletely automatic and effortless.

Basically, a good singing voice is produced at exactly the same level as a goodspeaking voice: both should be comfortable, easy to produce, free flowing, andnatural. When singers try to hard to produce a singing voice, they unconsciouslystart using other musclessuch as those they use to chew and swallow, or open thethroat widerto control their larynx. As a result, their voices sound unbalanced, andthey find themselves unable to sustained prolonged singing without getting hoarse ortired.

If you want to be a singer, you have to trust that your voicebox can do everything youwant it to, effortlessly. Your best singing voice will emerge from the larynx withouthelp from any other muscles.

Take It Easy

You must be able to note when tension starts building in your face and vocal cordsso that you can stop, relax, and loosen up again. Tension is a sign that you are notsinging properly.

As mentioned in Chapter 2, nerves cause your vocal cords to become dry andconstrict. You may feel a choking sensation around your voicebox. It may seemhard to make much sound, especially a clear sound. If this happens, open yourthroat up again by taking deep breaths, visualizing the passage opening, and feelingrelaxation spread through your body. Do not clear your throat or cough! Bothactions damage your vocal cords and dry them out. A better response would be todrink some water and swallow several times.

As your vocal quality depends on your larynxnot your articulatorsscrewing upyour face or using exaggerated facial expressions wont help you form a bettersound. Keep your face natural. Your mouth will naturally form a vertical opening as

you sing, but you do not need to open it into an exaggerated O. Try to keep yourmouth itself (including your lips and jaw) in the same position for all vowel sounds, sothat only your tongue and soft palette move. For consonants, try to enunciate butnot exaggerate.

If you stay just as relaxed while singing as you are when you speak, you should befine!


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Aim for a Qual ity Tone

Try this exercise.

1. Speak the first lines of Twinkle, Twinkle.

Twinkle, twinkle little star,How I wonder what you are.

2. Using a voice as similar to your speaking voice as possible, sing the linesand record it with the SINGORAMA!Mini Recording Studio..

Twinkle, twinkle little star,How I wonder what you are.

3. Write down a few words describing how your face, voice, and throat feel

when you sing as compared to when you speak. It may help to look in amirror while you see, so you can see any changes. For example, did you feelyour throat tighten or your face start to scrunch up? From where did thesound feel as if it was coming? Did you feel any vibrations? If so, where?

4. Now, sit back and listen objectively to the recording. Write down a fewwords describing the tonal quality. Is your tone bright or dark? Hollow or full?Nasal or rich? Muddy or clear?

When you sing, you are looking to develop depth of tone. In other words, the soundsyou produce should be full, rich, and clear. You dont want a nasally, breathy,muddy, or brassy tone.

Compare the voice on Track12 with the voice on Track13.

Can you hear the difference? The second voice displays admirable qualities ofroundness and clarity. But that doesnt mean that the singer in the first exampledoesnt have the potential of becoming just as good as the second singer. It justmeans that the she needs more practice and vocal training before she achieves thequality of tone shes aiming for.

Id like to introduce you to two new concepts that might help you visualize whatyoure aiming for: falsetto and the glottal stop.

Falsetto is not the same as your head voice. It begins with a breath, which isfollowed by a high-pitched tone. For example, when you sing the word hot, thebreath comes first and is followed by the o sound.

Compare a falsetto tone to the glottal stop. This is a harder, much more forcefulsound, caused by a momentary complete closing of the glottis in the back of thethroat. For example, think about the words egg and know. The consonants arequite harsh, even guttural.


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What you want to achieve a clear tone is the breath and tone occurring at the sametime. This is called a simultaneous onset. The sound will still be forceful, but notharsh to the ear.

Try this exercise.

One word that is good to practice this on is miaow. Listen to the example onTrack14.

Now, say miaow yourself. Make sure the m is forceful with no breathiness.Pronounce all the vowels clearly.

The First Step in Training

Now that you have an understanding of what youre aiming for, the first stage in yourvoice training wont be memorizing songs or jumping straight into nailing thosehigher notes. Unlike other music books, I am not going to make you work on yourbreathing, pronunciation, or posture yet, either.

Rather, your first step in becoming a singer is learning about your two types ofvoicesyour chest voice and head voiceand exposing the break between them.You will then have to work to connect your two voices by training your vocal cords tothin and shorten automatically when you sing. As this is one of the most difficulttasks for all singersincluding many professionalsyoull be ahead of the rest if youstart now!

Chest Voice vs. Head Voice

The biggest problem among singers isnt being able to hit those higher notes, hold anote for longer, or deliver more volume. It is something much more complicated andtricky: blending or bridging their chest voice and head voice.


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The head and the chest are the two most common resonating areas. Try placingyour hand on the top part of your chest (your sternum, or breastbone) and singing anote from the lower end of your range. Can you feel a slight vibration? Now, trysinging in a high pitch. Where is the vibration now? It should feel as if the vibrationis in your eyes, nose, even your forehead.

This is because your chest voice and head voice are actually in different registers.When you produce sounds that resonate in the top of your chest or throat, your vocalcords vibrate along their full length, produce long sound waves of a low pitch. Whenyou produce sounds that resonate in your head, the ends of the vocal cords close offuntil only one-third their length is free to open and close. As a result they movemuch more rapidly, producing short sound waves of a high pitch.

You also have a middle voice. This is when about half the length of your vocal cordsis free to vibrate. The best singers can move seamlessly between their chest voice,middle voice, and head voice. When you can do this, your voice is said to beconnected.

Chest, Middle and Head Ranges for Female Singers

Chest, Middle and Head Ranges for Male Singers


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Voice Types

You can think of the range from head voice to chest voice in this way.

1. twang2. opera3. sob4. belt5. speaking

The top represents the strongest head voice, while the bottom of the list, yourspeaking voice, is almost entirely a chest voice. Some think of the middle voice assomewhere between #3 and #4an excited and forceful sob, or a softer belt.

Notice that the type of voice does not have a direct relationship to how high or lowyou are singing. You can sing the exact same pitch with your chest or your head

voice. However, each type of voice adds a different quality to your singing.

Mastering the Belt Voice

This is the classic chest voice. If you sing from your belt or belt out a song, youcan feel the sound originating in your chest area. This voice sounds more rich,deep, gutsy, and bold, and is best in lower ranges. Many altos use a belt voice, asthe belt voice has a limited upper range.

Listen to the speaking voice on Track15. Now, listen to the same voice in belt

mode: Track16. Can you hear the difference?

Now try it yourself. Can you feel the difference?

You will learn more about how posture and breathing can affect your belt voice in thenext chapter. For example, when you learn to be grounded, or firmly connected tothe ground, you will be able to produce a belt voice with more force and boldness.

You may also notice that the belt voice may not sound as musical as an operavoice, because the belt voice has no vibrato. Vibrato is a rapid variation in pitch forthe duration of a note. It gives warmth to a tone, but when overused can sound likea wobble.

Mastering the Classic Sob

This voice is the classic head voice. You can sing in the sob voice by pretendingthat you are going to cry. It produces a thinner sound than the belt voice, though stilldeep, and has the vibrato that the belt voice lacks.

Example of a sob voice:Track17


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You can sing with a sob voice in lower ranges, but it is stronger and easier to use inthe higher register. Most womens singing voices naturally fall into the sob style.You may find it easier to sing this style if you raise your eyebrows or look up. If youdo so, remember not to change the position of your head; remain looking forward.

Finding the Break

Your chest and head voices do overlap, but they do so in the middle of your range.You need to be careful of this area, as switching too often between chest and headvoice causes a song to sound disjointed and unpleasant to listen to. What you wantto do is to visualize your sternum and head working in balance, so that all the notesyou produce sound blended.

Thus, as a singer, your goal should be balance and connectivity between your chestand head voices. You should be able to move smoothly and seamlessly from the

lowest notes in your range to the highest, without effort. Your vocal cords will openand close freely through their entire range of motion, without effort or strain.

Unfortunately, the major barrier to a seamless, connected head and chest voice isthe break, the point at which your voice sticks as you change register.


1. Sing a scale, using the SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano to set the initial note.Choose a note which is toward the bottom of your range.

Listen to the example:

Track18

2. Now, go up a half-step for the next starting note, and sing another scale.Make sure that your tone is clear, not breathy. Pay attention to which area(your sternum or your nose/forehead) is vibrating.

3. Continue until you find an area where your voice jams up or shifts inquality, where you feel as if you have to switch voices to get those highernotes. This is your break, or the point at which your chest and headvoices are disconnected.

Now that you have found your break, use the SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano

to helpyou locate the area that your break falls on. Color in those notes on the piano below.(Middle C is lightly shaded in.)


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Connecting the Voices

Your task is not just to find your breakbut to eliminate it. This is very difficult andcan take years. Some singers dont even bother to connect their chest and head

voices; instead, they incorporate the two separate voices into their style.Nevertheless, the most agile singers find that a connection between their two voicesenables them to create music the kind of music of which theyd only dreamed.

Exercises to Bridge the Gap

One excellent exercise to blend your head and chest voices is the ng sirenintroduced in Chapter 3. Along with that exercise, you can do the following:

Try this exercise.

On a tah sound1. Using the SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano, play a note which is a few notes

above the area you shaded in earlier (i.e., in the upper register, or yourhead voice range).

2. Sing this note in your head voice as if you are crying. The feeling of cryingshould come from inside your mouth. This is your sob voice, and you mayexperience some vibrato.

3. Sing down the scale, trying to stay in your head voice.


4. Stop when you can no longer stay in your head voice but need to move toyour chest voice.

5. Color in this note on the picture of the piano below. (Middle C is lightlyshaded in.)

6. Now sing down the scale again. Start in your head voice, but as youapproach the shaded note, try to transition into your chest voice when youfeel it coming on. Come in lightly to the chest voice; do not fall into it.


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7. Keep practicing this until you hear no definite break between your twovoices.

Repeat the exercise, this t ime singing from low to high. Move cleanly from

your chest voice to your head voice.


Make sure that you retain good posture and do not move your jaw.

Repeat the exercise, this t ime singing it as an arpeggio.

An arpeggio is a breakdown of a whole cord, where each note of the chord isplayed individually.

In this case, the arpeggio will be Do, Mi, So, Do, So, Mi, Do, where the notesmove from Do upwards to the Do seven notes above it, then down again tothe original Do. Sing the arpeggio slowly, paying close attention to blendingyour two voices into a uniform tone.


You can feel these exercises working by thinking about which parts of your chestand head are vibrating during the exercise. Around your break area, or transitionpoint, you should feel a smooth continuation of vibrations between your sternum andyour mouth/nose/forehead. With enough practice, you will find that you will no longer

have a jump between your chest and head voices. Rather, as you reach the breakpoint that you shaded in on the piano diagram earlier, you will feel both areas of yourbody vibrating.

Ready for More?

Wow! Youve just navigated an immensely difficult chapter probably the mostimportant chapter in the entire book! How are you feeling? Is singing training likeyou expected?

Laying the foundation for a singing-quality voice can feel like enormous work at first.However, once you have gotten used to training those unfamiliar vocal muscles,youll find that all these seemingly difficult exercises are actually quite easy and fun!

Now, Im going to take you into the secondary aspects of good singing: breathing,posture, and articulation.


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Vocabulary Review

arpeggio a breakdown of a whole cord, where each note of thechord is played individually

articulation pronunciation, enunciation

balance harmonious adjustment of timbre between voices

blended when you can make a smooth transition between chestand head voice; also connected

break the point at which you must make a dramatic shift toaccommodate the transition between your chest andhead voices

connected see blended

falsetto a way to sing in the high part of your range without strain;produces an airy tone that is not very intense

glottal stop a hard, forceful sound caused by a momentary completeclosing of the glottis in the back of the throat

grounded posture in which you stand firmly connected to theground, with a solid basis from which you can take fullbreaths and produce a full sound.

note pitch used in music

pitch objective measurement of the frequency of a sound

scale a succession of 7 or 8 consecutive note

sightsinging the ability to sing a piece of music without havingpreviously seen or studied the musical score

simultaneous onset when tone and breath come out at the same time

Solfeggio method method of sightsinging using do, re, mi, fa, o, la, and ti

sternum breastbone

tone deafness the inability to distinguish between pitches

tone quality of sound; described subjectively

vibrato a rapid variation in pitch for the duration of a note


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CHAPTER 6. Breathing, Posture, and Articulation

Many vocal teachers spend a lot of time on these concepts. However, goodbreathing, posture, and articulation should serve to support the goals of (1) aconnected voice and (2) a quality tonenot supplant them. By no means shouldyou focus on breathing or articulation at the expense of the exercises in the previouschapter. Nevertheless, as you learn the concept of being grounded and anchored,you will find that you have more control over your sound.

Breathing

We breathe automatically. Few of us ever think about the process, as it is so naturaland effortless. Normally, when you inhale, the diaphragmor sheet of muscle at thebottom of the rib cageflattens, while rib muscles lift the rib cage, creating a spacefor air to rush in and fill your lungs. Then, as you exhale, your diaphragm and ribmuscles relax, causing your lungs to shrink back and squeeze the air out again.

You may think that the breathing practice you have had playing sports or playing aninstrument will help you with singing. Not so. The way a singer inhales and exhalesdiffers slightly from normal inhalation and exhalation.

When you sing, you must control how much air you need, at what rate you willbreathe in, and at what rate you will breathe out. The rate at which you exhale isimportant, as this determines how much air you send to your vocal cords and for how

long. The actual process of exhalation is distinct, as you must be able to keep yourrib cage expanded while using your abdominal muscles to push your diaphragmagainst your lungs, releasing air in a steady stream to your vocal cords.

If you try to control your breathing too consciously as you sing, youll create extratension in your body, which can only affect your singing negatively. Never contractyour stomach muscles in an effort to breathe more forcefully. The best thing you cando is simply have correct posture and know how a full breath should feel.

Breathing In

Most beginning singers are familiar with the concept of breathing from thediaphragm, or area at the bottom of the ribcage. This description of properbreathing technique is misleading, because what you really want to do, as a singer,is engage all areas of your body around your lungs and rib cage in the act ofbreathing. Therefore, I would suggest that you dont think of breathing from thediaphragm but rather imagine yourself breathing with your whole body.


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Try this exercise.

1. Lie on your back on the ground. Take a deep breath and feel your upperchest and abs expand upwards. Do not tense your abdominal muscles in

any way.

Notice that your shoulders do not move. You could stop here, and sayyou have learned how to breathe from your diaphragm. However,theres more to it than that.

2. Take another deep breath and feel your entire chest and abdominalareaall 360 degreesexpand. Your chest should expand outwards, notupwards (as you tend to do when youre standing), and you should feelyour back and side muscles expand as well. This is the kind of breathingyou want to achieve while youre singing.

Try this exercise.

1. Sit in a chair, lightly resting your lower back against the back of the chair.2. Take a deep breath, feeling yourself expand in all 360 degrees as you

learned in the previous exercise.3. Feel your back pressing into the chair. Make sure that you dont raise your

shoulders!

Try this exercise.

1. Ask someone else to help you with this exercise.2. Kneel on the ground. Rest your arms on a chair in front of you. Try to

keep your back flat and head down.3. The other person should rest their hands on your lower back.4. Take a breath while trying to expand your back by pushing up against your

partners hands. Repeat until you feel comfortable.5. Now, switch positions. Feel and see your partners lower back expand as

they breathe.


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Breathing Out

All that air with which youve filled your lungs is there for slow release over a longperiod, not for using all at once. When you are singing, you may think that the more

air you use to sing the better. This is not the case at all. Forcing too much airthrough your vocal cords will make you sing worse, because your vocal cords musttighten to hold back the volume of air. A good tone can be produced without muchair at all; in fact, using less air will actually make it easier to reach those highernotes.

J ust think of Goldilocks: you dont want too much air, you dont want too little air, youwant the amount thats just rightwhich is the amount that your vocal cords canhandle.

Singing with too much air can produce a sound that is airy and breathy. The solutionis to focus your breath on the note so that no air is wasted.

Try this exercise.

Sing a scale on ah from the middle of your range and record it on theSINGORAMA!Mini Recording Studio. Now play it back and scrutinize thesound. Is it thin and breathy? Or is it focused?

Try this exercise.

1. Look at a clock with a seconds hand.

2. Take a reasonably-sized breath and sing a note on ah. Try to use up allyour breath in a 5-second span. Thats exactly 5 seconds no more, noless.

3. Repeat as many times as you like, using larger or smaller breaths. Again,the goal is to use up all the air in 5 seconds!

The above exercise teaches you to focus your breath for the purpose of filling thosefive seconds with no wasted air. Try it again, using a longer time period than 5seconds. It may help to visualize filling the room with all of your sound, while usingup your breath completely. With sufficient practice, youll achieve a clearer, focusedsound and better breath management.

Posture

Posture is related to good breathing techniques. The way you are standing willenable your lungs to fill with air entirely or will constrict the passages you need tosend a free stream of air flowing through your lips. (Can you guess why sitting asyou sing is not recommended?) Usually, proper posture can be described as ashoulder-width stand, with loose knees, tucked in pelvis, shoulders down and loose,


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spine centered, and chin aligned naturally so that youre looking straight ahead(rather than down at sheet music or up into space). You should never need to dropyour jaw or lower your head to sing out those low notes nor crane your head highto sing the high notes. Always keep your head straight, as though youre talking tosomeone.

Those are the basics of good posture. Nevertheless, Im going to offer you analternative notion of posture of which you may have not heard before. Youre goingto learn to be grounded. In other words, you will imagine yourself standing firmlyconnected to the ground, with a solid basis from which you can take full breaths andproduce a full sound.

Ground yourself.

Stand with your feet approximately 1 foot apart (or shoulder width), with onefoot slightly in front of the other. Your body should not be stiff, but rather

firmly weighted. Lean slightly on your back foot, as if you were pulling a ropein a game of tug-of-war. Now sing a scale on dah. It may even help at firstto actually pull on something or someone, and feel and listen to the differenceit makes in your voice.

You may find that using this posture feels a bit silly, but you will soon find that itproduces a larger sound that comes across as more urgent and intense.

You should practice grounding when you are learning to sing. However, after youare familiar with how it feels and it adds to your voice, you can return to a normal,relaxed standing posture, while keeping the basics in your mind.

Ar ticulat ion

Many voice teachers spend ages training their students to pronounce vowels andconsonants in an exaggerated, hyper-enunciated way. The reason is that wordsoften sound different when sung than when spoken. Singing depends on vowelsounds, with only a minor role played by consonants. Yet without the correctarticulation provided by consonants, the words of song lyrics can be lost.

My approach to articulation is much more relaxed. When youre learning to sing, it ismuch more important to focus on producing a clear, even tone than pronouncingeach word precisely. In fact, if you move your mouth too much, you may findyourself producing unnatural vowel or consonant sounds.

The basics of good pronunciation are simple: try to move your lips and jaw onlywhen you are producing consonants, while keeping the same open mouth shape forall vowels.


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Vowels

Unlike consonants, vowel sounds come from the voicebox or throat, not the

articulators. They are pure sounds, and your singing depends on them, but alteringthem by moving your mouth will muddy their clarity.

Try this exercise.

1. Stand in front of a mirror with your mouth open in a relaxed oval (not toowide).

2. Make the following vowel sounds without moving your lips or jaw.ah ay eh ee i oh uh oo

Feel the way your throat and tongue move to create the different vowelsounds.

3. Now, allow yourself to move your mouth and say the vowels again.

ah ay eh ee i oh uh oo

See and hear the difference? The tone will most likely be less full andsound much less professional.

When you sing vowel sounds, then, you should always make sure that your mouthremains in the proper shape, but doesnt move. Dont drop or raise your jaw whenyou sing notes at either end of your range. You want your voice to sound natural and for you to feel natural while youre singing.

Try this exercise.

As you do these exercises, remember the following:o Keep your mouth in a firm, yet not stiff shape.o Think about what is happening inside your mouth, including your

tongue movement and soft palate.o Maintain good posture.o Relax.


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1. Play middle C on the SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano to set the starting pitch.Sing up a scale, where each note in the scale is a different vowel sound.

ah ay eh ee i oh uh oo


2. Now, sing an arpeggio on each vowel sound (Do, Mi, So, Mi, Do).ah ay ee oh oo


3. Try singing the vowel sounds in different ways, and record yourexperiments using the SINGORAMA!Mini Recording Studio. Afterwards,play them back and listen to your tone. Try to answer the following

question as objectively as you can:

o Does your sound have depth and fullness? Or is it breathy andthin?

o Are you using more of your chest voice or head voice?o Does the tone change for certain vowels? (You want all your vowel

sounds to be just as full and deep.)o Do you attack each note strongly?o Do you slur the sounds together?

Be careful of problem areas, such as where:

your tone seems to change (become darker, et cetera) some sounds seem thin two vowel sounds form where there should be one (see Diphthong section

below)

Certain vowels will pose more of a problem than others. For example, when yousing the vowel sound ee, you may find yourself opening your mouth sideways.This produces a thinner sound.


The solution is to keep your mouth still and try to form the sound in the back andupper back part of your mouth. As a result, you should find yourself producing afuller and deeper sound.



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Diphthongs

When you are singing a diphthong (a compound vowel), emphasize the initialvowel, adding only a hint of the second vowel sound at the end. For example, the

word around can be pronounced like this:

Track26Or, like this:

Track27

You do not want diphthongs forming where a single vowel sound should be. Forexample, if you sing the word mine, you may find yourself singing my-een, with anee sound added after the ah sound.


You should sing the word with the ay sound only: mine.


Consonants

Consonants are the spice to your singing: they add definition, clarify words, andbring out flavors, but the main body of your song should be vowel sounds.

Use consonants only as necessary for the lyrics to be understood. Remember theglottal stop? This is necessary to separate words, so they dont run together intogibberish. Often, the final consonant will run together with the starting vowel of thenext word. A glottal stop between the words will mean that they can be fullyunderstood.

For example, compare Its not with it snot.Compare I am with I yam.

You should always emphasize the initial consonant in a word instead of the last. Forexample, if you are singing the phrase, can I stay, you could sing it like this:

Track30. However, you should sing it like this: Track31.

As you become more familiar with the way your voice connects different sounds,youll be able to break down the component word sounds in a musical phrase toconvey the most clarity while preserving the best quality. For example, when singingconsonants, you should:

Avoid overemphasizing ANY consonant unless it comes at the beginning ofa word.

But dont drop the sound either.


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Avoid holding onto an R sound. In other words, add just a hint of R at thelast moment not a helping.

Avoid holding an M or an N sound in the middle or end of a word. Keepyourself from giving into the tendency to make a humming sound whensinging Ms and Ns.

Finally, you also need to be aware of whether your tone and breath are coming outat the same time (a simultaneous onset). You may want to practice by againsinging, Miaow. The initial M sound should be firm, and each vowel sound shouldbe heard. Make sure that there is no breath before the tone.

Try this exercise.

Sing or speak the following, making sure you keep up your speed:Bah Beh Bee Boh Boo

Now, replace the B with one of the following consonants, and repeat until you

have done them all: D, M, G, T, L, P, H.

o Why these exercises are beneficial:B, P, and M are good practice for the lips.G and D are good practice for the jaw.L and T are good practice for the tongue.H is a good consonant and vowel practice. It is harder than the othersand requires more concentration. You should avoid creating a breathytone; make the initial sound firmly.

Why Vowels and Consonants Matter

You may wonder how you can correct your pronunciation at such a minute levelwhen youre singing. When all of us sing, we tend to see a word on a sheet ofmusic, sing it, and have no time to think about whether we sang it right before wereoff singing the next word.

The way in which you can correct your pronunciation at song level is by breaking thesong down into its component parts and perfecting each one before adding the next.

If you are singing a new song, you should first sing the melody through on ah to getthe notes right. Listen to the example of this being done with Shenandoah, atraditional American folk song:

Track32 Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear youAway, you rolling river

Next, you will speak the song out loud to yourself with only the vowel sounds in placeto familiarize yourself. Then, sing it with just the vowel sounds. Remember thatvowels sound different when they are sung than when they are spoken. At this point,you should note where any sounds give you problems, such as diphthongs.


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Once youve mastered that, you can sing the song with the consonants in place.You may wish to practice some consonant warm-ups beforehand, such as thebubblegum exercise you learned in Chapter 3, or the consonant exercises youlearned earlier in this chapter. (Remember to clearly enunciate the consonants atthe beginning of words instead of the end, although the emphasis should not beobtrusive).


You will learn more about the process of breaking an unfamiliar song down into itscomponent parts in Chapter 1 of the Advanced Book.

Take a Breather

Whew! Now that youve got piles of exercises to practice and a grasp on the basicsof good vocal technique, take a few days to absorb what youve learned. In the nextchapter, Im going to give you a review of some bad singing habits and how toeliminate them. Afterwards, in Chapter 8, Ill show you how to take care of the fineinstrument that youve just learned how to play: your body.


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Vocabulary Review

diphthong where two different vowel sounds combine

vowel A, E, I, O, and U sounds; pure sounds

consonant hard sounds; formed by articulators

diaphragm sheet of muscle at the bottom of the rib cage, or midriff


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CHAPTER 7. Breaking Bad Habits

All of us find that bad habits are easy to pick up, especially when we are first learningsomething new. The best cure for a bad habit is to realize youre doing it! Thefollowing list gives you some typical problem areas for both new and establishedsingers, as well as some suggestions for improvement.

Disconnect / Break between Chest and Head Voices

This is perhaps the most common problem among singers and is extremely hard toovercome. The best way to connect your chest and head voices is to practice,practice, practice, by using the exercises in Chapter 5.

Vowel Sounds

You may find yourself producing dull, irregular vowel sounds, or creating diphthongswhere only one vowel sound is needed.

You can brighten your vowel sounds by: raising your eyebrows imagining that you are smiling, or visualizing that you are just resting on the note, from the top.

Volume and Intensity

One mistake that many beginning singers make is thinking that singing loudly oroversinging will make them sound better. Not so. Being loud is harsh and non-musical. Furthermore, the sound from oversinging wont just be unpleasant on theearsit will be hard on your vocal cords as well.

This does not mean that your singing voice should be hard to hear. Volume, inmusic terms, is not the same as loudness. Having high volume and intensity is likeprojecting your singing voice, while retaining your musicality.

High volume and intensity can be achieved by focusing your breath on the notes andnot pushing too hard. It may help to imagine yourself projecting from yourdiaphragm.


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Singing Out of Tune

There are two major mistakes that singers can make: they can either sing the wrong

note, or sing off pitch (out of tune).

Singing the Wrong Note

In order to solve this problem, you need to go back to the concepts introduced inChapter 4 and develop your mental ear.

You cannot escape your study of music without a sense of pitch. The best way toachieve a sense of pitch is memorize a note (say, middle C) from which you baseother notes.

Practicing sightsinging can be a great help. Find some simple sheet music that you

can read. Try to use your musical ear and memory to first internalize the notes,then sing them. Record yourself on the SINGORAMA!Mini Recording Studio. Afteryou are done, play back the recording to the accompaniment of the proper notes onthe SINGORAMA!Virtual Piano. Make sure all your actual notes are correct, evenif you may not be perfectly in tune.

Once you are able to hit all the notes, shift your focus to trying to be perfectly onpitch (in tune).

Singing Off Pitch

The only cure for singing off pitch is lots of practice! You can use pitch-meters,

which tell you how close you are to being in tune (i.e., how sharp or flat you are, on ascale).

Try to pinpoint certain areas within your range where you may go off-key. This willgenerally be in the lowest and highest parts of your range. In fact, it is easy to fallout of tune when singing high notes. For example:

You may slide up to a note and never quite hit it.(In other words, youll always be slightly flat.)

The way to teach yourself to hit those higher notes right onpitch is simple. Think of your voice as coming down onto thenote. You may wish to raise your eyebrows or stand on yourtoes, then physically drop as your voice hits the note. Becareful, though, that you dont actually sing higher!


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Tone

Breathy

As mentioned in the previous chapter, one cure for a breathy tone is to practicemiaow in order to produce simultaneous onset of breath and tone.

Falsetto

A falsetto tone may be fun to sing, but its musical quality is poor: breathy and thin.To avoid this, do exercises to ensure that you have a simultaneous onset, orproduce the tone and the breath at the same time.

Too much vibrato (tremolo)

Vibrato, if you remember, is the repeated fluctuation of a pitch that gives a tone

warmth. It is usually a desirable quality and almost always present in the sob voice.However, the purest voices (such as choir boys) have no vibrato at all, and manyprofessional singers now seek to use less vibrato when they sing.

In other words, a little vibrato is good but too much is bad. An excess of vibratocan make your voice sound wobbly and unpleasant. Problems with vibrato tend tobe due to poor breath control. Practice breathing exercises to improve your control:try to make your breath move faster, and keep it focused.

Bad Posture

Slumping wont do your posture any good, but what it does to your lungs and vocalmechanism is worse. If you are going to sing, you must practice good posture.Never sit while you sing if you can avoid it. By standing, you keep your entire vocalapparatus free and clear. Always keep your head straight instead of tilted up ordown, and avoid raising or dropping your jaw as you sing.


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CHAPTER 8. Vocal Health

You may have seen divas who belt out opera from bellies the size of the operahouse rockers chugging beer between sets or husky-voiced lounge singerschain-smoking cigarettes. If you copy them, you may cut your singing career short.

While there will always be exceptions to every rule, keeping your singing voicehealthy means keeping your body healthy. Keeping your body healthy meansmaintaining a healthy weight, drinking plenty of water, and avoiding anything that willdry out or disrupt your vocal cords including alcohol and cigarette smoke.

Exercise

Singing is exercise, and a strong respiratory and cardiovascular system will carryyou through its demands. Some voice teachers recommend a routine of abdominalexercises to strengthen your core muscles, cardio exercises to improve your lungcapacity, and yoga to improve your posture and focus your breath.

Food

Before you sing, you should avoid eating. In particular, there are a number

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