0We have seen people comment on how a person’s voice is too high pitched or how someone has a hoarse voice. Ever wondered whether there might be ways by which one could tweak ones voice as one desires? After talking to several musicians about how they work on improving the sound of their voice and reading up on many articles on the subject, These five simple secrets are really helpful for music students, budding singers and to a number of artistes out there.So get ready to give your throat a real power workout and begin your journey to become a better singer. Pease read our following lesson posts for the 5 steps.
1. The "Instant Vocal Fix":
This is a quick trick which makes you sound better, and will take you back to 2nd grade. You are with the vowels of the English alphabets; Say A-E-I-O-U aloud (watch your jaw movement in the mirror). See if your jaw closes on any of the vowels, it might close on E, or it might close on all of them. To open your jaw use your fingers to pull them apart or you may use a plastic bottle cap to prop your jaw open. Now say the vowels again loudly. And repeat again (the artist that you are, you would be familiar with the importance of practicing).
Here we are trying to re-program your muscle memory, the more you practice, better will be the music. Now sing the vowels A-E-I-O-U on one pitch. The goal of the musician here is to keep the jaw as open as possible (top to bottom) while singing all the vowels. Repeat the exercise until you can do it perfectly. Once you have got it, sing a phrase from your favourite song. Make sure your jaw opens to the same position that you had while singing the vowels. It’s a quick trick to make your music and voice sound better instantly.
2. "High" Notes, Think “Down”:
You may have heard the saying “Adding weight to one’s voice”. What does this mean? Every singer has a vocal range within which the singer can perform well. The greater this range the more complex the patterns the singer can try. Think of this as a voice palette. The more colours you have, the prettier the picture. When we say, “add weight to one’s voice” we are saying that the voice should be adequately powe rful throughout the vocal range required by the song you are singing. One way to sing with that weight is to sing within your vocal range. Obviously, if your range is limited, you will not be able to hit the high notes required by some songs. But you can try and sing songs within your range perfectly. This may sound trifling. And as Michelangelo said, “Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle”.
3. More Power but No Strain:
How can an artiste add more power to ones voice without straining ones vocal cords? All you have to do is to keep your chin pointed slightly down and your pectorals flexed, when you are trying to put in more power. A commonly adopted habit by many musicians is that they go forward or try to lift their face to get more power. It might work sometimes, but mostly it causes vocal problems. Singing with your chin down sounds better as well and it reduces, considerably, the strain on ones vocal cords! Sing ‘Ahhh’ one scale up (1-2-3-4) and then one scale down (4-3-2-1). Never let your face turn up while putting in more power, keep it still with your chin down. Practice it until it comes naturally to you. You are already sounding better.
4. One Step Away from Getting Natural Vibrato in your Voice:
Here’s a quick tip to get the musician's vibrato working. Stand in front of a mirror; start raising your chest higher than normal and put pressure on it with both your hands. Keeping the chest in the same position, start inhaling and exhaling with deep breaths. Without changing the position of your chest, sing one note. Practice along with step one of opening the mouth while singing “ahhh.” Vibrato adds a new dimension to the singer’s voice. Avoid overuse as too much of even a good thing may not be good.
5. Self Evaluation:
Excess of anything is bad. An artist must be familiar with the scale required for the song. The musician must know about the volume of his music too. Unless the song requires a really breathy voice or a nasal tone do not add it purely as a stylistic choice. You should strike the perfect balance between the scale and the volume. Nothing would help you better than hearing yourself sing. So put on your headphones and start an honest evaluation of your singing. Do not be satisfied with being average. Be all that you can be.
Wish you all the best in your efforts.
As mentioned in
http://blog.bigmygig.com/5-creative-ways-to-improve-your-vocal-quality/
