Like any other skill, singing requires regular practice and discipline. If you want to know how to sing well, you have to devote time and patience in mastering the skill.
Warm-ups
First of all, it’s essential to start with some physical and vocal warm up exercises. This is a habit which will sustain the quality of your vocal skills on a long-term basis.
A 15-20 minute warm up each day is very helpful. You can do it while driving to and from work or even while taking a shower.
Relax and control your breathing. Listen to the sound of your voice. It will also help if you have a recorder while doing the warm-ups so you can observe your own voice and note down anything you might notice.
Even doing these exercises for a few minutes a day ups will help you fulfill your dream of knowing how to sing well. Furthermore, warm-ups are also essential because it helps avoid vocal damage in the long run.
Singing without warming up can hurt your vocal cords. Going straight into signing will make you sound rough and destroy your voice in the process. When done improperly, singing can be a painful and awful experience.
To keep yourself in good condition, practice physical warm-up exercises such as stretching; vocal warm-up exercises like humming, breath control and scale exercises are equally helpful.
Posture
While doing your daily routine, maintaining a good posture is crucial to excellent singing. Those who know how to sing well are aware that a proper singing posture has a significant effect on their performance.
When you’re singing, your muscles move. And if you don’t have a good posture, then your muscles won’t move as freely as they should – you’ll end up restricting the full range of your voice. Aside from your voice, a bad posture will also cause your overall performance to suffer. Besides, no one wants to see a lousy performer slouching on stage, right?
Practices
If you’re a newbie, resist the temptation to practice for long hours. It’s a good idea for beginners to take their time in learning how to sing well. As eager as you are to improve quickly, your vocal muscles are not yet used to extended periods of physical strain. As such, limit your practice sessions to 15-20 minutes in the beginning.
You may start with the lower octaves – the low and middle notes to be exact. As you progress, you’ll begin to hit the high notes. But don’t force yourself and take it easy – getting better is a gradual process. Short, daily training sessions work better than long sessions done once a week.
Little Things Add Up
Be committed in what you do. You’ll never know how to sing well if you don’t invest time and effort in improving your talents.
Just like cooking and driving a car, singing is a skill that needs to be applied in order to learn. You won’t learn how to sing well by simply studying the theories of singing. Stick to your practice plan and create realistic goals which you can accomplish one step at a time.
Don’t take the ‘small’ exercises for granted. Eventually, everything will add up and you’ll notice a big difference in the way you sing.
