Singing Exercises

xmarkcayabyab

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Do you guys know any singing exercises to improve the voice? All i know is the piano matching voice tone exercise. Any breathing exercises that really improve your voice? Any other exercises should i know?
 
I used to play with a classically trained singer and here are some tips that i gathered through a bunch of conversations:

She said before really strenuous shows she used a vocal warm up disc which has a bunch vocal exercises.

She said don't eat or drink sugary foods/alcohol around the time that you are going to sing, they are bad for the vocal chords.

She said don't eat mentholated cough drops because they dehydrate the vocal chords.

She said if you have a sore throat to drink tea with honey and lemon.

She said doing yoga really helped her singing/breathing.

YMMV.
 
I used to play with a classically trained singer and here are some tips that i gathered through a bunch of conversations:



She said don't eat or drink sugary foods/alcohol around the time that you are going to sing, they are bad for the vocal chords.

She said don't eat mentholated cough drops because they dehydrate the vocal chords.

She said if you have a sore throat to drink tea with honey and lemon.


YMMV.


She said don't eat or drink sugary foods/alcohol around the time that you are going to sing, they are bad for the vocal chords. WELL there is a bummer!!

She said don't eat mentholated cough drops because they dehydrate the vocal chords.What about cigarettes?? hahaha

She said if you have a sore throat to drink tea with honey and lemon.isnt that sugary??
 
She said don't eat or drink sugary foods/alcohol around the time that you are going to sing, they are bad for the vocal chords. WELL there is a bummer!!

She said don't eat mentholated cough drops because they dehydrate the vocal chords.What about cigarettes?? hahaha

She said if you have a sore throat to drink tea with honey and lemon.isnt that sugary??


I am just guessing, but I think it is probably because honey is thick and coats your throat. So ideally, stay away from sugary stuff, and if you have a sore throat then go for the honey/lemon tea to soothe it (as opposed to a mentholated cough drop). I have tried it and it does make your throat feel good, and tastes pretty good too. :)

Cigarettes? lol....
 
My friend also told me never to drink milk before singing too. Don't really know why though.
 
My friend also told me never to drink milk before singing too. Don't really know why though.

like what davoo said. it lingers in your throat and makes your mucus thick and sticky.

i heard starfruit was good for your throat..
 
like what davoo said. it lingers in your throat and makes your mucus thick and sticky.

i heard starfruit was good for your throat..

tsuda where you been? By the way, what is starfruit? is that the same as "star apples"?
 
Do you guys know any singing exercises to improve the voice? All i know is the piano matching voice tone exercise. Any breathing exercises that really improve your voice? Any other exercises should i know?

After taking voice lessons for 4 years and studying opera extensively, I can tell you that nothing helps breathing better than getting rid of everything in its way. Your breath ideally wants to go straight from your lungs, over your vocal chords, and our of your head. The issue with most singers and especially inexperienced ones is that they let their throat and face muscles get in the way.

Singing should feel like it takes no effort. Forget matching tone, you should never have to think about hitting a note, because if you know the notes u need to hit and you are breathing correctly you will hit them without thinking about them. They have done studies showing that our vocal chords stretch to make the pitches they hear, even when one isnt singing.

So, to make sure you are relaxed, try these exercises:
-Starting with your forehead and working your way all around your face, just massage the outer muscles, making sure there isnt any tension anywhere.
-Next, move your jaw up and down, and find the little "hinge hole" right in front of your ear, massage all around that and just let your jaw fall down. Afterwards, you should be able to shake your jaw without feeling it fighting back, if theres tension it means your jaw is too tight
-Next gently massage right underneath your jaw, where the swallowing muscles over lap.
-gently move your adams back and forth
-next stick out your tongue until you feel it stretch way in the back, then, as its hanging out, let it slowly recede back into your mouth at its own pace- do this three times
-the whole point of all these exercises is to relax all the muscles that tend to get in the way

If you have done all that, and you are standing up with proper posture- that being ribcage lifted up off your diaphragm, back straight, shoulders down, head straight, knees bent, and your pelvis tilted inward (basically pulling your butt underneath your back)- sigh out loud, at any pitch. There should be NO pause between the sound of your voice and the start of exhalation, if there is, that means that atleast one of the muscles you just relaxed is sitting in the way of the air.

another thing, to get rid of the phlegm and whatnot on your chords, stick your tongue out and vibrate it while humming a pitch. do it to your favorite song or w/e. your tongue should vibrate which will in turn vibrate all around your vocal chords, loosening up all the junk

if you do all of this, your breath should be free and you should have no problem
 
Don't try to clear your throat before you sing. It irritates your throat, and it it will grieve you during those high notes. Even though you see people clear their throat before they sing, don't

btw, isn't this thing hilarious?? :nana:It makes me wanna dance (sry so random...)
 
Do you guys know any singing exercises to improve the voice? All i know is the piano matching voice tone exercise. Any breathing exercises that really improve your voice? Any other exercises should i know?


I was a classically trained singer for many MANY years. If you are serious about singing make sure you are committed and disciplined. Here are some exercises that truly helped me all those years.
-first off water is your best friend...be healthy and hydrated

-This tip was probably my hardest... AVOID sugary goodness treats and drinks

-Always be rested before any performance or practice

-Yoga helped calm me as well as greatly improved breathing control...it also helps your diaphragm become flexible and keeps you in shape too.

-Practice in front of a mirror...it will help you become critical of yourself and you will also see how you are breathing. Are you calm, upright, shoulders relaxed, chest up, breathing from the stomach, are you allowing the air to move out fully, mouth wide, are you clinching your jaw (biting motion), is your jaw relaxed, etc...things like that

-If you have the time submersing your body in a pool with your head above the water helps you physically breath better without any movement or body strength...how you might ask...when you are in water your weightless!!! if no ones around sing while your in the water you'll be able to totally see what your body is capable of singing!!

-If your voice is exhausted just RELAX...avoid speaking loudly or singing for at least a couple of days and drink warm liquids.

-Some breathing exercises aside from scales with the piano or whatever are singing scales near a candle...this helps you see if you are actually controlling your breathing..
..sing scales while on your back...this helps you to just relax your whole body....
..sing single notes as if you are about to YAWN...this again helps with control my voice teacher was big on this....she said this is how you should actually sing relaxed and controlling the breathing in one direction to project....This one is pretty hard at first (you'll actually start to yawn a few times but with practice you'll be awesome)
..sing scales with AH, AYE, Eee, Oohh, Oooo....like the vowels AEIOU


-My last one is probably practice...practice....practice...and MORE PRACTICE!!!! Your diaphragm is a muscle the more you exercise it the better able you are to use it!!!


If you have any more questions or if something isn't clear....you can pm me if you like!!! goodluck!!
 
Thanks so much for what you have posted so far.

What about those of us who just aren't very good at singing? I just want to impress a girl at a party or not be completely off tune when I sing in front of my friends (I won't be performing publicly any time soon) Do you have any tips for beginners? (I sing tenor in a church choir every once in a while and I sing really loudly in my car, other than that I'm too embarrassed to sing in front of people! But I'm gathering courage...)

Here are some things I've done that help:

-Look up songs on YouTube- for some reason seeing people who aren't professionals sing songs helps me out

-Record yourself- it helps tons to hear your own voice! I just use the lame little Sound Recorder in Window to record myself.

Thats pretty much all I got! I need help! I want to get some chicks with my new ukulele!
 
Join a chorus in school or church.

If they don't have one, start one. Chicks are generally impressed by dudes who start their own churches. And then you can play ukulele all you want to your own congregation.
 
Join a chorus in school or church.

If they don't have one, start one. Chicks are generally impressed by dudes who start their own churches. And then you can play ukulele all you want to your own congregation.


i totally agree!
well i guess i can't say yes or no to the whole chicks "dig it" thing because i'm married; but you should totally join a choir. :p
every choir begins their rehearsals with vocal warmups that can improve and enhance your voice.
 
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My friend also told me never to drink milk before singing too. Don't really know why though.


it can make your throat phlemy..
 
there are a lot of excersizes you can do.. but some can make you feel really weird when you do it.. if you can get past a fear of looking and sounding like a fool when warming up, you are half way there. i was thinking about hosting an online session live or doing a few vids on youtube. now im not great. i just know of these things from growing up around music and singing.
 
A friend of ours showed us how he warms up. He makes kind of an "aa-ooo-eee-aa" sound, up and down and up, covering his whole vocal range.

We laughed when he showed us (he also made really exaggerated faces while doing it), but it works really well!
 
before i went on stage for open mics...

i used to drink hot water to relax my throat...
and stood away from oily foods...(any foods for that matter)
lose anything cold to drink or eat...

much more...idk..
 
...
another thing, to get rid of the phlegm and whatnot on your chords, stick your tongue out and vibrate it while humming a pitch. do it to your favorite song or w/e. your tongue should vibrate which will in turn vibrate all around your vocal chords, loosening up all the junk

Excellent advice back on your post, but I didn't quite understand the last bit about sticking out the tongue! (in above quote) 'Splain
 
I usually just smoke a couple of cigars the night before and knock back few scotches into the wee hours.
:p
 
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