So I made a thread a little while back about singing and playing and it basically turned into a thread of everyone trying to help me to sing better (wasn't the threads intention), which I greatly appreciate. Basically I always felt that someone was listening to me, and it made me sing more reserved and quiet. I was even quiet when no one was in the house. Well I've been practicing more and I think I've improved! I'm still not a good singer, but I got over that fear. I have to say that my last thread is what really got me over the fear of singing, ya'll made me feel so much better. So if you're not feeling great about your singing, post in here and talk about it, maybe post a video. I promise it will help you greatly. I'm not sure if this is the place for this, but if it's not, feel free to move it.
One of my favorite songs ever, thought I'd post it with my update. Again, still not a good singer, but I see improvement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-KnPDNi4IU
I see improvement too - and when I say see, I really do mean see. You're singing better because your posture's better.
A lot of the trick to singing is to do with visualisation. One of the most common of these is to visualise yourself using your diaphragm to
push the sound up through your throat and out through your lips. Like there's a long vacuum hose connected to a bellows down by your stomach. You don't want any kinks in that hose. So sit up straight, young man!
And in this video that's exactly what you're doing.
My own problem is that I have to fight against my tendency to jut my jaw forward when I sing, and to raise my head back at the same time. Doing that puts two kinks in the hose. Actually what it does is create tension where there shouldn't be any. When I look at early videos of me screeching away, my shoulders are hunched, my lips are stretched across my teeth and the tendons in my neck muscles are standing out like I'm weight-lifting 500lbs or more. I'm still not great but I've improved so much simply by keeping my shoulder, neck and jaw muscles so relaxed that they're just doing enough work to stop my head slumping onto my chest. All the work in producing the sound should be done from your diaphram. So sitting up straight is great, but standing would be even better.
Speaking of being relaxed, someone told once me that singing is like extended speech. Say 'hello'. Now say 'hee-lll-ooo'. Now say 'hee-ee-ee-ll-ll-ll-oo-oo-oo'. The first 'hello' is speaking. The last one is singing. That's what you're doing here: singing like it's extended speech. As a result, you're much more relaxed in your vocals this time around. Confidence breeds confidence. A performance is about 'selling' a song to an audience. If you look or sound like you don't believe in yourself or your song, your audience won't either.
Another visualisation trick I learnt recently that I have found really useful, is to imagine your high notes coming from the back of your vocal cords, and low notes from the front. This has two effects. One, it stops you tilting your head back (kink again) as you go for a high note, because for the high note to come from the back of your vocal cords, you need to 'make space' there for that to happen. Two, it helps keep your tongue out of the way and your larynx relaxed and low in your throat, allowing the air producing the notes to escape freely.
Finally, the last stage in the process of getting out your sound is pushing it past the lips. Someone in your original thread said something about visualising the sound coming out through the top of your skull. Again an important tip. Your cranium is like the body of your uke. The strings produce the vibrations, but the body produces the resonance. Your skull is the "body" to your vocal cords' "strings". That was a difficult one for me to accept, because my inner ear liked the sound it heard with my sound placed in my throat. But playback proved me wrong. I've had to retrain my inner ear to recognise what sounds nice 'out there'.
These particular visualisations may or may not work for you. But singing is a physical activity, just like a ball game. Visualisation is a large part of any ball game. You visualise the ball's trajectory as it leaves the QB's hand, you visualise yourself connecting with that fastball, you visualise the 8-ball going in the corner pocket. Visualise the production of your sound. If these visualisations don't work for you, find some that do. And keep sitting up straight!
[p.s. Me singing like no-one's listening
]
