There are some main points that can be of great help no matter how you sing. Contrary to what many people think, practice does not necessarily make perfect; however, it can make a big improvement! There are many practical things you can do to improve the quality of your voice, from learning to breathe properly and avoiding certain foods, to performing specific warm-up exercises before singing or speaking. These are not immediate solutions, but with patience and dedication, you can certainly improve your voice quality.
Steps
Method 1 of 5: Practicing Correct Breathing and Posture
Step 1. Learn to breathe
Breathing correctly is crucial to having a powerful voice. The most important point in this case is to breathe deeply:
- As you inhale and exhale, try to inflate the abdomen and kidney (in the back) areas with your breath. To inhale through these regions, place your hands around your waist, with your thumbs behind your back, your fingers forward, and your palms resting on your sides, close to your hips. You should feel your hands expand and contract with each breath. Over time, as you intensify the process, these expansions and contractions will get bigger and longer lasting.
- If you have trouble breathing deeply, try lying on your back on the floor with your hands on your stomach. On inspiration, your hands should go up; on exhalation, they must descend.
- Note that the shoulders should not rise or fall with your breath.
Step 2. Use your abdomen
When breathing correctly, during inspiration, the lower abdominal muscles (diaphragm) move outward to make room for more air to enter. When you sing, talk, or exhale, use these muscles to push the air back out.
- Use the muscles in the lower back (around the kidneys) in the same way to control your inhalations and exhalations.
- Avoid getting in a bad posture while contracting your abdomen.
Step 3. Learn correct posture
Pay attention to the placement of the feet, knees, hips, abdomen, chest, shoulders, arms and head:
- The feet should be slightly apart, with one foot in front of the other so that your body weight is slightly leaning forward.
- The knees should be relaxed and slightly bent. When you want to have good posture, it may be tempting to lock your knees in an upright position; be careful not to take this attitude.
- Hands should be relaxed and loose at your sides.
- The abdomen needs to be relaxed but ready to contract. To understand what this contraction is like, place your hands on your hips (with your thumbs behind your back) and cough gently.
- The shoulders should be kept back and down so that the back is straight and the head is held high. Avoid squatting or pulling your shoulders up toward your ears.
- The chest should be slightly up and out - this will probably be effortless when you pull your shoulders back and down.
- Your chin needs to be parallel to the floor - neither up nor facing down.
Step 4. Relax
Once you are in the correct posture, check your body to make sure there is no tension built up in any area. You shouldn't feel like you're forcing your chest out or straightening your back. Remember to relax your face and neck.
- Singing or speaking with a tense body and face will only make it more difficult to produce high-quality sound.
- If you're tense trying to maintain correct posture, try lying on your back and letting gravity do the work. Or, lean your back against a wall so your head and shoulders touch it. This can help you get a feel for how to position your body, giving you a sense of posture to keep away from the wall.
Method 2 of 5: Positioning Your Mouth Properly
Step 1. Keep your mouth open but relaxed
Keep your mouth wide open when singing, but avoid giving in to the temptation to open it so that your facial and neck muscles begin to contract. Make sure your lips, jaw and neck are always free and relaxed.
Step 2. Lift the soft palate
Professional singers are commonly advised to make room in your mouth. Leaving it wide open is part of how you can go about this step; another important step in creating space involves lowering your jaw and tongue while you lift your soft palate (the muscular structure that sits at the back of the roof of your mouth).
To proceed, inhale as if you are going to yawn, but trying not to. Pay attention to the space this creates in your mouth, including the open feeling at the back of your throat. You should try to replicate this position when singing, with your mouth open, your jaw loose, and your palate elevated
Step 3. Make sure the tongue is positioned correctly
When creating space in your mouth, it's important that your tongue is out of the way. Let it rest gently at the base of the mouth, with the tip touching the back of the lower dental arch.
Try not to stick your tongue out or wag your tongue when you sing, or this will impair the quality of your voice and, in addition, it can diminish the richness of your tone
Step 4. Remember to swallow
Excessive saliva in the mouth can make singing difficult, so it is essential that you remember to swallow before starting!
Method 3 of 5: Using Vocal Exercises to Strengthen Your Voice
Step 1. Warm up
Before singing or performing heavier vocal exercises, it will be very beneficial to do simple exercises to warm up your voice:
- Yawn. Yawning will help stretch and open your mouth and throat, as well as release tension in your neck and diaphragm. To start yawning, try to open your mouth wide and inhale.
- Cough gently. Think of this exercise as pushing air out of the back of the throat in short bursts. This will help to contract the lower pectoral and abdominal muscles, which should be used when singing (in place of the throat and upper chest region).
Step 2. Blow humming
Keep your lips together and let out a breath as you make a sound. Concentrate on keeping your throat relaxed and your central body contracted during this exercise. Practice humming blowing going from low to high notes and vice versa. Once you get used to this exercise, practice doing it with scales.
- So that your body learns to relax during singing, tense your muscles and, after the tension is released, blow out humming from a low to a high note; then repeat, but going from high to low.
- Humming is another gentle way to warm up the voice. Try it with some music on your way to school or work, or if you prefer not to hum in public, do it while you cook or shower.
Step 3. Sing scales
Starting at as low a note as possible, work your way up the scale with an “mi” sound until you reach the highest that feels comfortable to your voice. Then lower the scale from treble to bass with an “i” sound.
You can also perform this step with a “u” sound. Your mouth should feel like you're sucking on a long string of noodles as you suck in air. When exhaling, make a "u" sound. The sound should sound like a hum. Hold the tone while releasing the air; repeat the exercise 2-3 times. Then move up and down the scale using the "u" sound
Step 4. Practice gently designing words and phrases
Say groups of single words or whole sentences without pauses - treat them as if they were all a single word. Lengthen the vowels and exaggerate the vocalization of each word that is said or sung.
- As you speak or sing, imagine filling a room with your voice.
- Focus on making smooth transitions: As you move from high to low and from high to quiet parts of a song, imagine yourself going up and down a ramp-not a ladder.
- Examples of words: braga; angry; Brazilian; White; shiny earrings.
- Sample sentences: I saw the Atlantic ocean in the atlas.
Step 5. Prepare to feel silly
Many vocal exercises can look and sound funny. Relax and have fun with it. Two silly and fun options that help open your throat are:
- Sing meow slowly, emphasizing the three sounds - mi, aa and uu.
- Make funny faces, sticking your tongue out in all directions. You can do it by singing or just making weird sounds.
Step 6. Do cool-down exercises
As with physical activities, cooling down after performing vocal exercises is also important. One way to do this is to repeat the simple vocal warm-ups from the beginning (for example, yawning, coughing lightly, blowing, humming, and humming).
An alternative is to simply go up and down, down and up, with the “m” sound, so that you feel a slight vibration in the lip and nose area
Step 7. Remember to breathe and stay relaxed
Whether you're warming up, singing or giving a lecture, breathing deeply and keeping your body, throat and face relaxed are crucial to always having a high-quality voice.
Step 8. Practice wisely regularly
Practice makes perfect, especially when you want to improve voice quality. Sing hard and try to improve certain aspects of your voice, such as the range of your voice or your difficulty reaching a certain note in a song. Try to sing for 30 minutes at a time before resting for another 30. During vocal rest, don't sing, don't speak, don't whisper: in short, don't use your voice.
Method 4 of 5: Changing Your Lifestyle for a Healthy Voice
Step 1. Drink enough water
Drink at least six to eight glasses of 240ml of water a day - or more if you are physically active or live in a hot place (and sweat a lot).
Step 2. Eat well for a healthy voice
Whole grains, fruits and vegetables help keep your voice healthy by improving the health of the mucous membranes that line your throat.
Step 3. Avoid substances that can irritate your vocal folds
These include smoke (and even passive smoking), spicy dishes, dairy products, foods high in salt (eg bacon or salted nuts), citrus fruits, alcohol (including alcoholic mouthwashes) and cold and allergy medications.
Step 4. Get enough sleep
If your body is tired, it will be noticeable in your voice. Adults should try to sleep for 7-9 hours each night; teenagers, in turn, should sleep for 8, 5 to 9, 5 hours a night.
If you sleep at least 7.5 hours a night and don't wake up with a willing body, see a doctor to make sure there are no hidden causes for this problem
Step 5. Relax
Stress negatively affects all things. Set aside time each day to do something to help you relax. Soothing activities include yoga, meditation, walking, watching a series you love, reading a good book, or playing a musical instrument.
Step 6. Avoid yelling
This step is particularly important if you are going to have a presentation soon. Yelling can wear out the voice and diminish its quality even for days after the act.
Step 7. Be patient
It may take a while to improve your voice quality. You won't see extraordinary results overnight, but you'll probably feel a difference almost immediately after combining proper breathing and posture techniques with a few simple warm-ups.
It's okay to go slow. Start by learning to breathe more deeply and maintain good posture. Once this feels comfortable, work on the placement of the mouth and do some basic warm-ups
Step 8. Get help
If the quality of your voice has recently declined-it has become hoarse, low, or worn out-this could be a sign that you have a health problem. To be on the safe side, consult a physician to rule out possible chronic illnesses.
Method 5 of 5: Learning from Others
Step 1. Find a good, professional teacher
A good teacher can provide detailed comments and advice to improve your voice. Look for someone with classical training, as classical teachers are more likely to have experience with a variety of styles.
Step 2. Listen carefully to professional singers and speakers
Notice how they handle breathing, volume, articulation, control, vocal habits, and resonance. If you're a big fan of someone's style, see if you can imitate him.
Replicate someone's style is a great way to learn to sing as it forces you to try to do what you normally wouldn't do when singing
Step 3. Watch professional singers and speakers
Pay attention to how you breathe and how to support the notes with your breath. Observe posture and body language. See how they use their lips to shape the sounds and words they sing.
Step 4. Don't ignore professionals you don't like
Think about why you don't like a certain singer or speaker. What does he do differently from those you admire? Is he doing something wrong or is it just a matter of style?
Step 5. Compare the sound of an artist in your live performances with that present in your studio recordings
It's unbelievable what a good sound engineer can achieve during a recording session. If you really like a certain artist's work, try to find out how real and how artificial it is before deciding “you can never sound so good”!
Step 6. Participate in open performances and other local music events
Ask those whose voices you admire what they do to produce that sound. Most of them will be flattered and very happy to share this information with you.
Tips
- To sustain long notes, breathe using your diaphragm (close to your stomach) and not your chest. Filling the diaphragm with air makes it possible to emit a constant sound that will last longer.
- While many of these exercises focus on singing, many of them can also be used to improve your speech.
- Keep in mind that temperature can affect your tone.
- Add honey to hot water and drink it in the morning on an empty stomach.
- As you correct your breathing, posture, and mouth placement, take a moment to stop and sing now and then. This will help you see how little things like keeping your chin straight or relaxing your mouth make a big difference in your tone.
