10 Singing Tips For Beginners

Last weekend I was invited to give a presentation singing workshop at a big exhibition in London and I came up with the following easy to remember tips for beginner singers.

1. The very first thing a singer has to work on is their posture. You need to be standing up straight with the shoulders relaxed, the knees slightly bent and the feet firmly spread out on the floor. The tail bone is very slightly tucked under the waist.

2. Breathing using the whole lung area is essential in singing. To do this the rib cage is extended and slightly lifted to allow free and easy breathing, filling up the lungs with air from the bottom of the lungs first. You need to let the muscles in the belly relax and feel fat when you breathe in and then contract and push the air up and out of the body through the mouth on the exhale.

3. Warming up the body as well as the voice before you sing is very important because as a singer you are your instrument and any tension in your body will come out in your voice. Simple stretching exercises will help to relax you and improve your sound.

4. Once you have opened up the body a bit you can then work to warm up your voice always remembering to warm up slowly in the same way an athlete would warm up before running a race. Gentle sighing and humming exercises work well for this.

5. Good vocal training with an experienced coach will help improve your voice no end as you need to learn which vocal training exercises are the right ones for your particular kind of body shape and voice and how to do them

6. Practising in small amounts often is much more effective than doing one or two hours all in one go. I recommend three twenty minute sessions spread over a day every day to start with.

7. Remember that your voice is made of flesh and bone and is a part of you-treat it with respect and it will serve you well.

8. Aim at producing a good healthy sound that is truly your voice and that you like. It is good to learn from other singers and in the end we want to develop our own individual sound

9. Choose the right material to sing and learn. I am a great believer in listening to your inner self for guidance in the process of deciding which direction and what material to work on. For example if you have a quiet voice you may not want to start out by learning a Beyonce song.

10. Be patient. A voice takes several years of correct use to develop. If you practise well and often and have a good teacher you will be amazed at how after six months; one year and two years of steady and consistent work your voice will have much more power, strength and flexibility.