From singing in the church choir to having a professional music career at hand, one might have a need to improve on his or her voice at a certain point in life.
Photo Credit..Artist Cathy Kio
You are at the right place as today we have prepared 10 tips to help better your singing voice.
(1) Detect Your Weak Spot.
First, you'll have to discover your weak spots, what makes you feel that your voice is not good enough, is it the pitch? softness? smoothness? sustainability? audibility? or any other weak spot(s).. once you know the weak spots that will be your main focus during your practice time..
But how can you detect your weak spots if you don't already know them? Well, a great tip will be to record yourself singing a song you know..you can record with just any device ..after that, compare your recording with that of the original singer.. This might give you a glimpse of what is missing. Spot the faults, was your range too short? was your breath brief? did you switch key or notes? once you know where the problem lies, you can then tackle and solve the problems.
(2) Regular Practice..
You need a better voice and 80% of the time this comes by practicing. This is the sad truth one has to know. As the old saying goes, practice will definitely make you perfect. But you have to bring out sometime for voice training working on your vocals. Practice covers different areas, one could practice for a long time without achieving any noticeable improvement..
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Here are some direct steps to take while practicing to produce better results.
A 30 minute daily practice is advised, starting with warm ups. Like every other muscle, You'll need to take care of your throat and mouth muscles before practicing.
Practicing scales with high and low octaves, improving your tongue-soft palate coordination, repeating tongue and lip trills over and over again and simply humming are a few fabulous little warm-up exercises to get your vocal cords loose and ready for practice. 
Photo Credit...Artist Natasha Amina
During your practice time, work on your weak spot, start with songs you are familiar with, singing and recording till you are nearly satisfied. You could use the help of a critic at this point. The goal might be to sing till one wouldn't detect the difference between your voice and that of the original singer.. Do this for different songs and you'll have some improvement over time.
Some times it might not be all about the high pitch, try working on the lower tones and pitches they help lay a foundation for the higher ones. add accents, change your voice tone, challenge yourself to be better at it. If your issue is going off beat, using a metronome at this point will definitely help.. There are apps with beats to help you stay in line till you are used to that.
(3) Invest In Your Voice
This doesn't necessarily mean you spending a million dollar on throat surgery or purchasing some expensive voice enhancer. It's about caring for your voice, treating it as your instrument, as you would to an egg. You'll have to be tender and concerned about your voice. Same way a keyboardist wouldn't leave the keyboard out to grab some dust or the violinist wouldn't let her bow get rough or a trumpeter, his trumpet to rust. Same way you shouldn't neglect the tenderness of your voice.
Drinking lots of water could help keep your vocal membranes hydrated, this helps to enhance your voice..same way smoking, screaming, and other strenuous activities could tamper with your voice..Even a second hand smoke could lead to a sore throat and affect ones voice.
(4) The Art Of Breath Control
Breath control could be just what is missing in your list of singing techniques. Breath control is as important as the actual voice in singing because some dynamics and flows require a high level of sustainability form the singer to produce a perfect result.
Breath control could also be a distinct difference between you and your competitors in a singing contest.. So how do you acquire this technique? The best way to do this is through Breathing exercises.
Breathing exercises could be an excellent start for those looking to improve their ability to sing. The better your breathing is, the stronger your singing voice will be, there no two ways about that. Breathing exercises are also used to lower stress and promote a healthy state of mind.
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It's a fact that many don’t use their full lung capacity when it comes to breathing. This leaves much-unused potential, sitting at the bottom of their diaphragm. With Breathing exercises, one could harness such potential to their benefit.
Practice keeping your shoulders low, your chest relaxed, and your breaths nice and deep. This method can easily be included into your singing practice. Another exercise is to inhale for 5 counts, hold for 5 counts, and exhale for 5 counts. These will help in you improve in your singing voice.
(5) The Role Of Posture In Singing.
One might ask a question, how does my posture affect my singing voice? Crazy right?
Most times it's ignored but posture plays a vital role in voice training and output and I'll give you some examples. A slumped back, sagging shoulders, hunched-over stance, and even a tilted head can all negatively impact pitch, tone, and the power of producing notes.
The fact that your diaphragm is restricted from fully expanding alone prevents the supposed voice output when wrong posture is maintained. recall that air flows through your body when you are singing; so, by sitting or slouching, you are stopping your diaphragm from fully expanding.
Generally, good posture enhances the projection of your voice.
A great singer stance to try out would be standing straight with knees unlocked and your feet placed shoulder-width apart. This could really help bring out your voice while practicing. Try to keep your shoulders and abdomen relaxed. Also, tilt your chin down a little can help you to hit the high notes and can give your voice more power and better control.
Avoid slouching, bending, hunching or other poor posture when practicing or singing.
(6) Pronunciation and Enunciation
Enunciation means pronouncing words clearly. you'll need to learn how to pronounce your words clearly, a good way to start is by practicing with the vowel sounds A-E-I-O-U.
Standing in front of a mirror, take a good look at how your jaw moves when you pronounce the vowels.
If your jaw closes when you pronounce any of these vowels, you'll need to work on that. you can use a cork or your fingers to keep your jaw apart while pronouncing these letters. Keep practicing these till you can say these letters with your jaws open.
Doing this often will register it in your muscle memory. If you can pronounce these letters with jaws open, it will help you produce clearer and more distinct words while singing.
(7) Facial and General Exercise
Exercise has much good to do when training your voice.
There are about ten groups of muscles in your face and neck. It therefore advised to exercise these muscles and keep them resilient and flexible to retain maximum control over them.
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Some of these muscles are responsible for facial movements and maneuvering. They could help keep your vocal cord primed for effective voice enhancement.
Some actions that can help keep these muscles loose and limber include: yawning, puckering your lips, smiling wide, rolling your eyes, arching your eyebrows.
Asides facial exercises, general body exercise like cardio and others exercise enhance body metabolism, muscle control / flexibility and blood flow/ cardiovascular fitness. These help in voice enhancement and general energy boost.
(8) Pick a Vocal Lesson/ Hire A Coach
There are trained vocal coaches and trainers that could assist you gain a well tuned voice. If you can afford a professional coach, then go for it. They'll serve as your critic and guide you through the process. They could also help you maintain discipline to practice.
(9) Record Your Development
Recording personal development and self appraisal are two important factors that will help your voice improvement over time. From a new octave accomplished to a higher sustainability or a softer tone, you'll have to record such achievement and know that you can do more than that..These are rules to success and work in virtually every area of anticipated growth. Record your new experiences, be happy and grateful for your vocal improvement and watch more come your way..
(10)..Sing.. Sing ..Sing..
Never stop singing, in the church, at home, everywhere keep singing.. learn new songs to sing.. you have to sing even beyond the designated practice time.
In conclusion, you'll need to find out your weak spot in singing, practice consistently, take good care of your voice and body, learn the breath control technique and maintain a good picture while singing. you'll also need to practice good word pronunciation and involve yourself in regular exercises. Picking up a singing lesson or coach is completely optional, if you find it necessary, you can do that... Record your progress and don't forget to sing as often as possible.
If you gained something new from this article, don't forget to share it with your friends who might need to hear this...
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