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Nosy_G posted:If my vocal chords feel slightly sore a day after a 5-hour singing session (long road trip,) is it possible that I'm doing something wrong/possibly damaging without realizing it? While you might be doing something wrong, there is nothing wrong with being a little sore after singing for 5 hours, especially for someone just starting out.
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| # ¿ Apr 11, 2011 19:22 |
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| # ¿ May 21, 2013 15:52 |
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Alizee posted:How does this sound? I can't sing and it's really annoying. This is me trying. You have a really nice voice, but from what I can hear you need to sing more from your head or chest. Think of the upper half of your sound coming out through your eyes or the top of your head, and the bottom notes out of chest vibrations. You need to enunciate more also. Notes should be held on the vowels, while you attack the consonants.
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| # ¿ Apr 11, 2011 19:26 |
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Its different for everyone, some people have no trouble with their "head voice" even from the beginning. It might be because before I really learned how to sing I wanted to sing really high so I practiced my upper range (improperly). However, I have trouble getting the same resonance in my chest voice or low notes. While it might be bullshit or just confirmation bias but I can definitely feel the difference where the vibrations come from head voice to falsetto. Chest, head, and falsetto all makes my nasal area vibrate, but when I use my head voice I can feel vibrations on the front half of my head, while if I slip into falsetto I feel the vibrations come from the back half of my head. Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I can sing low soprano parts as a tenor. I AM JAMES FRANCO fucked around with this message at Apr 12, 2011 around 04:20 |
| # ¿ Apr 12, 2011 04:17 |
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ComposerGuy posted:For non-tenors, that is. I can hit a G5 and scream the A5 above that, which is probably bad. Anyway I wanna hear you sing more! Also, I'm thinking of recording myself singing more. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good (but cheap) singing mics?
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| # ¿ Apr 12, 2011 20:06 |
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Hawkgirl posted:I hesitate to make judgments like that. I had a professor who was a soprano who couldn't sing a note above high C (2 ledger lines above treble clef staff). That's ridiculously low for a professional classical soprano, but she's still a soprano, because that top range was her best range, and her color was all-around soprano. Similarly, I knew several baritones (and some tenors!) majoring in voice that couldn't get a great G out - at least in the beginning of their training. In a thread full of beginners and self-teachers, I think we should be wary about making definite judgments about vocal ranges. Sometimes, people are just weird/behind/mentally blocked. I think she was a Mezzo in denial.
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| # ¿ Apr 13, 2011 00:40 |
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JimTheSarcastic posted:Does anybody have a suggestion for a decent guide to singing vowels? When I record myself, I notice that's my most obnoxious problem. make sure to keep your hard pallet up and tongue down, like you have an egg in your mouth (don't try to get this shape by actually putting a boiled egg in your mouth  ) relax your mouth, lips, and jaw, and drop that jaw as your get higher and higher. Lots of beginners don't open their mouth, it has to be wider than you think initially. Make sure you get lots of air, but don't push it out when you hit a long note, only use the exact amount of air you need. For anyone to really help, we would need to see your mouth and torso move to pinpoint your exact problem. I AM JAMES FRANCO fucked around with this message at Apr 17, 2011 around 19:29 |
| # ¿ Apr 16, 2011 23:08 |
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Greggster posted:I've found that constantly smiling while singing (it looks goofy) is a good way to get your mouth open. Is it a good/bad idea to do that? only vowel that might be helped by that is the "ee" vowel. otherwise, you want to keep your mouth circular mostly stretching up and down rather than side to side.
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| # ¿ Apr 17, 2011 19:27 |
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Hawkgirl posted:May I ask what your experience is? I don't think that question has such a definite answer. Smiling while singing is very useful, not necessarily for vowel formation, but for style and resonance. It's common to be able to hear a "smile" in one's singing. Also, a lot of newish singers really take that dropped jaw to heart and they sound like they're singing inside a cave. Telling someone like that to feel a smile will brighten up their tone. I've been taking weekly private lessons from a teacher with a degree in singing performance and musical theater for about 3 years. I've been in about 4 musicals (2 with the university, 2 with a community theater). I'm not some master of singing technique by any means, but I am regurgitating technique I learned from my teacher and many other professional singers. I don't really understand what you mean by style? A light smile is fine usually, you need to have emotions showing on your face when you sing for musicals anyway. But for pure singing, long circular mouthes are norm for most vowels. I don't really exactly know how the guy who asked the question places his mouth or what he sounds like, which is why I said I would need a video or something to properly see the problem.
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2011 00:06 |
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Hawkgirl posted:Seems like the feel in this thread has usually been pop-focused, so when I said "happy lyrics" I was thinking about that. Though now we have several classical voices (har), so maybe I should change my perspective. I'm not classical at all, I'm 100% musical theatre (  ). Most rock, pop, and other popular singers just have bad technique.
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2011 06:10 |
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Hawkgirl posted:Are we really going to call smiling while singing bad technique? Most jazz singers do that, and vocal jazz does not have an issue with singers with bad technique. Even choral vocal jazz basically requires a smile in the sound. It's definitely a stylistic modification. hold on cowboy, now I aint said nothing about no smiling being bad technique, I said most popular singers had bad technique, which is true. I could write pages about how my favorite band's singer had bad technique. Also, you don't have to smile get a happy sound, its just easier to. A singer performing live is "acting" whether or not you're in a play or doing the national anthem in a stadium. That is why you smile and frown etc. That being said, if you were to sing just a vowel or collection of vowels, without any emotion assigned to it, the correct way to sing it is with a circular mouth (except "ee")
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| # ¿ Apr 21, 2011 05:07 |
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NOT PAUL LAYTON posted:classical technique mandates smiling at all times, actually, it's just internal. a beginner should never ever stop smiling while singing May I ask what your training is? Smiling all the time limits so many vowels (try to smile and sing a "oo" or a "uh" vowel. You're lips go into some weird shapes.). I've literally had to do the home alone thing with my hands to make my mouth go up and down only, rather than side to side. Obviously some vowels make it possible for you to give you a big ol' smile with your mouth, but for other vowels, you indicate smiling while singing with your eyes, and indicate level of happiness with body language (in (amateur) musical theatre anyway). If you mean to say that you shouldn't actually smile with your lips while singing but rather think about it when you say internal, then I don't know what the gently caress you're talking about. AriTheDog posted:Because that sentence seemed like an overly general statement on classical technique on the whole as opposed to just singing classical choral music, despite you mentioning that you were talking about a chorus setting. I've honestly have no idea what you are talking about. Look for any pavarotti or Bocelli or any other classical singer videos and see if any of them have a smile when they sing. I AM JAMES FRANCO fucked around with this message at Apr 24, 2011 around 00:37 |
| # ¿ Apr 24, 2011 00:30 |
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The Mystery Date posted:With all this discussion about smiling while singing, I'm curious as to what you guys think about something like this: Well I won't be sleeping tonight. edit: HER EYES 
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2011 06:13 |
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NOT PAUL LAYTON posted:if you don't know what an "internal smile" is then i really cannot imagine what type of training you've had, not to discredit you in any way. i've literally never met a teacher or read a book that did not talk about this, it's as fundamental as breath support. i'm referring of course to the raising of the soft palate and opening of the throat that comes from a gasp, yawn, or--most easily--a smile, which is why teachers generally tell students to smile while singing until these things become a part of the singer's muscle memory I've never heard of internal smile, most people I've learned from described it as a yawn. Who opens their throat when they smile?
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2011 06:02 |
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ToastedBread posted:So I'd been saying I would do this forever and just got a chance to record something. I do sing in a choir but it was the first experience I'd ever had with singing and I've only been at it for 2 years or so. Suggestions would be very welcome. For the choral frame of reference, I do sing Tenor 1 but I really falsetto most stuff over about a G, I like using my falsetto probably more than most people should ha. You gotta enunciate. A lot. I could not understand the whole first part at all. Get those T's and D's and S's in there! You have a nice voice, but you gotta have more confidence. From the recording you can hear you get more and more confident as you go. There is a part about 2/3s of the way in where you hold a note, it sounds like you're holding back. Open that throat and let that sound out. You do a lot of this dynamic: do do DO DO do do do. There are places for this dynamic but doing it for every phrase for a whole song is kind of ugly. Practice getting louder and quieter smoothly.
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| # ¿ May 5, 2011 05:34 |
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v
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Gotta hear what you sound like to tell you what to improve. Post a clip of you singing something.
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| # ¿ Jun 11, 2011 01:25 |
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hmmxkrazee posted:Any tips on getting the resonance to rise higher in the mask? I can feel it going but as I get higher I feel the sound moving back into my throat. I can sometimes keep the sound up high in my head but it seems like I'm forcing it up there and using my throat too much. I keep picturing balloons and stuff (lol) but I'm having a hard time getting the sound/resonance to stay high the higher I go. Just keep doing exercises I guess? Sometimes I find it helpful to picture a third eye on your forehead and get the sound to come out of there. This also makes my eyes go  sometimes but the resonance is there.Don't know about the ear thing.
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| # ¿ Jun 22, 2011 23:06 |
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Dias posted:I saw the Fly me to the moon video and I have some suggestions: 1. Stop swaying your loving head around like you're on a roller coaster, you look like a retard. Also good posture is important when you're first learning to sing. Put the guitar down, stand up straight but relaxed. 2. You actually open your mouth pretty well, but try to open it more up and down rather than stretching it side to side,  is what we are going for here.3. It sounds nasally because you're forcing sound out through your nose and mouth, try to get the vibrations in your chest on low notes and your head (I mean upper head) on high notes. 4. It sounds choppy, I suggest singing scales and warm up exercises. Not many people like to do these, especially when they first start, but they really help. 5. Your Throat sounds super closed. Yawn and think about how your throat is when you yawn, it should be that open. Raise the soft palette and keep your tongue down. That's all I can think of for now. I suggest you start singing scales and warm-ups, practice opening your throat, and do breathing exercises. Something that I think would really be beneficial for you would be to Hold a note as long as you can, trying to get a nice and even tone from the beginning of your breath to the last of it. E: Oh I also don't think you're not using enough air, so get that breath support in there, but don't make it sound airy I AM JAMES FRANCO fucked around with this message at Jun 23, 2011 around 16:43 |
| # ¿ Jun 23, 2011 16:41 |
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I'm just gonna echo what everyone else is saying. If you really want to increase your range upwards, you need to do it note by note with a teacher, who can help you do it safely and are able to see limitations. It can take years of proper training. If you really want to sing these really high songs, sing it an octave or two lower, and it will be just as fun to sing. I was in a production of hairspray a while ago and the guy who played seaweed was a Bass. If you've every seen hairspray seaweed sings very high. When the guy tried to sing it in that range it sounded horrible, but when we transposed everything down to his range he rocked it. So don't think you have to sing high songs only high. Its more about the technique and style than range.
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| # ¿ Jul 28, 2011 20:55 |
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HampHamp posted:So I've been loving around making acoustic covers for a while, but I've never really taken singing seriously. I have no idea about the technicalities of singing, I've just been winging it. I recorded a cover of the Suburbs by Arcade Fire for a friend recently, and he thinks that with some practice and maybe some lessons I could actually be decent. Here's the track I recorded, it's very quiet for some reason. You're in tune and you're have pretty good with the enunciation, but there really is that much real "singing" going on, its more like speaking in tune or speak-singing. Its good enough for the type of singing you're doing with the arcade fire song you posted and other indie type songs that are like that. I think its worth the investment for you to take some singing lessons, It would make you sound even better.
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| # ¿ Aug 18, 2011 14:52 |
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 Were you holding a note for like, a real long time? I'm probably gonna go with other medical conditions rather than a singing related syncope. Were you really nervous or something? Did you sing a bad note and your teacher knock your rear end out? could be anything really. WebMD says Cancer-AIDS. My former teacher did punch me right in the gut while I was holding a high note once; Something about keeping the tension, I didn't really understand fully because I was rolling on the floor gasping.
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| # ¿ Sep 14, 2011 05:47 |
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My former cello teacher used to forcibly stretch my left hand fingers, and move my arms to correct positions. My former orchestra conductor used to throw stands at people. Musicians are angry 
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| # ¿ Sep 14, 2011 06:07 |
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Kourse posted:omg you sound like a cartoon character   . That is incredibly cute and endearing.Anyways. First thing I notice is that you're not really doing much singing, you're just speaking vaguely in tune. You can tell this instantly when you listen just to the vocal track you posted. I had no loving idea what you were singing before I listened to the one with musical backing. The first major step to singing is to be able to showcase the melody in your singing even without any instruments backing you up. Now don't expect to just be able to do this outright. I would begin by taking the instrument of your choice, playing a note, and just holding that note with an open throat. Do that for a little while. The next step would be scales, after that arpeggios, and then more complex warm up structures. Now you can supplement each step with a song that sort of emphasizes each step. I personally like Ave maria for beginning singers, because the melody isn't too complicated. Also, a big problem I notice is you're throat's tighter than a virgin gay man's throat giving head for the first time. Open that sucka up, not to received a man's penis but to let that vibration, strength, and air out (you can do the penis thing too, I don't judge). It should feel similar to how your throat is when you yawn. You have pretty good diction, I can understand you very clearly. So that's awesome! But everyone could enunciate more, including you.
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| # ¿ Oct 1, 2011 03:03 |
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There is no great secret to achieve any goals in singing or music in general. Some people are born with a ability to do something innately, whether it is being able to harmonize or having an awesome range or really great vibrato. Us plebeians can only achieve these things with lots of practice and experience. Not to call anyone out, but if you want to increase you range upward, there is no other way than working with a expert and practice. But honestly, a lot of people want to sing things that are not in their range or not a good fit for them. I mean, I'm technically a baritenor, with really good range upwards, but it goes to poo poo if I try to go lower. I want to sing those amazing Bass songs quote:Konstruct But honestly, unless you're gonna try out for a musical or opera any time soon I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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| # ¿ Oct 18, 2011 02:11 |
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drugs
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| # ¿ Nov 3, 2011 16:05 |
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You can probably find a teacher if you go to your local college's music building and waft some money around. The hungry musicians will look to you in awe and then you get to pick  Seriously though, try out craigslist(sketchy) or google music teachers in (your area). Most cities have unions or teacher groups that has a directory or a website with experience and expertise. There are pretty good videos all over youtube but you really should get a teacher if you are serious about it. After your training, you should be able to catch things on your own when you record your singing. These are some I've found on youtube, but all of them are mildly helpful at best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x8Y...eature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/user/SingingSuccess#g/u http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWLW...eature=youtu.be
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| # ¿ Dec 17, 2011 18:52 |
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I'm going to agree with Ari, if you have a good foundation it'll be easier to learn the different tricks and alterations to technique. Every single teacher I had for voice "specialized" in different things, but the underlying technique was all the same. with funky rear end lady, I would say that while she doesn't sound bad, it would be incredibly odd if she got further than singing karaoke at a bar unless she learns proper breath control and support and vibrato.
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| # ¿ Jan 10, 2012 03:24 |
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funky rear end lady posted:Thanks to everyone who gave usable advice. While I'm fairly thick-skinned, it would be nice if the unproductive snarky remarks could be avoided. I know it's the SA way, but let's cool it, ok? Sorry if I gave you the impression that I am just being mean. However, I am not lying or being mean when I say that your breath support and vibrato needs work. In fact, you are better than majority of the people who have posted their samples.
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| # ¿ Jan 10, 2012 04:05 |
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funky rear end lady posted:Ari, can you name any female singers that you think are good people to emulate? People that you think sound like they have the right foundation? This me being snarky: you really aren't as good at that as you think you are either. There is certainly potential in that direction, don't think that you don't have a long way to go on that part either. As for singers to emulate, most broadway singers will have really good technique. Sarah Brightman does mostly operatic or broadway stuff, but she does really well in pop too. Julie andrews has really great technique, you could almost emulate her and get a good bit of technique. For a more modern example, as much as I hate Glee, Lea michelle(?) has really good technique. She can handle almost any type of music prescisly because she has really good technique. As for finding good singing teachers if you are around any music school with a voice program, there will be a teacher good enough teach you the foundations. I would honestly just find a teacher that you enjoy working with first then look for teachers who have the expertise in the area you want after you have a solid foundation. Learning the foundation properly (can take years) should keep you busy enough until you find one.
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| # ¿ Jan 10, 2012 22:01 |
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| # ¿ May 21, 2013 15:52 |
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GodIsInTheTrees posted:I was born an absolutely HIDEOUS singer and never even bothered until I was 20 or so. At that point I'd been playing guitar hours a day for the last 5 years and really wanted to branch into singing because it is so drat fun to wail on an acoustic and sing. I practiced enough to get comfortable playing/singing at the same time, then started recording my vocals. Lot of people hate their voice when they first record their singing. Thats pretty normal. You might not sound as bad as you think. If you've been playing guitar for a while, would you know anyone that sings? They don't really have to to be amazing, just ask them to listen as see what they say. If you could spring for lessons it would be better, but if you are reluctant to spend the money that would be one solution that I would suggest. Also, you could upload a recording so people here can suggest some things.
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| # ¿ Feb 8, 2012 15:42 |
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