- Sing as often as you can. The one thing I’ve noticed about singers that seem to be naturals is that they have the desire to sing all the time. Along to the radio, while they’re doing other things, when they’re by themselves, etc.. Believe it or not this is a form of practicing. You get better at matching pitch, vocal control and ear skills by doing it at lot.
- Imitate. Take a song from a singer you like. Listen to a phrase, pause the music and sing it back. Repeat the phrase until you can get it to sound as close to the original as you can. This is probably the top way that most singers initially learn whether they realize it or not.
- Record yourself. Your voice always sounds different outside of your body. This will allow you to listen to your self more objectively. Warning: Most people hate to hear themselves in recordings at first. You’ll get used to it and hopefully it will make you start to be aware of areas that need improvement.
- Join a Choir. Having a reason to sing regularly where others will expect you to show up is a good way of making yourself accountable. You will also learn a lot from working with other singers. Your fellow singers should want to help you in this environment because you are part of the whole sound being created together.
Obviously, you could also could take singing lessons but regardless of whether you take lessons or not, you will need to sing a lot.
Here are some of the main components of singing that singers work on. Most of these things are easiest to work on if you have someone who can guide you, give you feedback and be an example of what you’re trying to replicate.
- Pitch. Matching notes all over your range.
- Tone. Getting a clear sound throughout your range. There are other kinds of sounds you may want to make as a singer but a clear tone is the basis for everything and will probably be the sound you want to use the most.
- Range. Growing the size of your range so that you increase the songs you’ll be capable of singing.
- Breath Control. All sound is carried by breath. Learning to control the breath in a steady way can affect everything from tone to pitch.
- Enunciation. Learning to pronounce words clearly as you sing. Because sounds are held in singing it naturally becomes harder to understand the words being sung.
- Projection. This refers to projecting the sound outside of your body and is what allows for that ‘big sound’.
- Resonance. Learning to control where the sound resonates in your body. Head Voice (high range) and Chest Voice (lower range) are the two main areas. They each have their own strength and sound. Most singers naturally gravitate to one or the other. Learning to use both increase range and versatility.
- Musicality. How to make choices in your singing and shape the storyline and performance of the song.