Singing requires being in perfect shape: you have to be on top to reach the top. The modern singer must take care of the way he lives, more than anything, because we have already seen the bad examples of María Callas, Amy Winehouse, and the occasional rockers, like Lemmy.
To have a good voice, you must also take care of your diet: not only do you have to drink a lot, but also deprive yourself of dairy products, since their acidity affects the glottis a lot. At the same time, you must also be at the top in terms of your physiological shape, with the correct muscles to position the body and back correctly. To stand out, you have to take care of all this and much more, like your charisma, but you can do it while you work on your voice.
When you emit a voice sound, it is created by specific areas of the body that collaborate as the different parts of an instrument do. Technology that singers use to enhance vocals such as audio interface, DAW software, tuners, audio cables, and quality microphones like those featured on Music Critic has significantly brought some changes to their performance. But even so, a singer must not fully rely on the technology and must give more importance on its own health and apply necessary strategies.
The following are 11 strategies for you to use for a better singing voice. Also, if you visit instrumentalglobal.com, you’ll find plenty of useful information there.
1. Exhale with awareness
The voice is generated on exhalation. This air emission produces a tendency for the rib cage to collapse.
We can train ourselves to open it even more during vocal exhalation (keeping the sternum elevated when we find ourselves exhaling or vocalizing).
- Open your arms while you sing. Vocal exhalation also tends to make the arms close around the chest. Try the opposite: blow or sing by opening your arms, which helps the ribs stay open.
- If we only pursue the thoracic opening, we may risk becoming rigid.
It is advisable to alternate the two preceding exercises with exercises that, on the contrary, bring the arms forward, that is, in the direction of the rib closure.
3. It is also possible to bring the flexed thigh towards the belly when emitting the voice: this will flex the spine by closing the ribs and rejecting the abdomen upwards, which goes all in the direction of the vocal exhalation.
2. Alternate three vowels: O, I, A
For the vowel “o”, adopt the whistling position with your lips. Then, in that position, open your mouth slightly as if to say “ooo”. Be precise in locating the shape of your lips and cheeks: you are making the orbicularis muscle of the lips work, giving your mouth a little box shape.
Now, feel how the tongue is backing away a little, to pronounce this “o.”
- Find the mold for the “i”
Starting with your mouth closed, slowly separate the corners of your lips while opening your mouth slightly. The tongue approaches the palate and leaves only a horizontal slit open for air to pass through.
2. Pronounce the “a”
To find the shape of the “a,” lower the jaw first. Feel the tongue extend to the sides between the bottom teeth.
If you play by alternating these three vowels accurately, your mouth “soundboard” will quickly be optimized.
3. Touch the zygomatic arch
It is made up of three different bones: at the back, by the temporal bone (that of the ear), towards the nose, through the maxillary bone and, between the two previous ones, through the malar bone. Make the “mmm” sound and try to let these three bones vibrate.
4. Put four fingers under the zygomatic
Before you feel the masseter muscle, which contracts when you clench your teeth, try to relax.
If you were to relax fully, your jaw would open. Try to make only the necessary contraction to avoid it, and your jaw will be more relaxed.
5. Experience the “oriented” voice
Get down on all fours, with the neck horizontal and the face towards the ground. Observe if the jaw, the tongue, the abdominals, etc. have changed their orientation.
Sing the same sounds while standing. Do the same lying on your back and feel your vocal “instrument” readjust.
6. Raise a spontaneous sound
Lying on your back, push up the trunk and lift your arms and legs, all at once.
Let a natural sound out: it is a movement that leads to sound. See how the abdominal area (which can be deformed but not compressed) influences the voice.
7. Yawning
Start by opening your mouth in a relaxed way and deeply inhaling to start a yawn.
- Stay in suspense, and the second beat of the yawn begins. Open the back of your throat wide. Do that, as if making room for some warm air at the bottom of your mouth.
That causes the veil of the palate to rise. Then try to hold this opening by making a vocal sound comfortably, and even closing your mouth a little.
2. Tongue control is vital in resonances.
Stick the tip of your tongue out as much as possible. Feel as it drags your back, which, due to its greater mass, influences the voice a lot. It will also move the pharynx and larynx. Those are the area of the back of the throat and nose and the area of the vocal cords.
8. Practice verticality
Place your hand on the top of your head. Keep in mind that if the hand is too far forward, your head will flex, and if it is too far back, the head will be pulled back. So, look for a position where your head does not move either forward or backward.
9. Touch the “nut” and feel the vibration
Feel, delicately, at the front of the neck, under the chin, the protrusion known as “walnut.”
Sing the sound “mmm”. Feel a vibration under your fingers: it is the location of the vocal cords, where the first vocal sound is formed.
10. Mobilize your neck without load
To do this, bring your hand to your forehead and support the weight of your head. The neck is placed in deep flexion, without the weight of the head falling on it. You can hum in this position.
11. Boost arms as if to throw a ball
It returns under its weight. Repeat it, and occasionally make a sound at the same time. The sound stops when the arm returns. Look for movement rather than sound (this will be better adapted as you continue to practice it).
