How to strengthen voice?

FreeasmyHair

Next year I'm going into TY and everybody had to audition. I know it's ages away but they sometimes pick people based on who their parents are and if they're friends with their parents & crap like that.
Every year when I watch the play, most of them are terrible and the ones with the small roles are the best. The play is watched by loads of primary schools and local people. I love to sing but I think my voice is a bit limp.
How can I improve it? Also my range isn't great because I only sing at home when there's no one there - I would sing in front of anyone but never my family.
Thanks

Lady Chuckles

Advice number one: start singing at home :pac:
I know it can be difficult, but you have something great going on so why be shy? You could always close the door and pretend you are home alone if that helps

I'm sure if your family knew your plans and heard you sing they'd be supportive and delighted

Advice number two: breathe and open up
It's important to breathe with your stomach. Make sure the air goes all the way down. When you breathe in, don't gasp (I hate that noise :pac: ) instead just drop your jaw and air will flow in naturally. To reach a higher range you will need to open your mouth widely, sounds a little silly explained like that but try it, it helps
... And don't hold back.

Advice number three: stand up straight
Think about your posture. You need support from the feet, from the belly and from the back. If you sit, sit properly.

I hope this helps

FreeasmyHair

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

Advice number one: start singing at home :pac:
I know it can be difficult, but you have something great going on so why be shy? You could always close the door and pretend you are home alone if that helps

I'm sure if your family knew your plans and heard you sing they'd be supportive and delighted

Advice number two: breathe and open up
It's important to breathe with your stomach. Make sure the air goes all the way down. When you breathe in, don't gasp (I hate that noise :pac: ) instead just drop your jaw and air will flow in naturally. To reach a higher range you will need to open your mouth widely, sounds a little silly explained like that but try it, it helps
... And don't hold back.

Advice number three: stand up straight
Think about your posture. You need support from the feet, from the belly and from the back. If you sit, sit properly.

I hope this helps

Thank you so much Lady Chuckles

Jimmy Iovine

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

Advice number one: start singing at home :pac:
I know it can be difficult, but you have something great going on so why be shy? You could always close the door and pretend you are home alone if that helps

I'm sure if your family knew your plans and heard you sing they'd be supportive and delighted

Advice number two: breathe and open up
It's important to breathe with your stomach. Make sure the air goes all the way down. When you breathe in, don't gasp (I hate that noise :pac: ) instead just drop your jaw and air will flow in naturally. To reach a higher range you will need to open your mouth widely, sounds a little silly explained like that but try it, it helps
... And don't hold back.

Advice number three: stand up straight
Think about your posture. You need support from the feet, from the belly and from the back. If you sit, sit properly.

I hope this helps

It sounds a little silly because it's not flat out not true. You can sing a high note with your mouth barely open just as easily as when wide open. To say that you need to open your mouth widely takes away from the fact that it is all about technique.

Don't force the note out and don't sing from the stomach. Try to sing as if the sound is coming from your head and with a bit of practice you should be able to sing correctly soon enough.

Lady Chuckles

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

It sounds a little silly because it's not flat out not true. You can sing a high note with your mouth barely open just as easily as when wide open. To say that you need to open your mouth widely takes away from the fact that it is all about technique.

You can, but you won't get the full sound. You need to open up to get the tone to flow through you. In order to practice that, it helps to open up widely. The same for when you're singing on an "Mmmmm" you're meant to have a gap between your teeth even though the mouth is closed to get a full lush sound.

My voice coach taught me that - and it works

Lady Chuckles

FreeasmyHair wrote: »

Thank you so much Lady Chuckles

I'm happy to help

Jimmy Iovine

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

You can, but you won't get the full sound. You need to open up to get the tone to flow through you. In order to practice that, it helps to open up widely. The same for when you're singing on an "Mmmmm" you're meant to have a gap between your teeth even though the mouth is closed to get a full lush sound.

My voice coach taught me that - and it works

You're confusing me now and contradicting yourself. Range and tone/sound are two totally different things.

The point I made was that there is no need at all to open your mouth wide to sing high notes, it's just ridiculous.

Opening your mouth to make the sound louder is fine, but you should make yourself clearer so that you're not encouraging someone down a wrong path.

Your coach may have taught you that and great if it works for you, but I'm certain that it in the grand scheme of things they aren't teaching you correctly. Maybe you misinterpreted what they said on the matter though.

As a matter of interest is the person specifically a voice coach or a registered singing teacher?

Lady Chuckles

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

You're confusing me now and contradicting yourself.

I'm not native in English :P
... But at least I gave advice. You're just picking on me.

Jimmy Iovine

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

I'm not native in English :P
... But at least I gave advice. You're just picking on me.

I'm not picking on you. It's great that you gave advice, I'm just saying that it was wrong. That's all. I'm hardly going to say that you were right now am I.

Wurly

Less of the bitching and backbiting. Keep the thread on topic from now on.

Wurly

TheFiveLamps

try yawning alot. open up the back of your throat and drop the larynx,feels weird at first but it will be beneficial. also drop your jaw at the front. without any tension whatsoever. be compeletely relaxed. use your diaphragm to push the air too if needed. breathe in and out of your stomach. not your chest. try not to push if you dont need to,it probably goes against technique but sometimes having emotion in the song is more important than being perfect vocally, people sometime prefer seeing emotion in the song and the person rather than pitch perfect notes etc. of course depending on what you're singing.

krd

The strangest one I've ever heard, is in one of David Niven's autobiographies (it could be the Moon is a Balloon).

Putting one or two wine bottle corks in your mouth, holding them between your teeth, and trying to talk.

Lady Chuckles

krd wrote: »

The strangest one I've ever heard, is in one of David Niven's autobiographies (it could be the Moon is a Balloon).

Putting one or two wine bottle corks in your mouth, holding them between your teeth, and trying to talk.

It sounds a little bit dangerous too :pac:
What if you choke?

Have you tried it? Does it help?

krd

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

It sounds a little bit dangerous too :pac:

What if you choke?

Then....I suppose... you die.... and the exercise is over.

Have you tried it? Does it help?

I gave it a go - you notice a very resonant bassiness in your voice. Niven's problem was his voice was very high pitched and tinny. There's some interesting stuff in his books on what he did with his voice. Interesting, as in strange and unusual.

I knew professional narrators in the US.....they can be very highly trained - you don't hear the training listening to them. Which is the idea.

cloptrop

Im very interested in this because my singing is like somebody is repeatedly kicking me in my ballbag and yet it is terribly monotone sounding all at the same time.
Is there not do ray me exercises or something I should try ? There is very few songs I can sing credibly .
This and my lack of a harmonica are seriously hampering my quest to write a christmas no1 so I can live comfortably on royalties forever.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

9959

Put a full bottle of wine to the mouth, drain. Repeat process with second bottle and hey presto you're singing like an angel. Always remember to drink responsibly.

Nelly 21

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

Advice number one: start singing at home :pac:
I know it can be difficult, but you have something great going on so why be shy? You could always close the door and pretend you are home alone if that helps

I'm sure if your family knew your plans and heard you sing they'd be supportive and delighted

Advice number two: breathe and open up
It's important to breathe with your stomach. Make sure the air goes all the way down. When you breathe in, don't gasp (I hate that noise :pac: ) instead just drop your jaw and air will flow in naturally. To reach a higher range you will need to open your mouth widely, sounds a little silly explained like that but try it, it helps
... And don't hold back.

Advice number three: stand up straight
Think about your posture. You need support from the feet, from the belly and from the back. If you sit, sit properly.

I hope this helps

I agree with lady chuckles, you need to breath into your stomach to get good sustainable breaths ( this also takes a lot of practice), you also need to sing from you tummy using your tummy muscles. Cough with your fingers pushed slightly into your tummy and feel your tummy muscles move..... those are the muscles that will help you reach better notes, keep you in better tune and will increase your volume. If you're considering working on your singing voice the first thing that I would concentrate on is your posture, imagine your voice needs to come out without meeting any obstacles. Stand straight and make sure you don't feel any tension in your body. The next thing to concentrate o is your breathing. A good exercise is to take a breath in for the count of 4, hold and exhale to the count of 4 (Slowly). Then inhale again to the count of 4 and exhale to the count of 8, gradually increase your exhalation by 4 as you get comfortable with letting out longer breaths. Remember this will take a while, don't expect miracles overnight!!!!

I would also encourage students to open their mouths when they sing. Obviously we don't need to see tonsills but a mouth that isn't opened properly when singing can produce a muffled sound, diction is obviously very important

Nelly 21

9959 wrote: »

Put a full bottle of wine to the mouth, drain. Repeat process with second bottle and hey presto you're singing like an angel. Always remember to drink responsibly.

I can vouch for that, I've done that!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

CheezePleeze

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

I'm not picking on you. It's great that you gave advice, I'm just saying that it was wrong. That's all. I'm hardly going to say that you were right now am I.

5,895 posts - how many were helpful? Not the last few anyway :-)

Wurly

Next person who ignores the earlier warning will get an infraction or a ban