In my time I've heard all the excuses in the book as to why people "just can't sing". Oh no! They weren't born with a beautiful singing voice. Oh no! I sang once and it wasn't perfect! I just wouldn't understand, right? That's a load of bull right there. Learning to sing is just like any other instrument. And just like all other instruments the path to getting better is repetition. It may be hard to sing great, but singing well? That's easier than you'd think.
The key complaint I hear from people about their voices is how nasal they sound. So many do not realize they are closing their throats and singing into their noses. This leads to holding back because the singer doesn't trust themselves, and their tone suffers. Luckily there are simple ways to check for, and fix, this problem. First, to check, simply plug your nose and attempt to sing. This test is simple; you will immediately hear the nasal quality in your voice. Now you can hear where the problem is, but how do we fix this?
I know this is tough, but now you're going to need to yawn. Yes, as simple as it sounds this is a powerful exercise. Yawning will enable you to open up and relax your throat. Yawning also allows allows the very powerful technique of lifting your "soft pallet". That's the soft part of the roof of your mouth. Try some simple yawns. Try to yawn bigger but let them come naturally. Memorize the feeling you have at the crest of the yawn. This shockingly simple exercise allows you a beautiful tone quality, and now we'll learn what to do with it.
Now that you've had your tone tune-up it's time to shape that tone. Here's a little secret, when singing any word the most important part of the sung word is the vowel. Vowels just sound so much better than other sounds. Try to sing the name "John". First, the right way, hold out the "ah" sound only softly singing the "Juh" and the "Nnn" sounds. Now, just so you can hear, try this again but hold out the "Juh" and "Nnn" sounds sounds of the name John. Now you can hear for yourself. Vowels just come out sounding so much better. Try this exercise with other words and you'll begin to see how vowels have a much more open sound. Now it's time to make sure people can understand your beautiful voice.
When you sing your sound is rapidly spreading out to fill the room, but the flip side is that your sung words are also being spread out. Fortunately, this too is easy to deal with. Try speaking, but make every word over pronounced. Move your lips as much as you can in each pronunciation. By making your words over clear to yourself they sound just perfect to your audience. The classic exercise for this is to recite the words "Lips, teeth, the tip of the tongue, the tip, of the tip, of the tip, of the tongue". This will drive home the instinct to sing with as much With clarity and tone quality you're ready to do some serious singing.
If you've made it this far I am glad, and I hope you too will share in the joy of singing. Never let yourself be told that you "just aren't a singer". Maybe you have dreams of being a performer one day, or maybe you just want to not sound tone deaf when you sing along with your favorite songs. It's totally up to your comfort level and what you want to do with your voice. If you're scarred to sing in public there is no penalty for just singing to yourself, but don't be surprised when your friends start noticing your growing abilities!
