New Singer - A Few Questions

First off, hello everyone!

I've been singing along to the radio and such for years and I finally decided that I want to learn how to actually sing well. I can already read music and I know about scales and practice (I play saxophone too), however, I would very much appreciate advice on the following:

1. I recorded myself singing (not the best equipment, webcam mic, so there was a lot of feedback) and I noticed that just about every note is flat. However, when I try to raise the pitch, my throat hurts and I almost can't sing anymore. I've heard you're supposed to raise the pallette (spelling?) in the back of your mouth and not have tension in your throat, but I can't seem to do one without doing the other.

2. I'm searching for a lesson teacher, but in the meantime, what can I do to get started on my own?

3. How much singing is too much? About how long is reasonable to practice each day without going overboard?

4. When recording myself (I plan on getting a good mic) to look for flaws/improvement, what should I be looking for? Or, should I be waiting to do this anyways?

That's all I've thought of so far, but feel free to give me any advice you think is useful. Thanks

First off, hello everyone! I've been singing along to the radio and such for years and I finally decided that I want to learn how to actually sing well. I can already read music and I know about scales and practice (I play saxophone too), however, I would very much appreciate advice on the following: 1. I recorded myself singing (not the best equipment, webcam mic, so there was a lot of feedback) and I noticed that just about every note is flat. However, when I try to raise the pitch, my throat hurts and I almost can't sing anymore. I've heard you're supposed to raise the pallette (spelling?) in the back of your mouth and not have tension in your throat, but I can't seem to do one without doing the other. 2. I'm searching for a lesson teacher, but in the meantime, what can I do to get started on my own? 3. How much singing is too much? About how long is reasonable to practice each day without going overboard? 4. When recording myself (I plan on getting a good mic) to look for flaws/improvement, what should I be looking for? Or, should I be waiting to do this anyways? That's all I've thought of so far, but feel free to give me any advice you think is useful. Thanks

You can try some vocal workout CDs.

They'll make your voice a lot stronger.

You should feel a big difference 1-2 weeks after starting them.

I've been doing it for over a year and my voice is still getting better.

Here are the ones I have:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Contemporary-Singer-Elements-Technique/dp/0876391072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342758660&sr=8-1&keywords=anne+peckham

http://www.amazon.com/Vocal-Warm-Ups-Hal-Leonard-Corp/dp/142344583X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342758697&sr=1-1&keywords=hal+leonard+vocal+warm+ups

Choose one (I like the first book) and do it 6 days a week (your voice needs 1 day of rest).

The workout I use is only 31 minutes long.

If you want to know a lot more about the voice from a technical perspective, get "The Voice Book" by Kate Devore.

Do you have a keyboard or piano? If you don't, you should get one.

Since you already can read music, I'd get this book for learning keyboard.

It has the same set of exercises for all the major/minor keys.

Really helps for when you need to play the melody on a piano.

(http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences/dp/0739003682/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342759297&sr=1-1&keywords=alfred+scales+chords+arpeggios+%26+cadences+-+complete+book+complete+book)

As far as a mic is concerned, you need to try some out and find one that you like.

Personally, I have an Electro Voice N/D 767a (dynamic mic) and MXL V69 (condenser).

For a home amp, I bought a Vox Mini 3 (costs $99). It has a guitar input, mic, aux in (for ipods/ipads/iphones/mp3 player), and a headphone jack. It's a small amp so it won't annoy the neighbors.

Thanks for the advice

I'll look into those CDs, and I do not have a keyboard or piano, but I do have access to the practice rooms in the music building at my college, and a few of those have pianos.

First off, hello everyone! I've been singing along to the radio and such for years and I finally decided that I want to learn how to actually sing well. I can already read music and I know about scales and practice (I play saxophone too), however, I would very much appreciate advice on the following: 1. I recorded myself singing (not the best equipment, webcam mic, so there was a lot of feedback) and I noticed that just about every note is flat. However, when I try to raise the pitch, my throat hurts and I almost can't sing anymore. I've heard you're supposed to raise the pallette (spelling?) in the back of your mouth and not have tension in your throat, but I can't seem to do one without doing the other.

Well, don't know how much this will help you, but when you inhale/breathe in air to sing a note, if you breathe in kind of like you're yawning, that should automatically make your soft pallette (the soft part in the back of the roof of your mouth) raise, so after that happens, you can just keep it raised while your singing. I guess this would be after you get familiar with the feeling of having a raised, soft pallette enough to just be able to keep it like that while singing.

Also when my teacher taught me to breathe like that, I ended making too much noise when I breathed air in, which was kind of problematic. So to help get me breathing more quietly, he told me while singing notes, to imagine that the breathe/air that I'm singing out is coming out of a hole on my chest. And also whenever I breathe in, to do it as if I'm breathing in through a hole in my chest. I think doing that has helped me to be able to breathe in more quietly.

First off, hello everyone! 3. How much singing is too much? About how long is reasonable to practice each day without going overboard? 4. When recording myself (I plan on getting a good mic) to look for flaws/improvement, what should I be looking for? Or, should I be waiting to do this anyways?

Hey there

I don't have any real ideas about your first 2 questions, but as for question 3, how much singing is too much? It all depends how you're singing and on your own level of experience and your own individual body in general. Some people, inexperienced or not, can't sing as long as some others. But usually, if you're not using a poor technique for your voice, you should be able to sing for quite a few hours without noticing any ill effects or vocal fatigue. That said, before you DO know whether you're using an ok technique or not, I'd keep it to maybe an hour per day or maybe an hour twice a day, spaced apart by several hours.

If you want to practice singing in terms of actually doing some exercises like scales etc, I'd do that for maybe half an hour and then just sing songs you want to actually sing, so it's not all boring scales and exercises. *snore* I'd do formal exercises for 30 minutes and then sing proper songs for maybe an hour or so a day, or most days when you have the time.

In terms of question 4, recording yourself really is the best way to really work out what areas of your singing style and vocal sound you want to improve and work on. I learnt a HELL of a lot about my own voice by doing this several years ago.

So what should you be looking for when recording yourself and then listening back? It really depends what you want to sound like and what kinds of songs you want to sing. But generally...

1. Listen to make sure you're singing in tune

2. Do you like the tone and overall sound / feel of your voice the way you're singing? (if you're not used to hearing yourself played back, this may take a while and also take some forced objectivity and distance as most people are very unaccustomed to hearing their own voice for the first time and can feel very disillusioned and negative about its sound. Don't let this discourage you)

3. Are you in time with the song's rhythm?

4. Are you singing the words clear enough? Depending on the song, it doesn't have to be perfectly enunciated, but you do ideally want to be able to decipher most of the lyrics you're singing.

5. Can you hear yourself breathing loudly in between lines? Ideally you shouldn't hear ANY breath sounds, but almost every single popular, professional or just plain good local singers I've ever heard DOES breathe audibly, so don't worry about that too much. In terms of breathing, if when singing / recording a song you notice you are having troubles with breath control, listen back to hear how those parts sound and if there's any noticeable issues there.

6. Can you hear any strain or less than pleasant-sounding parts at any area of your range? If a song has some high notes, do they sound ok when played back? Do the low notes sound ok? Do the middle parts sound ok? This will give you an idea of any weaker areas of your voice in terms of your range.

I find the most useful way to record yourself is NOT to record singing along with something, but by finding Youtube karaoke tracks of your favourite songs (that you currently think you can sing pretty well), and so it's all you, singing alone, along with the instrumental track. It exposes every flaw but also every good part of how you sound. Invaluable learning tool!!

Thanks for the replies

@beach1:

I'm always tired, so I know very well how yawning feels, but when I sing with my mouth shaped like that, the pitch is even flatter. Am I just doing that wrong? The breathing-through-a-hole-in-my-chest part has helped a little though.

@gace_slick:

So far the biggest thing I've noticed from recording myself is that I'm not singing the right pitch (or in tune). However, I haven't been able to fix the pitch yet, it just always comes out flat, or I overshoot the note. The tone and sound of my voice I think would be fine if I wasn't wincing at the poor pitch, so I'll wait on those. I haven't had an issue with clarity, rhythm or loud breathing. I haven't been paying attention to straining in my range yet though, so I'll look for that.

I have tried recording both with and without the song in the background (just to see if I am matching incorrectly) and singing without is a little better, but still a little off.

I think my biggest problem is just learning where the correct pitches are for my voice. Any advice on a good method of focusing my practice time on that?

Thanks for the replies @beach1: I'm always tired, so I know very well how yawning feels, but when I sing with my mouth shaped like that, the pitch is even flatter. Am I just doing that wrong? The breathing-through-a-hole-in-my-chest part has helped a little though. @gace_slick: So far the biggest thing I've noticed from recording myself is that I'm not singing the right pitch (or in tune). However, I haven't been able to fix the pitch yet, it just always comes out flat, or I overshoot the note. The tone and sound of my voice I think would be fine if I wasn't wincing at the poor pitch, so I'll wait on those. I haven't had an issue with clarity, rhythm or loud breathing. I haven't been paying attention to straining in my range yet though, so I'll look for that. I have tried recording both with and without the song in the background (just to see if I am matching incorrectly) and singing without is a little better, but still a little off. I think my biggest problem is just learning where the correct pitches are for my voice. Any advice on a good method of focusing my practice time on that?

When you sing a song, you should be mindful of the tonic.

So before singing a song, play the tonic, sing/hum that note, and keep

it in your mind while singing.

As far as knowing where the pitches are, I use "eTuner" for iPhone/iPad/Macbook.

Just sing into the internal microphone (or, even better, use a USB microphone) and it'll tell you

what pitch you are singing. It even shows you how far you are from the ideal pitch (right in the middle).

So while using eTuner try this.

Play a note on a keyboard and then sing it until you reach that note with eTuner.

Imagine a note in your mind, sing it, and use eTuner to adjust until you reach that note.

Since you know scales, try to think of notes in terms of how far they are from the root.

For example, if you're in C Major and you need to singing an E, try this.

C is "do", D is "re",and E is "mi" (as in do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do).

Play a C and match the note.

Then in your mind go "do-re-MI". Make "do" and "re" silently in your head.

But when you get to "MI" actually sing it.

So instead of think of E as just an E note (with a specific frequency), think of

it as the 3rd note/degree in the C Major scale.

That helps a lot actually, though I'm using Korg handheld tuner (works about the same)

Hmm. Pitch issues are not anything I've ever had difficulty with. Other things, yes, but not that particular thing.

Apart frm the above exercise, all I can suggest is just slowing down everything. Any song you sing, slow each note right down and don't move on to the next note until you are right on the pitch, both to your own ears and also if you've got a guitar tuner handy, you could use that to test your pitch accuracy. If you're trying to sing a certain note (D or something for instance), put it near your mouth and see what note it comes up with.

Even for me, with supposedly no pitch issues, this has been a slight surprise. Even when I thought I was bang on a note, the tuner said slightly otherwise.

Thanks for the replies @beach1: I'm always tired, so I know very well how yawning feels, but when I sing with my mouth shaped like that, the pitch is even flatter. Am I just doing that wrong? The breathing-through-a-hole-in-my-chest part has helped a little though.

Hmm, I don't really know.. :/ Maybe you might be singing with some tension still in your jaw area or neck?

Search out the book "Unlocking Your Inner Singer!" by Dawn A. Schnerpelli. It has a TON of good advice for beginners reagarding breath control, vibrato, and other good stuff.....

@grace_slick:

Using a tuner does help a lot with knowing where I'm hitting and which way to adjust. I'll keep working with it, and I think it's just something where I need to retrain my ears or my voice to know where the right pitches are.

@beach1:

I am still a little tense in my throat, but if I'm not I'm outrageously flat, so I'm still experimenting a bit there.

@urca:

Will do, thanks

A piano would be a good instrument to accompany yourself....