Question 1

How do I begin to sing?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

Most Singers begin by singing along with the recordings they love to listen to. It’s important to first internalize the style of singing that most appeals to you and listening to the great recordings is a good way to start. Careful listening is a useful tool that will never leave you when you have developed the skill to really hear what is going on in the music.
It’s helpful for the vocal neophyte to learn to play an instrument as well; most choose the piano or guitar as it’s also good for self-accompaniment. Learning the notes, scales, and chords and being able to play them on an instrument is super-helpful for anyone learning to sing since you can use them to check your singing voice for accuracy. Don’t be afraid of learning music and music theory, it’s incredibly useful and there’s nothing inherently difficult about it.
Moving forward, it’s very helpful to have a Voice Teacher or Coach, as we discuss throughout this article. Their knowledge and experience can guide you through all the steps you’ll take to improve your singing. Some of the specific things you’ll learn here include proper breathing and posture for singing, vocal warm-ups and warm-downs, improving your pitch (intonation), diction, and phrasing, learning your vocal range (lowest to highest note you can sing), and tips for maintaining vocal health.
You’ll also learn to build confidence in your singing by singing in front of others, whether it’s your Teacher, other musicians in the ensemble, or a live audience. A Teacher can open all the doors for you, and it’s smart to find a good one if you possibly can.

Question 2

How do you sing beautifully?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are some defined areas which taken together could begin to objectively describe beautiful singing in a live performance:

Intonation: Is the singing “in tune?”
Diction: Can we understand the words?
Rhythmic Interpretation: Is the rhythmic phrasing effective, natural, and appropriate to the style?
Vocal Quality: Does the voice sound clear, full, and healthy? Is there a “rasp” or does it sound thin or strained?
Song Choice and Preparation: Is the song a good song for the Singer to sing? Is it in the right key? Is there an effective musical arrangement to complement the voice?
Stage Presence: Does the Singer use their body/hand movements, facial expressions, and appropriate attire to enhance their vocal performance and connect with the audience?
Dynamics: Does the Singer use variations in singing levels and intensity to improve the listeners’ interest in and perception of the song?

Note that there will always SOME subjectivity in evaluating vocal performances since each listener comes with some preconceptions of what beautiful singing is to them. This is why judges in talent shows sometimes give very different scores. But these seven areas above can give you some insight into what most people would consider beautiful singing. Sometimes it’s fine to like something because YOU think it’s beautiful, regardless of what others think.

Question 3

Can you learn to sing if you have a “bad” voice?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

The voice is a uniquely personal instrument, and no two people will ever sound exactly the same. Some Singers are great imitators while others innovate by developing their own style. Whether a voice is “good” or “bad” is a subjective idea at best; what appeals to one person might not appeal to another. The success of a Singer depends at least partially on whether they can find an audience who appreciates them and their singing.
There are plenty of examples of successful Singers who could be said to have less than great voices: Tom Waits, Bjork, Jimi Hendrix, Randy Newman, and Ringo Starr come to mind. Similarly, there’s not much to be gained by comparing Sade with Celine Dion, or Billie Eilish with Aretha Franklin.
What some Singers may lack in technique can be more than compensated for by authentic feeling and style. Even Adele or David Bowie can be heard singing slightly out of tune if their vocal tracks are isolated from the mix. This doesn’t detract from their vocal performance and might even enhance it since it shows their vulnerability and authenticity in full form.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to improve your singing voice, and there are many ways to do so, as working with a Vocal Coach or Teacher can reveal to you. Almost anyone can learn to sing better regardless of where they stand today if they are willing to put in the time and effort to improve.

Question 4

Can you teach yourself to sing?

Cari Cole · Accepted Answer

I taught myself to sing until I started vocal lessons. You can sing along to other Singers, copy their vibrato and the way they’re singing. There’s a lot you can learn just by singing along with other Singers. But at a certain point, if you want to take it more seriously, you do need to train because you want to protect the health of your voice. Studying technique can also dramatically expand your potential.

Question 5

How can I improve my singing voice at home?

Teri Danz · Accepted Answer

I would do Skype or Zoom lessons. Working with a Vocal Coach is a good start.
The second thing you can do as a Singer is sing with other people if you have people in your family or another connection. If you don’t, it’s really hard to sing along with somebody on Zoom.
In the meantime, most Singers need to understand the keyboard. If you don’t have a keyboard, and you don’t understand how to work with one, then you’re always guessing. I hate guessing where I am and not knowing where I am in my range. Having a piano or a keyboard is great because it’s also really important to know if you’re on pitch.
Lastly, buy some kind of recording device like a digital recorder: something where you can sing along with karaoke and hear what you sound like. Listening to what you sound like gives you a place to start.
If you’re an artist, you have to spend money for your education. It’s like anything else. The myth about Singers is that they just happen. They open their mouth and there you are. Not true!
When he recorded Thriller, Michael Jackson had his Vocal Coach in the studio with him. He’d been performing professionally since he was five. He was 25 when he did Thriller. You would say, “Does he really need a Vocal Coach?” Well, yeah! He wants to be the best in the world! We don’t know everything and having a team really helps. They were doing something other people weren’t doing at the time. They were breaking new ground.
If you want to do a pop thing or be a Pop Star, and your whole background is musical theater on the classical end, everything you approach is not going to sound right. Is that a bad Singer? No, that’s just a Singer who can only do one thing.
Early on in my career, I used to think, “I don’t do that, or I don’t do this.” The thing is, when I had to learn R&B and hip hop, it enhanced me. It didn’t take away from anything I think I can do. It just gave me another tool in the toolbox.
Even if you’re a great Singer, I think singing more is always good. But practicing wrong or straining your voice to where you don’t sound good…you’re only going to get so far. That doesn’t help you. You have to practice something that actually moves you forward. There are people who are okay with where they are, and that’s okay. But you can never be a great Singer if you do that. You have to do the work. You have to keep pushing. To be more. To realize more. To find out more about your instrument and how to use it better.

Question 6

How do you warm up your voice?

Teri Danz · Accepted Answer

Do vocal exercises. I have a vocal exercise CD. With a lot of vocal exercise techniques, you have to know what you’re going for, to make sure you’re not doing them wrong. I had a guy come in and say, “I’m hoarse from doing all these vocal exercises!” Well, you can’t do vocal exercises wrong or out of your vocal range and expect to improve your voice. People do that. They’re like, “Oh, I can hit that really high note!” and then they kill their voice.
You can try stuff and see. Vocal warm-ups like lip rolls are always good. There is a thing in pop singing called a “dum dah.” You can look at my video. It’s a drop jaw thing. Think of Ariana. Her mouth is kind of loose and lean. With all those artists who sing that way, their mouths aren’t tight. They’re dropped vertically. It’s a better way to sing.
If you’re working with a Coach who isn’t focused on getting a lot of sound in your mouth, you’re probably not doing current “pop.” I’m talking about what’s on the radio. You can learn a lot, but you have to decide what it is you want to do.
The other thing is, when you study with someone, you want to learn tools. You don’t want to learn to sing one song and not be able to translate to anything else. That’s one of the things I do as a Coach. Though I can if need be, I don’t train Singers to sing or sound like Adele, Miley, or Ariana per se, I teach them how to sing with a current pop technique, so that they can sing anything.

Question 7

Can a "bad" Singer become a good Singer?

Lis Lewis · Accepted Answer

Yes. Everybody can get better. I’m not sure what “bad Singer” means, but I would guess it means you don’t like the sound of your voice or you’re not singing in tune. Those two things are difficult to fix by yourself. If you’re not singing in tune, you need another person to help you figure out when you are singing in tune and what that sounds and feels like. That can be fixed–you can get better. That’s definitely possible.
If what you don’t like is the sound of your voice, that is also something that can be fixed by having an outside ear tell you why it doesn’t sound good. A lot of people use their throat to sing. I think your readers will recognize if they do it. It’s very, very common. If that’s what you’re doing, then you need to correct it because that’s what makes it sound like you’re straining. It also makes you get tired.
So yes, there are things you can do to make your voice better, and you can do them on your own as well. You can record yourself singing and listen back. I really want to emphasize this–don’t just say, “I hate that.” Instead say, “Well, this note was pretty good, that note sounded like I was flat,” and those types of things will help you move forward by figuring out what you do like, which is even more important than figuring out what you don’t like.

Question 8

Is Singing a talent or a skill?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

It’s both a talent and a skill. Talent refers to what most people would recognize as natural ability, that “special something” that some people seem to be born with more or less of than others. Someone with a natural gift for Singing will still need to develop that gift, however, and that’s where the skill part comes in.
Singing is a bit like athletics, in that there are muscles in the body which need constant training to be able to perform at the highest level consistently. Considering that 98.5% of people have the ability to match pitch, even those with a little natural talent can learn to sing well through training and practice.
Acquiring skills isn’t mysterious, neither is it easy. It takes hard work, persistence, and guidance from a Teacher or Vocal Coach. This means that a Singer with a lot of talent may not show much in the way of improvement if they don’t study and train, while a less talented individual can show a lot of progress if they do.
The best way to move forward is to work at it steadily to reach whatever potential you may have, and avoid comparing yourself to others. It’s fine to study and even copy what the pros do, but at some point, you need to trust in your ability and learn to express the best version of yourself while Singing.

Question 9

What drinks help your Singing voice?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

Having worked hard to prepare for a Singing performance, you don’t want to make the mistake of drinking something that works against you when you open your mouth to sing. There are some definite dos and don’ts here, so it’s worth knowing what you can or should be drinking as well as what to avoid. These general guidelines apply to the day of the performance, and in some cases afterwards as well.
What you should NOT drink: Ice water, sodas, alcohol, caffeinated beverages, or milk. What you SHOULD drink: Room-temperature or warm water, non-caffeinated teas, honey. You can also add lemon or ginger to the warm drinks with honey. Peppermint tea is also great, and some singers add herbs like slippery elm and licorice root. Warm water is also okay by itself. And it’s very important to stay hydrated. Needless to say, avoid smoking. Drinking just warm or room temperature water will help keep vocal cords supple and hydrated, and less prone to injury.

Question 10

Does humming improve Singing?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

According to many voice teachers and vocal coaches, humming is a great vocal warm-up exercise because it doesn’t strain or push your vocal cords. With the tip of your tongue touching the back of your bottom front teeth, hum up and down a major scale with your mouth closed. Make the “h” sound at the start of every note as you hum. Other humming warm-up exercises are the vocal straw exercise and the lip and tongue trill exercises.
For the vocal straw exercise (also called straw phonation), simply hum through a straw. Start from the bottom of your range and slowly and evenly perform a vocal slide up to the top (like a long, slow siren). Then, hum your favorite song through the straw. You can also blow controlled bubbles in a partially full glass of water while you hum for this exercise.  For the lip trill, or lip buzz, make your lips vibrate as you blow air through your mouth and nose at the same time. Hum to make a sound like a motorboat. For tongue trills, curl your tongue, rolling your R’s as you hum through your range from bottom to top These humming exercises are great for both warming up and warming (or cooling) down.

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