How to Improve Singing Performance

An impressive singing voice is not something exclusive to only certain individuals; anyone can learn this skill with practice and will only become better over time.

As you practice, avoid listening to tracks featuring an original singer; these may obscure your own vocals and make it harder for you to identify mistakes in your technique.

Practice

Practice singing regularly not only exercises the vocal cords but also improves range, clarity and control of voice. But too much practice may strain it; keeping a log of practice sessions may help identify areas for improvement and prevent overstretching of the voice.

Poor posture can have a significant impact on vocal production. Slouching not only looks unattractive, it can impede breathing, cause dry throat symptoms and decrease voice power. An ideal singer stance includes standing with shoulders back and feet shoulder-width apart allowing diaphragm expansion.

Water is essential in keeping vocal cords hydrated; aim to drink at least eight glasses daily to maintain good vocal health.

Listening

Step one to improving your singing is being aware of yourself; one effective way of doing this is listening back to recordings of yourself singing, but you can also sharpen your ears by watching other singers perform.

When listening to another singer, consider these elements when listening: Texture (breathy, edgy, brassy, clear, gritty); Timing (how fast or slow or steady is their timing); Melisma (embellishments such as trills, riffs or runs); Placement (how much of their voice is in their nose, mouth or throat). Analyze recordings you have made yourself for an accurate picture of these elements that can help shape and adapt your own vocal performance and style as needed. You can even analyze recordings you made of yourself to gain a clear understanding of these components. Doing this will enable necessary changes for improvements within both vocal performance as well.

Warm-up

Before practice or performance, all singers must remember to warm up their voices by stretching out their vocal cords like athletes do with their muscles. Doing this will prevent strain on their vocal chords from occurring which could potentially result in range and singing ability being diminished over time.

Vocal warm-ups can range from as simple as humming up and down a scale to exercises that focus on the lips, tongue, and jaw articulators (lips, tongue, jaw) like articulation drills or tongue trills – as well as prepare the voice to transition between speaking register and singing register.

Other vocal warm-up exercises might involve doing several repetitions of “nay” and “gee.” This helps strengthen vocal cord closure in head voice, and then allows for easier transitions between lower and higher notes.

Breath control

Breath control is an integral component of singing. Many students associate it with “breathing from the diaphragm” or supporting tone – however these terms don’t provide sufficient instruction on how to complete their task successfully.

Not to say these exercises are worthless; however, they limit a singer’s ability to effectively pace their breathing according to the vocal demands of literature being performed. Their unnatural, forceful, irregularly-paced rising of diaphragm encourages limits how much air there is for sustained notes or phrases.

Breaking bad breathing habits takes dedication and time, but the rewards can be immense! Breathing properly will enable you to sing more efficiently while increasing the quality of your voice.

Pitch

Pitch accuracy is at the core of an outstanding vocal performance. It involves both breath control and hearing ability; to improve singing pitch effectively, use a voice tuner and focus on striking every note perfectly.

Start practicing on a piano to gain proficiency at hitting each note in various octaves, then add singing scales as a means of building musical ear.

Your voice is an incredible instrument! Don’t think that perfect pitch and wide range are out of reach; with some practice and training, you can develop an incredible singing voice that will leave audiences speechless! Best wishes!