Singing For Dummies E-Book

Pamelia S. Phillips

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Seitenzahl: 593

Beschreibung

Take your voice to the next level and grow as a performer Whether you're a beginning vocalist or a seasoned songster, Singing for Dummies makes it easy for you to achieve your songbird dreams. This practical guide gives you step-by-step instructions and lots of helpful tips, hints, vocal exercises, reminders, and warnings for both men and women, including advice on the mechanics of singing, discovering your singing voice, developing technique, singing in performance, maintaining vocal health, and performing like a pro. This Second Edition is an even greater resource with additional vocal exercises, new songs, and information on the latest technology and recording devices. * Covers comprehensive singing techniques, finding one's pitch, the importance of posture and breath control, and taking care of one's voice * Discover how to sing alone or with accompaniment * The updated CD features new tracks and musical exercises, as well as demonstrations of popular technique, scales and pitch drills, and practice songs for singers of all levels Singing for Dummies, Second Edition contains all the information, practices, techniques, and expert advice you need to hone your vocal skills with ease! Note: DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. These materials are available for download upon purchase.

Leseprobe

Singing For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Exploring Singing Basics

Part II: Improving Your Singing

Part III: Advanced Techniques to Improve Your Voice

Part IV: Preparing to Perform

Part V: The Part of Tens

Part VI: Appendixes

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Exploring Singing Basics

Chapter 1: Preparing to Sing

What You Want to Know Right from the Beginning

Determining your voice type

Locating the notes on the staff

Considering posture, breath, and tone

Developing Your Singing Voice

Working the Different Parts of Your Voice

Applying Your Technique

Having Fun

Chapter 2: Determining Your Voice Type

Sifting through the Ingredients to Determine Your Voice Type

Identifying the Fab Four

Highest range of the dames: Soprano

How low can she go: Mezzo

Highest range of the dudes: Tenor

He’s so low: Bass

Chapter 3: Aligning Your Body for Great Singing

Evaluating Your Posture

Creating Correct Posture

Feeling grounded on your feet

Engaging your legs

Releasing your hips

Lengthening your spine

Balancing your head and shoulders

Releasing Tension

Letting go of tension in your upper body

Opening space in the head

Walking with ease

Projecting confidence through posture

Chapter 4: Breathing for Singing

Breathing Basics

Inhaling to sing

Exhaling to sing

Posturing yourself for breathing

Practicing Inhalation

Opening your body

Breathing, slow and steady

Catching a quick breath

Practicing Exhalation

Blowing in the wind

Trilling for exhalation

Recognizing resistance and suspending the breath

Testing Your Breath Control

Releasing abs and then ribs

Singing slowly

Chapter 5: Toning Up the Voice

Defining Tone

Creating unique tone

Identifying factors that affect tone

Considering tone, pitches, and notes

Flexing Your Singing Muscles

Discovering your own bands

Making the first sound

Dropping the jaw

Putting your larynx into position

Matching Pitch

Sliding up and down on pitch

Developing muscle memory

Recording yourself and singing along

Releasing Tension for Better Tone

Checking for neck or jaw tension

Bouncing the tongue and jaw

Part II: Improving Your Singing

Chapter 6: Acquiring Beautiful Tone

Creating Tone

Starting the tone

Creating back space

Coordinating air with tone

Sighing your way to clarity

Releasing Tone

Inhaling to release tone

Letting your throat go

Sustaining Tone

Connecting the dots with legato

Trilling the lips or tongue

Working your breath control

Finding Your Vibrato

Moving from straight tone to vibrato

Imitating another singer’s vibrato

Chapter 7: Exploring Resonance

Good Vibrations

Exploring your resonators

Ringing it out

Eliminating Nasality

Getting the feel for soft palate work

Coordinating your soft palate and tongue

Moving air through the nose

Debunking Common Misconceptions

Misconception: Tone resonates in your sinuses

Misconception: You have to place every tone in the same location

Misconception: You’re supposed to keep your tongue completely flat

Misconception: You need to open your mouth as wide as possible

Misconception: The more forward the sound, the better

Misconception: You have to smile to stay on pitch

Chapter 8: Shaping Your Vowels for Clarity

Getting Your Backside into Shape — Back Vowels, That Is

Exploring the shape of back vowels

Lipping around your back vowels

Singing the back vowels

Mastering the Front Vowels

Exploring the shape of front vowels

Speaking the front vowels

Singing the front vowels

Chapter 9: Exercising Consonants for Articulation

Saying Voiced and Unvoiced Consonants

Making Tip Consonants

Shaping tip consonants

Singing tip consonants

Making Soft Palate Consonants

Shaping soft palate consonants

Singing soft palate consonants

Working Lip Consonants

Shaping lip consonants

Singing lip consonants

Working Combination Consonants

Shaping combination consonants

Singing combination consonants

Chapter 10: Crafting a Practice Routine

Knuckling Down to a Practice Plan

Getting Answers to Your Practicing Questions

Where should I practice?

What’s the best time to practice?

How long should I practice?

What do I need besides my voice?

Warming Up

Stretching to warm up your body

Warming up your voice

Exercising Your Voice

Picking exercises that work for you

Breaking it down

Practicing Correctly

Recording yourself

Applying information and exercises

Using the CD to practice exercises

Part III: Advanced Techniques to Improve Your Voice

Chapter 11: Developing the Parts of Your Singing Voice

Finding Your Middle Voice

Noting your middle voice range

Singing in middle voice

Checking Out Your Chest Voice

Zeroing in on your chest voice range

Feeling your chest voice

Aiming High with Head Voice

Finding your head voice range

Feeling head voice

Let’s Hear It for the Boys: Figuring Out Falsetto

Discovering your falsetto

Experiencing your falsetto

Making a Smooth Transition

Maneuvering in and out of chest voice

Transitioning in and out of head voice

Mixing It Up

Make the most of your mix, man

Get into the mix, gals

Chapter 12: Expanding Your Vocal Flexibility and Range

Tactics for Tackling Register Transitions

Working On Your Range

Taking your range higher

Varying the dynamics

Moving between registers

Taking Your Agility to New Levels

Moving along the scale

Picking up the pace

Skipping through the intervals

Improvising for a Better Pop Sound

Mastering patterns in pop music

Singing pop riffs with chords

Chapter 13: It’s a Cinch: Belting Out Your Song

Playing around with Pitch

Talking to yourself

Chanting and speaking

Finding your optimum speaking pitch

Increasing your speaking range

Using body energy to find clarity of tone

Defining Healthy Belting

Comparing belt and chest voice

Knowing your limits as a beginner belter

Noting the difference between the sexes

Coordinating breath and energy

Preparing for Belting

Speaking in a mix

Calling out to a friend

Moving Resonance to the Front

Exploring vibrations of resonance

Being bratty to feel resonance

Combining Resonance and Registration

Increasing your belt range

Belting up the scale

Advancing Your Belt

Sustaining belt sounds

Exploring different vowels

Belters and Belt Songs You Should Hear

Male belters

Female belters

Belt songs

Chapter 14: Training for Singing

Defining Training Requirements

Crooning as a country singer

Jazzing it up

Making your mark in musical theater

Performing pop-rock

Opting for opera

Showing your range with R&B

Training to Sing at Any Age

Recognizing differences between young singers and teens

Developing long-term technique in teenagers

Understanding that voices change with age

Training with a Choir

Enjoying the benefits of singing in the choir

Singing in the choir versus going solo

Chapter 15: Finding the Right Voice Teacher

Searching for the Best Voice Teacher

Finding a prospective voice teacher

Identifying what you want

Interviewing a prospective teacher

Knowing What to Expect from a Teacher

Feeling good when you leave the lesson

Working with imagery and other tools

Applying tried-and-true singing methods

Knowing What to Expect from Yourself

Developing your own practice process

Avoiding overworking your flaws

Making Your First Lesson a Success

Part IV: Preparing to Perform

Chapter 16: Selecting Your Music Material

Choosing the Song

Finding songs at your level

Determining the appropriate key for you

Selecting a suitable song style

Singing to your strengths

Shopping for Sheet Music

Finding retail outlets

Downloading sheet music

Flipping through compilation books

Checking out music at your local library

Chapter 17: Mastering a New Song

Tackling a Song in Steps

Memorizing the lyrics as text

Tapping out the rhythm

Singing the melody (without the words)

Putting words and music together

Using Vocal Technique in Your New Song

Giving voice to vowels

Backing into phrases

Breathing heavy: Fogging up the windows

Changing the tone for each section

Using Musical Elements to Create Your Arrangement

Comparing songs

Articulation

Dynamics

Tempo

Using vocal variety

Style

Accompanist

Chapter 18: Acting the Song

Seeing the Song As a Story

Chatting it up before you sing

Musical responses

Accounting for interludes

Exploring Character

Characterizing your character

Discovering your character’s motivation

Planning actions to get something done

Getting Physical

Figuring out where to focus

Gesturing appropriately

Movin’ and groovin’ with your song

Chapter 19: Confronting Your Fear of Performing

Facing the Symptoms

Alleviating Anxiety through Preparation

Practicing well

Playing to your strengths

Managing your thoughts

Getting up the nerve

Building performance focus

Performing to Build Confidence

Devising a game plan

Evaluating your performance

Chapter 20: Auditioning a Song

Tailoring Your Audition for Any Venue and Any Style of Music

At the opera

Onstage at the theater

In the club

On television

Choosing Audition Songs to Highlight Your Strengths

Showing versatility

Connecting with the lyrics

Avoiding the wrong audition song

Preparing the Music

Choosing the key

Making the cut

Marking the music

Rehearsing with an accompanist

Bringing a recording

Nailing the Audition

Doing your prep work

Dressing in the right outfit

Knowing who will attend the audition

Greeting the audition accompanist

Acting at the audition

Preparing mentally

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 21: Ten Performers with Good Technique

Kristin Chenoweth

Linda Eder

Renée Fleming

Faith Hill

Michael Jackson

Toby Keith

Beyoncé Knowles

Elvis Presley

Anthony Warlow

Stevie Wonder

Chapter 22: Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Singing

Is Belting Bad?

What Should I Do If My Voice Feels Off?

How are an Accompanist, a Coach, and a Voice Teacher Different?

If My Voice Is Scratchy, Do I Have Nodes?

Do I Have to Be Big to Have a Big Voice?

What’s the Best Singing Method?

Do I Have to Speak Italian to Sing Well?

Can I Have a Few Drinks Before the Performance to Calm My Nerves?

Why Can’t I Eat Ice Cream Before I Sing?

How Long Will It Take Me to Learn to Sing?

Chapter 23: Ten Tips for Maintaining Vocal Health

Identifying Everyday Abuses

Incorporating Healthy Speech into Your Singing

Knowing When to Seek Help

Staying Hydrated

Getting Plenty of Shut-Eye

Making Sure That You’re Well Nourished

Preventing a Sore Throat or Infection

Medicating a Sore Throat

Protecting a Sore Throat

Keeping Your Emotional Life in Check

Chapter 24: Ten Tips for Performing Like a Pro

Rehearsing to Beat the Band

Wearing the Right Ensemble

Finding Your Stance

Singing with a Piano, Organ, or Band

Making Your Entrance

Roping in Your Audience

Ignoring That Mosquito

Handling Those Hands

Using the Mic

Taking Your Bow and Leaving the Stage

Part VI: Appendixes

Appendix A: Suggested Songs to Advance Your Singing Technique

Appendix B: About the CD

Download CD/DVD Content

Singing For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

by Pamelia S. Phillips, DMA

Singing For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that was not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at booksupport.wiley.com For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010937161

ISBN: 978-0-470-64020-3

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Dr. Pamelia S. Phillips is the Professional Program Director and Chair of Voice and Music at CAP21 (Collaborative Arts Project 21). Dr. Phillips earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts and Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Arizona State University and her Bachelor of Music Education from Arkansas State University. Her performances range from contemporary American Opera premieres to guest performances with major symphonies.

Dr. Phillips has also taught at Wagner College, Arizona State University, Scottsdale Community College, and South Mountain Community College.

Performances include title roles in Carmen, Tragedy of Carmen, Dido and Aeneas, and Lizzie Borden; the Witch in Hansel and Gretel; Giulietta in Tales of Hoffmann; Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte; Mum in Albert Herring; Constance in the world premiere of She Stoops to Conquer; Lady with a Hat Box in Postcard from Morocco; Frau Bauer in Dora; Beatrice in the stage premiere of Garden of Mystery; Mrs. Cornett in Tobermory; staged performance of From The Diary of Virginia Woolf; Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees; Gymnasia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Liebeslieder singer in A Little Night Music; and Lady Thiang in King and I. Symphonic performances include Berlioz’s Le mort de Cléopâtra with the Bronx Symphony, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Centré Symphony, and Das Lied von der Erde and Mahler’s Third Symphony with the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble. Dr. Phillips has also been a guest artist with the Phoenix Chamber Symphony, the Scottsdale Fine Arts Orchestra, the Putnam County Chorale, and the National Chorale.

Dedication

In memory of my sister, Debbie Griggs (d. 2003).

Author’s Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge Project Editor Sarah Faulkner for her amazing attention to detail and endless supply of encouragement, Acquisitions Editor Michael Lewis for the invitation to write a second edition, Technical Editor David Kelso for sharing his wealth of knowledge, and Copy Editor Krista Hansing for always looking out for the reader. I was so fortunate to work with this amazing team.

Thank you to my parents, Holmes and Darlene, for all the lessons you paid for, the hours you had to listen to me practice, and the many miles you drove to attend my concerts.

Thank you to George, for your encouragement and for tolerating all the late nights and weekends I spent writing.

Eternal thanks to my students (and a few colleagues) who sang so beautifully on the CD and to my students and colleagues who offered advice and support. You inspire me.

Special thanks to my voice teachers, Julia Lansford, Jerry Doan, Norma Newton, and Judith Natalucci.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Sarah Faulkner

(Previous Edition: Jennifer Connolly)

Acquisitions Editor: Michael Lewis

Copy Editor: Krista Hansing

(Previous Edition: Esmeralda St. Clair)

Assistant Editor: David Lutton

Technical Editor: David Kelso

Media Development Associate Producer: Shawn Patrick

Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher

Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck

Editorial Assistants: Jennette ElNaggar, Rachelle S. Amick

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Cover Photos: © iStockphoto.com/Chris Hutchison

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery

Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Joyce Haughey, Mark Pinto

Proofreader: Bonnie Mikkelson

Indexer: Sharon Shock

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

I’m so happy you chose this book! Whether you’re a shower singer or you secretly desire to sing on a stage, this book is for you. The book is full of helpful information covering all aspects of singing, from posture and breathing to vocal health and techniques for increasing your range. Absolutely no experience is necessary! Even if you know zero about singing, you’re going to have a great time exploring your singing voice.

You can’t develop your singing voice overnight; it takes time. Some people are born with a voice ready to sing at the Hollywood Bowl, but most people who like to sing have to work on their voice to prepare it for the first performance. Whichever category you fit into, this book has some valuable information for you.

Exercising the singing voice is the ticket to improving your technique. The exercises in the book are similar to what you may encounter in a voice lesson or a class about singing. By working on exercises, you give your body a chance to figure out exactly how to make the sounds. After you get the technical details cooking, you can apply that information to your songs and sound even better.

You may not have someone there listening to you as you practice, but you find suggestions throughout the book on how to listen to your voice and critique it for yourself so that you can improve every time you practice.

About This Book

This book is designed as a reference guide, not as a tutorial, and includes exercises to help you improve your singing. Flip through and look for parts that interest you. (For that matter, I recommend that you also go through the parts that don’t interest you — who knows what you may discover about your voice?) What’s important to remember is that you don’t have to read this book from cover to cover to improve your singing; look for the topics you need and use both the exercises and the CD to develop your best voice.

The CD is an important partner to your book. The CD exercises work the technical info that you read about in the book. You hear a pattern played for you on the piano, a singer demonstrates the pattern for you, and the pattern is repeated several times for you to sing along. Just singing songs is cool, but you want to work on technique to get your songs to sound great. If you work on the articulation exercises on the CD and then apply that information and skill to songs, you can sing with great skill and be understood. If you’ve never had lessons, you may not see the benefit of the exercises in the beginning, or they may seem difficult. Keep trying them during your practice sessions, and you may see how quickly the exercises can help you to sing.

Chapter 10 gives you ideas on developing a practice routine to coordinate all the information that you read in the book with what you hear on the CD. After you plot out your practice routine, keep the CD handy so you can choose which tracks to practice. Storing the CD in the back of the book in the plastic cover is best. Or you may want to put the CD in your car to sing along with as you drive. That’s cool, as long as you pay attention to your driving.

Because many people respond quickly to imagery, I include ways to use imagery to help you improve your singing. Knowing the mechanics works well for some singers, and others prefer knowing what to think about or visualize as they sing. If you want to know what to listen for, I give you that information as well. I also explain the exercises by having you do something physical. Sometimes just feeling the movement in your body gets the idea across. Whatever way you prefer to use, you can find it in this book.

Conventions Used in This Book

To help you navigate this book with ease, I set the following conventions:

I use bold text to highlight key words in bulleted lists.

When I introduce a new term that you may not be familiar with, I use italic and define the term within the text.

Web addresses appear in monofont so they’re easy to find on the page.

When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that I didn’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, as though the line break doesn’t exist.

I spell out the vowel sound for you or use symbols found in Webster’s dictionary, because that’s most common to new singers and nonsingers.

Throughout the book you have opportunities to sing specific vowel sounds. One vowel sound may need a little explanation. I use the shape “a” for the vowel sound in the words cat, hat, or Matt. For the vowel sound in the words father, plaza, or blah, I use “ah.” You can practice these sounds in Chapter 8 so you know what to do when you see them in other places in the book.

Musical styles continue to change and the terms used to describe the styles also continue to change. If you read the history of pop or rock music, you’ll see a long list of titles to describe each era. I use the term pop-rock for songs that can cross over into both styles. It’s common to see a great song listed on the hit-song list for different styles of music. In Chapter 14 you can read about the sounds used in different styles, but know that pop-rock refers to a song that could fit in either style.

I use musical examples throughout the book to give you a visual explanation of the exercises on the CD. You can read an explanation about musical notation in Chapter 1. There you find information about how the little circles on the page correspond with the notes on the piano and the notes you’ll sing in specific parts of your range.

What You’re Not to Read

This book is full of great information about singing. If you’re new to singing, you’ll have a great time exploring all the details and exercises designed specifically for you. Feel free to start anywhere in the book that interests you, and know that the Technical Stuff icon is for singers who are ready for more detailed information. The same is true for the sidebars. The info in these gray-shaded boxes is interesting and fun, but not crucial to read the first time through. You can read it the first time, if you like, or come back to it later.

Foolish Assumptions

Because you’re reading this book, I assume that you have an interest in singing and discovering how to improve your singing. You don’t need any previous knowledge about singing. You can find information for beginners, as well as advanced information for singers who have some experience.

How This Book Is Organized

The book is organized into six parts, with each part containing specific types of information about singing. You explore the mechanics of singing before you work on your technique. If you have no experience singing, you may find the first part especially helpful.

Part I: Exploring Singing Basics

I cover the three huge singing topics — posture, breathing, and tone — in Part I. You want these skills to be rock solid. If you have a grasp on these three important topics, you can increase your singing capability. You may find yourself coming back to these chapters often to solidify these skills. Take your time as you work through the first four chapters. You may want to add the exercises you find in this part to your practice journal. By working on these skills every day, you can see steady improvement. Another interesting topic in this part is voice types. If you’ve always wanted to know the difference between a soprano and a mezzo, Chapter 2 is waiting for you.

Part II: Improving Your Singing

The main topics in Part II are tone, resonance, vowels, and consonants. Chapter 6 offers you even more information to get you sounding really good when you sing. After you figure out what tone is all about, you find out about the resonance of your tone in Chapter 7. If you aren’t sure what resonance is all about, you can read all about the misconceptions of resonance in Chapter 7. This part gets your vowels and consonants moving and grooving, too. If you articulate the vowels and consonants correctly (see Chapters 8 and 9), you make sure that your audience can easily understand you, no matter what style of music you sing. Finally, Chapter 10 is all about practicing and developing a routine to improve your singing voice and apply all the information in the book.

Part III: Advanced Techniques to Improve Your Voice

In this part, you move on to information that helps you apply singing technique. You may have heard people talking about chest voice but may not be quite sure what that means. Head to Part III to find out more than you ever dreamed about the registers of the voice. Chapter 11 takes on middle voice, chest voice, and head voice, and Chapter 12 discusses range. Chapter 13 helps you with your speaking voice and belting. Though you may think that your speaking voice and singing voice are entirely different, you may be surprised by how much your speaking voice can help or hinder your singing. This part also offers some solid suggestions for finding the right voice teacher (see Chapters 14 and 15). In addition, you can find out more about various musical styles — classical, country, jazz, musical theater, opera, pop-rock, and R&B.

Part IV: Preparing to Perform

When you have your technique working well, you may want to test it in public. Before you walk onto the stage, check out this part for great advice on how to prepare before the big debut. Chapter 16 helps you figure out how to choose songs that enhance your technical skills and where to find those lovely tunes. After you find the tune, you want to explore Chapter 17 for help with that new song. Trying to figure out the song alone may seem overwhelming, but Chapter 17 has some helpful hints to make the task manageable.

That new song needs some spice from both the music and the words. Just looking gorgeous on the stage isn’t enough; you want to give the audience something to think about as you sing. Chapter 18 explores acting the song while singing: two skills that are important to use together. If you aren’t sure you’re ready to get out onstage because of butterflies in your stomach, check out Chapter 19 on performance anxiety. Being nervous is okay, but you can explore ways to help you with the anxiety so your sweaty palms don’t bother you as you sing beautifully. If you think your butterflies are a sign that you’re excited and ready to audition, Chapter 20 gives you some sound advice on taking your song to an audition. Many people dream of auditioning for a show but have no idea how to prepare. The answers to your questions and preparation advice await you in Chapter 20.

Part V: The Part of Tens

If you listen to the top ten songs in your favorite category of music, do you know which singers have good technique? Because the industry tends to favor an ability to make big bucks over talent, find out which singers really have good technique to back up their fame. You may see some surprises on the list. Handling yourself onstage takes some practice if you’ve never been in the spotlight. In this part, you can find ten tips to help you perform like a pro. You may also have some questions about singing that you just didn’t know whom to ask, so I also made a list of the ten most frequently asked questions that my students bring to their lessons and a list of ten tips to keep your voice healthy. You may find the answer to a question that’s been nagging you.

Part VI: Appendixes

Appendix A has a list of songs to explore when you’re ready, including classical, musical theater, pop-rock, and country songs. No matter what style you like, you can practice your new skills as you work through the book. I chose these songs because of the benefits they provide for your technique. You may not find the top hits of today on the list, but you can find songs that are great for working on singing technique, regardless of style. Appendix B has a chart to coordinate the info on the CD. Use the chart in Appendix B to locate the skills you want to practice today. By working slowly through the exercises on the CD, you give your body time to figure out how to correctly sing the exercises and apply that information to the songs in Appendix A.

Icons Used in This Book

This icon tells you that a track on the CD corresponds to the information in the chapter.

This information is so helpful that you should store it in your memory bank.

This icon highlights detailed explanations that you may find really interesting or may just want to skip right over.

The Tip icon emphasizes good advice from someone who has already made the mistake and wants to save you the trouble.

To avoid making a blunder or injuring your voice, pay attention to what these paragraphs have to say.

Where to Go from Here

If you have no singing experience, you may want to start with Chapter 1 and work your way through the chapters in order. However, this book is designed to allow you to jump in anywhere you want and start swimming through information that’s completely understandable. If you have some singing experience, choose whatever chapter appeals to you. You may have to refer to other chapters occasionally if you missed a definition, but otherwise, you’re free to roam the chapters at your own pace and in any order. As you work through the exercises in this book, you want to have the basic technical skills of breathing (see Chapter 4) and tone (see Chapters 5 and 6) readily available. If you find yourself struggling, you may want to go straight to Chapter 3 to make sure that you have proper singing posture.

Part I

Exploring Singing Basics

In this part . . .

In this part, you get an introduction to singing. You find out about different voice types and figure out which category fits your voice. Then you check out interesting info about the three biggies: posture, breath, and tone. You want great posture to get your body lined up and ready to sing your best, and you need some air moving in and out of your body to keep the glorious sounds coming out. Working on tone allows you to improve on the sounds you’re already making or to tweak your tone a little if your engine knocks rather than hums.

Take your time as you read through these chapters. You may even want to come back to the exercises on a regular basis to maintain a smoothly running vocal engine.

Chapter 1

Preparing to Sing

In This Chapter

Thinking about your voice type

Starting with the basics: Posture, breath, and tone

Getting familiar with the different parts of your voice

Starting to apply your vocal technique

So you’re curious about singing. Whatever musical background and experience you have or don’t have, this book has something to offer you. The book contains great exercises and even a CD that allows you to hear the exercise and sing along. If you’re a beginner, welcome aboard. You can find out all kinds of cool info about singing in this book. This chapter provides an overview of all the great stuff you can encounter in the book.

Singing is one of the coolest means of expression out there. Singing well is about knowing how to work the parts that create the sound for singing. The chapters that you encounter in the book outline what you need to know in just the right sequence. You don’t have to read them in the order written to get what you need. Some of the later chapters may be a little difficult if you don’t have any singing experience. The only way to know is to jump right in and start reading on whatever topic interests you.

What You Want to Know Right from the Beginning

Before you choose the date for your first big concert or recital, you want to find out about singing. The first part of this book provides you with the big picture.

Determining your voice type

Singers usually are eager to determine their voice type because they want a category to belong to. You may have heard of the categories of singers:

Soprano: Higher female voice

Mezzo: Lower female voice

Tenor: Higher male voice

Bass: Lower male voice

If you aren’t sure which one applies to your voice, explore Chapter 2. You can find explanations of what makes a soprano differ from a mezzo, or a tenor differ from a bass. You don’t have to figure out your voice type today, but you can explore the chapter so you know what to listen for as you sing.

Locating the notes on the staff

Voice types are probably easier to figure out if you know where to find the notes on a musical staff. (See Figure 1-1 in this chapter.) The names of the notes are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Those notes repeat across the piano.

The treble clef spaces correspond to the notes F, A, C, and E. Beginning on the bottom of the staff and going up, the notes spell face. You can use sentences to remember the other notes. Again, starting on the bottom line and moving up, the notes on the lines of the staff are E, G, B, D, and F, letters that begin the words of the sentence Every good boy does fine.

For the bass clef, the spaces are A, C, E, and G, the letters that begin the sentences All cows eat grass or All cars eat gas. The lines in the bass clef are G, B, D, F, and A, which correspond to Good boys do fine always. If you prefer animals, then use Great big dogs fight animals.

If I say that a singer’s range is Middle C to High C, I have to use ledger lines to notate those two notes because they’re not within the five-line staff. Ledger lines are extra lines added above or below the staff for notes that are higher or lower than the notes on the staff. When you find Middle C in Figure 1-1, you can see the extra line added below the staff. The easiest way to find Middle C on the piano is to look at the brand name printed on the lid covering the keys. If you find that brand name, the C right in the middle of that name, or just to the left, is usually Middle C.

Figure 1-1: Locating notes on the staff.

Middle C is called Middle C because it’s in the middle of the keyboard that contains 88 keys. Middle C is also called C4, because it’s the fourth C on the keyboard. If Middle C is C4, then the next C above is C5, and so on. C is the note just to the left of the pair of black keys. The distance between the two Cs is called an octave. If you start counting at the first C and count eight white notes up, you find another C. That means the E just above Middle C (C4) is E4. Easy enough, but not every person you encounter knows this system, so I stick to what works: Middle C.

You also encounter the words flat and sharp in this book. Flats lower a pitch a half step and a sharp raises the pitch a half step. F-sharp is the black key on the piano between F and G. The same black key between F and G can be called G-flat.

Considering posture, breath, and tone

First, you want to get yourself aligned — that is, line up all your body parts to get ready to sing — and then explore your breathing. Breathing while singing is different from breathing normally, because you have to take in more air and use more air over a longer period of time. When you get the air flowing, you can explore the tone of your voice.

Correcting posture for a better sound: Posture is important in singing well. If all the parts for singing are lined up correctly, you stand a really good chance of getting wonderful sounds to come flying out of your body. Knowing how to stand isn’t rocket science, but it may take a little adjustment on your part. If you aren’t used to standing tall all the time, you may feel a bit awkward at first. Chapter 3 explores posture for singing.

Knowing the keys to proper breathing: The big key to great singing is knowing how to use your breath to make the sounds. You may not know how to get much breath in your body and then make it last throughout a long phrase. If you check out Chapter 4, you can find all kinds of exercises and explanations on how to work on your breath so you can sing those long phrases in your favorite song.

Finding your tone: Vocal tone is important because you want the best sounds to come out of your mouth. By exploring exercises on tone, you can make changes to your sound. People often tell me that they want to change the way they sound. To change your sound, you need to know how you create sound. The two chapters on tone, Chapters 5 and 6, give you quite a bit of information about how to start a note and then what to do to make the note sound a specific way.

Developing Your Singing Voice

When you have the basic information swimming around in your head, you can start to work on your singing voice. Chapters 6 through 9 offer you more specific information about how to create a sound that’s unique to you. Sometimes singers try to imitate their favorite famous singer. A better idea is to sound like yourself. Your voice can be just as fabulous as that famous singer’s. You just have to practice to develop it.

Following are some points to work on:

Filling the auditorium with resonance: Resonance is the echoing of tone. In Chapter 7, you find out how to use resonance to project your voice. Singing loudly makes a lot of sound, but using resonance allows you to project the sound over the orchestra to the back of the concert hall. Find out how your voice can resonate so Uncle Sam can hear you from the back row.

Fine-tuning vowels and consonants: A long time ago in grade school, you had to work with vowels and consonants. Well, you can refresh yourself in Chapters 8 and 9. By making your vowels and consonants specific, you can make yourself easily understood when you’re singing. You’ve probably heard someone sing but couldn’t understand a word they said. It’s even worse when the song is in English or a language that you speak. By knowing how to articulate vowels and consonants, you can create specific sounds that your audience can follow.

Warming up your voice: Practice makes perfect! After you discover all this great information about singing, you need to develop a plan for practicing it on a regular basis. If practicing seems like a foreign concept to you, check out Chapter 10. The whole chapter is devoted to helping you figure out what to do when you warm up and how to apply the exercises that you read about in the book to your daily practice routine. Because you can explore so much, make a list of what you want to accomplish today, and then add more to that list each time that you practice.

Working the Different Parts of Your Voice

Your goal is to make your singing voice sound like one smooth line from top to bottom. Your voice may have a few bumps and wiggles as you work your way up and down. That’s perfectly normal, but help is right at hand. Chapters 11and 12 work with specific areas of the voice called registers — chest voice, head voice, middle voice, and falsetto. In these chapters, you can discover what each part of the voice feels like and what to do with it. When you’re ready, try these tips:

Strengthening your middle, chest, and head voice to get a complete vocal workout: The first step in the workout for the voice is to find the different registers of the voice and then notice what each feels like. After you find them, you want to try to smooth the transition between registers. You may find that your chest voice and head voice feel miles apart. The exercises in Chapters 11 and 12 are designed to help you smooth out the bumps. You may not think the exercises are easy in the beginning, which is good. I don’t want you to be bored. Even if you’ve never explored any vocal sounds, you can figure out these exercises and get your voice in good working order — it just takes some time and patience.

Chapter 12 helps you refine your register transitions and extend your range. Some songs require flexibility, and the exercises in the chapter help you develop agility and even try out your agility in some pop riffs.

Adding belting technique to your list of skills: Your speaking voice needs a workout to get you started on belting. Belting is the sound that you want to make for musical theater or pop-rock songs. The exercises start from the beginning, so you don’t have to know anything about belting to take on the information in Chapter 13.

Applying Your Technique

After you explore your technique through the exercises that I provide, you need to take the next step. Chapters 14 through 18 are about applying your technique. At some point, you want to apply that healthy technique to songs. You also want to maintain your healthy technique and a healthy voice at all times. When your technique is really cooking, you can explore Chapters 19and 20, about moving your technique into a performance situation. Performances can be big or small. Whatever the size of the audience, you want to look like a pro and feel good about what you’re doing onstage.

To start applying your technique when singing songs for yourself or others, consider the following:

Training for singing: Finding a voice teacher can be tricky. When you find the right teacher, the experience can be rewarding. If you aren’t sure how to go about finding a teacher, explore the tips and suggestions in Chapter 15.Finding the teacher may be the most difficult part. After you answer the questions in Chapter 15, you’ll have a better idea of what you want from voice lessons. Whether or not you hire a voice teacher, you can check out Chapter 14 for information about training to sing different styles of music. Knowing what’s required of your voice allows you to dive right into the right chapters.

Choosing appropriate singing material: Finding new songs to sing can be overwhelming. You have so many choices, but how do you know what works for you? The clues are in Chapter 16. The lists there offer suggestions on what to look for and what to avoid when choosing songs. Whether you want a song to sing for your own pleasure or a song for a specific function, you want a song that accentuates your strengths.

For more suggestions of songs, you can explore Appendix A for a list of suggested songs for enhancing your singing technique. The songs cover different styles of music, from classical to country. After you choose the song you want to sing, check out Chapter 17 for some tips on how to master the song in a short amount of time.

Feeling comfortable with the music and text: In Chapter 18, you can explore acting to combine with your singing. Sounding good when you sing is great, but you want to sound good and understand the story behind the music. You don’t have to know anything about acting to explore this chapter; it’s all right there for you.

Overcoming performance anxiety: If your daydreams of singing are clouded with anxiety about singing in front of an audience, Chapter 19 is just for you. By confronting your fear and taking charge, you can make progress and let go of the anxiety. You only add pressure to your performance if you assume that you’re supposed to be totally calm. Many famous performers get nervous before a performance. After exploring Chapter 19, you’ll know that it’s fine to be nervous, but you can still sing while nervous.

Nailing your audition: So many singers dream of auditioning for a Broadway show or entering a singing competition that I wrote a whole chapter about auditioning your song. Chapter 20 has information for you on what to expect at the audition, who may be there, what you may have to sing or do, and how to prepare for the audition. Because an audition for a musical is different from an audition for an opera, you want to know what’s kosher and what’s not.

Having Fun

Singing is about more than just alignment and technique — although, of course those considerations are important. If you concentrate only on the technical aspect of singing, you may end up singing from your head rather than your heart. Remember to let loose every once in awhile and have fun with it!

Some performers are really amazing onstage — obviously having fun — and they also have great technique. Check out Chapter 21 to see whether any of your favorite singers made my list of performers with great technique. And if you want your performance to be spectacular, Chapter 24 has some great tips on performing like a pro. Before your big performance, check out Chapter 22 for answers to the most commonly asked questions about singing, and see Chapter 23 for information on keeping your voice healthy. Maintaining a healthy voice is important. Your cords are really small, and you want to take good care of them. You can also read about medications and other factors that influence your singing voice. A healthy voice and solid technique will keep you singing for years to come.

Chapter 2

Determining Your Voice Type

In This Chapter

Understanding the highs and lows of voice types

Discovering the voice type categories

Finding out where you fit in

Finding your voice type is a challenge because several ingredients combine to create a voice type. You don’t have to know your voice type if you’re singing for your own enjoyment, but you may be curious to find out. If you aspire to sing professionally or do some professional auditions, you definitely want to know your voice type. You’ll be asked at the audition, so you want to know that answer before someone asks. Chapter 20 has more info about auditions. Determining your voice type — soprano or mezzo-soprano for women, tenor or bass for men — enables you to choose songs that are most appropriate for you. After you figure out what category you fit into, check out Appendix A for a list of songs suitable for your voice type. Read on to explore how each voice type sounds and how to determine where your voice fits.

Sifting through the Ingredients to Determine Your Voice Type

Think of a voice type as a series of ingredients mixed together to create a unique-tasting dessert. For singing, the ingredients combine to create a unique-sounding voice. The four common voice types are soprano, mezzo-soprano (often called mezzo), tenor, and bass (the next section, “Identifying the Fab Four,” tells you all about these four voice types). These five ingredients determine a voice type:

Age: Many singers are assigned a voice type as young singers, but voices change with age. In Chapter 11, you can read about the growth of the male singing muscles up to age 20. All voices continue to grow and develop with age. Think about the last time you made a phone call and heard the sound of a stranger’s voice. Even if you didn’t know the person on the other end, you could guess his age by listening to his speaking voice. Because speaking voices and singing voices change with age, wait until your body is finished growing to determine your voice type.

Range: Range is all the notes a singer can hit — including the highest note, the lowest note, and all the notes between. Beginning singers usually have a shorter range than more advanced singers, because the high notes or low notes get stronger with practice. As you practice the exercises with this book and accompanying CD, your range will expand whether you’re a beginner or an advanced singer. Knowing your range helps you figure out your voice type, because a bass can sing lower than a tenor, and a soprano can sing higher than a mezzo. The factors that most affect how you determine your voice type are range, in which part of your range you’re most comfortable singing, and register transitions.

Register: A series of adjacent notes that sound similar are produced in a similar fashion and have a similar tonal quality. The notes sound similar because the same muscles produce them and they often vibrate in a similar location in a singer’s body. The transitions between the registers can help you determine your voice type. Keep reading this chapter to find out where each voice type feels transitions to help you decide whether your voice does something similar. The transitions in your voice may change as your voice develops. (Chapter 11 has more on registers.)

The range of the voice where a singer is most comfortable is called tessitura. If you hear the word tessitura used in a discussion about a song, in that case, it refers to the area where most of the notes lie in the song. The tessitura of a Stevie Wonder song is quite high, because he’s comfortable singing a lot of high notes. The tessitura for “God Bless America” and most folk songs is lower. Knowing where your voice is most comfortable, as well as where it’s uncomfortable, is a determining factor when it comes to voice type.

Tone of voice: Each voice has a specific tonal quality or color. Color is also called timbre. Words that describe tone include strident, dark, bright, metallic, ringing, and shrill. When determining a voice type, the voice tone helps you further determine your category. The tone of voice for a tenor is often much brighter than the tone of voice for a bass.

Voice strength: Knowing your voice strength also helps you determine your voice type. Sopranos and tenors have a stronger head voice than mezzos and basses. Likewise, mezzos and basses have a stronger, meatier middle voice than sopranos and tenors. (Chapter 11 gives you details on head voice and middle voice.)

Vocal subdivisions

In classical music or the opera world, voice types can be further divided into categories based on the size and agility of the voice. The first four terms are in order like the soda sizes at the fast-food joint. Light is the small, lightweight cup, and dramatic is the cup so large that it won’t fit in the cup holder in your car.

Light:A bright, youthful, agile voice.

Lyric: A medium-sized voice with a warm color that’s comfortable singing long, even phrases. Lyric is appropriate for a romantic character.

Full:A louder, stronger voice that doesn’t necessarily sing fast lines as easily as a light voice.

Dramatic: A voice that’s even louder than a full voice and sings a heavier repertoire, such as Wagner. Dramatic voices can peel the paint off the wall from 50 paces. These voices are big and heavier than full lyric voices; they aren’t known for subtlety — they’re all about power and strength.

Coloratura: A flexible voice that moves easily through fast lines in the music.

A singer can be a mix of the terms in the preceding list. For example, a light lyric coloratura refers to a medium-sized light voice that moves easily. Seeing the words combined to describe a voice type isn’t so confusing if you understand the definition of each descriptive word. However, only in the classical world is it important for you to know how your voice fits within this list. Don’t worry about the specific kind of category you’re in until you get some training. Check out the upcoming section, “Identifying the Fab Four,” for more information about voice types and their subdivisions.

Don’t classify yourself too quickly based on the preceding factors. For the general purposes of singing, focus on building great technique and see how your voice responds. Your voice tells you what voice type it really is; you just have to know how to look and listen.

Identifying the Fab Four

The four voice types are soprano, mezzo, tenor, and bass. Even though these names sound like characters in a mob movie, I promise you that they’re nothing to be afraid of. In the upcoming sections, you discover specific traits about each voice type: the range, register transitions, voice tone, and any subdivisions of that voice type, as well as the names of a few famous singers to help you put a sound with the voice type.

Note that when I talk about register transitions, they don’t occur on just one note. That’s because not all sopranos (or mezzos, tenors, or basses) are the same.

If you’re confused after reading about all the voice types, remember that naming your voice type today isn’t absolutely necessary. After you read the descriptions of the voice types in this chapter, you may be ready to vote soprano over mezzo or bass over tenor for now. Try that range for a while and see whether it fits well.

Listen to recordings of singers and read about what they’ve sung during their careers. If you know of singers who have voices similar to yours, look at the roles they sang. Think about the following factors when you’re listening to the singers in Table 2-1:

What’s the timbre of your voice? Is the tone more steely than chocolaty? Steely isn’t a negative adjective; it’s merely fact. Very often the steely voice is the character audiences love, but they don’t want to rush up and put their arms around her and rescue her.

Is your voice light and flutelike? If so, listen to the lighter voices in Table 2-1. Is your voice loud and heavy even when you’re lightly singing? Heavy means the sound that you’re making is loud even when you’re singing comfortably; listen to the singers in the dramatic list.

What’s your singing range and tessitura? The difference between a mezzo and a soprano often is tessitura. The mezzo can sing the high notes but doesn’t want to live up there, and the soprano wants to sing one high note after another. If you’re new to singing, you may not be able to tell the difference between a soprano and a mezzo or a baritone and a tenor. No worries. Keep listening to the sounds, and you’ll eventually be able to tell the difference between the voice types.

Are you able to move your voice easily? Do you enjoy the fast passages in the song and think of them as fun? If the fast notes are easy for you, you can add coloratura to your vocal description. The coloraturas in Table 2-1 demonstrate some spectacular fast moves with their voices.

What do you consider the general or overall strengths of your voice — strong middle voice or head voice, perhaps? Your vocal strengths change as you practice. Notice the differences in the voices in Table 2-1. Compare and contrast the sounds you hear between voice types to hear their strengths.

If you’re new to singing, determining your voice type by yourself may take a few months. Your voice changes with practice. So have fun listening and sorting through all the different types.

Table 2-1 Singers from the Opera World

Voice Type

Examples

Lighter soprano

Kathleen Battle, Harolyn Blackwell, Barbara Bonney

Lyric soprano

Angela Gheorghiu, Sumi Jo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

More dramatic soprano

Hildegard Behrens, Birgit Nilsson, Deborah Voigt

Coloratura soprano

Natalie Dessay, Beverly Sills, Dame Joan Sutherland

Lighter mezzo

Cecilia Bartoli, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade

Lyric mezzo

Susanne Mentzer, Anne-Sophie von Otter, Wendy White

Dramatic mezzo

Olga Borodina, Waltraud Meier, Dolora Zajick

Coloratura mezzo

Cecilia Bartoli, Marilyn Horne

Contralto

Marian Anderson, Kathleen Ferrier, Maureen Forrester

Lighter tenor

Rockwell Blake, Peter Pears, Fritz Wunderlich

Lyric tenor

Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, George Shirley

Dramatic tenor

James King, Lauritz Melchior, Jon Vickers

Coloratura tenor

Juan Diego Florez, Jerry Hadley

Baritone

Dimitry Hvorostovsky, Herman Prey, Gino Quilico

Bass

Kurt Moll, Paul Plishka, Samuel Ramey

Highest range of the dames: Soprano

The soprano has the highest range of the female voice types. The following aspects are characteristic of her voice type:

Range: Often Middle C to High C, although some sopranos can vocalize way beyond High C and much lower than Middle C (see Figure 2-1).

A soprano is expected to have a High C, and many sopranos can sing up to the G or A above High C. Choral directors or musical directors listen for the singer’s comfort zone when determining whether the singer is a soprano. Although a mezzo can reach some of these higher notes, a soprano is capable of singing high notes more frequently than a mezzo.

Register transitions: The transitions usually occur as the soprano shifts out of chest voice around the E-flat just above Middle C and into her head voice around F-sharp (fifth line on top of the staff) in the octave above Middle C.

Strength: A soprano’s strength is a strong head voice.

Voice tone: The soprano voice is usually bright and ringing.

Weakness: Sopranos have a hard time projecting in middle voice.

Soprano subdivisions in the classical world include