Did your dreams of becoming a vocalist persist even as you grew older? Have you always wanted to learn how to sing, but don’t know what techniques to use so that your voice doesn’t break? Are you able to speak in front of an audience, but feel unsure of your speech? We have prepared useful instructions for you on how to voice.
In this article we will tell you:
How to set your voice for singing?
- How to start breathing?
- How to put on a voice at home?
- How to voice with a teacher? How to choose a vocal school?
- Exercises for voice training;
How to set a voice for speech?
- Voice training exercises;
- How to make your voice pleasant?
- How to make your voice louder?
- How to make your voice softer?
- How to voice with a teacher? How to choose a public speaking school?
Want to learn even more voice production techniques? Come to vocal courses and public speaking courses in St. Petersburg, where they will tell you all the secrets about the voice and teach you secret techniques.
How to set your voice for singing?
Each of us, as a child or not, at least once picked up a comb, used it as a microphone and twirled in front of the mirror, shouting “My Hart Will Go Oooon and Oooon” or “Wee ave champions, May Freeends.” Then my parents came, laughed at what they saw, and for some reason my dreams of a singing career seemed more and more like dreams than reality.
But one morning you woke up and realized: “It’s now or never!” Stop yelling for your car in a traffic jam or for your neighbors in the shower. It's time to improve your vocal skills and master singing at a serious level. Dreams must come true.
The most important thing for a good singer is even breathing and a voice that will interest the listener, and not force him to throw tomatoes at you. This is where you need to start learning.
Aspiring opera singer Daria Gerasimova told us about all the intricacies of vocal training.
How to put on a voice at home?
It depends on what kind of voice you are going to use. If we are talking about a pop voice, then it is enough to choose the performers you like, listen to them as much as possible and try to repeat after them. With a 70% chance you will be able to reproduce their singing style.
The bird is trying
If we're talking about classical music, you can't play your voice at home. When we start singing, our voice changes timbre. And the teacher will tell you what to do about it. Yes, you can have a little success if you persistently and diligently watch YouTube videos, but you won’t be able to make tremendous progress without the support of a knowledgeable person.
If you've read everything but don't understand anything, here's a video for you. Everything in it is the same, only visually:
How to train your voice with a teacher and choose a vocal school?
To place a voice with a teacher, you must first find him. You need to look for your teacher at random. Come to trial classes, listen, hear, feel the person, whether he is yours or not. Each vocal master will teach you in his own way, but first there must be a base. If you are comfortable with the person and his instructions, then you have found your teacher.
It also happens that during classes you will begin to experience physical discomfort. The ligaments will press, the voice will be extracted with pain. Then you need to leave such a teacher. Singing is a moment of pure pleasure.
Also, according to Daria, there is no need to adapt to the teacher if you feel that something is going wrong. If you agree with your mentor, see the meaning in his words, understand and can follow his instructions, then, of course, benefit from the master. You should be great friends with your teacher and feel like a kindred spirit in him.
There are a lot of vocal schools now, and it can be difficult to find something worthwhile among them. Therefore, try, see, and the school will definitely come your way. In vocal courses, in 6-8 lessons you will be taught the basics about breathing and sound, taught simple exercises and trained in voice training. The cost of such courses is 7,500–9,000 rubles.
Voice training exercises
No matter how strange it may sound, the voice in vocals ranks last in importance. Therefore, as a rule, no one is involved in its production.
We will tell you about the basic exercises if you are a beginner singer.
- Breathing exercises: chants, tongue twisters and physical exercises. If you had singing at school, then you remember these notes from “C” to “C”, when with each note the sound became louder and thinner. Tongue twisters help with diction and communication. As for physical exercises, here we are talking about a little gymnastics. Ligaments are muscles, so they also need to be warmed up, just as athletes warm up their muscles.
We remember physical education lessons in the 6th grade and the warm-up exercises for them. We do everything the same: stretches - head - torso - arms - legs - stretches.
2. Exercises to prevent your voice from breaking. To keep your voice from breaking, you need good support. If you give the so-called rooster, this means that the voice has sat on the cords and they have broken. This cannot be done.
All vocals are visualization, so imagine the voice being directed into the third eye area.
While singing, we need to imagine where we are directing our voice to make it easier. Physically, it will never end up in the forehead because there is no airway there. But if you think about it, the notes work that way and there. Magic, no less.
Imagine that you are directing your voice to the third eye area, like this cat
Place your voice on a support, strain your lower abdomen as much as possible and imagine that your voice is not going up, but down, like through a pipe. Then you think about playing the top notes, and they come out.
3. Exercises to keep your voice from shaking. It is not the voice that is trembling, but the larynx. And an audible shaking means it's rising. It is also dangerous to sing with a trembling larynx; it is harmful to health. The larynx rises because there is no correct support and breathing.
If they are installed, and such a problem still arises, you need to imagine how the far part of the palate rises. In this case, the tongue should descend as much as possible to the tips of the lower teeth. In this case, the larynx should begin to obey. Or vice versa, the sound needs to be narrowed: let the voice go to the upper teeth, lowering the tongue down and lifting the palate up.
You can also try lowering your head. Together with it, the larynx will drop and stop trembling. If this does not help, then you need to move your head while singing, maintaining your support and breathing in place.
Well, and finally, for those who want to change their tone. You can start smoking or lose a few kilograms. But seriously, there is no point in changing the tone. Each voice is unique; no two voices are identical in nature.
If you still want to destroy your gift and give it an unnatural timbre, then sing your voice. Chances are you won't be able to sing it to the pitch you want simply because you don't have the range.
To understand whether this is given to you or not, try to hit the lowest and highest note when chanting. Then you will understand whether you will succeed or not. It may sound wrong and ugly, but you will get it with your voice. Then you will be able to sing it at a professional level, but you will need a lot of training.
If you add 2-3 notes at the top, they will go down below.
It will not be possible to expand the range. You'll break your voice. And somewhere there will be more, and somewhere less. Think about it. After all, you can adjust everything to your characteristics and enjoy what you have.
Take care of your health
You can't have bad habits and expect your voice to be soft. Those who want to get rid of hoarseness should consider following the following tips on how to change your voice in life:
- Create a balanced meal plan and stick to it.
- Get regular aerobic exercise, such as running or swimming.
- Drink at least 2 liters of water every day, excluding soups, broths, drinks, tea or coffee.
- Avoid dairy products, which can cause phlegm in the throat.
- Give up bad habits such as smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol.
Following these basic instructions will not only provide a person with a healthy overall lifestyle, but will also serve as a platform to move on to other methods of voice change.
How to set a voice for speech?
If you have never been afraid to speak in front of an audience, but on the contrary, you liked this activity and you always received feedback from your listeners, this item is for you! In what you love, you always want to make progress, improve your skills and improve.
The speaker needs a delivered speech and voice that will attract attention and hold the audience. By the way, novice actors are just working on their connections so that the viewer can enjoy hearing their lines.
Public speaking coach Lyudmila Pasternak and her student Elena Sergeeva told us how to make our voice more pleasant, softer, and louder.
Voice exercises
For a speaker, the voice is the main breadwinner. Therefore, it needs to be trained so that the skills in this skill do not disappear anywhere. Catch the exercises if you are a novice speaker:
- Exercise to keep your voice from getting tired. With this problem, we do not go far from the vocalists and begin to play sports with them. The same ligaments are involved in oratory, so don’t be lazy to do a physical warm-up before your speech.
2. Exercise to control your voice. And here we again turn to vocalists and their visualization. Stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Relax your arms and shoulders, close your eyes, begin to pronounce the sound “mmm” and imagine it in the form of a ball. Move this ball mentally around your body.
First lower it down and fix it in the stomach, then gradually lift it up and fix it in the chest. After this, lift it through the throat to the head. Time for exercise: 7–10 minutes. If you feel ligament fatigue, then reduce it and gradually increase it with each workout.
3. Exercise “Tina Kandelaki” for clarity of speech and diction. You have been familiar with this exercise since childhood - tongue twisters. Speak them out as much as possible. Over time, you will stop stumbling over complex letter combinations and learn to quickly pronounce “heavy” words.
Exercise regularly
Once you've made a personal plan to keep your body as healthy as possible, you can focus on your voice itself. Practicing vocal exercises is especially important for those who want to transform their harsh tone into something softer. Let's find out how to change your voice in life:
- Always stand with a straight back, without slouching, with the tip of your chin pointing upward. Imagine that someone is mentally pulling you towards the sky by your ears, not allowing you to relax your back and bend.
- Breathe deeply from your diaphragm, not just your chest.
- Begin each practice session by gently massaging the inside of your jaw with your tongue.
- Always keep your tongue near the front of your mouth to avoid sonorant sounds (pronounced through the nose).
- By vibrating your lips you can vary the pitch of the sound.
- Imitate the owl's voice for a minute or two.
- Sing softly, concentrating on shaping your tone as desired.
How to make your voice pleasant?
Alas, you won’t be able to make your voice pleasant in one lesson or after one workout. As in any business, it requires consistency and perseverance.
It doesn’t matter what topic this book will be on, be it culinary or a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms. Read with feeling, sensibly, with order , as your favorite literature teacher taught you.
It is better to record yourself on a voice recorder to hear speech errors.
By doing this every day, you will achieve success and learn to read with different intonation and speed, highlighting the necessary words with logical accents and correctly placing accents.
And one more life hack: try to speak “vertically” rather than “horizontally”, that is, pronounce letters with a more rounded mouth. This way the letters will tend towards the sound “A” rather than “E”.
Voice modulation
When speaking in public, it is best to lower your voice to make it sound better. If your tone has a natural raspy quality, avoid high-pitched or squealing sounds that may cause confusion among your audience.
Try to speak more slowly, relax and don’t be nervous—there’s no need to rush. Pause between sentences and phrases for emphasis and to control the pace of your speech.
Some more useful tips:
- The length and scope of the topics you talk about are important. Pronounce each word clearly, with appropriate pauses whenever needed for emphasis. Practice in front of a mirror. Literally pronounce each word using exaggerated movements, because this exercise will allow you to make your speech clearer and clearer.
- Yoga is all about connecting with yourself and the nature around you. You can use voice exercises during yoga to soften your voice. Repeat Sa Re Ga Ma several times. You can also say "om" for 5 minutes every day.
How to make your voice louder?
The volume of our voice depends on resonators.
The resonator is the volume of air enclosed in the oral cavity.
Therefore, if these same resonators are punched, the voice will sound louder and more evenly. They make their way in a very simple way: we pull the sound “mmm” to the point above the nose between the eyebrows (it is also called the “third eye”). At the same time, you need to tap your fingers on this place. Most of this is visualization, so imagining the process will make it much easier for you.
How to make your voice softer?
Often the speaker has a desire to make his voice softer, but it suddenly becomes thinner and breaks down, that is, it sits on the ligaments.
Unfortunately, not our entire body can sound, so there is a way to feel it, open the resonators and strengthen the voice. The exercise is called “saber-checker” (spoiler: it’s about visualization).
We stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart. On one side we present a saber in a sheath, on the other a saber. We alternately “take out” either the saber from the sheath with a clear “s” sound and raise it above the head, or the saber with the “sh” sound. Then we increase the pace.
Surgical intervention
When people try to find out how to make a rough voice softer, they inevitably come across an alternative method. Thus, nodules and polyps can be removed surgically under general anesthesia. But there is always a risk of complications with this method: in addition to the standard surgical consequences, there is the possibility that the voice may take a long time to recover after surgery.
How to develop a voice with a teacher and choose a public speaking school?
In order to choose a school and a public speaking teacher, you need to decide on your goals and objectives. Our expert Elena wanted to add ease to the audience’s perception of a complex topic and clearly fit into the timing. On a physical level, she needed to learn to cope with anxiety, remove excessive tightness in her body and make her voice stronger (usually her vocal cords tired quickly).
It is not always possible to choose a teacher right away. It is better to do this according to the following criteria:
- Education and experience. The ideal option is for the teacher to combine acting and speech techniques.
- Psychological comfort when communicating with a trainer. To do this, it is better to arrange a preliminary meeting or a trial lesson. Pay attention to the format of communication and the trainer’s speech, discuss the work plan, goals and objectives.
On average, public speaking courses last 6–8 lessons. The cost of such courses ranges from 10 to 15,000 rubles.
As you can see, the secret of a good voice for a vocalist and speaker is simple - in most cases you need to visualize the sound and practice. Then you will learn to sing as well as Beyoncé and perform as well as Churchill himself.
What secrets of public speaking and singing techniques for beginners do you know? Share with us in the comments. Don't forget to repost the article to save useful tips on voice training.
Tongue exercise
How to fix the sound of your voice? Before you start doing the exercises, you need to make your tongue more mobile.
- The mouth is wide open. Move the jaw from side to side at a slow pace. You need to perform the exercise for 3 minutes.
- The mouth is slightly open in a half-smile. The tip of the tongue sticks out. Swipe it across the surface of your upper lip from one corner of your mouth to the other. Please note that the jaw should remain motionless at all times and the tongue should not touch the lower lip. Perform the movement for 2 minutes. Then run along the upper lip with the middle zone of the tongue, then along the lower lip. Make 5 circular movements without jerking or holding.
- Count the teeth using the tip of your tongue. You will need to touch everyone in both the top and bottom rows.
- Lips pursed. Run your tongue along the outer surface of your upper teeth. Then rest the tip on your right, then on your left cheek. Repeat all movements, opening your lips.
Correcting a naturally ugly voice on your own at home is a completely solvable task. But you need to do all the recommended exercises strictly in the morning after waking up. This is the optimal time.
