5 simple exercises to learn to sing from scratch

Do you often think about how to learn to sing? Friendly meetings in a karaoke bar, family holidays, even ordinary weekdays, when you are in a great mood, cannot do without a song. Of course, becoming an opera diva or a pop star without an experienced mentor will not work, but you can stop being shy and start singing for your own pleasure after a few independent trainings.

Singing is a skill, the development of which is better to start from childhood. Setting the voice, hearing, the ability to keep the key on the same level, the ability to listen and hear music and other singers - all these are trainable skills that are easier and faster to learn at a young age. But if childhood has long passed, but you want to sing, do not despair. There are some fairly simple exercises for developing singing skills that are suitable for people of any age.

Remember: in childhood, each of us sang songs of our own composition with pleasure, completely ignoring those around us. It is later, in adolescence and adulthood, shame and embarrassment appear. Thoughts come to mind that people around unless their ears are plugged from our roulades, gradually the song becomes quieter and with time it can completely stop.

But singing is not only entertainment, it is also a way to relieve tension, strengthen the respiratory system and develop self-confidence. This is one of the oldest ways of expressing emotions and feelings, along with dance. Is it really possible that the possession of this incredible tool is available only to a select few? Of course not.

For the vast majority of people, learning to sing from scratch is an achievable dream. Some limitations exist for people with hearing and speech impairments, but special training methods have been developed for them. We will consider the general case: a simple person who does not have physical limitations and wants to sing without embarrassment in a circle of friends.

What is needed for vocals?

Let's decide from the very beginning: in this text you will not find a magical exercise that will make you a real Singer in a short time. This requires natural talent, which is subsequently polished by years of training. Even a vocalist (that is, a professional performer with specific knowledge and skills) at home without a mentor will not work.

However, you will definitely learn something. For example, basic skills, without which it is impossible to learn how to sing beautifully:

• correct body position and breathing;
• diction;
• intonation (correct reproduction of notes).

If you know how to play any musical instrument, use this to develop intonation skills.

Let us examine in more detail the skills necessary for anyone who is wondering how to learn to sing on their own.

Correct posture and breathing

The position of the body during the performance must be free. It is best to stand up straight, lower your arms along the body or put them on your stomach in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe diaphragm to feel your breath. For stability, it is better to place your legs shoulder-width apart, you need to stand on a full foot, without rising on your toes. After developing the ability to breathe correctly, it is allowed to sit, but in this case, you need to be especially careful not to lean forward or backward, not to lean on the back of the chair.

Shoulders should be dropped. When inhaling, you do not need to raise them, gain full lungs of air. Breathing should be done through the abdomen and diaphragm. No need to excessively reduce the shoulder blades, but you can’t slouch either.

The simple rules of breathing can be briefly formulated as follows: a quick breath - a pause - a slow exhalation. The breath should be quick, quiet, almost imperceptible. As you exhale, you can imagine that you need to blow out the candle: smoothly, evenly and slowly release the air.

When inhaling, the chest should expand, and not rise up, the ribs, as it were, open to the sides, and the air goes into the abdominal cavity.

You need to start a singing lesson with facial gymnastics and chanting. Grimacing is good for warming up: smile broadly, open your mouth as much as possible, puff out your cheeks, stretch your lips with a tube, close your lips and quickly move them in different directions. It’s good if after a warm-up you feel a slight warmth in the muscles. It is worth stretching your neck well, as the muscles can become very tense when singing.

Learn a few tongue twisters, and even better long twisters, they will help you learn to hold your breath and clearly pronounce each sound. During the warm-up, you can first say the alphabet several times, and then voice the tongue twister loudly and with good articulation. Do not strive for speed, our goal is to make each sound as clear and clear as possible. Watch your breath, you can’t let the breath fall in the middle of a sentence or, even worse, a word. Do not "swallow" the endings of words.

To understand the possibilities of intonation, it is useful to hum with your mouth closed. You need to feel the vibration of the nasopharynx well, you can play with the volume and tone. If you want, try humming your favorite song from beginning to end.

After all this, you can move on to chanting from notes. First, sing different syllables on the same note, and then sing ascending and descending scales.

Constant practice

The absolutely necessary condition is the constant performance of exercises. Learning should become a daily ritual. Spend at least half an hour a day practicing technique and breathing. At first, your mouth and tongue may quickly get tired, and your neck may ache. But over time, you will learn not to strain the muscles that are not required for performance.

Try to listen to good music, be it classical instrumental, jazz, blues or rock. You need to learn to hear the music and sing along without words in unison.

To understand the progress, you can make several recordings of how you sing on a voice recorder. Find the "minus" of the song you want to sing, make a low volume and sing. You need to get a recording with only your voice. This is necessary in order to assess what needs to be tightened - maybe you do not have enough breath? Or you can’t pronounce some sounds well, which is why the singing is fuzzy.

Then make a recording where you can hear both the music and the voice - to see if you hit the notes. You may need to select a different song, as some may simply not suit your tone. A pain in the neck can be a signal of this - you do not need to strain to “reach out” a low or high note.

For those who are still confused about how to learn how to sing correctly, below are some easy vocal exercises.

1. Vowel sounds. Sing "A-O-U-I-E-S-A-E-I-U" as you exhale, and so on in any order. Try to keep the note when you feel that the air is running out, make sure that the voice does not become lower or higher, louder or quieter, and also do not cut off the singing with a sharp breath.
2. Sing the scale "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do" first in forward and then in reverse order (ascending and descending scale). At the same time, it is better to find a sound source by which to navigate how the notes should sound and repeat as similarly as possible. If you successfully hit the note, you will get a resonance effect.
3. To develop sonority and voice height, try to be a cuckoo. Inhale and exhale deeply several times, then on the next exhalation, loudly make the sounds of "U-u" like a cuckoo.
4. An exercise similar to the previous one, but instead of a short “scream”, you need to try to feel like a wolf - on a high note, stretch as long as possible: “Uuuuu”.
5. Let's go back to vowel sounds and scales. This time follow the strict order: "I-A-A-O-U" and pronounce the sounds short enough. In this way, you will go from high sounding to low sounding. Then you can repeat in reverse order.

It is worth paying attention to the health of the throat: do not overcool, drink plenty of warm water, avoid sweets, sour, salty and peppery foods. Products that irritate the mucous membrane can prevent the ligaments from closing properly when singing. Vocals take quite a lot of energy, so you need to get enough sleep and eat well.

Conclusion

The desire to sing is a clear indicator that you want and know how to express your feelings in the most successful way. Of course, most often the song accompanies joyful events, but you can also experience sadness or resentment with a song. It is not for nothing that in many ancient cultures there are songs about almost any event in a person's life.

So, we answered the question that concerns many, how to learn to sing. Performing simple exercises, you can develop not only the utilitarian skill of singing, but also understand your own capabilities, stop being afraid of the public, and become much more confident in yourself. And also, perhaps you will discover a gift in yourself and eventually become a real singer.