Josh Bowman shares what he has learned about singing from people who are better at singing than he is.
Note: credit goes to my wonderful girlfriend Laura (who sings like Whitney Houston) and the incredible instructor Micah Barnes for much of this. All blame goes to me for any incorrect info. I love singing, even when I suck. 🙂
- Most people sing from their throats. Your throat is just a tunnel through which your voice travels. Your true voice comes from somewhere deeper.
- Practice. Repetition. Consistency. There is no easy way to become a better singer, but enough practice and you will get there.
- The body has various resonating cavities which act like small reverb chambers for your voice. You can feel it vibrate when you hit certain notes the right way. You might feel it in your nasal cavity, or on the top of your head. It’s pretty cool.
- If you are feeling tight in your throat, or having a hard time singing, try breathing and relaxing your upper body, while swiveling your hips and hanging your head down. It looks silly, but it really works.
- The best singers (and the best actors, for that matter) dig into their emotions every time they perform. For me, as a sarcastic and emotionally stunted person, this is very difficult to do (without feeling like a total cheeseball).
- When performing, sing with confidence, and sing out to the back of the room. The audience believes it if you believe it (or you fake like you believe it).
- You open yourself up as a singer. You use your experiences; your failed relationships, when you’ve fallen in love, when you’ve been mad, when you’ve been powerless, and when you feel like kickin’ ass and takin’ names. There is a deep voice inside you that comes out, and that makes you vulnerable (which is exactly what a paying audience wants to see).
- Many classic singers (Freddy Mercury, Joe Cocker) killed their voices or developed vocal nodes from poor technique. That doesn’t mean they weren’t great singers…but they paid a price for singing the way they did.
- Ease off higher notes, you’ll find them much easier to sing. Don’t try to push them in your throat. Let it come lightly with your breath.
- Learn melodies and learn words. When you sing, know both inside and out and it will put you out of your head and into your body (which is where you need to be as a singer).
—Photo mseckington/Flickr