There are a lot of things you can do to improve your singing but here are five simple things that you can do TODAY that will help you sound better instantly.
Singing tip #1
Open your mouth. Yes! That’s right, it’s so obvious that it’s often overlooked but opening your mouth a little more when you sing makes a huge difference to your overall sound.
So many singers have what I call ‘lazy mouth syndrome’ and it is one of the major causes of mumbling and muffled sound. Think of your body as you would think of an instrument like a saxophone or a trumpet. Both of these instruments open up to a really wide, round exit for the sound to come out of. The same applies to you; your mouth is the opening where your sound comes out, so don’t block it off.
Think you’re opening your mouth enough? You’d be surprised. Go and stand in front of a mirror next time you’re singing one of your favourite songs and have a look at how wide your mouth is. What you feel to be really super and ridiculously wide, actually doesn’t look that bad.
Go try it out! It improves your sound immediately.
Singing tip #2
Sing with confidence. The difference between sounding average and sounding great can be as simple as whether you are singing out confidently or not. Confident singing means you are projecting your voice out and holding your notes with lots of breath support.
These two actions make the world of difference to your sound, plus it tells your audience that yes, you know the notes and you’re not afraid to sing them. Sing like you would at home when you know there is no one listening and better still, give yourself permission to sing out and you’ll be sounding better in no time.
Singing tip #3
Look confident. Ok, so this is an extension to singing tip #2 but just looking confident makes the audience believe that you sound better. It’s a really interesting psychological phenomenon but it works.
Experts in performing know that how you look on stage actually effects how you sound and so the easiest way to improve your singing is just to act confident and look like you belong up there on that stage.
And if you’re shaking in your Jimmy Choos? Just fake it baby!
Singing tip #4
Steer clear of the icecream. Oh no!!! But we love icecream!!
Relax, it’s only while you’re singing. Icecream and any milk based product produces an excess of phlegm and phlegm is a singer’s worst enemy. It gets stuck at the back of your throat and you need to clear it while you are singing.
Even worse, it can sometimes sneak up on you and cause your voice to make a cracking sound as the phlegm gets pushed aside by air. It’s not pretty, so just leave the hot choccie for when you’re out with the girls and reach for the peppermint tea instead.
Singing tip #5
Warm up before you sing. I use a lot of references to sport when I’m explaining singing techniques because as a singer, you really are an athlete… of the small muscle groups! In a singer’s case, this means the muscles around your voice box.
If you go out for a run and you haven’t warmed up, quite often it takes a little more to get going and you can increase your chances of injury. It’s the same thing for singing. It usually takes me a good ten to fifteen minutes to warm up completely and I can feel my voice improving over that time.
Once I’m warm, I can reach higher notes and make them sound better. The same will happen to you, so give yourself a little bit of time to do a few simple warm up exercises before you hit the stage.
I hope you have found these little tips useful.
Happy singing!
Nicola x
Thank you for the awesome singing tips! I appreciate others sharing their expertise, especially when it comes to singing!
They don’t work on me I’m perfect
Nobody’s perfect
have you seen why don’t we?
Omg yes I love them
enit
Nobody’s perfect… You can always improve and thinking you’re the best will just result in you getting worse because you aren’t doing anything to improve. Believe me, one of my best friends had an amazing voice, but she stopped training because she thought she was the best and now she cant hit half the high notes she could. Watch out.
Your not perfect. No one is. Imagine the people on here that are self concise about their singing and they just see you say I am perfect. You have to think about other people before you say things. All the people reading this have an amazing day, practice hard and your voice will be amazing.
Some things we have to do for sounding better during singing..And of course we have to follow some tips for singing…You had highlighted some of the meaningful tips that can be surely taken into the consideration….Confidence is a must in all the things..Of course this you have to show in the case of the singing also….Thanks for the article..!!!!!!!!!!
You’re most welcome! xx
Level tips I like it
Great tips!
Thanks for the great tips! Love tip number 4!
its working wonders for me.
Glad it helped! 🙂
Please help me!!!!
I was not practiced for about 3 months…and my singing voice is broke down….it’s not good as before .so what can i do??????
Great question – I’ll be doing a vid about this topic soon. Its all about muscle strength. For example; if you go to the gym and work out heaps for 6 months but then you take 3 months off and try to pick up the same weights, you’d find it difficult. Same thing with your voice.
Please also include some ‘Humming Down The Scale’, for Females to open up that lower register..
Thanks.!!
how to control my voice?
Great work. its really helpful
What type of warm ups can I do to help x
anything.
Thanks best tips !
You’re welcome! 🙂
Nicola,
What are some warm ups that I can do that wont stress my voice too much?
How can -and should- I manage songs that reach extreme high and extreme low tunes?
Thank you!
Most sites all end up having the same singing tips, but I have to say, I’ve never seen the ice cream tip before. It’s so true though! And the cold is an issue too. Anything cold has a definite negative impact on my voice.
Hey… I want to start a musical band with my friends and we have no clue on how to start it?
Any ideas?
It starts with THE MUSIC. Get good at playing together first. Worry about everything else later.
Thank you very much for the information
please i need help and also a training so that i can perfect myself and become a better singer in future i want to know all the tips
ive done all of this, im just trying to get better at singing spacific nottes…
Thanks for the information. Very Educative
Hi Nicola, Thanks for sharing such amazing singing tips. Keep Posting!! Great work.
Some tips are really being taken into consideration while singing….Confidence is the thing that matters a lot….Without that a singer can’t perform well we can say that…According to me also confidence is a thing that matters….Great and meaningful tips for becoming an singer…!!!!!
Thank you so much for these tips! I have an upcoming audition so these will totally help me! Thank you!!
oh thank you for the tips i appreciated.now i have my voices sounds beautiful.
Thanks so much for these nice tips…
Thank you for mentioning how maintaining confidence as your singing can help you sound different since you will be focusing on keeping your notes held with plenty of breath support. My daughter has been interested in learning how to sing for the upcoming talent show that her school is hosting, but she is worried that her voice may crack if she gets nervous. Maybe I should help her find someone that can give her the lessons she needs in order to improve.