How to Sing Better Instantly
My Top 5 Hacks
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced singer, you can utilise these hacks to improve your voice and become a better singer. I’ll share five of my best singing hacks which will help you sound instantly better when you sing. I kid you not, these tricks work a treat and I use them all myself. Enjoy!
Nicola xx
Here Are Five Ways to Sing Better Instantly:
1. Open Your Mouth Wide Enough When You Sing
What happens, when you sing with a barely open mouth two fold; firstly, you distort the sound so it appears muffled and lacks clarity. Secondly, your audience won’t be able to hear the lyrics you’re singing.
Singing with a nice open mouth will help you to create a rounder, clearer sound. It’s also one of the keys to sounding more powerful when you sing.
2. Drink Enough Water
If you are feeling raspy in the throat and your voice is coming out sounding too breathy, it could just be because you are dehydrated.
As a singer, your body is your instrument and so it makes sense to keep it well lubricated. Make sure to drink a full glass of water before you start singing and top up along the way.
3. Don’t Sing the ‘Twiddly Bits’
By ‘Twiddly Bits’ I mean riffs and runs that you can’t nail. If you gloss over the notes and your intonation is sloppy, its just going to sound unpolished and amateurish.
So do yourself a favour and skip the twiddly bits and just sing long beautiful notes instead. You will sound instantly better for it.
4. Breathe in Enough Air When You Sing
Your voice is your instrument and it runs on air. So if you’re not breathing in enough and exhaling sufficiently to support your notes, its like trying to drive a car uphill without enough petrol.
A supported note is a beautiful note, so make sure you breathe in before each phrase.
5. Sing Songs in Your Vocal Range
Everyone has one octave which contains the nicest sounding notes for their voice. For some it may be super clear and angelic high notes, for others it may be a powerful belt voice.
Whatever your ‘Magic Zone’ is (as I like to call it), sing songs that have notes that sit in that range and you’ll be playing to your best strengths from the word go.
Four tips on improving your singing voice quickly even if you’re a beginner
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.
Look Confident
Ok, so this is an extension to singing tip #2 but just looking confident on stage 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!
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.
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.
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 five 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.
Here’s a handly 5 minute vocal warm up to get you started.
Did you like this video?
Please let me know if you found it helpful in the comments below or if you have requests for any future tutorials, music covers or art videos.
You may also like:
How to Look Confident on Stage
Warm Up Exercises for Jazz Singers
Nicola xx
Try these tutorials next!
How To Sing High Notes Easily
Discover how to sing high notes easily and avoid straining your throat or doing any damage to your voice. My simple step by step process.
How To Be A Famous Singer – In 5 Steps!
Wanna be a famous singer? Here’s how to do it in 5 steps.
How to Sing Blue Moon
Learn how to sing Blue Moon the gorgeous jazz standard, in this easy sing-along full length singing lesson.
How to Sing in Tune
Want to know how to sing in tune? Try these three simple steps to help fix your pitch and sing in tune with the music every time.
Ready to learn more and improve faster?
Join my six week Singing Academy and build the voice you’ve always wanted.
Excellent.