What are the best practices for practising singing?
What practice hacks can you do for fast and lasting results?
Inside this video, I’ll give you 5 practicing singing hacks to help you improve fast!
Hi I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
In my live broadcast earlier this week I confessed I stink at practice when I’m not in a show
or preparing for an audition.
I do musical theater and sing because I love it, and because I experience joy and fulfillment
on stage.
However my financial survival has not depended on me getting work as a singer and performer.
But, just like those who are striving to make a living singing and performing, if I don’t
study voice or practice, I don’t get leading roles.
Because I want leading roles I practice.
Here are 5 practicing singing hacks that will give you fast and lasting results.
Hack 1.
Study the right technique with a teacher that gets results for the student.
Here’s a link to three videos about finding the right singing technique and teacher.
In my opinion studying the right technique with the right teacher for you is the number
one hack and the fastest way to better singing.
If you practice the wrong thing you’ll not progress.
If you practice the right thing with the wrong teacher for you, your progress won’t be
as fast.
Personally the vocal technique I teach has changed my voice and my life for the better.
But that doesn’t mean I’m the best teacher nor the best teacher for you.
If you’re practicing and putting in the work but not becoming a better singer, change
teachers.
I’ve studied Speech Level Singing for 20 years.
I’ve taken lessons from 12 or more teachers trained by Seth Riggs.
And I’ve studied with Seth the Founder of Speech Level Singing.
While each teacher has helped me, some have helped me more.
Hack 2.
Record your lesson and listen to it repeatedly.
Practice with the recording.
Listen to the direction of your teacher.
Listen to your voice and feel how you do the exercises and songs.
Record yourself practicing and then listen to your own practice session.
Listen carefully and see if you’re doing it as you’re directed.
Be careful to follow the directions of your teacher.
With the right teacher and technique (Hack #1), you can improve your voice faster by
doing this hack than any other way.
Hack 3.
Condition your voice with consistent, regular practice.
Like an athlete, you get in condition doing sport specific exercises consistently.
You can’t cram conditioning.
It doesn’t work to be out of shape and then go all out for a week and hope you’ll be
in top condition.
Rather, daily, consistent vocal exercises will keep you vocally in top shape with continual
improvement.
How long?
15-60 minutes a day.
Hack 4.
Practice the Songs.
Memorize the words and notes ASAP.
Use sheet music if you have it.
If you are working only with a track, memorize with the track.
Mark words/vowels that need vowel modifications to maintain good technique.
Study and connect emotionally with the lyrics of the song.
Feel and express the emotion and meaning of the lyrics as you practice.
Hack 5.
Practice performing with good technique.
Sing for family, friends, classmates, and teachers.
Go to auditions.
Sing at open mics.
Practice with your band.
Ask the choir leader for solos.
Sing on the street corner.
Do karaoke.
Take ensemble roles in musical theater.
Sing in church.
Sing, sing, sing.
Don’t wait until you’re perfect.
You’ll get better and better by doing it.
Consider each “doing” a practice.
Here’s a few tips that may help make your practice even better.
Set singing goals.
Then set practice goals to help you achieve your singing goals.
For example: “I’m going to get the leading role in the school play” or “win the home
town talent show”.
Then plan your practices accordingly.
You may need to learn a certain song, or increase your range to a certain note to reach your
goals.
In high school I memorized every song King Arthur sang in Camelot before I ever auditioned.
I listened to Richard Burton recite Hamlet and memorized Hamlet’s soliloquy using Richard
Burton’s English accent.
“To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles
and by opposing end them.”
I practiced obsessively to achieve my goal to get the leading role in our High School’s
production of Camelot.
Thankfully I got it.
That too was life changing.
Improve your musicianship by studying (and practicing) an instrument or taking an opera
class or an ear training course.
Go to night school and take music courses.
Listen to all kinds of singers in all different genres.
Focus on favorite genres.
Try new genres.
Listen, listen, listen.
Attend live performances, concerts, musical theater productions, touring artists’ shows
and bands.
All this will make your practicing better.
What are some things that have helped you?
Please share your own practicing hack’s in the comment section below.
Knowing your vocal type also makes your practices better because you’re doing exercises that
target and eliminate weaknesses while balancing your voice.
Do you know your vocal type?
Go to PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test which I call the PowerTest.
Take the quiz and discover your vocal type.
Then visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type.
Download the free exercises and start making your practicing singing sessions the best
they can be.
If you liked this video, please give it a “thumbs up” below.
Be sure to subscribe and share with a friend.
I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
You can sing higher, with beauty, confidence and power.
I’ll see you inside the next video.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community