I get questions all the time about how to practice singing.
Inside this video I’ll reveal four very simple things you can do to 10X the results
you get from practice.
Hi I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
What I’m about to show you has had a more positive impact on my practicing singing and
the progress in my voice than anything else I’ve done.
I’m going to give you 4 tips to improve your singing practice sessions that will,
over time, give you 10X the results and progress with your voice.
Other than having the right teacher and technique for me, this tip has had a greater impact
on my practice and my singing results than; which exercises, how long, how loud, how soft,
what time of day, or any other practice strategies.
These are simple things many singers never try and they’re missing a big opportunity
for significant improvement in their voices.
Are you Ready?
How to Practice Singing - Here are 4 Tips to 10X Your Singing Practice Results!
Record your lesson Listen to your lesson
Practice with the recording of your lesson Record yourself practicing with the lesson
then listen to it Record Your Lesson
I’ve recorded and saved my lessons for the past 18 years.
I recommend recording your lesson on an MP3 recorder or your cell phone.
I use a Tascam MP3 recorder I purchased back in 2009.
Previous to that used cassette tapes or my teachers gave me a cd or they recorded it
and I put it on a USB thumb drive.
I’ve put many of my recorded lessons into an itunes playlist.
There are many reasons to record your lesson.
First you have something to sing along with for practice.
Second, you have a record of your progress.
Third, you can retake a lesson over and over again.
One of my students recently returned after a layoff.
He was singing in a strong mix.
When I asked him how he managed to keep up with his vocal growth, he said he practiced
to his old recorded lessons he had taken with me.
Listen to your lesson
I recommend first listening to your lesson without singing along.
It’s amazing how much I don’t hear during the lesson.
Once a teacher kept telling me to sing “mum” during the exercise.
I couldn’t understand why she kept telling me over and over again…”mum”...”mum!”
I was singing “mum”.
When I listened to the lesson later, I realized that I was actually singing “mem”, even
though I thought I was singing “mum”.
You will hear and understand things that you missed during your lesson.
Practice with the Recording of Your Lesson This is a great way to practice what you’ve
just learned during the lesson.
Do the exercises and the songs.
While practicing, listen to your teacher’s directions and demonstrations.
Often there are gems of information you didn’t hear or didn’t understand during the lesson.
Record Yourself Practicing with the Lesson.
Then Listen to It!
This is one of the most effective things I’ve ever done to maximize my own learning and
progress with my voice.
Once I was doing exercises during a lesson.
Suddenly my voice started feeling different.
My teacher said, “that’s it”....then he said…”you’ve got it” ….”way
to go, Chuck” as I repeatedly felt my voice stronger on each note.
I said to him, “What happened?
I know something happened, but I don’t know what?”
He replied, “You finally let go of the extra squeeze you had on the cord structure and
the rest of the cord structure kicked in.
You notice there’s a deeper quality now.”
I replied, “Yeah, I just wish I knew how I did it”.
He explained that my job was to memorize that feeling so I could reproduce it.
And we continued the lesson.
I listened to that lesson and practiced it over and over again.
Over a period of several months I began to realize that when I was really concentrating
of relaxing almost to the point to letting go, and then pressing in more firmly and slightly
louder...this is when he was telling me “that’s it”!
And I began to hear what was different in my voice when I did it.
As I recorded myself practicing I tried to reproduce this feeling.
Then I listened to myself.
I thought I could feel that feeling during my practice.
As I played back the practice session and listened to myself trying to recreate the
same feeling and sound, I heard it!
I was doing it.
Even then, it was still months of practice and listening before I began to understand
more about what was happening in my voice.
I thought the deeper sound my teacher was referring to, was just a deeper voice.
He wasn’t.
He was referring to a deeper condition of the vocal cords participating in the production
of the sound.
This occurred because I was no longer squeezing the vocal cords with the outer neck muscles.
Therefore, the vocal cords were more free and thus able to adduct deeper.
This was the cause of the increased overtones that suddenly I heard and felt in my voice.
Record your lesson Listen to your lesson
Practice with the recording of your lesson Record yourself practicing with the lesson
then listen to it If you liked this video, give it a thumbs
up, subscribe and share it with a friend.
Have you had positive things happen by recording your lessons?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Also, let’s get social and join me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @PowerToSing.
You will definitely benefit recording and listening to the exercises you do for your
vocal type.
Do you know your vocal type?
Your vocal type is what your voice tends to do when you sing from your low to your highest
notes.
Go to PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test which I call the PowerTest.
Take the quiz and discover your vocal type.
Then go to the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type.
Download the free exercises for your vocal type and start practicing them.
They will help you progress rapidly.
Be sure to record your practices and listen to yourself.
Follow the suggestions made above.
You may be surprised at your progress.
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.