Want to know how to get your natural singing voice back in shape and sound better than
ever before? It’s not as hard as you think. Watch!
I’m Chuck Gilmore, Founder of Power To Sing and the Second Nature Singing System. What’s
your story? Why have you stopped singing? Why are you wanting to get back to your passion
to sing? Would you like to be better than you were before?
I did musical theater in high school. I had the lead and supporting lead roles my last
two years in high school…and I loved it.
I entered college as a music major, but quickly realized that I couldn’t sing as high as
the scholarship singers could. And I didn’t have vibrato in my voice.
I left college for two years to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. While on my mission in Santa Barbara, California, I was asked to sing for a Christmas
program and I bombed. I was embarrassed and discouraged. I’d been losing confidence
in my voice and this was the final blow. I decided then that I was a choir singer but
not a soloist. As a result, I didn’t sing another solo for 25 years.
Can you relate? Let me know in the comments.
Fortunately, when I was 43 years old, I attended a Seth Riggs vocal workshop and my life changed
forever. After studying with one of his associate teachers and with Seth, I began singing better
than I ever had before. Specifically, I added more than an octave to my range and I got
vibrato for the first time in my life.
Fast forward another 20 years. I’ve now been in over 40 shows with many lead singing
roles. I’ve done more with my singing than I ever imagined…including teaching this
technique full time since 2009.
Where should you begin? First, I’m going to help you find your natural singing voice.
Once you’ve found it, then I’ll give you 5 exercises that will jump start your voice
again.
But these exercises will do more than get your voice back in shape.These exercises will
help you sing higher without straining, cracking, breaking or going into breathiness or falsetto.
So you’ll find your natural voice AND then do exercises to recondition your voice, but
in a way that makes your voice even better than before.
Find Your Natural Voice
Find your natural voice using this exercise.
Girls start on this note. [Starting at E#4-A3] Do it easy, medium loud like you were talking
to a friend and say “Nay” on each note, and repeat the bottom note 3 times.
Guys do the same thing only start
on this
note [Starting at G3-C3]
It’s not any harder than that. Just hold it a little longer so it sounds like this.
[Demo holding the last note longer]
Here’s a few tips to make this easier. First, just let it happen naturally. Don’t try
and “sing” per say. Rather, approach it like you are speaking on the pitch or on the
melody. Let your voice feel the same as you would speak it…just speak it with the melody.
[Demo]
Second, don’t add or subtract anything from your voice. Let it be as natural as it feels
when you’re comfortably talking to a friend. [Demo]
Getting Your Voice Back in Shape even Better than Before
Here are five exercises to begin restoring your voice. For those familiar with our Second
Nature Singing System, you’ll recognise these from Pillar One inside Second Nature
Singing.
1. Bubble Lips - Octave up and back. Girls start on Middle
C# and go down to A3. Guys start on Ab3 and go down to E3. The exercise sounds like this.
[Demo] Girls first. Now guys. 2. Gee’s - Do this on the 5 tone scale.
Girls start on Middle C and go up to F#4. Guys start on the G3 and to up to the C#4.
When you do the exercise, add a dumb or dopy sound. The exercise sounds like this. [Demo]
Girls first. Now guys. 3. Ney’s - Do this on the Octave repeat.
- Girls and guys start on the same pitches as number 1 above. When you do the exercise,
add an exaggerated pharyngeal sound. The exercise sounds like this. [Demo] Girls first. Now
guys.
Bonus exercises to help you transition to words and singing.
4. No’s - Do these on the 1 ½ scale. Girls start on the F#3 and go up to Middle C. Guys
start on B2 and go up to the F#3. The exercise sounds like this. [Demo] Girls first. Now
guys. 5. Mum’s - Same as number 4 only say Mum.
The exercise sounds like this. [Demo] Girls first. Now guys.
The only complicated part of this is you need to do these as demonstrated. If you do, you’ll
not only get your natural voice established and conditioned back into shape, you’ll
be better than you were before.
If your vibrato is struggling or you’ve never had it before, check out this video
which gives you 5 different ways to develop/improve your vibrato.
https://www.powertosing.com/ep-60-how-to-get-vibrato-5-different-ways/
It’s not as important how long you practice. It’s more important that you do the exercises
as demonstrated and you do them regularly. Do them once through at least 5-6 days a week.
Change it up occasionally. Rather than an hour a day…try 30 minutes twice a day…like
late morning and early evening.
Before I give you a major bonus tip…give this video a big thumbs up and if you haven’t
subscribed to my channel, please subscribe now and click the bell to be notified when
I upload the next video. Also, please join me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @PowerToSing.com.
Bonus tip: There are 4 different scales listed above with 5 different exercises. Try doing
Bubble lips with the other scales. Then try doing the Gee’s with the other scales and
so forth. Using this pattern, you can get 20 different exercise combinations to get
your voice in tip-top shape.
To catapult your singing progress, you need to discover your vocal type. I’m not talking
about whether you are soprano, alto, tenor or bass. Your vocal type describes what your
voice does as you sing higher into your upper range.
When you know your vocal type, you can do exercises specifically for your unique vocal
type. These exercises are tailored to your voice and will increase your range, strengthen
your tone, eliminate strain, cracks, breaks and breathiness.
You can discover your vocal type by taking a simple vocal test. Get the vocal type test
by clicking on this YouTube information card or clicking the link in the description below
this video.
I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. Finding your natural voice and getting it into better
shape than ever before, will help your singing become second nature.