course

Hi. Im total beginner in singing. I dont know where to start. I think even your first video is way above my level. Any suggestions?

Hi, Nikesh! See below for an article I wrote on how to use the course:

One lesson per day? How to practice for the best results

Camille van Niekerk

 

If you’re new to our site, welcome! We’re so glad you’re here and we’re excited for you to learn with us. 

 

Many new students ask: how many lessons am I supposed to complete per day? What if I want to watch more than one lesson? How much time should I spend practicing? What should my practice routine look like? 

 

We’ve got answers to all of those questions to set you up for success!

 

How many lessons should I complete per day?

 

The 30-day beginner courses were designed with 1 lesson per day in mind. Why just one lesson? Because each lesson introduces a new concept or skill, and we want to allow enough time for you to practice that new skill before moving on to the next lesson. In reality, the 30-day course could be completed over a longer period, especially if you want more time to become really comfortable with each skill before progressing to the next. 

 

At the end of the course, you will have learned all about your voice and you’ll have the tools to continue growing your skills. 

 

Why do you recommend warming up before completing a lesson?

 

Warming up prepares your voice to sing. And when your voice is prepared - with blood flow to those muscles, vocal folds lined up properly and gently stretched out - you’ll have an easier time practicing the skills and new exercises within the lesson! 

 

While some tutorials have warmups built in, most lessons within the beginner courses (as well as some tutorials) do not. 

 

What’s the difference between a warmup and a vocal exercise?

 

We use those terms interchangeably! Any vocalization can be used to both “warm up” and “exercise” your voice. If you want to get technical, you’re “warming up” your voice if you haven’t done much speaking that day. If you’re singing later in the day, and you’ve already been speaking a lot, your voice is technically “warm”, but it hasn’t been prepared to sing.

 

Our main goals with any warmup are: balancing your vocal folds so they come together properly, gradually stretching out the vocal folds, and navigating between your different vocal registers. We like to save more challenging exercises, like those with long sustained notes or belting, for the end of our warmup/exercise routine. 

 

What should my daily routine look like?

 

Most importantly: get into the habit of exercising your voice every day. A complete warmup/exercise routine can be about 10-15 minutes and should start with easy, gentle exercises like lip trills, humming, or singing on an NG. You want to gradually open up to syllables that start with a consonant (like MUH or NO), and end by singing on open vowels. It’s okay if you don’t always follow this format, but your warmup (and singing in general) will be easier if you start with gentle, closed exercises (including lip trills, MM, NN, singing through a straw, etc). You can find a variety of warm-up routines on our warm-up page! Day 2 of the 30-day beginner course also contains a complete, gentle warmup you can use daily. 

 

Once you’re warmed up, you can follow along with a new lesson video. If you want more practice on that specific skill, feel free to repeat the exercises within that video. 

  

If you have more time and want to keep practicing, here are a few ideas:

 

·       Active listening + analysis: listen to your favorite singers to analyze their style and technique. Look for live performances (no lip syncing!) and take note of their posture, mouth shape, vowels, etc. 

·       Listen to music from different genres: there’s something to learn (and hopefully something to like) in every style of music! It can be especially instructive to listen to the artists your favorite singers have cited as their influences and see if you can hear similarities. 

·       Train your ears: to start out, use a virtual keyboard to get a reference pitch and try to match that pitch. See how close you get with a chromatic tuner. We like https://www.harpkit.com/online-tuner and https://tuner.ninja/. 

·       Consider using an app like SingSharp (android + iPhone), PerfectPitch (iPhone only), or a karaoke app like Smule (android + iPhone), to analyze your pitch accuracy as you sing a song.

 

For beginners especially: pay attention to how your voice feels! If you’re experiencing vocal fatigue, cut back on your vocal use and incorporate more listening into your routine as you build stamina. And if you’re ever experiencing a sore throat, please rest your voice! Return to singing when you feel healthy.

 

We hope this has helped provide some guidance as you begin training your voice! If you have specific questions as you go, please head to our forum and an instructor will respond to you. 

And here's an article on ear training:

How to tell if you're singing in tune: using free websites + apps to improve your pitch accuracy

Camille van Niekerk

 

Online video lessons allow you to learn at your own pace, review previous lessons on demand, and access instruction on any topic, any time. But there’s one component that video lessons can’t easily account for: the ability to measure your pitch accuracy. Within a private, one-on-one lesson (either in person or online), a skilled teacher is the one providing feedback on your pitch accuracy. Chances are, you’ve chosen video lessons for both the convenience and the cost. So how can we get that feedback without a teacher?

 

Good news: there’s an abundance of technology that you can use to analyze your pitch accuracy and train your ear - at no additional cost. Read on to learn how!

 

1. Use a virtual keyboard and chromatic tuner to improve your pitch matching. 

 

The simplest way to begin training your ear is to work on matching pitch. Remember, pitch is the “highness” or “lowness” of a note, and it is notated with both a pitch letter name and an octave number. For example, “middle C” on the piano is called “C4” in scientific pitch notation. A soprano’s “high C” refers to the pitch “C6”. And most orchestras tune their instruments to the pitch “A4”. You can hear what these pitches sound like by using a virtual keyboard with scientific pitch notation: https://www.harpkit.com/online-tuner.

 

To match pitch, you must sing the same pitch that you’re playing as a reference. For example, if you play a C4 and then sing a C4, then you are matching pitch correctly. To determine which pitch you’re singing, use a chromatic tuner like this one: https://tuner.ninja/. 

 

*Note: chromatic tuners like the one above are very sensitive, so you may see that you’re close to the reference pitch, but are not 100% “on”. With this particular chromatic tuner, the pitch will turn green when you’re perfectly in tune. But as long as you see some green, you can rest assured that you’re “close enough”. In fact, a singer can be a few “cents” flat or sharp before most listeners would notice they’re “out of tune”. Give yourself a small margin of error and look for at least “some” green on the tuner, even if the pitch name doesn’t stay green the whole time.

 

2.              Practice matching pitches within your comfortable vocal range. 

 

You’ll have a much easier time matching pitch within your comfortable singing range! If you haven’t yet determined your vocal range, walk through the steps outlined in this article: https://www.30daysinger.com/blog/finding-your-vocal-range. Ensure you’re singing the correct reference pitches with a chromatic tuner (like Tuner Ninja). You can also use the range finding tool on the SingSharp app: https://www.singsharpapp.com/. 

 

Here’s a general range guide for your reference:

 

Soprano: C4-C6

Mezzo-soprano: A3-A5

Alto: F3-E5

Tenor : B2-A4

Baritone: G2-F4

Bass : E2-E4

 

3.              Use a pitch app to check your accuracy on vocal exercises and songs 

 

Both of the apps below contain vocal exercises and songs for you to practice, while providing real-time analysis of your pitch accuracy. As you explore these apps, note the “range” listed and adjust as necessary. Remember, these exercises do not provide any instruction on vocal technique: they’re just for ear training and improving your pitch accuracy! They’re great for this specific purpose, but I don’t suggest upgrading to the paid versions (unless you want access to more exercises). 

 

Both iOS and Android: SingSharp https://www.singsharpapp.com/

iOS only: PerfectPitch https://apps.apple.com/us/app/learn-to-sing-perfect-pitch/id1409450884

 

Another good iOS app for ear training is called SingTrue http://singtrue.co/. If you want to purchase add-ons in this app, they are useful!

 

Note: the above apps require you to use headphones while you practice. This is so that your phone’s microphone doesn’t pick up on the exercise or reference pitches, only your voice. 

 

4.              Use a karaoke app to practice songs and analyze your pitch accuracy

 

It’s one thing to match pitch and sing in tune during vocal exercises. It’s another thing to stay in tune while you’re singing a song! This is where many singers struggle, because the melody is not typically played as a guide (as it is during vocal warmups). 

 

To ensure that you’re staying in the correct key with good pitch accuracy, use a karaoke app like Smule, which displays the melody on-screen and analyzes your pitch in real time. Higher on the screen denotes higher pitch, whereas lower on the screen denotes lower pitch. The rhythm of each lyric (or syllable) is displayed via the length of the bar. 

 

You can learn more about Smule and download for iOS or Android here: https://www.smule.com/. 

 

Final thoughts:

 

As you adjust your singing according to the feedback you receive from tuners and pitch apps, you’re training your ear and your voice to coordinate better with one another. As we’ve mentioned before, the vast majority of singers are not “tone deaf”. Rather, they’re untrained and inexperienced when it comes to hearing pitches and singing them back (pitch matching) or learning melodies and singing them without a guide vocal (singing “on-key”). Eventually, you won’t need to rely as heavily on a chromatic tuner or pitch app to tell you when you’re in tune or not! The ultimate goal is to train your ear, so you can tell the difference between “in tune”, “flat”, and “sharp” - and make the necessary adjustments to sing in tune.

 

If you're looking for a way to improve your singing skills, you might want to start with singing in the shower. Singing in the shower can help you develop your vocal cords, improve your diction, and improve your range.

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I think everything takes time, you should try harder to achieve better results

Word hurdle

Let's start by learning an instrument to gain a better understanding of the timbre and be able to feel the music better. You can then study directly with the teacher if you want to progress faster. The teacher can also immediately correct the mistakes you are making. 

happy wheels

Warm up your voice: Before you start singing, it's important to warm up your voice. You can start by humming, doing lip trills, or singing some simple scales.

 

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