HOW TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF VOICE

Steps

1. Open your mouth wide, but keep the muscles around your mouth and jaw loose. This allows a richer, fuller tone.

2. Lift up your soft palate (gently drop the bottom part of your jaw). To do this, breathe in as you would before yawning but don't go so far as to actually yawn. Use your tongue to determine what makes you do it; this increase in space also provides more tone. It acts like a resonating chamber.

3. Move your tongue forward so that it's touching the back of your lower teeth. You don't want to stick your tongue out, but make sure that it's not in your throat. Your throat should be relaxed and open.

4. Articulate, using all the muscles in your tongue, and all the muscles controlling your lips to shape the sounds. You don't want words to be slurred together.

5. Sit or stand up straight with your chest held high. This is one of the most important things you can do. Make sure that your head is not sticking forward like an ostrich, but rather in line with your neck, back and tailbone, so that your airway is unhindered.

6. Breath support: the more air the better. Always take very deep breaths. You should feel your breath reach all the way into your lower back muscles and abs. When you inhale, the lower muscles (diaphragm) over your abdomen should move outward, making room for more air. As you sing (or talk or just exhale), use those muscles to push the air back out. Use the muscles over your lower back in exactly the same way, to control air intake and exhaust the way a bellows does. Keep the muscles in your neck completely relaxed, and let nothing physically get in the way of the air on its way to your mouth.

7. Sing smoothly. Keep a steady volume, and don't pause between words. When switching between louder and softer parts of a song, imagine your volume as a ramp - not as a staircase!

8. Warm up before you try to sing a song. Many people overlook this, but the warmer and more stretched your vocal cords, the better sound you can produce.

9. Lip thrills or tongue thrills help to connect your breath with your vocals and muscles.

10. Find a good, professional teacher. Nothing can replace the feedback you get from another person. A good teacher can give you detailed feedback and show you how to correct problems. Find a teacher who has been classically trained, even if you want to sing rock music. Classical music training produces singers who can use their voices the right way to produce any effect they want, and for any style they want to sing. A classically trained singer is less likely to blow out his or her voice before the age of 30 than someone without that training. In fact, for voice, piano, or any other instrument, classical training can be hugely advantageous to someone who wants a professional career in music of any type or style. A good teacher will give you the basics, teaching you the best ways to use your instrument (the voice is considered an instrument) for a variety of purposes, and once you've learned the basics, should be willing to help you find a style of your own in whatever field of endeavor you choose.

11. Stay away from thick drinks such as milk, and alcoholic drinks. Water is absolutely the best thing for your voice, perhaps with a bit of lemon juice added. If you ever have a performance coming up, drink plenty of water and nothing thick or alcoholic for three days in advance. On the day you're singing, drink nothing but water and plenty of it. Keep a bottle with you at all times.

12. Listen closely to professional singers. You will probably notice things that never occurred to you before. Listen to the way they handle their breath, volume, articulation, control, vocal habits, and resonance.

13. Don't just listen to the pros, use your eyes on live and televised performances. Watch the way they breathe and support the notes with their breath; watch the way they use their lips to shape the sounds and words that they are singing.

14. If there's a singer you like and one you don't like, watch and listen to both and figure out why you like one and dislike the other. Is it the sound of one's voice, or his or her mannerisms, pronunciations, stage presence, appearance or attitude that makes the difference for you?

15. Compare the way an artist sounds in a live performance to the way he or she sounds in a recording. It is amazing what a good sound engineer can accomplish during a recording session. If you really like an artist's recordings, try to figure out how much is real and how much is engineered, before you decide that "you can never sound as good as that!"

16. Following these steps, you should be able to make gradual improvements in your singing, especially if you have found the right teacher to work with.

17. If you want to sing for a living, you will probably have to put in years of hard work before you are really ready to make it a career! A few lucky people can sing beautifully almost from the day they are born, but most great singers have had to work at it for years. Self teach, never hire a teacher. Listen to other musicians, and try to vocalize along with them.