Singing is a popular form of entertainment and brings together people from across the world. It can be practised in the form of a hobby, a job or even enjoyed as a form of relaxation.
The art of singing involves using the voice to perform songs or tunes. A person who performs songs is called an artist or a performer. Even if you are naturally gifted with a great voice, you can benefit from singing lessons to develop other skills, such as form and techniques. However, if you have potential you can use singing lessons to enhance the current abilities of your voice.
What are singing lessons?
Singing lessons aim to enhance the current status of your voice. This can help you to warm up your voice before performing. Most singing lessons will include warm-ups, vocal exercises, teaching you about your form whilst performing, assess your abilities and your barriers, and develop your techniques.
Warm Up's and Vocal Exercises
Each lesson should start with vocal exercises that will warm up the voice before the lesson starts. This can encourage the strengthening of the voice and improving your pitch and tone. This is a very important part of a singing lesson and each instructor will perform these differently depending on the needs and wants of the student.
However, there are some more common warm-ups and exercises, such as:
Siren: This is a very common warm-up that is used throughout singing lessons. It prepares the voice for singing in the form of making your voice smoother and much more flexible.
Lip Trills: This is a great method for improving the tone of your voice and it can help to control your voice.
Diction: This exercise is a great method to help with the pronunciation of words and phrases that are included within songs.
Breathing: Being able to control your breathing is much more important than we think when it comes to singing. It can help you to produce longer notes.
Learn Form
The form of your body is essential to singing, so it is important that you get it right. This can be in the form of body support, your posture or even ensuring that you do not have any tension in the body that could affect the performance. When you're singing, standing straight is great for your posture, but this can also be applied in other areas of your life.
Abilities and Barriers
An instructor may want to go over and observe your abilities and what may be a barrier to your abilities. This can include what you feel you are struggling with personally, or what your instructor has noticed throughout your previous sessions.
This is an extremely beneficial part of the lesson as it can help to determine what your lessons should focus on. This process typically doesn't take long but can be a great method to plan the rest of your lessons.
Technique
Learning techniques can make your singing lessons much easier. Developing your techniques is great for being able to apply them to the song. It is perfect for enhancing your lessons and ensuring that you are developing in your singing.
Benefits to Singing Lessons
Singing lessons definitely have their benefits and they can do more than just help you to improve your voice. This can be any of the following:
Acts as a workout
Singing can be a great form of exercise, particularly for those who struggle with their lungs. Practicing your breathing can be great for this and helps to keep your diaphragm strong and healthy. You will receive a much higher amount of oxygen when you are singing, which you do not get through generic exercises.
Sleep
It is thought that singing can benefit your sleep pattern by strengthening the throat. This in turn will cause less snoring and can actually help those who struggle with sleep apnoea. Therefore, it is thought that singing can actually improve the quality of your sleep.
Less Stress
Music, when in any form, can be incredibly relaxing and for a lot of people listening to music can lower their levels of stress. Therefore, singing can actually help to reduce stress too. This is because it can release tension.
Confidence
Singing, especially if you are performing in front of crowds or large groups of people, can be great for your confidence. This can also expand into other areas of your life and if you have the confidence to sing, you can apply this confidence to other challenges. Additionally, if you receive praise or people are complimenting your performance, then this can be great for your confidence levels by achieving goals that you are setting for yourself.
Social Benefits
Singing lessons can increase your social circle. You can meet new people and make new friends. Additionally, if you are performing, then you are likely to form bonds based on your performance, which can encourage conversation starters and mutual interests between you and other individuals.
In addition, it can enhance your communication skills. It can encourage the reading and writing of songs, which can be done from a young age and this can then be used in other areas of your life. Knowing how to read and write songs can also encourage higher rates of creative writing.
How much are singing lessons?
The price of a singing lesson will vary depending on the following conditions:
- Who the instructor is and how qualified they are
- How advanced you are with your lessons
- Where you live
If you live in the US, singing lessons can range anywhere between $10 to $75, depending on what level of expertise you are looking for. If you are wanting someone who has plenty of experience, then the prices are likely to be higher than someone who is newly qualified, their rates a probably going to be lower.
If you have had singing lessons before, you probably won't need them as often. Alternatively, if you already have most of the skills and techniques then you can look into finding an instructor who charges much less.
The length of the lesson will also contribute to the cost. The longer the lesson, then the higher the cost. The goal for your lessons will also vary depending on the intention, whether you want to become a music teacher and just learn the skills before moving on, or whether you want long term lessons because you want to pursue singing as a career.
What about using singing apps?
If you can't afford singing lessons or they are not something that you are wanting to do, then singing apps may be an alternative.
VoCo Vocal Coach
This app is free on iOS, but it does include in-app purchases that you are able to buy as an add on if you wish. This is a vocal coaching app and it is designed for voice students, performers, vocal coaches, choir directors and music teachers. It can help with issues such as tune, breathing, timing, voice breaks, weak spots and other vocal exercises.
The app claims to provide industry-standard exercises that are used correctly to increase your vocal range.
Swiftscales Vocal Trainer
This is a unique app and it helps to coach vocal singers, students and even help coaches themselves. You also have the choice to learn on different levels, such as beginner, intermediate or pro. This is great for those who are looking to learn from the beginning.
There is additional content such as audio samples, video tutorials, reading and exercises that you are able to practice at a time that best suits you. This app claims to be the first app to simulate sitting at the piano with a vocal coach.
Learn to Sing, Singing Lessons
This app is available on both iOS and Android devices, with a free download, but the option for a paid membership. This is a great alternative for those who are unable to pay the expense of singing lessons but still want to benefit from advice and coaching. The app states that the technology will detect and display your singing pitch, with accuracy, in real-time so that you are then able to tune and train your voice.
It has other features, such as:
- Breath Filtering Engine
- Sing in Karaoke style
- Share to friends and family
- Sing-along to songs from your iTunes music library
Membership options include:
- Training Programme
- Daily track statistics
- 8 extra free warm-up exercises
Pocket Pitch
This app is available on iOS and for free but also includes in-app purchases. It is a good app for people who sing alongside an instrument. It acts as a pitch pipe, which is used to establish the proper pitch for singing and instruments.
The app features 6 octaves of pitches, which are great for quick warm-ups. If you are a singer, this is a great app to add to your collection! The app has gotten 4.6 stars out of 5 on the iOS app store. You can also read an extensive list of reviews to find how helpful other singers have found this app.
Smule - The Social Singing App
This app is free on both iOS and Android devices but offers the option to purchase in-app content. It is a very popular app and is also used as a form of social media, whether you are a singer or not. It allows people to sing solo, create duets or just make fun singing videos with their friends.
This is a great app for socialising with other singers, you can duet and create videos with them to share. It features over 10 million karaoke songs, with lyrics to aid your singing experience. Some more additional features include:
- Studio-quality effects
- Side by side duets with celebrity singers
- Add video effects and filters
- You can share your content to other social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, Twitter, Snapchat and more
- New songs added daily
- Live singing and sharing option
This app doesn't necessarily teach you how to sing, but it does allow you to practice and play around with your voice to create songs and content. It does feature an on-screen pitch guide whilst you are singing. You can join Smule's collaborative singing community.
Tips When Singing
Although singing lessons will encourage most of these tips, some can be useful if you are not having lessons. Alternatively, if you are having lessons, these can be discussed with your instructor and you may be able to further develop them.
1. Breathing
We have mentioned before that breathing is important when learning how to sing, but some tips for this can be to inhale slowly, breathe in and actively acknowledge the air moving through your body into your diaphragm. Exhale and repeat the process. Ensure that you hold your breath for around four seconds. Do this process slowly and concentrate on your breathing.
2. Release Tension
Before singing, try to release all tension from your body. This can be done in a range of different ways and can be achieved through methods such as meditation and yoga. Perhaps partake in this before singing and note down if this helps to relieve tension. When actually singing, ensure that you are not holding your breath and pushing yourself past what you are actually capable of.
Ensure that your body is relaxed enough to freely move your muscles, facial features, lips, tongue, neck and shoulders.
3. Find passion in what you're singing
If you care about the topics you are singing about, you like the music and it is the genre of song that you are wanting to perform, the likelihood is that you are going to perform much better. This doesn't mean that you cannot branch out and try new things, but if they have meaning to you are more inclined to relax and it gives your performance emotion.
4. Avoid milk-based products
This may sound ridiculous, but milk-based products can contribute to a build up of phlegm and this is not good for singing. It can cause the voice to crack and simply make it more difficult to produce higher and long sounding notes. In addition, it means that the throat has to work much harder, which can put additional and unnecessary strain on the throat.
