It is important for the singer, speaker, or the entertainer to understand well the way to use the microphone. Because knowing to use the microphone will help you to look more professional. It is better for you to prepare everything before performing on the stage. Avoid the problems caused by the tool which you use to perform.

To prepare your live stage, the rehearsal is needed to be done. By doing the rehearsal, you will know the operation of the tool and all the technical items you must understand. The rehearsal process will help you to handle if the problem emerges during your live performance. For your information, the microphone and the speaker system is the important aspects which are able to make or break the live performance.

The first thing you should do before entering the stage is ensuring that you have made the adjustment to the microphone setup during the performance. Do not avoid this process because adjusting the microphone setting will help your performance runs smoothly.

After standing behind the microphone, you should adjust the microphone stand if the stand is too high or too low. Adjust it according to your height. Having the right position will deliver the professional performance to the audience.

If your microphone is wired version, then it is better for you to watch carefully where the cables and the amplifiers are placed. This will help you to avoid the tripping problems over the cords and cables when you are moving around on the stage. You probably need to consider the wireless microphone version if you want to have the dynamic performance. You will not need to worry about the cord or cable problem during the performance.

If you are deciding to perform without any microphone stand, then it is suggested for you to move it away. It can also be done when you want to lift the mike from its stand. The microphone’s function itself is catching the sound while you are speaking or singing. The sound then is sent to the audience. You should project the voice beyond the mike not at the mike. By doing this, you can strain your voice.

During the live performance, you should not point the mike to the speaker directly. You will get the effect of the howling feedback which can spoil your live performance. It is better for you to do the sound check before any performance. If you cannot do it by yourself, then ask the expert to evaluate the sound you produce.

For your information, the more expensive microphone will provide you the better quality. It is better for you to find the consumer reviews before buying the wireless handheld microphone for your performance. You may also consider the wireless USB microphone as another option.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com – expert=Alvaro_O_Butler
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If you fail to look after your body, you will not perform to the best of your ability and you may not be offered the opportunities you deserve. Here are three top tips to help you maintain your vocal stretch and stamina on stage:

#1 No Shouting

It’s the most obvious solution to maintaining your vocal health, but you’d be amazed at the number of performers who forget that screaming and shouting will seriously damage your voice.

There will be times when you’re not thinking about the development of your performance skills and ‘looking after your instrument’ but if you’re serious about success on the stage, you will need to constantly remind yourself that screaming, shouting or straining the voice in anyway will be detrimental to your performance.

A voice can be stretched but not pushed and quite often you will need to stretch muscles involved with the vocal process as part of your training. This is just like an athlete stretching before running a race. However, we know that if the athlete feels like he’s pulling a muscle, he will stop to prevent any damage being caused.

The same is true for singers and actors. We must stretch muscles as part of our training in order to improve our vocal performance. However, as soon as we feel we are pushing or straining the voice we must stop.

#2 Warming Up

Carrying out a full vocal warm-up is crucial before going on stage for both singers and actors. Think about our athlete again. Have you ever seen an athlete arrive at the race track and immediately run the race? No, neither have I!

They always look like they’ve been stretching, jogging and exercising a long time before the race and they’re always bouncing up and down to keep their muscles warm just before the race begins. Again, the same is true for singers and actors before going on stage.

For our best vocal performance, our voices need to be warmed-up with an effective sequence of vocal exercises. So, get into the habit of doing vocal warm-ups before going on stage and your performance will benefit greatly.

#3 Lifestyle

Singers and actors worldwide talk about weird and wonderful concoctions and lifestyle rules which help them look after their voices. Whilst some of these may help you to maintain vocal health, a few solid rules are sure to make a difference:

• Avoid extremely hot and extremely cold drinks
• Be aware that excessive dairy products like milk, cream and chocolate are not good for the voice
• Eat well and get plenty of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy
• If you’ve strained your voice, mixtures such as milk and honey will help you feel better but not necessary prepare you to sing
• If you’re preparing to sing, drink plenty of water or other drinks such as lemon and ginger to clean and lubricate the vocal tract

Author: Achieve performing arts success with mystagedoor.co.uk – the global community of aspiring performers. Join the performing arts platform at mystagedoor.co.uk and get free access to training tips, career advice, showbiz news and the opportunity to meet thousands of other like-minded performers.

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Source: ArticleDepot.co.uk

If you have been watching singing reality shows such as The American Idol series, you would have heard the judges using words such as “pitchy” or “off key”. What exactly does pitchy means? It simply means that the singer went out of tune or could not sing well in a certain key or at times singing off key.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not only people who are tone deaf who sings out of tune. Even professional singers do sing out of tune occasionally. By the way, most tone deaf people when trained rightly can sing in tune. But that is for another article.

There are many reasons why people sing off pitch, such as developing bad vocal techniques, breathing the wrong way, singing in keys that are above or lower their vocal range or just simply being inexperienced or are not trained to sing well.

Furthermore, when performing on stage, because of the wide range of sound equipment and sound engineering, you may not be able to hear yourself well or are disturbed by other sounds being produced such by the band or from the audience. These environmental situations can make even veteran singers sing out of tune.

So how can you sing in tune most, if not all, the time? The first thing you should do then is to know your voice, your range and your comfort with the songs you are singing.

This of course comes with practice, not only on the songs you want to sing, but much more so with vocal exercises to train your voice production as well as exercises for pitching and voice flexibility.

One of the most important things you must be able to do in order to sing in tune is the ability to “hear” the note in your head before you sing it out. How then can you hear the notes mentally? Well, think of the note first, then sing it.

The problem is that if you do this on stage, you will be thinking too much and this will affect your performances and the delivery of the songs. You may sound too clinical and the delivery of your songs may sound too opaque, devoid of emotional feelings.

So the answer is to practice with the right vocal exercises and songs until hitting the notes accurately becomes your second nature. Remember, for musicians and singers, the practice and rehearsals are the actual work. The performance is something to be enjoyed.

Once you have achieved the ability to sing in tune all the time, you must be very meticulous and fastidious during the sound checks before the performances. If at anytime you have difficulty in hearing yourself, you must insist that the sound technician control the sounds until you can sing and pitch comfortably.

The same applies to your band members. If any of the instrumentation is disturbing or distracting you, you will have to ask the musicians concerned to do something about it. Remember, the lead singer is the star of the show and no musicians should overshadow you and make you look bad.

So to be able to sing in tune all the time ultimately boils down to practicing with the right vocal exercises, meticulous rehearsals and sound checks.

About the Author: Chris Chew is a writer on music, fitness and relationships. Read his free articles at Ear training perfect pitch and How to sing higher range.

Source: iSnare.com

Making a career out of being a demo singer can be fun and very rewarding. It can also open the right doors for you to make a career doing your own music if you are a singer-songwriter or you’re in a band. I’ve had many people write to me and ask me how to get started.

Getting demo singing jobs are not easy at first, it is not like applying for a job from a newspaper. You have to build it like a business from the ground up. The one thing that it really takes to make it is talent.

As long as you have the talent, you can do it. Then the first thing you really need to do is have a reel that showcases your voice.

Here are some basic steps to take to get you started.

1) You must record yourself singing in many styles on your reel. Your reel is just a series of clips of songs. Note that clips are much better than full-length songs.

Someone who is thinking of hiring you usually won’t have time to listen to a full song. Always edit to the best part of the song where it shows off your voice or the style you are demonstrating.

2) When choosing songs for your reels, you need to record a few different styles. Many writers and producers want a demo singer to sound like a certain artist.

I’ve had many people call saying things like, “Can you sing this like Lady Gaga?” or “Try it in the style of Feist”, etc. You can go to iTunes and buy a few karaoke tracks of artists you can mimic. Then record your vocals on top.

3) Make sure that you get your reel mixed if you decided to record your vocals at home with your own gear and not in a studio. Having a poor sounding reel that isn’t mixed right could work against you.

4) Put your reel up online. Make a professional looking website or if you don’t have the budget, you can always make a MySpace page for yourself. If you don’t have much of a resume now, don’t fake it.

Just let your talent and your voice do the convincing for you. You will build your experience in time.

5) Offer to sing for someone for free. I did my first session free and the producer I worked for was very impressed so he hired me over and over ever since. Doing a free job can also help you build your reel and resume.

6) Keep working! Remember, it is you who is getting your work. You must do something everyday, whether that is searching online for jingle houses, producers and writers, or putting ads up for your services.

Like all freelance work, some days may be up and some may be down, but there is something to do everyday to increase your chances of being heard.

By Charlene Ava, Professional Session Singer in NYC, visit my link below to hear reels and to contact me.

Charlene Ava is a professional session singer in New York City who also records for clients anywhere in the world from her home studio. Visit her at http://www.reallygoodvocals.com

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Please note: The below article is meant to be a humorous essay on the all too frequent use of various incorrect vocal techniques. As the disclaimer often goes: Do not take it directly and do not try this at home!

I thought that in this article I would vent a little of my frustration and have some fun while sharing some of the insights I’ve gained over the years regarding myths about learning to sing.

Since everyone knows it takes years of arduous work to become even a moderately good singer (myth #1), for once I’ll go with the status quo and add what I know to it, so as to assist people in working harder at taking even longer at it.

Most people have this under control, so this article is to keep it that way and is also for those few who may be breaking this long tradition (like myself) and doing it faster, easier and more naturally.

The first point is to be sure and drop your jaw while singing (a little is good but more is better) because it traps the sound in the throat preventing it from being lifted off the larynx to the upper palate, through the four main vocal chambers or cavities and outward with anything close to your maximum power.

The second, and equally important point, is to sing from your diaphragm and push your stomach out. This prevents the upper diaphragm from expanding fully, therefore limiting your air supply and increasing the likelihood that you’ll run out of air depending on the length of the note or phrase you’re singing.

An excellent way to train yourself for this is to lay on the floor and find yourself a nice thick book to place on your abdomen (the phone book works great) and “pump paper” up and down until you can stick that stomach out so that even a punch won’t phase you. Then you’ll be sure that the upper diaphragm will never open fully.

Next you should sing with your speaking voice i.e. sing each syllable of your lyrics using your vocal cords with your chin down and without any support or structure to it (“closing” each syllable) which characteristically produces a “pear” shaped opening inside the mouth and cuts the sound short making it less than truly singable.

This will help avoid lifting the sound off of the vocal cords, bouncing the sound off the upper palate (“opening” the syllable) and projecting the properly structured sound outward which produces a round “apple” shaped sound inside the mouth and making the sound, unfortunately, more singable. (This is also, by the way, why people with accents tend to lose them while singing. )

While we’re on the subject of the shape of things, be sure and breath only through the nose because it tends to make the shape inside the mouth more elongated or banana shaped and the sound more nasal. Great eh!

Another way to make more work for yourself singing (and have less as a singer) is to make certain that as far as your head goes, you sing only with your jaw and mouth including your tongue and lips.

This excludes the use of your facial muscles and reduces the likelihood that any resonance in those nasty head cavities I mentioned earlier will take place causing your sound to be amplified (God forbid) and unavoidably reflected off the upper palate and projected outward to the audience.

Tilting the head back is very important since it directs the trajectory of the sound away from the audience.

This is particularly useful in bands because it not only means that you will have to put more energy into getting the sound out to the audience but it also means that you will be directing some of the sound back behind you to set a proper example for any of your band members that might be developing a “natural” singing voice.

Bending your knees is a great technique for limiting your power as a singer. Since sound is a physical thing, bending your knees changes the ratios relating to your height and the arc of the trajectory for the sound will cover much less distance, which is what you want right?

Another very relevant issue that I would like to cover in detail in the future and that I’ll just touch on here is diet. One of the single most important causes of throat problems with singing is mucous. Sound can’t lift off of thin air, it lifts off the vocal chords.

Dancers don’t dance on carpet, they dance on hardwood floors. This is so they can get a proper lift. In the same way, you can prevent a really sharp “lift” with each and every note you’re singing if you have lots of mucous and phlegm on your cords and in your system.

The best foods to eat to get this way are animal products especially beef, pork, milk, eggs and cheese, although all dairy products will do a really great job of getting you there. Foods to avoid would be mucous burning foods and herbs (cayenne tops the list) or fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes and anything else whole and unprocessed that doesn’t have a face.

One of the best ways to practice not becoming a singer that I personally know of is to sing scales. If you look even superficially at the songs you’re singing, you’ll see that they are composed of a certain finite number of specific combinations of sounds, durations and pitch.

Singing scales has nothing whatsoever to do with developing yourself to be able to vocally anticipate these in any song. So sing lots of scales and don’t worry, no one either in Russia (my teachers were the best available) or here in the west has ever made any connection between scales and training the voice to do what’s needed to sing properly to me ever.

So there’s no danger of you becoming accomplished fast with this approach. (Personally, I developed my own set of exercises based on this subset of sounds, durations and pitch that train the voice to anticipate any part of any song of any style easily but you don’t want to hear about it.)

Finally, be sure and spend time working each of these exercises individually and never collectively because even the thought of integrating or harmonizing the various aspects of your singing might slow you down in your efforts to slow down your singing progress, and that would never do.

So, until next time, work long and hard, and whatever you do, if you want to avoid rapid easy vocal development at any level, stay as far away as you can from me and the Royans Vocal School.  Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

About the Author: Diana Yampolsky B.M. Ed. – Master Live Performance Vocal Coach/In-studio Vocal Producer/Non-surgical Voice Repair Specialist. Specializing in Talent Scouting, Accelerated Artist Development and Artist Management
RPVS division of: 4 A.M. Talent Development and Artist Management Group Inc.
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416-229-0976 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              416-229-0976      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or 416-898-1880  1-888-229 – TUNE (8863) toll free in North America

If you fail to look after your body, you will not perform to the best of your ability and you may not be offered the opportunities you deserve. Here are three top tips to help you maintain your vocal stretch and stamina on stage:

#1 No Shouting:

It’s the most obvious solution to maintaining your vocal health, but you’d be amazed at the number of performers who forget that screaming and shouting will seriously damage your voice.

There will be times when you’re not thinking about the development of your performance skills and ‘looking after your instrument’ but if you’re serious about success on the stage, you will need to constantly remind yourself that screaming, shouting or straining the voice in anyway will be detrimental to your performance.

A voice can be stretched but not pushed and quite often you will need to stretch muscles involved with the vocal process as part of your training. This is just like an athlete stretching before running a race. However, we know that if the athlete feels like he’s pulling a muscle, he will stop to prevent any damage being caused.

The same is true for singers and actors. We must stretch muscles as part of our training in order to improve our vocal performance. However, as soon as we feel we are pushing or straining the voice we must stop.

#2 Warming Up:

Carrying out a full vocal warm-up is crucial before going on stage for both singers and actors. Think about our athlete again. Have you ever seen an athlete arrive at the race track and immediately run the race? No, neither have I!

They always look like they’ve been stretching, jogging and exercising a long time before the race and they’re always bouncing up and down to keep their muscles warm just before the race begins. Again, the same is true for singers and actors before going on stage.

For our best vocal performance, our voices need to be warmed-up with an effective sequence of vocal exercises. So, get into the habit of doing vocal warm-ups before going on stage and your performance will benefit greatly.

#3 Lifestyle:

Singers and actors worldwide talk about weird and wonderful concoctions and lifestyle rules which help them look after their voices. Whilst some of these may help you to maintain vocal health, a few solid rules are sure to make a difference:

1. Avoid extremely hot and extremely cold drinks
2. Be aware that excessive dairy products like milk, cream and chocolate are not good for the voice
3. Eat well and get plenty of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy
4. If you’ve strained your voice, mixtures such as milk and honey will help you feel better but not necessary prepare you to sing
5. If you’re preparing to sing, drink plenty of water or other drinks such as lemon and ginger to clean and lubricate the vocal tract

Author: Achieve performing arts success with MyStageDoor.co.uk – the global community of aspiring performers. Join the performing arts platform at MyStageDoor.co.uk and get free access to training tips, career advice, showbiz news and the opportunity to meet thousands of other like-minded performers.
Article source: ArticleDepot.co.uk

The muscles controlling and surrounding the larynx represent one of the most important control system affecting the human voice. For most singers, learning to stabilize the larynx is essential for vocal health, the increase of range, and the proper blending of chest and head voice.

In this article I will attempt to shed some light on larynx position and offer some exercises that can help you improve your voice by stabilizing your larynx. Keep in mind that full time voice students may spend years on this! But a little awareness goes a long way in saving your voice from the harm caused by singing on a high larynx.

The Problem of a High Larynx

Consider the larynx to be a basket floating in a complicated web of tendons and membranes inside your throat. Your goal is to not allow the larynx to rise too much as you sing from low notes to high notes. To find your larynx, put your finger on the V that you feel in the front of your throat (commonly, the adams apple: the original problem ?) If you swallow, you feel it rise. We refer to this as constriction, because you are squeezing the space around the larynx. Good for eating, bad for singing!

You can tell if you’re singing on a high larynx if you notice:

• A heavy chest voice and a large break between your chest voice and head voice
• Vocal cords that feel scratchy and producing a lot of mucous
• Your voice feels worse the next day after singing
• Your head voice feels breathy, airy, and unfocused

There are some differing views on whether or not a high larynx is harmful or not, with some techniques suggesting that it’s acceptable (even desirable!) , and others suggesting that your larynx should be as low as possible. I base my findings on eighteen years of teaching, and constant study and testing of new ideas.

I believe that advanced singers can learn to sing with a high larynx, provided that they are working with a professional who knows what they’re doing. For most beginning singers, however, a larynx that is too high and surrounded by tense muscles can lead to significant problems with the voice.

Keep in mind that larynx control is only one of the five control systems I describe in my vocal method:

All of these systems function in concert, with stability of the larynx representing a long term goal of the method. The larynx houses the vocal cords, and operates in relationship with the whole voice (body, mind and Spirit), and is not in any way isolated. Each system effects the other systems in a structure of balance and coordination.

How to Stabilize your Larynx

There are a lot of techniques to help stabilize the larynx, but the first step of this long journey begins with awareness. Keep in mind that professional singers spend years getting this right! With your finger on the V of your larynx (or adams apple) sing along with a scale and notice if it is rising and falling with pitch.

Notice the difference between different vowels: Sing oo (like boot), and then sing Ah (like Father). I refer to this as the kinesthetic approach: which means that you feel what’s happening with your body. Gaining awareness of the position of your larynx is the first step

Next, consider your larynx to be a basket floating in a network of attachments, some reach up into the jaw, tongue,and head, and some reach down into the chest, sternum and lower body. We want to relax the neck, jaw, and muscles around the larynx, so we can avoid the unconscious reflex that pull up on the larynx when we sing high.

As you sing your scales, place your hands on the back of your neck and notice if there’s tension. Next, place your hands on your jaw, and check to see if your jaw is clenching at all. The more release you have in these muscles, the easier it will be to stabilize your larynx.

Proper breath support is also important in order to stabilize your larynx.

The basics of this are:

1. Breathe in without motion in your neck, shoulders, or face
2. As you inhale, feel your stomach inflate
3. As you sing a scale or song, keep some gentle pressure out against your abdominal wall
4. As you’re singing, try not to let your stomach contract suddenly

If you have any questions about the larynx, or singing generally, feel free to contact me at john@jdsvoice.com

John has been a professional Vocal Coach in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last sixteen years. He studied under Seth Riggs, Lynn Wickham, and Raz Kennedy, and studied the Alexander Technique under John Baron. He began voice teaching after working as a producer and arranger for other singers in San Francisco after college.

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Do you know what your favorite singing stars all have in common? Besides the fact that they’ve racked up millions of dollars doing exactly what they’ve always dreamed of…

Besides the thrill of performing again and again in front of thousands of adoring fans…

Besides a rock solid career that has lasted many years?

They all have an outstanding vocal range and can sing very well from high to low and everywhere in between. This gives them the ability to pour their heart and soul into their song and connect deeply with their listeners. It makes them more interesting to listen to.

Of course, a multiple octave range can’t guarantee you instant stardom, but it certainly helps.

Fortunately there is a proven science behind expanding your range in a way that helps you prevent your voice from straining or cracking. You can gain confidence instead of losing it as you listen to your voice soar effortlessly higher and higher.

Start by warming up your body first

Get nice and relaxed and energized. Run and stretch and shake all of the tension loose. Unwind with some soothing, calming breathing exercises and you’ll set yourself up for success. A tranquil mind and body makes for a fantastic singing voice.

Start where you’re comfortable

Every singer has a certain range where they feel very relaxed and confident. It’s usually in the middle where you have all of your “star quality”. Your voice comes out effortlessly and sounds strong and full. Start your range expanding exercises here and move very gradually up and down. Stop immediately if you start to feel your muscles tensing and go back to the middle. Using this method you’ll soon increase your usable range and sing out with just as much poise and assurance on the high notes as you do in the middle!

Let it Happen

As you move up and down your range, you’ll feel vibration in different parts of your body. You’ve probably heard the term “chest register” or “chest voice”, and it’s what happens when you sing low notes and feel them vibrating in your throat and chest. When you sing higher, the vibration moves up into your head and you’ll feel it behind your nose, in your cheekbones and the top of your head. This is called “head register” or “head voice”.

It’s important to allow your voice to go where it wants to go. Do not try to hold your high notes in your chest voice!

Just allow them to go up into your head and don’t worry about sounding nasal. You’ll only sound nasal if you tense and squeeze the back of your throat as you sing higher. As long as you relax and keep your throat open, you will get a nice resonant tone.

Keep it real

With few exceptions, vocal ranges of more than 3 octaves are for bragging rights only. If you push too hard and too fast to get to the top of your range, your throat muscles tighten and you’ll lose the resonance and beauty you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Is this the price you want to pay just for bragging rights? Obviously, no professional thinks this way.

One more thing to keep in mind is that most pop, rock and jazz songs stay within about 2 octaves. If you just master two and a half octaves of strong, usable notes then you will be able to do unbelievable things with your voice! You can reach a professional level, and then you’ll the rest of your life to experiment and have fun getting to three or more octaves. There is no hurry.

You should feel very excited reading this because two octaves are easily within your grasp. All you need to do is open up, smooth out your voice and you’ll be able to sing and impress the socks off anyone!

If you love to sing, Jane Thomson reveals time tested, proven techniques to help you develop a beautiful and powerful voice in “Powerful Singing Secrets” Get it for free today!

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In singing proper breathing support is very important, because it is one of the foundation. Proper support must be observed for you to have quality voice and it makes singing a joy. If you have proper support, in the eyes of the audience the production seems effortless and magical. In this article I’m going to share to you helpful tips and learn to sing with proper breathing support.

Stand Tall

In singing perfect posture is very vital as well as good breath control. In doing this, you have to look at the mirror by standing sideways and observe your posture. You must see to it that your back is as straight as a board.

Shoulder

To have proper breath support, your shoulder should stay down and avoid hunching up every time you breathe. You stand in front of a mirror and watch closely your shoulders and observe. You must focus on your stomach and imagine that the air is going in there.

Tight abs and buttocks

Just like any other weight lifters, singers should also work on their abs and buttocks. Tightening those parts is the most crucial part of support, especially to good vocal production. Your abs and buttocks must remain tight as well as firm every time you are emitting a sound, especially hitting those notes.

Keep your body still

This time observe your entire body and stand in front of the mirror. Stay as still as you can every time you breathe in. Take a very deep breath as you would when you yawn and do not gulp. Do not move also your head, except for opening your mouth. Make it appear in your body movement that you are taking a deep breathe.

Proper breathing support is one aspect in singing that can be developed overnight. I also sometimes have people coming to me asking for a few lessons, learn few tips in singing and improve their singing performance for some audition in the future.

In most cases, the things that they want can all be improved by proper breathing support. And these things include hitting high notes powerfully, large voice range and many others. Personally, I also think that even pitch control can also be improved with better and stronger breathe support.

Proper support also takes time to develop, it does not happen instantly. This support makes vocal product very smooth and easy, and it makes your voice seems like it is floating and soaring.

With proper support you can do things that at first you imagine would be impossible or difficult to do. You just have to take the time and make extra effort to learn proper breathe support.

In doing this proper breathe support, constant practice is also the key. It pays to practice in front of the mirror everyday and in no time you’ll have the kind of voice you dream of. Proper breathe support also avoids straining your voice and your larynx. It is one of the basic in singing and is therefore very important.

About the Author: Get tips on how to learn to sing here! Click to get vocal training online.

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So your friends have been telling you that you are a talented and good singer. You have a rich clear singing voice, a unique performing style and that you could even make it to the finals of the American Idol show or the singing idol contest of whichever country that you are in.

You are basking with joy with all these compliments pertaining to your singing ability and is toying with the idea of becoming a professional singer, but you do know that to break into the music and entertainment industry is a very stormy ride. So the question is how are you going to become a successful professional singer and to be a good one at that?

First of all, let us be realistic. Making the all important transition from an amateur to a professional in any field can be a daunting task and even more so in a the entertainment industry like singing or acting.

By having a good singing voice and vocal talent do not necessarily mean that you can make the cut. Have I surprised you?

Ok, just take a look at major singing contests like the American Idol for instance. There are many contestants who have fantastic singing voices and talent that can make many professional singers blush with embarrassment and yet, they don’t even make it to the finals of their respective contests. Why is that so?

Singing for fun with friends at a karaoke bar, a local jam club or in your church choir is a far cry from performing on stage professionally and getting paid for it. There are so many other factors to consider and to master other than just being able to sing well.

Most people just thought that by having a good voice, an accurate pitch and being able to stay in time to the rhythm are all it take to be a successful singer. Well, this may land you a gig or two, but not enough to go big!

So what does it actually take to be a good and successful professional singer? Needless to say, the first thing that you have to master is your voice quality. You may think that your voice quality may be excellent or even your friends think so, but do understand that it may not be the case and is usually not the case albeit with some exceptions!

Forgive me for bringing back the American Idol analogy again. Thousands of aspiring American Idol wannabes auditioned every year for a chance to become the celebrated winner of the country’s most watched singing talent show, right? Then let me ask you a question. Weren’t you laughing till your belly ache at the antics of thousands of those American idols wannabes in the early stages of the competitions?

You did, didn’t you? I’ll bet you agree with me that many of the contestants can’t even hold a proper note, not to say they sing atrociously, right? Then what on earth make them think that they can win the nation’s most prestigious singing contest? I hope I have made my point.

The reason is simple. They must be thinking that they have fantastic voices and all their friends must have been telling how them how great singers they are or how else would they have the gumption to think that they could have a chance of being the American Idol unless they are off their rockers?

This brings us to the stark reality that it would be useless to try and make it as a professional singer if you can’t sing well. Period! So the first thing to become a good professional singer is to develop your voice quality!

Don’t you ever make the mistake of asking family and friends to give you an honest appraisal of your singing because they won’t want to hurt your feelings by giving any negative comments. Even if they are honestly frank about their opinions, what do they know about professional singing in the first place? Ask those American Idols who were knocked out in the auditions and you will know what I mean.

Don’t even ask Simon Crowell for that matter as he will give you a comment that will probably bury any of your singing ambition forever. Just check with anyone whom you don’t know well but are well qualified to give you an objective and professional opinion.

To be a successful professional singer you must master the way you present yourself to your audience. This is crucial to how you will be perceived and received by the listening public. Like in any profession, if you don’t look presentable you will not be taken seriously.

If you sing in a rock band where jeans and T-shirt are appropriate, then make sure they are clean, fit you well and make you look as though you are indeed fired up about what you’re doing.

The same can be said if you are performing a club or cabaret act, your attire and deportment should be immaculate. Common sense, you say? You would be surprised how many so called singers lack these basic “common sense”.

If you are using sheet music and are working with live musicians, do make sure that you have professional arrangements for all the musicians. This is critical. You do not want to be messed up by other people making you sound bad although you are singing very well!

The next thing you must look into is your presentation and performing material. This may seem obvious but there is no use singing the wrong songs to the wrong audience. C’mon buddy, you can’t be singing gospel to a bunch of roughneck bikers in an outdoor rock concert, can you? But these kind of things do happen, very often because the singers have limited repertoire, limited style of music and songs or worse, are completely unprepared! This is absolutely inexcusable for a professional singer!

As a good professional singer, you must be able to present yourself to an audience.This means you have to speak to them and show your personality. I have personally seen many good singers who can whip up the audience into exciting frenzies without any problems but when asked to talk, lost all confidence and don’t know what to say. They just simply went blank and start to stutter on stage!

I mean look at all the great singers from Frank Sinatra to Michael Buble or even Madonna, all of them, without fail can speak so eloquently when interviewed on stage even when the interviews were on impromptu basis!

You must know that you are a performer entertainer first and then a singer. Good singing only make up about 40% of your performance with 35% on presentation and the other 25% on your personality and that is why your whole act must be well rehearsed, including introducing yourself as well as the songs you are about to sing. Hey, this is showbiz and not your kindergarten poetry reading man!

One way of breaking into professional singing is to do some charity shows. Find out about any local charity events and offer your services free. By doing this, not only are you doing good deeds, you also get the opportunity to gain public performance experience and who knows, may even get noticed by some entertainment venue owners or the local press starts giving you the publicity that you need for your break!

Furthermore, you get to practice in front of a live audience and the audience will be more tolerant if any part of your act goes wrong.

Getting your first paid gig depends on what type of music you want to perform. If you want to be lead singer in a band, a good place to start is to get information from your local music shop. Most of these shops have advertisements looking for singers and musicians to perform gigs and show engagements. They may even provide you studios for free practices and link you up with other musicians if you do not have a band of your own!

So you still want to be a professional singer? Then keep in mind the above pointers and don’t make the mistakes other aspiring singers do.

The American Idol series can provide you with many tricks and tips and you can even learn a lot from the judges’ comments. Do learn from them and you will be on your way to become a great professional singer!

About the Author: Chris Chew is the editor of music education website at Effective Singing Lesson and a relationship consultant at Effective Pick Up Lines

Source: www.isnare.com

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