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

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!

Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Most people think that singers with good voices are born with them. Yes, although some people have better singing voices than others, most, if not all good singers undergo vocal training to improve their voices.

Most of the singer’s training is done through specific vocal exercises to achieve certain effects such as singing powerfully, getting vibrato into the singing voice or even expanding your vocal range so that singing higher notes is a breeze.

Unfortunately, this article cannot do that as the exercises must be physically demonstrated and manually practised. So instead of learning how to get a good voice, this article will show you how to protect and preserve your singing voice because your voice quality can be destroyed by bad habits that you may not even know you have.

Your voice is produced by a delicate mechanism and when used correctly, it rarely gives you any problem. So take good care of your precious voice and will serve you well for your lifetime.

The first golden rule to having a good voice quality is not to take up smoking and if you are already a smoker, do quit smoking before this nasty habit destroys your singing voice further.

The thousands of irritants and chemicals in cigarettes damage your voice and will certainly shorten your singing career and even your life unless you are a rock singer and need to have a raspy and coarse voice.

Always stay hydrated and as such, you need to stay away from caffeine, alcohol and other substance that dehydrates you. The vocal folds must be hydrated at all times to stay healthy and lubricated. So drink plenty of drink as much water everyday to keep them hydrated.

If you are on medication, check with your doctor or pharmacist whether the medicine you are taking is dehydrating. As a general guide, your body should be well hydrated when your urine is clear and not cloudy.

Everyone’s voice has its own limitations. So get to know yours. Shouting, talking loudly or even singing forcefully is damaging to your vocal cords, this is sheer common sense, but many singers still abuse their voices this way. So don’t shout.

Unfortunately, some people think that to sing powerfully, they have to shout. No, they don’t have to. You can develop a powerful voice with the correct vocal exercises without having to shout.

Your vocal cords collide with each other more than a million times everyday when you produce a sound and so, any extra harsh activities like shouting puts further strain on the already overused vocal cords.

When recovering from a coarse voice like say, from a sore throat, avoid any unnecessary conversations or phone calls to let your voice fully recover. Otherwise your recovery will be slower and even then, small permanent damages may occur.

You need to know that your vocal cords are muscles and therefore like any muscles, they need a thorough warm up before it can perform at its peak when you are singing. By the same token, they need to be cooled down with vocal exercises after your performances.

Just because you get away without warming up or cooling down now does not guarantee that you will not damage your voice in the future.

Next on the list is to avoid late night eating because this may end up with your stomach acid spilling into your larynx when you lie down to sleep and causing a hoarse voice and over the long term, permanent voice damage.

These are just some of the many things that you should not do to preserve, protect and maintain your voice producing mechanism so that you can have a good singing voice permanently.

Article Source: Articopia.com
About the Author:  Chris Chew owns a music education website at Learn How To Sing Confidently On Stage and Learn How To Sing Better.

If you fall somewhere in the middle of perfect pitch and tone deaf, you may be like most people who would like to know how to sing well.

Here are a few tips to get you starting on singing well …

# Find a coach

You might be able to sing already but a coach or a trainer will help you improve your voice even further. If, on the other hand your voice is weak, it is due to the under-developed muscles or improper resonators like the pharynx, the hard palate and the nasal cavity. Muscles are strengthened through training. Here is where a vocal coach comes in.

# Vocal Range

You should know your vocal range; learn to recognize the kind of range that you have. This is very important as singing in the wrong vocal range can result in your voice being damaged.

# Posture

This might not seem important to sing well, but a good posture will help you tremendously. Stand tall keeping one foot a little in front of the other one. Place your feet shoulder width apart. This will allow you to breathe easily and will also allow maximum lung capacity, which will allow better notes and phrases. Please be sure that your chest is high to give room for the lungs to expand.

# Breathe properly

Breathing properly is a very important point to keep in mind if you want to sing well. It is said that singing consists of 80% breathing because the way you breathe while singing will have an effect on your voice.

# Singing tools

Your body has certain singing tools like your lungs, ribs, nose and mouth that you should know properly before you go on to sing. You should be more familiar with how everything works inside your body while you sing. This will eventually help you to sing well.

Remember, the best thing for your voice is water. It will do some wonderful things for the voice and is also essential for your body as well. Getting in shape is one of the most important criteria for singing well. Getting in shape will result in you breathing better. Breathing better means you will be able to sing well. Avoid screaming when you sing as screaming can result in your voice being damaged.

Improve your singing by reading more on learning to sing