Starting to learn to sing, critiques and things to work on please!!

gerigaming

New member
Hello! I'm a complete beginner to singing, and I would like to improve at least a bit before vocal lessons which I've decided to do this year. I know there will be quite a few things off with my voice, but any specific things to work on straight away would be greatly appreciated!

Here ---> ( soundcloud.com/harriet-kay-451406949/redditsinging ) is a clip of me singing, I tried to chose a song that is mainly in my range

Sorry for the small laugh near the start of my singing, I realized it was there after I exported the file :)

Thanks a lot!
 
Many things to work on imo,
I can hear flat vocals need to work on your pitch.
You have to working on breathing techniques you're going out of breath.
Give your singing some dynamics like low on some parts and you chest voice ie., high in some parts.
 
Nikhil makes some good points.
The first question I need to ask is ~ do you play or have any access to a musical instrument like a keyboard of some sort or a guitar ? Reason I ask is this; I can hear a partially decent voice in there but singing to ready made bits of music is not ideal for being able to hear yourself and for differentiating notes. In my opinion {and it is only that} the most important thing a singer can do is be able to sing in tune. Sure, in any given song, if a note or two is a tiny bit off here and there, it may not be a deal breaker. But for me it's non~negotiable; You have to be able to sing in tune. Otherwise how is a listener going to know how the song you are singing goes ? In the same way a click or metronome is an infallible timing device, notes on an instrument are likewise for pitch. If you play a sequence on an instrument of, say, A B D E F F# G C, as you play each note you can hear the difference. No two of those notes sounds the same. Well, you should be able to do that with your voice.
Second most important thing a singer needs to do is hear the notes they are singing. Now, that is a harder one and even many fantastic singers have a hard time with this. I've had many battles with singers with this over the last 30 years. I remember once, my friend was singing a vocal on a song of mine and there was a little bit that bounced from A to G# to G on the word "living" {li - i - ving} but when she sang it, it just sounded like one note. And I kept saying that she wasn't getting it and she was adamant that she was and we had a big bust up over it ! I played it over and over on the piano but she just couldn't hear the G# when she was singing it. Eventually, we abandoned the session and came back to it about a week later and she got it. Even during last summer, a couple of friends who are/were professional singers couldn't hear the notes I was giving them. So that's something you need to work on. Yeah, it's hard work but once you've got that nailed, you'll be that singer that can always sing in tune. And you'll have the added bonus of being able to hear what you want to sing before you even get there and you'll also know when you're out of tune.
Singing lessons will be good for you because you'll learn about breathing. That will come. It'll also benefit you to just let go and sing without feeling uptight or shy.
So there are a couple of things to start working on. There are online piano simulators if you don't have access to one. Plonk a note, sing that note until there's no difference between the piano note and the note you sing. Then move on to another one. Do this with every note. That will be a good way of determining how low and how high you can go. Sing slowly. Sing fast. Sing lots of syllables fast. Break a one syllable word into 6 or 7 syllables and sing it slowly over several notes.
Most people can sing. Maybe not brilliantly, but most can sing. But most people are lazy singers. Not because of some moral flaw, but simply because most of us, even in this karaoke wrecked world, have no real reason to work on our voices. Why go through all that hard work just to sing to the radio or in the shower or during a church meeting etc, where your voice doesn't really make any difference ? With some discipline and hard work I think you have the makings of a good voice.
 
Back
Top