From zero training to decent singing ability? How long and how much practice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter arcadeko
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arcadeko

arcadeko

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I have taken a few voice lessons - Teacher says I can hit the pitches dead on when playing along with piano and doing exercises. I have trouble holding notes for more than about 2 seconds and my voice tends to crack and warble the longer I hold a note.

So I am wondering - will doing the vocal exercises improve that pretty quickly? I am sure everyone is different but how often would you recommend practicing and how soon do you think i could expect to see some results?

is 30 minutes a day a reasonable amount of time?

And as I said I know everyone is different but maybe you could just share your experience in the matter... :o
 
I think if you did 30 minutes every day you could start to see improvement within 2-4 weeks. Remember to do breathing exercises as well as your regular scale exercises though, because the breathing exercises will really help you to maintain long notes.
 
I won't give you any timescale in case it doesn't happen and you come a looking for vengeance.......
That said, 30 minutes a day will make a difference at some point. Guitar playr82 is right, breathing excercises are an important part of voice improvement, especially in eliminating the warble that comes when you need to hold the note.
I used to practice singing as I drove around town and in a relatively short space of time I could hit long notes. I remember this song by Kerry Livgren and AD called "Tonight" that has this really looooooooong scream of "Toniiiiiiiiiggggghhhhhtttt...." in the runout. For 13 years I could never get close to it but when I began to practice, not long after, I could and soon I could do it with breath to spare ~ just !
 
As already mentioned, breathing and other exorcises are always good. My only addition would be to practice your warm-ups early in the day or even right when you wake up. Now, understand I'm saying warm-ups though, not full on pushing-your-range practice. Warming up at the beginning of the day will reduce the amount of strain you put on your voice during normal use. Vocal warm-ups are not just for pre-performance purposes. I say this because if you talk a lot during the day you're already going to be a little worn out by the time you perform or practice.
 
I think natural ability is the foundation.
Some people got it and some people gotta work on it...
 
+1 on the breathing exercises. If your biggest problems is sustain (and all that goes with that), then something is wrong with your breathing.

They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, so half an hour a day will take a while! :D

Seriously though, half an hour of practice a day with any instrument will get you to a pretty reasonable place relatively quickly. With your voice you'll want to be careful not to hurt yourself during those first few weeks. If you start to feel pain, even if you've only been at it for 10 minutes, it's probably time to stop.
 
Sorry to interrupt but if anyone could specify some daily exercises or whatever, it would be much appreciated :) I'm a complete newb to singing...
 
The big thing to practice breathing-wise is breathing from your diaphragm. Breathe from your gut; you want your stomach to stick out and your shoulders to stay level when you breath in. And that's something you can do pretty much all day whatever you're doing.
 
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