Any self-taught singers?

[TimeToProduce]

Is there any self-taught singers on this forum?

if yes, what did your learning process consist of?

Any tips for someone who is trying to learn singing on their own?

[KBSoundSmith]

I'm not self-taught (studied classically with a Russian baritone, great guy). BUT I'm a big believer in self-teaching, so I've got advice for you anyway.

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First off, if you're just sitting in a room practicing singing, one of the most important things to realize is that you can't objectively hear what you sound like. Due to things like bone conduction, etc, your voice will sound deeper and more resonant to yourself than to other people. You also will not be able to objectively evaluate your diction.

In order to attempt to address these issues, you will need a microphone. Look for something with a neutral response. Record yourself, and be honest about what you hear. You'd be amazed how different you will sound with practice. Also, experiment into the microphone. Change the way you say words, how quickly you speak a consonant, where you focus the sound in your chest, head, etc and how it affects tone, and so on. Develop an intuition on how different physical sensations affect the resulting sound.

I also suggest a long mirror placed where you can see yourself as you sing. The reason for this is to help maintain good posture, as well as to evaluate facial expression as you sing. Can you sing the note while putting on a smile? Frown? etc.

Now if you can't get those at the moment, no worries. Get them eventually, as they are useful. For posture/facial expression, you can also use a video recorder -- but the point is LIVE feedback of what you're doing so you can adjust as you are practicing. (Of course, a video recorder is a great addition for analyzing yourself too, in combination with the others suggested here).

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That all aside, you will need to do vocal exercises. You need to develop the muscles used in singing, and you need to gain control over the sound you are producing. These fall into several categories (of which exercises will combine in various permutations and degrees of isolation):

1) Breath control. This helps you sustain notes longer, vary the intensity of a note without strain, etc. Research breathing via diaphragm. As a general rule of thumb, you want any physical strain to be felt near the stomach -- your chest and upward should feel as relaxed as possible.

2) Diction control. Learn to pronounce words exactly as you want them to sound. How slow/fast a consonant is spoken, how quickly/cleanly you transition to a vowel. Practice each vowel/consonant combination.

3a) Pitch. Sing the correct notes and stay in tune. Related is...

3b) Register control. Your voice has several registers of pitch, that will rely more or less dominantly on different muscular control and resonant chambers. To keep it simple, they are low, mid, and high registers, transitioning from chest resonance to head resonance. Practice each register separately, then try to transition smoothly between them. Your middle register will be the most natural/comfortable area for singing, and this is where you'll spend most of your time singing. Your low/high require greater effort and will fatigue the voice -- these registers are good for contrast and drama.

4) Placement. Where you "feel" the sound. Are you feeling the sound in the back of your throat? Behind your nose? The chest more than the head, vice versa? Naturally, register plays an important part of these sensations.

5) Rhythm. Yes, singing notes/speaking words at the correct time, and doing so while sounding effortless and natural. Big hint for you here... Let's imagine you are going to sing the word "step," and that the word occurs on the first beat of a measure. You want the vowel (e) to land on the beat... which means the consonant (st) must begin and finish *before* the beat.

I've no doubt you can find a bunch of good exercises via YouTube. If I've time, maybe I'll record some audio and post example exercises to get you started, but I can't guarantee I'll be able to do so. As you search for exercises, look for them in each category, get a variety of exercises to try of varying kinds in each.

But as a general principle: throughout your practice, try to use each vowel/consonant combination in each register (they will feel different in each). Do every vowel every single day... consonants you might isolate differently per day (do a couple though). Practice staying on a single pitch. Practicing moving upward by step, and downward by step. Practice moving upward by leap, and downward by leap. And don't be afraid to make up your own exercises.

[Forgotten]

Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean I can sing well...

I think for the longest time I just tried to pitch in key as well as I could, but when I started focusing on certain things it improved more.

Breathing is really important, and being able to release exactly the right amount of breath for the note. Posture and opening the mouth to make the correct sound make a big difference, and being able to relax is important - stress makes it more difficult to sing.

Practicing pitching is important too - listening really carefully to accompaniment and practicing difficult note transitions helps with that.

Really worth taking a few lessons though - it really helps to have someone point out where you can improve.

[donkey tugger]

Hmm, interesting.

Never thought of it in those terms, just as something you do naturally. Suppose though there are exercises etc like for anything else.

Can't ever be arsed practising anything though, let alone singing. Bearing in mind I only started singing myself because most dedicated singers would seem to be dickheads, I'll carry on as I am I think- I know what I can get away with, and the technology will hide the rest..

In summary, no useful advice at all then..errr..confidence is the biggest factor, or something?

...best get back to the bass vi..

[AnX]

breathing is the hardest part, once you nail that, singing in "tune" is prob the next struggle

depends what kind of singing you do, most singers i like i wouldnt call great singers in a technical way

[donkey tugger]

depends what kind of singing you do, most singers i like i wouldnt call great singers in a technical way

Aye, all that warbling 'sing 6 notes when one will do', malarky is bollocks for me. I'd rather listen to Mark E Smith, gawd rest 'is soul.

[Forgotten]

depends what kind of singing you do, most singers i like i wouldnt call great singers in a technical way

Aye, all that warbling 'sing 6 notes when one will do', malarky is bollocks for me. I'd rather listen to Mark E Smith, gawd rest 'is soul.

Not even sure if Mark E Smith used as many as 6 different notes in all the songs he ever sung...

[dark water]

I taught myself not to sing in public.

As a then 14 year old with autistic tendencies, my enthusiatic but tuneless shriekings didn't sit well with the other lads in school.

[TimeToProduce]

Okay so...
Live feedback (voice, posture, facial expressions) - this is cristal clear to me (live feedback = best feedback)

Though I don´t quite understand some of the exercises mentioned below..

2) Diction control. Learn to pronounce words exactly as you want them to sound. How slow/fast a consonant is spoken, how quickly/cleanly you transition to a vowel. Practice each vowel/consonant combination.

I don´t really understand how one should practice diction control. There are limitless ways how you can pronounce words when singing, just like melodies. I´ve done some research on some exercises and they focus on singing vowels on pitch and improve word pronouncement.

This one:


Is that the purpose of exercise?
I have been singing along with my favourite songs.. doesn´t that also improve diction control?

4) Placement. Where you "feel" the sound. Are you feeling the sound in the back of your throat? Behind your nose? The chest more than the head, vice versa? Naturally, register plays an important part of these sensations.

Why does knowing placement is important? Doesn´t placement depend on how you want your voice to sound? (bright or dark/deep). Or does it affect our singing ability?

I've no doubt you can find a bunch of good exercises via YouTube. If I've time, maybe I'll record some audio and post example exercises to get you started, but I can't guarantee I'll be able to do so. As you search for exercises, look for them in each category, get a variety of exercises to try of varying kinds in each.

You don´t have to do any exercises, that´s fine - I´m sure I can find all sorts of exercises on the internet.

I have for example found four part exercises from Eric Arceneaux, where he focuses on:
Vocal Warmup
Increasing range with lip rolls
Freeing up the voice (tongue exercise and doing stigato with voice)
Strenghtening the voice with vocal fry



Problem is I don´t really know what I should focus on with MY voice. One mentioned above to get few singing lessons to figure out what I should focus on. Great advice, but I will probably not end up doing it anyway.

Instead I´d just rather ask here.

What should I focus on the most when:

I sound monotone
I can´t really figure out how to do varioations in intensity and in pitch when singing?

[Aloysius]

Céline Dion springs to mind. She calls himself vurt on this forum.

[KBSoundSmith]

I don´t really understand how one should practice diction control. There are limitless ways how you can pronounce words when singing, just like melodies. I´ve done some research on some exercises and they focus on singing vowels on pitch and improve word pronouncement.

This one:

Is that the purpose of exercise?
I have been singing along with my favourite songs.. doesn´t that also improve diction control?

At first, exercises start out simply to gain technical facility. Can you pronounce the vowel/consonant combination clearly and effortlessly, with full control of the speed of transition and force of articulation. Once that is obtained, the focus switches to artistry -- can you speak that vowel with the intended emotional meaning, coloring of accent if needed, etc.

It isn't enough to sing the correct notes at the correct time with clear enough pronunciation. Sensitivity to HOW you pronounce a word is a major part of the art of singing.

As for singing along with your favorite songs... no, it isn't enough. It is better than nothing, yes. But going outside and casually throwing a basketball at a net for half an hour is not the same quality of exercise as going to the gym and working through a regimented strength training program.

Why does knowing placement is important? Doesn´t placement depend on how you want your voice to sound? (bright or dark/deep). Or does it affect our singing ability?

You've got this reversed. The ability to sound the way you want is dependent upon your ability to control the placement of your voice. This is your ability to control your tone in each register, to maintain consistent quality. It also is about navigating your voice for technical ease in performing a note. Poor placement can make a note difficult, or even impossible, to sing -- ever try to sing a high note and have your voice straining, feeling like you're about to choke yourself? Yeah? Guess what a major part of the problem is...

I have for example found four part exercises from Eric Arceneaux, where he focuses on... [snip ]... problem is I don´t really know what I should focus on with MY voice. One mentioned above to get few singing lessons to figure out what I should focus on. Great advice, but I will probably not end up doing it anyway.

Instead I´d just rather ask here.

What should I focus on the most when:

I sound monotone
I can´t really figure out how to do varioations in intensity and in pitch when singing?

Again, this is where having a teacher is beneficial -- they can help identify your areas of strength and weakness far faster than you'll be able to yourself. There's a certain threshold of knowledge and ability you have to have in order to correctly "self-diagnose" your problems. I don't know if this is a financial hurdle for you or not, but at some point, you will save yourself a lot of time and difficulty if you are serious.

As for your questions regarding: "I sound monotone...I can´t really figure out how to do varioations in intensity and in pitch when singing?"

Regarding monotone. One, lack of dynamic control (which I'll get to in a second), and two, lack of diction control. Again, HOW you say a word is of extreme importance.

Regarding intensity, dynamic, etc... this is about control of breath. Breath control is the foundation of everything in singing. If you want to improve, this is where to start.

[vurt]

Céline Dion springs to mind. She calls himself vurt on this forum.

the long notes on that one i did for the boat film, to get the high tones going, a gentle squeeze of the nadgers.
no more than 10 b n h before recording and a quick gargle with some bourbon.
sorted


and i know me heart will go ooooonnnnn

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

I had no learning process. I just sang away.

[ShawnG]

My learning process included not finding a singer for my band and deciding, with some pressure of upcoming gigs, to just go ahead and get up in front of people and sing, glad the early shows were not recorded. I guess I had a few years of singing in the chorus in school, but even there, I don't recall being taught any real techniques. Still haven't learned any, other than just what has seeped in naturally from experience over the years.

Singing did go from something I did begrudgingly to something I enjoy greatly, so I'm glad I did it. Nothing beats lack of options for motivation.

[Aloysius]

Céline Dion springs to mind. She calls himself vurt on this forum.

the long notes on that one i did for the boat film, to get the high tones going, a gentle squeeze of the nadgers.
no more than 10 b n h before recording and a quick gargle with some bourbon.
sorted


and i know me heart will go ooooonnnnn