How to Start Singing 101

Singing isn’t as quite as easy as the ABC but with the right tools you can sing whatever, wherever you like.

How to start singing for absolute beginners

Now that we are clear that singing is less about the volume and push, I want you to remember to be kind to yourself. Progress takes time and no you will not become Beyoncé overnight.

 Your voice will develop as you continue to train, and you will be surprised at the small improvements along the way. I recommend that you record yourself at the start of your journey to track your progress. 

SET YOUR GOALS

I know, this literally starts every single anything these days. Goals, goals, goals. Well I am sorry to say, but I want you to have a clear idea in your head about what you would like to achieve. 

Do you want to sing for yourself? Would you like to record your own music? Would you like to be a superstar? When you have your goals in mind you can always go back to remember why you are working so hard. 

HAVE FUN!

Your goal could be just to have fun. Then remember that next time you start practising. This IS SUPPOSED to be FUN!

WHERE DOES YOUR VOICE COME FROM?

The voice is created inside the larynx by the vocal folds. The vocal folds, or vocal cords as you may have heard them called are small ligaments inside your larynx that vibrate to create the desired pitch. So basically you are training a bunch of muscles like in sport. 

FIND YOUR LARYNX

Place your finger on your chin and trace a line downwards towards your collar bone. You will hit the first knot quite high in the throat. This is your larynx. 

WHERE ARE YOUR VOCAL FOLDS?

Ok, before we start making any noise, we need to locate our vocal folds. You can do this by doing a very small cough, like a theatre cough. That way, you can feel them clicking together. Gently does it though! Now I want you to do a little Teletubbies ♪ Oh, oh, ah, ah. 

THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE!

The most important part of singing is vocal fold closure. Do check out the video below for the full exercises if you need a bit of help. It can be easier to watch than to read, but I will do my best.  

We are going to perform the following exercise on thin vocal folds. That means that the sound is relatively quiet, and you are going to make a wimper like a puppy dog. 

Secondly, once you have found your paper thin folds, I want you to start on an NG as in sing… where the back of the tongue is touching the soft palate (the roof of your mouth at the back). That way we can create pitch without having the tongue get in the way of the larynx. 

Now I want you to slide up the range, just a little and back down again keeping the vocal folds closed. You can feel that they are closed because no air comes through. 

Can you roll your shoulders and create the same sound? 

Can you turn your head side to side gently and still keep in tune?

Can you walk around the room and hold the note?

These are called relaxation manoeuvres, they help to make sure that you don’t grip or hold onto any excess unwanted tension before you start singing. 

Aim of the exercise: To release excess tension in the body to allow the singing voice to move freely. 

WANT TO SING BETTER?

Join my 3 month 1-1 programme 66 days to singing success! We will go through the basics of vocal technique and get you set up to sing with confidence.