So you’ve decided you want to learn how to sing, or you’ve recently taught yourself how to do it. If you’ve mastered the basics or you aspire to become a professional singer, you know there’s more to it than simply staying on key and holding the note. It may be hard to know which foundational elements are necessary to level up your skills or which techniques are worth developing.
No matter your style, we’ve got nine essential techniques for you to work on. And we’re not just talking about prep work. We’ll introduce you to some different styles of singing and the ways to harness the power of your voice to belt, find your falsetto or perfect your vibrato. Whether you’re a Broadway baby or a budding Beyoncé, these are the best tips for any singer looking to up their game.
1. Proper posture
It cannot be overstated: If you want to sing well, you have to sing with good posture. That means no slouching, feet planted shoulder-width apart, and your hips and chest in alignment. Your head should be forward—not up or down—so your notes are supported by the full strength of your breath when you breathe in and sing out. Which brings us to our next point.
2. Breath support
No matter how beautiful your voice naturally is or how flawlessly you can execute every note, it is all for naught if you don’t have the breath support to back it up. That goes hand in hand with having proper posture, which is why it’s so important (and why we put it first on this list). Singers can achieve proper breath support by doing various breathing exercises—sometimes even going so far as to sing on treadmills or while doing cardio—in order to level up their lung capacity. (We actually just published a piece about breathing exercises if you want to check it out!)
3. Warming up and warming down your voice
Singing without warming up is like trying to run a race without stretching first. Singing is a physical act that requires taking care of your body, including warming up your voice before a show and warming it down after you’ve finished. The process requires a lot of work from your muscles—from your core to your diaphragm to your vocal chords. There is a multitude of exercises you can try, and which ones you do will likely depend on your voice and what is required of it.
7 Vocal Warm Ups and 5 Vocal Cooldowns for Singers4. Regular vocal exercise
You may not think of yourself as an athlete, but, in many ways, singers must train like one to ensure that their instrument is fine-tuned and ready to attack whatever notes may come their way. Different vocal dynamics require different things from your voice, but the most tried-and-true exercises will help you regardless of what you’re singing. By doing various techniques that move up and down your vocal register, you’ll be better prepared to master and hone the skills required for belting, riffing, and using vibrato and falsetto—all of which we’ll discuss below.
Here are a few exercises to get you started:
10 Vocal Exercises for Singers5. Belting
When it comes to singing loudly, you don’t want to yell—you want to project. This is called belting: when you hit higher notes (in your head voice) with as much strength as you do the lower notes (in your chest voice). Putting the power of your chest voice behind the notes of your head voice can create a powerful moment for both the singer and the audience, but it isn’t easy for everyone to learn. If you want to learn how, we’ve got a guide for that too!
6. Falsetto
The falsetto is generally at the top of a person’s register: the lighter, breathier voice that exists just beyond your usual vocal range. Using falsetto means stretching the limits of your head voice, which is no easy task (especially if you generally sing in your chest voice). It’s vital to work on strengthening your falsetto if you want to improve. Thankfully, there are many great exercises to help perfect and learn how to control the technique.
7. Vibrato
Have you ever heard a singer move their voice really quickly between notes? What you heard was a singing technique called vibrato, which is defined as “a slightly tremulous effect imparted to vocal or instrumental tone for added warmth and expressiveness by slight and rapid variations in pitch.” But how do you do that? It, of course, takes work. Start slow and you will eventually be able to move your voice with more rapid vocal variations, which you can then turn into a fun vocal run or riff.
What is Vibrato?8. Vocal runs and riffs
We all know a vocal run or riff when we hear it: a string of notes hung together in a quick and punchy mix. You’re probably imagining someone like Mariah Carey or Christina Aguilera—two women who are absolute masters of runs and riffs—running up and down their vocal registers with flair and aplomb. Both terms refer to the creative, sometimes impromptu vocal embellishments that singers put into their songs when singing, generally to complement and support the musical accompaniment underneath. The moments are often ad-libbed, so anyone can do them, but it takes a level of skill, technique, and ability beyond what most beginner singers can handle. It’s also something you can learn, though, through continued singing education or simply imitating the runs and riffs of singers you admire until you can hear and understand what they are doing.
9. Emote, emote, emote
The most important thing a singer can do is properly convey the emotions of the song. Understanding the lyrical content and the mood of the musical accompaniment is vital to being able to commit that emotion to sound and take listeners on a multisensory journey. As much as singing is a physical thing, it is also a communication of the ineffable through sound. Researching the song’s context and understanding what it evokes in you as a listener will help you nail your performance—and bring your audience to their feet.
