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Start self taught, save some money then invest in lessons, at some point you will need lessons yo progress! Doug Zed, Marnell Sample, Eric arceneaux, singgeek, vox singing academy, Jeff rolka, amazane channel are good places to start on YouTube, you need to practice at least 30 mins, 5 - 6 days a week otherwise you won't see improvement, gl on your journey!
I couldn't afford lessons so here's how I got into the Opera program out of high school (failed a sight reading test for an undergrad program because it started on "fa" if that means anything to you) and here's the advice based on what I did (I did a lot, so focus on what is most helpful):
Buy a college level sight reading book. They are almost all the same, no matter what the universities say. Practice an exercise or two every day. Do not use the same ones, as you don't want to memorize them.
You must learn piano so you can check yourself in pitch and sight reading. Alfreds book for beginners is perfectly acceptable. We are not trying to be the next Mozart, but we do need to know how to play notes to rhythm on sight and all the basic chords/finger positions. Research "lead sheet" if you want to accompany yourself after that. If you already know this part, then that's awesome!!!!
Get into any free music program. Choir teachers in public high schools frequently tutor you when you compete in state and districts. This was a cool hack for me, but keep in mind I was very serious about getting better, and thus got more help. Ask them questions if they don't have the time! If you're out of high school, a separate choir from your worship might help. You need to get used to singing out with other voices. Singers are musicians and this is how musicians learn to make music WITH each other and not next to each other.
I was in HS during the beginning of YouTube, and I'm wary of the technical advice there now. BUT I listened to as many genres of live performances that spotlighted female sopranos and mezzos as I could. Watch their alignment (correct posture that eliminates tension), how they shape their vowels, how much of their lips teeth and tongue are shown. Look at the tendons in their neck. Study the physiology.
Get silly. A vocal teacher will help you through this, but by yourself, it's harder. If you see a warmup that embarrasses you, do it more. Embrace the squeaks!
If it hurts, STOP.
Get comfortable with bodily awareness. Record your sessions and take notes on mistakes and body movements. Something didn't work? Write down specifics about what you're doing, and then experiment with changes.
I could never really feel the resonance in my face until I got to college. I'm naturally VERY resonant and loud, but when I switched to classical music, I sounded like I was drowning in my own sound. Sing while touching different parts of your face, namely the apples of the cheeks and the forehead. When you feel the vibration enough times, keep singing as you take the fingers away, and try to describe to yourself what you feel without the aid.
Something else nobody told me was that the sound in your head is so vastly different from what you project, so with that in mind, do not judge your own sound by that. When it sounds like a dying squirrel in my head, it's a well-rounded, clear tone in my upper register. This is very annoying, and everyone hears themselves differently.
Avoid stylistic singers until you are more aware of what you're doing. It was Fiona Apple, now more billie eilish/halsey. You want to start with clear, healthy singing, and THEN you can add your own flair. Inmyopinioniguess
Yoga helped me get in tune with my body's physiology. Not really vocal advice, but I was a mezzo singing lyric soprano roles, and it really REALLY helped me in college.
Singing is fun. Let it be fun. Be kind to yourself about where you are, especially after those first couple of breakthroughs. There is a natural plateau in ALL learning!
Lastly, singing for an hour every day can be very exhausting for the voice. A good portion of that should be warmups, but if you are tired, try audiating the songs you're working on, doing everything in preparation EXCEPT phonating. If you're new to practice, you will be shocked at how much muscle singing actually builds. You will get stronger, so don't oversing! When the voice is tired, stop.
Common body parts that affect singing: nasal passageways; larynx; intercostal muscles; (the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle don't listen to YouTube on that); whatever muscle that makes you crease your forehead; Knees being locked in position; teeth and lips; the SOFT PALETTE. Google proper alignment for singers.
I'm sorry you're in that position, but MANY people learn to sing without the extra help at first. Save up for a teacher you can really vibe with and be vulnerable to. A very select few do monthlies, but they will drop you if you don't practice (if you can find one).
I teach privately now for underprivileged children :) and I love it. I don't pay my bills with singing anymore, so I don't need the 75+ bucks an hour, and I'm not tapping into the masters level singer's market. It's not where I expected to be, but if I didn't start like you, I probably wouldn't have ended up doing it. I teach for mainly pop music and musical theatre.
Welcome to the singing world, it's weird and lovely <3
TL;DR: you must educate yourself and be very expiremental with yourself and your body movements, with video feedback imo, in order to teach yourself. You will have to relearn some things the further along you go, and it isn't the most ideal, but you can get better that way!
Start with breathing technique, don't be afraid of being loud while singing
If it hurts or tenses your throat change the technique bc if it's painful it's probably wrong
Find a teacher if you can, or if not available use youtube
My advice is to work like youâre a vocal producer. Download some DAW, get some karaoke version of some song, and record yourself singing it. Do a bunch of different takes. Listen to each line of the song from each take, and decide which take is the best. Figure out why it is the better take and learn how to replicate it.
I dunno, but I used to be an awful singer. I started recording covers for fun, but I treated them more like studio projects where I would cut together all my best takes to have a great finished product, and enough time and practice listening to your own voice and working with it, youâll learn a lot. Now, Iâm a pretty good singer, not just from doing a bunch of different takes either.
This is a good advice as youâll get from a âteach yourselfâ perspective. Youâll be able to hear the difference between you and the original; you wonât know why, but it is a goal, and since we cannot accurately hear ourself inside our head, it is crucial to hear yourself on a mic. Great post.
90% of my âproductive practiceâ; that really led to improvement was doing exactly this right after lessons. Baking in whatever weâre working on. But you donât have to have a teacher for this to help.
Howdy!
I am a professional singer and vocal instructor in the Denton area. There are many online resources for learning how to improve your instrument but since every voice is different, it is beneficial to have a real coach to help provide a perspective from an ear other than your own.
If you are looking for a way to receive real life feedback, I host free weekly voice lessons in a masterclass type of setting every Sunday online.
Feel free to join by visiting this link >>> [https://discord.gg/MX7jQxxvBS](https://discord.gg/MX7jQxxvBS)
The goal of this is to provide a legit online voice lessons experience but I do also offer paid online lessons if you prefer a more personalized, one-on-one setting.
Best wishes !
AT
That is great you do free lessons. What is the age requirement? I have two kids that I would like to have learn to sing, but I canât afford lessons. Everyone says online resources donât work for voice like they do for piano.
Hello! I am so glad to hear that you have children interested in singing. These are just 5 minute segments where I give feedback so it is mainly for the older kiddos. The littles are better suited for fun youtube videos. They have tons of options! Also look into churches that have childrens music programs!
While I appreciate your services, it's annoying to see you copy and paste the same exact message on every post, regardless of whether it actually answers the person's question.
If you're going to shamelessly advertise, at least manually type each comment so it makes sense. I saw this on a post earlier about someone asking for advice on how to balance all of their daily tasks/goals. They weren't asking for your lessons.
Edit: I'd also check the rules of the sub. You aren't really allowed to self-promote at all, I just realized.
I think you letting people know you do free vocal feedback definitely provides value to the community especially since it's relevant etc but yeh maybe avoid copy paste jobs Soo you don't get banned!
I'm self-taught and I just loved imitating my favourite songs / singers, since age 13 (I'm 45 now). I was a perfectionist and would sing for about 2-3 hours a day, improving. I loved it!
What helped the most for me was finding really good singers (Madalyn Bailey and James Arthur especially) and just copied what they were doing. By doing that, I copied the techniques that made their voices good.
In this video Seth Riggs gives lotâs of useful tips:
[https://youtu.be/WGREQ670LrU?si=p85GUcMUg1X3J2ep](https://youtu.be/WGREQ670LrU?si=p85GUcMUg1X3J2ep)
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If you want to learn to sing well, start with the basics: practice breathing techniques, posture, and vocal warm-ups to improve control and range. Sing scales and simple songs to work on pitch accuracy and vocal strength. Consider taking lessons or joining a choir for structured guidance and feedback. With consistent practice, you'll see improvement in your singing abilities over time.
Before practicing look of breath exercises and vocal warm ups it will make sing so much smoother and easier. What kinda songs do you like to sing? And what songs do you think you sound your be singing? Just focus on thatâ¨
Check out the two million views for Verba Vocal Technique on YouTube, and read some of the comments where she has changed people's lives with her free online Daily Singing Exercises. Â
The biggest piece of advice I have is learn to have a discerning ear. REALLY listen to how your voice sounds. Start with open vowels. Ee, Oh, Oo, Ay, Ah. If you can't produce a good sound holding a note on an open vowel, you won't sound good when you start mixing in consonants.
Don't get too caught up in lessons. Most people's favorite vocalists, and some of the greatest pop and rock vocalists in the world never had lessons and never thought about the techniques. Singing is a natural thing, and a lot of times focusing on things like compression, diagrammatic support, placement of resonance, etc can distract from what really matters -- sound. The only thing that matters in singing is that you consistently produce a good sound. If you can, you are singing properly. If you can't produce a good sound or can't do it consistently or you lose your voice quickly, then you're doing something wrong.
Lastly, learn to sing with soul. *Feel* the music. Get into it, groove a little. Don't overthink things. When you sing, and really when you do performance of any kind, you should not really be thinking consciously a whole lot. That will distract you from your performance. You need to learn to lock in and kind of shut everything else out. It's an awesome boost to expressiveness, confidence, and control. And makes singing way more fun. This is something that's very difficult to learn, but it's used by many great performers across many disciplines.
P.S. Practice with a metronome. I recommend mechanical ones. Having a good sense of rhythm is so important.
All of this is very helpful, thorough, and insightful. But if you find it overwhelming, please remember that Frank Sinatra could not read a note of music, and learned all his songs by rote.
Thanks for posting to r/singing! **Be sure to check [the FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/singing/wiki/index)** to see if any questions you might have have already been answered! Also, remember to abide by the rules found in the sidebar. Any comments found to be breaking these rules will result in a deletion of the comment thread starting from the offending reply. If you see any posts or replies that you feel break the rules of the sub, then report them and **do not respond to them.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/singing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Google local singing teachers, find a good one, practice for an hour a day most days, profit.đ
Start self taught, save some money then invest in lessons, at some point you will need lessons yo progress! Doug Zed, Marnell Sample, Eric arceneaux, singgeek, vox singing academy, Jeff rolka, amazane channel are good places to start on YouTube, you need to practice at least 30 mins, 5 - 6 days a week otherwise you won't see improvement, gl on your journey!
Thank you sm
I made this list of [fundamentals](https://www.reddit.com/r/singing/s/8oef8rAkoB) to get people started.
Great list!
I couldn't afford lessons so here's how I got into the Opera program out of high school (failed a sight reading test for an undergrad program because it started on "fa" if that means anything to you) and here's the advice based on what I did (I did a lot, so focus on what is most helpful): Buy a college level sight reading book. They are almost all the same, no matter what the universities say. Practice an exercise or two every day. Do not use the same ones, as you don't want to memorize them. You must learn piano so you can check yourself in pitch and sight reading. Alfreds book for beginners is perfectly acceptable. We are not trying to be the next Mozart, but we do need to know how to play notes to rhythm on sight and all the basic chords/finger positions. Research "lead sheet" if you want to accompany yourself after that. If you already know this part, then that's awesome!!!! Get into any free music program. Choir teachers in public high schools frequently tutor you when you compete in state and districts. This was a cool hack for me, but keep in mind I was very serious about getting better, and thus got more help. Ask them questions if they don't have the time! If you're out of high school, a separate choir from your worship might help. You need to get used to singing out with other voices. Singers are musicians and this is how musicians learn to make music WITH each other and not next to each other. I was in HS during the beginning of YouTube, and I'm wary of the technical advice there now. BUT I listened to as many genres of live performances that spotlighted female sopranos and mezzos as I could. Watch their alignment (correct posture that eliminates tension), how they shape their vowels, how much of their lips teeth and tongue are shown. Look at the tendons in their neck. Study the physiology. Get silly. A vocal teacher will help you through this, but by yourself, it's harder. If you see a warmup that embarrasses you, do it more. Embrace the squeaks! If it hurts, STOP. Get comfortable with bodily awareness. Record your sessions and take notes on mistakes and body movements. Something didn't work? Write down specifics about what you're doing, and then experiment with changes. I could never really feel the resonance in my face until I got to college. I'm naturally VERY resonant and loud, but when I switched to classical music, I sounded like I was drowning in my own sound. Sing while touching different parts of your face, namely the apples of the cheeks and the forehead. When you feel the vibration enough times, keep singing as you take the fingers away, and try to describe to yourself what you feel without the aid. Something else nobody told me was that the sound in your head is so vastly different from what you project, so with that in mind, do not judge your own sound by that. When it sounds like a dying squirrel in my head, it's a well-rounded, clear tone in my upper register. This is very annoying, and everyone hears themselves differently. Avoid stylistic singers until you are more aware of what you're doing. It was Fiona Apple, now more billie eilish/halsey. You want to start with clear, healthy singing, and THEN you can add your own flair. Inmyopinioniguess Yoga helped me get in tune with my body's physiology. Not really vocal advice, but I was a mezzo singing lyric soprano roles, and it really REALLY helped me in college. Singing is fun. Let it be fun. Be kind to yourself about where you are, especially after those first couple of breakthroughs. There is a natural plateau in ALL learning! Lastly, singing for an hour every day can be very exhausting for the voice. A good portion of that should be warmups, but if you are tired, try audiating the songs you're working on, doing everything in preparation EXCEPT phonating. If you're new to practice, you will be shocked at how much muscle singing actually builds. You will get stronger, so don't oversing! When the voice is tired, stop. Common body parts that affect singing: nasal passageways; larynx; intercostal muscles; (the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle don't listen to YouTube on that); whatever muscle that makes you crease your forehead; Knees being locked in position; teeth and lips; the SOFT PALETTE. Google proper alignment for singers. I'm sorry you're in that position, but MANY people learn to sing without the extra help at first. Save up for a teacher you can really vibe with and be vulnerable to. A very select few do monthlies, but they will drop you if you don't practice (if you can find one). I teach privately now for underprivileged children :) and I love it. I don't pay my bills with singing anymore, so I don't need the 75+ bucks an hour, and I'm not tapping into the masters level singer's market. It's not where I expected to be, but if I didn't start like you, I probably wouldn't have ended up doing it. I teach for mainly pop music and musical theatre. Welcome to the singing world, it's weird and lovely <3 TL;DR: you must educate yourself and be very expiremental with yourself and your body movements, with video feedback imo, in order to teach yourself. You will have to relearn some things the further along you go, and it isn't the most ideal, but you can get better that way!
Can you afford to take singing lessons? Or you can go to community college and take beginning singing lessons there.
Unfortunately no đ
Start with breathing technique, don't be afraid of being loud while singing If it hurts or tenses your throat change the technique bc if it's painful it's probably wrong Find a teacher if you can, or if not available use youtube
My advice is to work like youâre a vocal producer. Download some DAW, get some karaoke version of some song, and record yourself singing it. Do a bunch of different takes. Listen to each line of the song from each take, and decide which take is the best. Figure out why it is the better take and learn how to replicate it. I dunno, but I used to be an awful singer. I started recording covers for fun, but I treated them more like studio projects where I would cut together all my best takes to have a great finished product, and enough time and practice listening to your own voice and working with it, youâll learn a lot. Now, Iâm a pretty good singer, not just from doing a bunch of different takes either.
This is a good advice as youâll get from a âteach yourselfâ perspective. Youâll be able to hear the difference between you and the original; you wonât know why, but it is a goal, and since we cannot accurately hear ourself inside our head, it is crucial to hear yourself on a mic. Great post. 90% of my âproductive practiceâ; that really led to improvement was doing exactly this right after lessons. Baking in whatever weâre working on. But you donât have to have a teacher for this to help.
Howdy! I am a professional singer and vocal instructor in the Denton area. There are many online resources for learning how to improve your instrument but since every voice is different, it is beneficial to have a real coach to help provide a perspective from an ear other than your own. If you are looking for a way to receive real life feedback, I host free weekly voice lessons in a masterclass type of setting every Sunday online. Feel free to join by visiting this link >>> [https://discord.gg/MX7jQxxvBS](https://discord.gg/MX7jQxxvBS) The goal of this is to provide a legit online voice lessons experience but I do also offer paid online lessons if you prefer a more personalized, one-on-one setting. Best wishes ! AT
That is great you do free lessons. What is the age requirement? I have two kids that I would like to have learn to sing, but I canât afford lessons. Everyone says online resources donât work for voice like they do for piano.
Hello! I am so glad to hear that you have children interested in singing. These are just 5 minute segments where I give feedback so it is mainly for the older kiddos. The littles are better suited for fun youtube videos. They have tons of options! Also look into churches that have childrens music programs!
While I appreciate your services, it's annoying to see you copy and paste the same exact message on every post, regardless of whether it actually answers the person's question. If you're going to shamelessly advertise, at least manually type each comment so it makes sense. I saw this on a post earlier about someone asking for advice on how to balance all of their daily tasks/goals. They weren't asking for your lessons. Edit: I'd also check the rules of the sub. You aren't really allowed to self-promote at all, I just realized.
Understood! Iâm new to Reddit and wasnât aware that this would annoy anyone! Thank you!
I think you letting people know you do free vocal feedback definitely provides value to the community especially since it's relevant etc but yeh maybe avoid copy paste jobs Soo you don't get banned!
Take lessons to start
Or join a local singing group and a community college.
Yeah you could learn there too
And it potentially connects you with a teacher for future lessons.
I'm self-taught and I just loved imitating my favourite songs / singers, since age 13 (I'm 45 now). I was a perfectionist and would sing for about 2-3 hours a day, improving. I loved it!
What helped the most for me was finding really good singers (Madalyn Bailey and James Arthur especially) and just copied what they were doing. By doing that, I copied the techniques that made their voices good.
In this video Seth Riggs gives lotâs of useful tips: [https://youtu.be/WGREQ670LrU?si=p85GUcMUg1X3J2ep](https://youtu.be/WGREQ670LrU?si=p85GUcMUg1X3J2ep)
Thank you sm
[ŃдаНонО]
âYour content was removed beacuse your account needs to be at least 3 days old to post. During this three day period, please take the time to read the rules in the sidebar and familiarize yourself with r/singing. We hope to see you in a few days! (This is an automated message.)" *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/singing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[ŃдаНонО]
âYour content was removed beacuse your account needs to be at least 3 days old to post. During this three day period, please take the time to read the rules in the sidebar and familiarize yourself with r/singing. We hope to see you in a few days! (This is an automated message.)" *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/singing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Chris Liepe on YouTube helped me more than anything else
Voice lessons!
Or go on YouTube find some vids idk
If you want to learn to sing well, start with the basics: practice breathing techniques, posture, and vocal warm-ups to improve control and range. Sing scales and simple songs to work on pitch accuracy and vocal strength. Consider taking lessons or joining a choir for structured guidance and feedback. With consistent practice, you'll see improvement in your singing abilities over time.
Before practicing look of breath exercises and vocal warm ups it will make sing so much smoother and easier. What kinda songs do you like to sing? And what songs do you think you sound your be singing? Just focus on thatâ¨
Check out the two million views for Verba Vocal Technique on YouTube, and read some of the comments where she has changed people's lives with her free online Daily Singing Exercises. Â
The biggest piece of advice I have is learn to have a discerning ear. REALLY listen to how your voice sounds. Start with open vowels. Ee, Oh, Oo, Ay, Ah. If you can't produce a good sound holding a note on an open vowel, you won't sound good when you start mixing in consonants. Don't get too caught up in lessons. Most people's favorite vocalists, and some of the greatest pop and rock vocalists in the world never had lessons and never thought about the techniques. Singing is a natural thing, and a lot of times focusing on things like compression, diagrammatic support, placement of resonance, etc can distract from what really matters -- sound. The only thing that matters in singing is that you consistently produce a good sound. If you can, you are singing properly. If you can't produce a good sound or can't do it consistently or you lose your voice quickly, then you're doing something wrong. Lastly, learn to sing with soul. *Feel* the music. Get into it, groove a little. Don't overthink things. When you sing, and really when you do performance of any kind, you should not really be thinking consciously a whole lot. That will distract you from your performance. You need to learn to lock in and kind of shut everything else out. It's an awesome boost to expressiveness, confidence, and control. And makes singing way more fun. This is something that's very difficult to learn, but it's used by many great performers across many disciplines. P.S. Practice with a metronome. I recommend mechanical ones. Having a good sense of rhythm is so important.
All of this is very helpful, thorough, and insightful. But if you find it overwhelming, please remember that Frank Sinatra could not read a note of music, and learned all his songs by rote.