singing voice training-how to improve your live singing performance?

I am now going to offer you some singing voice training tips that can help ease your nerves. If it’s your first performance then I am sure your palms are so sweaty that you are very well sure that your strings will die within seconds.

Again your heart is beating like a jack hammer and your throat is cornflakes dry. I can very well understand that your palms are so sweaty that you are sure you will die within seconds. Let me assure you this is suppose to get better with time.

Virtually everyone from the every beginner to the seasoned veteran has experienced some form of performance anxiety. It’s true that  nerve lessen the more you perform, they can still appear out of the blue after years of performing and cause all those awful symptoms like heart thumping, sweating, dry mouth, inability to move and dizziness.

Stage fright can close up your throat and tighten your diaphragm, making it difficult to breathe, a nasty feeling for anyone and a real drag if you are singing as well as playing. Luckily, there is a lot you can do to alleviate stage nerves.

Now I am offering a bunch of nerve busting tricks. However everyone is different so experiment and find out what works best for you. If you are preparing for the performance then practice, practice and practice.

Now there is nothing like being well rehearsed. Trust me your well rehearsed fingers and voice will go on auto pilot. Always play bigger than you plan to be. Most performers hit with nerves lose a bit of dynamism musically and physically.

Now if you know that you tend to freeze up on stage, prepare by playing more dynamically than you intend. If you practice bigger you can afford to lose a bit. Sing somewhat louder than usual. Sway your body to keep it loose.

Exaggerate any performance moves you usually fall into like hip sway, foot tap.  For mental run through, imagine your entire performance, from taking the stage until you finish and hear the applause. Picture, people in the audience watching you, what you say before you play, how you move during the song and how you respond to the applause.

Imagine everything going exactly as you want. Studies have shown that the technique which I have mentioned improves performance skills. For some people, it helps to spend a few minutes getting into a meditative state first.

To do this, sit eyes closed, breathing deeply and slowly for a couple of minutes. Silently repeat a calming word or phrase or move your awareness through your body, starting with your feet then working upward, relaxing each muscle as you go. Then visualize your performance.

I have found that getting aerobics can calm you and get your breathing deeply. You can do them when you mentally run through your set remembering key points of songs and what you might say in between.

Just prior to the performance move around and do something vigorous like running in place. It will help you off some of that nervous energy and deepen your breathing. Swinging your arms will relax your diaphragm and help you get a fuller calming breath.

Now the techniques which I have discussed work differently for different people and so experiment and find out which works better for you. While either sitting or standing do some deep breathing to center you.

Mentally focus on either your breathing or your imaginary run through. Force your abdomen in to expel air, like either an airy belly laugh or a dog panting.  Try them and easy inhale repeats. The vigorous movement can loosen your abdomen so you breathe deeper, which relaxes you.

Remember that the vocal chords relax as notes descends in pitch and if they relax too much you can lose control of the sound. To stay in control of low notes you need to feel resonance and vibration in your face when you sing them.

This is difficult because low notes, by their nature, cannot be sung loudly, and louder notes vibrate more. Your goal for low notes is for them to have clarity and presence, not volume- that’s what the microphone is for, so bring it closer to your mouth on low notes to amplify them.

To feel resonance in your face on your low notes, start with humming. If you don’t feel anything, try slowly shaking your head from side to side to relax your throat. If you still don’t feel any resonance or vibration in your face continue this exercise every day for a week.

You can also try tipping your head slightly towards floor to increase resonance. Every singer can feel resonance and it’s critical. When you are singing correctly you should always feel the resonance in your face and not much of anything in your throat. With resonance comes control.

If you did feel facial resonance while humming, you can try singing and pick a note in the middle of your range. Try to sing it without vibrato and strive for a clean, non airy tone. Again try slowly shaking your head from side to side if the sound is airy or you don’t feel resonance.

If you do, gradually sing lower and lower notes. Notice that your volume will drop as you descend, but you should still feel that vibration and the tone should remain clear. It’s much easier to feel resonance and control on closed vowels.

This may sound overly controlled to you but it will help you strengthen your low end. If you can sing the whole chorus and feel resonance throughout, try it again in a lower key. Repeat this until you reach the lowest part of your range. If any time you feel the sound in your throat or you have lost control of the note as it weakens, wobbles or gets airy, move back to a higher key.

If you are singer, doing singing voice training this with your mouth closed lessens the drying affect of the extra air passing over your vocal chords, but even do, don’t overdo it just prior singing. Now whichever relaxation methods you try, make sure to set aside the time to do it. Now if you want some more information on examining your singing goals then please visit here.