TD - Singing

These are some conventions for singing that students follow. You may be writing about a professional singer who doesn't do some of these things. Soloists are more likely to break the rules than choral singers.

Posture
When sitting, don't cross your legs. Rest your feet flat on the floor. If the chair's too tall to let you, get a better chair. Don't lean back on the backrest, and especially, don't slouch. Sit forward in the chair with your back straight.
When standing, keep your feet about shoulder-width apart, flat on the floor. Keep your body straight. Relax your shoulders. As you breathe, try to move them as little as possible.
If you're holding music, hold it up. It needs to be low enough not to block your voice from reaching the audience, but high enough so you can read it without bending your neck down. It's very hard to sing with your neck bent like that.

Breathing
A singer must breathe with his diaphragm, a muscle just below the ribs. This is relaxing and affords the singer more air. When letting out a note, properly tensing his diaphragm will help him control how much air to release over how much time.

Diction
You sing with your vowels. Therefore, you must make your consonants as short, but sharp, as possible. This is especially true for the letter s. If you are singing about silver bells, you are not singing about ssssilver bellsss, and please do not say that it'ssss Chrisssmassss time in the cccity. Please.

Vowels
The five vowel sounds are as follows: ee, ai, ah, oh, oo. To create them, you must hold your mouth and throat a certain way. To create ee, do an open-mouthed grin. For ah, open your mouth wide. For oo, create a small circle with your mouth. As you move between the vowels, your throat gradually becomes more open, with oo requiring the most open throat.
Each vowel sound is associated with a colour. Ee is the brightest, perhaps a yellow or bright green. Oo is the deepest, and can be associated with a deep blue. Some may see it as more of a rich brown. The colour associations differ from person to person, but if you visualize them while you are singing, they may help you add expression or heart to your voice.
Be careful with diphthongs. These are in words where two vowel sounds are placed next to each other with no consonant in between. The unwritten "y" or "w" used for transition between them can be overemphasized. For instance a singer may erroneously pronounce the word sound as sayowund. Likewise, a singer may overemphasize the latter vowel of a diphthong while singing a long note. Try to stick with the first vowel sound of a diphthong, and only pronounce the second vowel sound just enough so the audience knows it's there.

Choral-Specific Techniques
Most choirs are arranged according to the different vocal types. Often, the sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones are in groups.
The different singers in a choir must work to achieve unity in their voices. For example, a woman with an unusually mature female voice may have to work to make it sound lighter in a group of women with different voice types. Also, vibrato is not usually desirable in a choir; either only one person is doing it, which throws her out of synch with the choir, or everybody is vibrating at different speeds.

Exercises For Improving Your Singing
Under construction!

---

Back to...

Technical Details
Writer's Resource