How to Sing FAQ

Over the years, many amateur singers come up to me and ask me some great questions about learning how to sing. A lot of times these questions are repeated in some other way or fashion and I decided to create this Frequently Asked Questions section to help out. Most likely your questions about how to sing will be found in this area. However if you feel that there are some important questions that I have not yet covered about how to sing in this area, please feel free to email me at info@learn-how-to-sing.info and I will review it and post it here along with the answer.

Remember, these questions have more to do with amateur vocal students with an interest to learn how to sing. Advanced questions about singing techniques may be already covered in the learn to sing information section of this website where I have listed several singing articles covering basic fundamentals on how to sing properly.

Q. How can I get rid of the cracks and breaks I have in my singing voice when singing high notes?

A. There are different reasons why your voice is cracking. First of all you may be trying to hit notes that you are not conditioned to hit at this point in your singing career. AS your singing training continues, you develop a higher vocal range and this problem goes away.

Another reason why your singing voice cracks when singing higher is what we call a voice disconnect. The disconnect can be either between your chest voice and falsetto voice or head voice. What you want to do is try to achieve a mixture of these two singing voices. This blend of singing voices is called the mix voice.

A really good exercise that you can perform to work on your mix voice is to sing up until your crack or break in your singing occurs. Go ahead and drop down a few notes and try singing again but this time in a whimpering voice using the word 'nay' as you gently go up in your range. By maintaining a slight crying sound you will notice the tone climbing up behind your soft palate and establishing itself into your head voice without breaking. While it is obvious that this singing exercise is hard to teach without you actually being infront of me and using your ears to notice the examples, go ahead and try your best performing this exercise to try getting rid of your cracks and breaks in your singing.

Q. Is it safe to sing with a sore throat?

A. I get this questions all the time. It is rather absurd for one to think that a sore throat will not affect your singing. Singing with a sore throat will not only affect the quality of your voice but can ultimately damage your vocal chords. I wrote an article in more detail about this situation. You can find it here:
singing with a sore throat.

Q. I've heard that power singing is bad for your vocal chords. As a rock singer I am afraid of these rumors. Are they true?

A. Ah, the old Rock n Roll singer's dilemma. To scream or not to scream? Ok, first let me point out that singing with power ultimately brings upon some hardships if done incorrectly. An untrained power singer will usually suffer from laryngitis, sore throats, horasness and strain and even a loss of high range. Sometimes they will suffer from having to clear their throats frequently throughout the day.

There are some precautions that you can take to avoid these setbacks. For instance, stay away from cigarrettes or clubs where smoking is allowed. Try not to drink alcohol or use drugs. Sometimes a poor PA system set up or problems with monitors can cause you to over strain your voice. Other times it is simply the wrong choice of microphone for your voice that does the damage.

Ofcourse there is more to protecting your voice than just practicing good habits. You need to get yourself a really good learn to sing software or professional singing voice coach you will teach you the different ways of generating sound and how the different amounts of air that you use in your singing can affect the power and range you safely put out.

Q. What are some good dieting tips for ultimate singing voice?

A. This question is overlooked by many beginners and is only asked to me by singers that have been training their voice for a while already. For those of you who don't know, the diet that you follow has a great impact on your singing voice. It is recommended to stay away from any types of foods or drinks that will dry up your throat. Dairy products such as milk and ice cream are horrendous for your singing voice because they build up mucous and flem. Smoking cigarrettes and drinking alcohol is a no no and can lead to damaging your voice and lose your higher registers.

Try to stick with a healthy diet consisting of whole grains and wheat items, fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water, atleast 2 liters a day or a gallon at best.