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Pamelia S. Phillips. Singing For Dummies
Singing For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Singing For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Illustrations
Guide
Pages
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond This Book
Where to Go from Here
Exploring Singing Basics
Preparing to Sing
What You Want to Know Right from the Beginning
Determining your voice type
Locating the notes on the staff
Considering posture, breath, and tone
Developing Your Singing Voice
Working the Different Parts of Your Voice
Applying Your Technique
Having Fun
Determining Your Voice Type
Sifting through the Ingredients to Figure Out Your Voice Type
Identifying the Fab Four
Highest range of the dames: Soprano
How low can she go: Mezzo
Highest range of the dudes: Tenor
He’s so low: Bass
VOCAL SUBDIVISIONS
Comparing voice types
At the opera
Not at the opera
Aligning Your Body for Great Singing
Evaluating Your Posture
Creating Ideal Posture
Feeling grounded on your feet
Putting your feet in position
Flexing your ankles
Engaging your legs
Releasing your hips
Lengthening your spine
Balancing your head and shoulders
Releasing Tension
Letting go of tension in your upper body
Opening space in the head
Walking with ease
Projecting confidence through posture
SINGING AND PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT AT THE SAME TIME
Breathing for Singing
Tackling the Basics of Breathing
Inhaling to sing
Exhaling to sing
BREATHING LIKE A BELLOWS
Posturing yourself for breathing
Practicing Inhalation
BREATHING JARGON
Opening your body
Moving back for inhalation
Flexing the ribs
Stretching the sides
Releasing the abs
Breathing, slow and steady
Catching a quick breath
Practicing Exhalation
Blowing in the wind
Trilling for exhalation
Recognizing resistance and suspending the breath
Testing Your Breath Control
Releasing abs and then ribs
Singing slowly
Toning Up the Voice
Defining Tone
Creating unique tone
Identifying factors that affect tone
Considering tone, pitches, and notes
Flexing Your Singing Muscles
Discovering your own bands
Making the first sound
Dropping the jaw
Putting your larynx into position
Finding your larynx
FINDING FRONT SPACE
Dropping your larynx
Matching Pitch
PERFECT AND RELATIVE PITCHES
Sliding up and down on pitch
Developing muscle memory
Recording yourself and singing along
Releasing Tension for Better Tone
Checking for neck or jaw tension
Bouncing the tongue and jaw
Improving Your Singing
Acquiring Beautiful Tone
Creating Tone
Starting the tone
Creating back space
Coordinating air with tone
Sighing your way to clarity
Releasing Tone
Inhaling to release tone
Letting your throat go
Sustaining Tone
Connecting the dots with legato
Trilling the lips or tongue
Working your breath control
Finding Your Vibrato
Moving from straight tone to vibrato
VIBRATO IN DIFFERENT STYLES
Imitating another singer’s vibrato
Exploring Resonance
Understanding Resonance — Good Vibrations
Identifying resonance in different styles of music
RESONANCE: FROM CRYING TO CROONING
Exploring your resonators
Ringing it out
Eliminating Nasality
Getting the feel for soft palate work
Coordinating your soft palate and tongue
Moving air through the nose
Debunking Common Misconceptions
Misconception: Tone resonates in your sinuses
Misconception: You have to place every tone in the same location
Misconception: You’re supposed to keep your tongue completely flat
Misconception: You need to open your mouth as wide as possible
Misconception: The more forward the sound, the better
Misconception: You have to smile to stay on pitch
Shaping Your Vowels for Clarity
SYMBOLS USED FOR PRONUNCIATION
Getting Your Backside into Shape — Back Vowels, That Is
Exploring the shape of back vowels
Lipping around your back vowels
Singing the back vowels
Mastering the Front Vowels
Exploring the shape of front vowels
Speaking the front vowels
Singing the front vowels
MORE THAN JUST A, E, I, O, AND U
SINGING VOWELS IN ENGLISH
Exercising Consonants for Articulation
Saying Voiced and Unvoiced Consonants
Making Tip Consonants
Shaping tip consonants
Working out with D, T, L, N, S, and Z
Trying a TH
Tipping for R
Singing tip consonants
Making Soft Palate Consonants
Shaping soft palate consonants
Singing soft palate consonants
Working Lip Consonants
Shaping lip consonants
Saying P, B, M, W, and WH
Rehearsing with F and V
Singing lip consonants
Working Combination Consonants
Shaping combination consonants
CUTTING OFF A NOTE
Singing combination consonants
Crafting a Practice Routine
Knuckling Down to a Practice Plan
Getting Answers to Your Practicing Questions
“HEY! WILL YA PIPE DOWN?”
Where should I practice?
What’s the best time to practice?
How long should I practice?
What do I need besides my voice?
Warming Up
Stretching to warm up your body
Warming up your voice
Exercising Your Voice
Picking exercises that work for you
Breaking it down
Practicing Correctly
Recording yourself
Applying information and exercises
Using the online tracks to practice exercises
Advanced Techniques to Improve Your Voice
Developing the Parts of Your Singing Voice
Finding Your Middle Voice
Noting your middle voice range
Singing in middle voice
Checking Out Your Chest Voice
Zeroing in on your chest voice range
DISTINGUISHING CHEST VOICE AND BELT
Feeling your chest voice
Aiming High with Head Voice
Finding your head voice range
Feeling head voice
BOBBING FOR PITCHES
Figuring Out Falsetto
Discovering your falsetto
Experiencing your falsetto
Descending from falsetto
Ascending into falsetto
SINGING SONGS THAT USE YOUR FALSETTO
Making a Smooth Transition
Maneuvering in and out of chest voice
Descending from middle voice to chest voice
Ascending from chest voice to middle voice
Transitioning in and out of head voice
Ascending from middle voice to head voice
Descending from head voice to middle voice
Mixing It Up
Making the most of your mix, man
Getting into the mix, gals
MIXERS IN SONG
WICKED HIGH NOTES
Expanding Your Vocal Flexibility and Range
Tackling Register Transitions
Working On Your Range
Taking your range higher
Varying the dynamics
Moving between registers
Taking Your Agility to New Levels
Moving along the scale
Picking up the pace
Skipping through the intervals
Improvising for a Better Pop Sound
Mastering patterns in pop music
Singing pop riffs with chords
It’s a Cinch: Belting Out Your Song
Playing around with Pitch
Talking to yourself
Chanting and speaking
Finding your optimum speaking pitch
Increasing your speaking range
Using body energy to find clarity of tone
Defining Healthy Belting
Comparing belt and chest voice
Knowing your limits as a beginner belter
Noting the difference between the sexes
Women
Men
INTRODUCING MIX BELT
Coordinating breath and energy
Preparing for Belting
Speaking in a mix
Calling out to a friend
Moving Resonance to the Front
Exploring vibrations of resonance
Being bratty to feel resonance
Combining Resonance and Registration
Increasing your belt range
Belting up the scale
Advancing Your Belt
Sustaining belt sounds
Exploring different vowels
Belters and Belt Songs You Should Hear
Male belters
Female belters
Belt songs
IS BELT THE SAME IN ALL STYLES OF MUSIC?
Training for Singing
Defining Training Requirements
Crooning as a country singer
Jazzing it up
Making your mark in musical theater
Performing pop-rock
Opting for opera
Showing your range with R&B
Training to Sing at Any Age
Recognizing differences between young singers and teens
Developing long-term technique in teenagers
Understanding that voices change with age
Training with a Choir
Enjoying the benefits of singing in the choir
Singing in the choir versus going solo
Finding the Right Voice Teacher
Searching for the Best Voice Teacher
Finding a prospective voice teacher
Identifying what you want
Interviewing a prospective teacher
Experience
Education
Music styles
Accompaniment
Location
Cost
Payment policy
Cancellation policy
Knowing What to Expect from a Teacher
Feeling good when you leave the lesson
Working with imagery and other tools
Applying tried-and-true singing methods
Knowing What to Expect from Yourself
Developing your own practice process
Avoiding overworking your flaws
Making Your First Lesson a Success
Preparing to Perform
Selecting Your Music Material
Choosing the Song
Finding songs at your level
Considering your range
Making leaps
Climbing higher
Battling fatigue
Speeding along
Following your accompaniment
Paying attention to detail
Telling a story
Picking up the rhythm
Determining the appropriate key for you
Selecting a suitable song style
Singing to your strengths
Shopping for Sheet Music
Downloading sheet music
Ordering music books
Checking out music at your local library
BACKING TRACKS
Mastering a New Song
Tackling a Song in Steps
Memorizing the lyrics as text
Tapping out the rhythm
Reading the time signature
Knowing how long to hold notes
Singing the melody (without the words)
DEFINING MUSICAL ELEMENTS IN DIFFERENT STYLES
Putting words and music together
Using Vocal Technique in Your New Song
Giving voice to vowels
Singling out one vowel
Streaming through the vowels
MAKING THE SONG YOUR OWN
Backing into phrases
Breathing heavy: Fogging up the windows
Paying attention to punctuation
Catching your breath
Timing your breathing from the beginning
Changing the tone for each section
Using Musical Elements to Create Your Arrangement
Comparing songs
Articulation
Dynamics
Tempo
EXPLAINING PRELUDE, INTERLUDE, AND POSTLUDE
Using vocal variety
Style
Accompanist
Evaluating musical elements
Acting the Song
Seeing the Song As a Story
Chatting it up before you sing
Recognizing musical responses
Accounting for interludes
Exploring Character
Characterizing your character
Discovering your character’s motivation
Planning actions to get something done
Getting Physical
Figuring out where to focus
Gesturing appropriately
TRANSLATING A SONG IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Movin’ and groovin’ with your song
Confronting Your Fear of Performing
Facing the Symptoms
RUNNING IN PLACE SIMULATES ADRENALINE
Alleviating Anxiety through Preparation
Practicing well
Playing to your strengths
Managing your thoughts
Getting up the nerve
Building performance focus
CRACKING ISN’T THE END OF THE WORLD
Performing to Build Confidence
Devising a game plan
Evaluating your performance
Looking at preparation and performance issues
Checking your anxieties
Auditioning a Song
Tailoring Your Audition for Any Venue and Any Style of Music
At the opera
Onstage at the theater
In the club
On television
Choosing Audition Songs to Highlight Your Strengths
Showing versatility
Connecting with the lyrics
Avoiding the wrong audition song
Choosing the key
Making the cut
Marking the music
KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR AUDITIONS
Rehearsing with an accompanist
Taking the lead
Getting help with musical notation
Preparing the Music
Preparing hard copies
Taking digital sheet music
Bringing a recording
Nailing the Audition
Doing your prep work
Dressing in the right outfit
Knowing how to audition online
Greeting the audition accompanist
Acting at the audition
KNOWING WHEN TO HIRE AN AGENT
Preparing mentally
The Part of Tens
Ten Performers with Good Technique
Xiomara Alfaro
Juan Diego Flórez
Lady Gaga
Eddie Kendricks
Bruno Mars
Minnie Riperton
Sofia Shkidchenko
Meryl Streep
Josh Turner
Colm Wilkinson
Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Singing
Is Belting Bad?
What Should I Do If My Voice Feels Off?
How Are an Accompanist, a Coach, and a Voice Teacher Different?
If My Voice Is Scratchy, Do I Have Nodes?
Do I Have to Be Big to Have a Big Voice?
What’s the Best Singing Method?
Do I Have to Speak Italian to Sing Well?
Can I Have a Few Drinks Before the Performance to Calm My Nerves?
Why Can’t I Eat Ice Cream Before I Sing?
How Long Will It Take Me to Learn to Sing?
Ten Tips for Maintaining Vocal Health
Identifying Everyday Abuses
Incorporating Healthy Speech into Your Singing
Knowing When to Seek Help
Staying Hydrated
Getting Plenty of Shut-Eye
Making Sure That You’re Well Nourished
Preventing a Sore Throat or Infection
Medicating a Sore Throat
Protecting a Sore Throat
Keeping Your Emotional Life in Check
Ten Tips for Performing Like a Pro
Rehearsing to Beat the Band
Wearing the Right Ensemble
Finding Your Stance
Singing with a Piano, Organ, or Band
Making Your Entrance
Roping in Your Audience
Ignoring That Mosquito
Handling Those Hands
Using the Mic
Taking Your Bow and Leaving the Stage
Appendixes
Songs to Advance Your Technique
Beginner Songs for Any Voice Type or Gender
Intermediate Songs from Various Styles for Any Voice Type or Gender
Intermediate musical theater songs
Intermediate pop-rock songs
Intermediate country songs
Intermediate classical songs
Songs to Practice Technical Lessons for Any Voice Type or Gender
Spunky songs for practicing articulation and agility
Songs with larger intervals to practice smooth register transitions
Songs to practice breath coordination and legato phrases
Songs to Work on Range and Registers
Songs for low female voices
Songs for low male voices
Songs for higher voices to expand your range for any gender
Songs for lower voices to expand your range for any gender
Songs for Working Mix, Belt, and Falsetto
Female mix songs
Songs for working on male falsetto and mix
Belt songs for higher and lower female voices
Low female voice belt songs
Higher female voice belt songs
About the Online Tracks
Recognizing What’s Available: The Track Listings
Tackling Any Potential Issues
Index. A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z
About the Author
Dedication
Author’s Acknowledgments
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
