so i practiced as much as i could in the car to and from work/gym and since then every so often
you can see how high i managed to extend my range to . it's a INSANE improvement in range since 6 months ago. like i wouldn't have said it was possible but very gradually it's happening. i had a breakthrough last week which is helping me "relax down into higher notes" instead of tightening up into them
the video clip below is 20 mins of various songs, recorded after warming up and after having some pain killers which relaxed me a lot and also helped with range shit i think.
the good news is i know how to improve, really. continue to improve range and also practice singing note by note without the music, which will let me nail notes. because clearly i am not nailing most of them even when i think i am.
being able to sing without the music is insanely hard but i think that should be the standard goal from now on (rather than just singing along willy nilly). so, my sessions should be more like, listen to 5 seconds of the song, turn it off and try to replicate and practice that perfectly, repeat.
it's pretty painful to hear that i am really this bad still. it's understandable for all the parts where i'm maxing my range (a lot of parts), but for the rest? i mean, it's just shitty to be so bad at everything. why am i such a shitty person? i don't know.
"i honestly can't understand how someone can be this bad at singing (even after so much casual practice)."
This is your biggest problem. Stop the ridiculous "casual practice". You're fooling yourself. You're singing in your car? Wow, okay... Start real practice instead. Learn to hear if you're singing in tune. Learn to sing in tune. Learn to "let go" and fully use your voice. You sound like you're holding back soooo much. It makes your voice sound squeeky. Stop holding back.
Don't sing to other people's music. You're subconsciously copying the artist, which sounds terrible, as can be heard in this video. Instead, be yourself and let your own soul open up. Let it out. Learn to let go and USE YOUR VOICE.
Tnx for the words buddy. By no means did i think it would be ridiculous that my "casual practice" would still leave me this bad. in my experience people are generally pretty okay at singing , like, naturally, rather than being obnoxiously shit at it by default even after some practice
as for "holding back" in those recordings, that's me at like 90-95%% probably (warmed up, painkillers, no housemates in, music reasonably loud). i can get louder in the car but it's a short drive so i'm not warmed up that much usually. im at my max vocal range in a lot of those parts, also, so im just managing to get it out as i can
On average, people are incredibly bad at singing. There's a few lucky ones that developed a "good ear" at early age. They were lucky. It's rare for people to be able to sing in tune.
Sorry for my previous post. It was really harsh.
I recommend downloading a "guitar tuner", so you get some objective feedback for how in tune you sing. It'll take lots of passion and many hours to learn to sing. Imagine you wanted to learn a new language. Imagine you wanted to learn chinese. How much practice would you need? Singing is the same.
When I say "don't hold back", I don't necessarily mean to say that you should sing as loud as you can. This could be dangerous to your voice. Singing should feel rather relaxed...
You actually gave a great example when you explained how you were able to reach higher notes by relaxing. That's pretty much what I mean.
In the same sense, you can also have a full voice without pushing too hard, you know?
my only experience with other people singing is like, "oh my girl friend sings amazingly ", "oh my coworker girl at work sings amazingly" , "oh my best friend is a really good singer" , "oh my other best friend is also a great singer" and "oh the 12 yr old girl in the car is singing to the radio like a goddamn pro" .
that, and "holy shit my dad and sister are terrible at singing. it must be genetic and also because we dont sing in our mildly conservative household, like many other people probably do"
so my personal awareness on the matter is "most people sing pretty well naturally, and i also should be able to with a bit of catch-up time".
so , that's just what my perspective has been . maybe its whatever bias, like "people who play the guitar are really amazing at playing the guitar" because you only hear the good ones because the shit ones never get it out
On February 08 2017 06:49 beg wrote: Right, mate. Only the "already decent singers" will ever sing in front of you
Or the really drunk ones
But yea, I think much of it is practicing smart. Singing along to songs in the car is admittedly fun; but as a form of practice it's borderline useless. Probably about as effective for improving singing as going to the golf course and hitting a bag of of balls on the driving range as fast as possible with no goal would be for improving your golf swing.
The car is doubly bad because the acoustics in a car are really bad. It's too small of a space and everything becomes muddied, which means your feedback isn't going to be accurate to how you would sound in any "normal" space outside a car.
Singing is extra specially tricky because you can't hear yourself properly in real time, and because it's such a subjective and sensation based activity. Play the violin or guitar and you can physically manipulate and see the position of your fingers, hands, bow, etc. It's easy to know what's going on.
Honestly, in my experience it's really difficult to make progress without a teacher. I've made a little bit over the past year or two...but not much. Looking forward to when I have my own place and can practice properly without subjecting everyone in the apartment complex, and can get proper lessons for good feedback. Everyone can learn to sing, but it's very tricky without good help if you're not one of those people that naturally makes pleasing sounds and has an ear for pitch.
Might post something up tomorrow of my attempts just for the hell of it if I get the time.
I like singing as well, and I actually took lessons (for ~9 months). My teacher was not famous by any means, but a really good singer. She graduated observatory, and has ~20 years of experience singing with orchestra and chorus. One of the coolest people I've met.
Every lesson started with warm-up exercises. I grew to appreciate these after a while. And singing every day also helps. Muscles that control singing can become stronger/more elastic and you get more control over them as you practice.
The problem with me is that I'm very shy, and it is hard for me to talk in front of people, let alone sing. I improved beyond what I hoped while I had lessons, but I have been abroad for more than a year and have not practiced at all since then. And I'm not good by any means. But I got my comfortable range to 2.5 octaves, and I learnt to sing falsetto, which is super cool. And I was able to sing full songs without missing notes. One of the most fun things I have done in my life.
And I have no musical education, I can't even read sheet music.
And it is one of the things that I will get back to. Because singing is great! :D
Good luck with your efforts, FFGenerations and l_master
EPT
