Are You Singing With Good Vocal Technique? 5 Quick and Easy Vocal Checks

Here are some quick, down-to-earth, immediately applicable set of singing tips today:  Five vocal technique checks you can do to make sure you're singing with good technique, and not making some of the most common mistakes that beginning singers make.

1 - Is your larynx moving up and down?

Check that your larynx is not moving up and down as you sing higher and lower.  It should stay in the same place.  It's your vocal cords that create higher and lower pitches, not changes in your larynx position.

2 - Is your throat tight?

Place a hand around your throat, thumb on one side, fingers on the other.  Sing.  Do you feel muscles in your throat getting tight?  You don't want that.  Again, just your vocal cords should be working, not all the surrounding muscles.

3 - Is your hyoid tense?

Stick a thumb up under your chin while you sing.  Right there behind the front of your jawbone, where it's soft.  Is that tight?  It shouldn't be (except as you form some consonants).

4 - Are you making faces?

Get out a mirror.  Watch yourself sing.  Are you squinting, grimacing, making tense faces?  Making faces ain't gonna help the sound come out any easier.  Practice singing without making faces.

5 - Is your mouth open or closed?

Your mouth is literally part of your instrument.  When you sing, you form the sound that comes out by shaping your mouth.  You muffle and flatten your sound when you sing with your mouth closed.  Look in that mirror again.  How far are you really opening your mouth?  You may not be opening nearly as far as you think when you sing.

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(c) 2009 Adrienne Osborn

Adrienne Osborn is a vocalist and performance coach based in Colorado.   For more free articles and tips, visit http://PerformanceHigh.net.