What does GOOD singing even sound like?

Have you ever taken a step back and considered what good singing even is?

I mean we all intuitively know when we hear it. You listen to their voice and you’re like damn. They are good!

But what about for those of us who are on the journey of learning to sing.

Wouldn’t it be useful, if we could create an objective way to tell if our singing actually sounds GOOD?

Today I want to introduce you to this idea of singing into the pocket. And how this has become a staple for me and my students to assess whether we actually sound good.

I’ll break it down into 3 simple areas so you know exactly is you SOUND good or not.

Make sure to stay to the end because I’ll show you exactly how to use this in your own practice.

Real quick! For those of you who don’t know me. My name is Ivan, I love making music and also teaching singing to students all around the world. On this newsletter my goal is to make learning to sing simple. If that’s up your lane, consider subscribing. If you want to improve your voice faster, check out the links down below for ways to work with me

If you want to inspire our next episode! Drop in the comments below what you want me to talk about next.

First of all, when I mean good sounding singing. I’m not talking about good vocal technique. In fact I need to tackle a misconception.

Whilst technique is incredibly important, it does not always equal to aesthetic singing. Especially in the context of pop music.

You can have not the cleanest technique but still sound good to most ears. And likewise you can have great technique but sound terrible as a singer. Technique rather is a tool to help you make those sounds easier.

I used to record my vocals and whilst my technique was largely there. On listening back, I would still sound quite amateur.

And I often wondered, why was this?

I’d work on my technique for so long. I’d done a bunch of vocal exercises. I’ve taken so many lessons.

There must have been something that i’ve been missing.

And I was…

You see, learning to sound good in a song. Is not just about hitting the notes. There’s more to it. Great singers have developed this skill of singing into the pocket. There’s a small space that your voice can fit into the pocket of the music.

And when you can get all of these in control! You will sound good.

Now what determines this pocket? There are 3 simple areas.

The first one is pitch.

This one is obvious. If you’re not on pitch and singing the right notes.

There is just no way you can sound good.

Something will always sound funny.

Now what a lot of people don’t recognise, is that to sing on pitch. There’s a lot going behind the scenes.

There’s a mixture of musicality which is hearing the music and being able to internally hear the melody. But then there’s also have the vocal control to sing it accurately.

How can you develop your pitch?

We’re not going to do a deep dive on this. But I would highly recommend going through some of our previous episodes. Especially episode 118.

The second piece of singing into the pocket is timing

This one is less noticeable, but so many singers neglect this.

For those of you who aren’t familiar.

It basically means singing the right notes at the RIGHT time.

Music has a sense of rhythm with it. This is what gives it a sense of flow and storytelling.

How?

Try getting a feel of the beat of the song. You can try clapping your hands or counting. You can even try listening to the beat of the song. I’ll be creating a new tutorial next week that will go into even more in depth. So if that is up your lane. Make sure to hit that subscribe button.

The last piece of the puzzle here is vocal colour

And I know this, because I’ve had plenty of people reach out and ask me.

Why do singing teachers sound so bad when they sing a song? I mean surely they are hitting the right notes and hitting them on time.

The reason is HOW you hit them matters. Pitch and timing is just one element of the voice. There are so many other nuances.

For example,

1. How strong are you singing?

2. What sort of expression are you using?

3. Are you finishing of the notes with vibratos or some runs?

All of these illustrate that there’s more to great singing than being technically on pitch/time.

This is also what makes singing so fun! Because you get to explore all these different vocal colours.

How do we actually apply this concept?

The easiest way I’ve found for myself and my clients is working through a song line by line.

You can record it like I have here, and even do it with the original music.

Your goal is to work through each line and achieve the 3 areas we’ve talked about. Make sure you’re on pitch first, then on time and then decide the vocal colours that sound good to your ears.

Yes I know it might feel tedious, but it’ll give you the space to actually notice what is going on.

Even when I record my own songs, sometimes it’ll take me up to 60 takes just to get things going. But that’s often because I have to come up with the right melody and flow too.

When you do this line by line to the best of your ability. Try to then sing the song once through and notice the difference.

That’s a wrap

If you found value from this episode team, I’d appreciate it if you could leave a review or shout-out this podcast on your Instagram story. This would really mean the world to me and help my message reach more people.

If you feel stuck! Reach out for a voice lesson or check out the links down below for more. You don’t have to figure it out on your own.

Thanks for joining me! I'm Ivan - your voice teacher. See you next Thursday/Friday for our weekly tutorial.

Extra Links/Resources

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🌍 Step By Step Singing Course: https://www.singingsimply.com/courses/singing-fundamentals 

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