Improve your vocals with less confusion (Singing Lessons For Beginners)

Let’s face it. There’s more information on learning to sing than ever thanks to the internet.

But is this a good thing or a bad thing?

So many of us on this journey trying to get better. We spend more time feeling confused than actually making progress.

Now if this feels like it’s you, today I’m not going to share with you a voice tip. I’m not going to share with you a voice hack that promises to change your voice.

Rather I want to go deeper. I want to share with you a roadmap on how to approach this issue.

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.

Step 1) Stop chasing surface level tips/hacks

Now I need to call this out. I don’t think this applies to everyone, but because I know there’s probably a few of you. Since this happened to me.

Some of you might be caught up in this.

You’re consuming all these content about learning to sing.

You’re watching every little singing tip/hack to improve your voice.

But what happens is you start to latch onto each video.

Thinking that this might be the solution to your voice. Thinking this is “next” thing your voice needs that will solve it.

And it might actually even make your singing a bit easier. But you still get this sense that there’s something not quite working right. And you might feel like you’re going around in cricles.

So what’s the issue?

The problem here with chasing tips/tricks is that you’re really tackling singing at a surface level. And this can be really helpful especially for someone who’s already developed most of their voice correctly and just needed a little nudge.

But if you find yourself just feeling frustrated, and like you’re just circling around a deeper problem which is why you might be watching. You might actually be.

Now the other issue is overwhelm.

Unfortunately more isn’t always better. Too much information is a real thing. Sometimes the more knowledge we pick up. The more confusing singing can get. And because of this, we feel more paralysed than empower by the information.

So if you’re noticing that you’re constantly chasing surface level tricks with singing OR maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed. What can you do?

Step 2) Study fundamentals.

Whenever I’ve dived into a new area or field. I personally have found there are always a few key principles that drive results.

And it’s incredibly important for us to weave through the noise/distraction if we want to see real results.

For example, say you’re trying to build a better body. There are so many of us who struggle to see results, because we get distracted by the surface level things. There’s all these different equipments, exercises, diets, ways of training that you can optimise for.

But if we weave through the noise. For the majority of people what drives most of the results is focusing on a few key principles

1. Get stronger at key lifts.

2. Eat a slight surplus or deficit if you’re building muscle or losing fat. That’s it.

I personally believe this applies to singing too.

Sure there is a lot of different techniques, ways of learning/breaking down the voice. But if we weave through the noise, I personally think there are 2 fundamentals that you have to master.

• How do I change pitch without anything else changing? (Stretch the vocal folds)

• How do I change volume without anything else changing? (Connecting the vocal folds)

Think of it like this. If you can get better at executing these 2 things by engaging ONLY the correct muscles and to do them CONSISTENT and ACCURATELY. Most of the issues you might be facing. Strain, can’t hit the high notes, voice sounds weak. They are just signs that you need have better control of your voice at this fundamental level.

Now don’t take my word for it. I want you to try working at the voice from this angle. Challenge it. Find your own source of truth. Maybe you can find something even more fundamental. I’ve shared some tutorials on this podcast that go into more depth. Have a browse through it.

Ultimately, I’m just trying to encourage this.

If you’re feeling confused, overwhelmed about singing. Come back to this 80/20 principles. If you just got good at a few key principles, studying these fundamentals. You will build a much better voice than doing countless techniques/exercise.

So how do we study and master these fundamentals?

Step 3) You need to observe the right sensations for the fundamentals

Because we can’t see the voice and whether you’re actually using the muscles to change pitch and dynamics easily.

We have to rely on sensations, on mental models that are basically our best guesses that the muscles are doing the right things. I think this is where so many of the different “techniques” or “approaches” come in.

But these sensations can also differ between people. Or at least people can describe them differently.

Now of course, this is usually where I help my students. But you can start to explore and figure it out yourself.

If for the next month, you can come to your practice each sessions each day and just focus on

1) What sensations do I notice at the moment that allow me to just change pitch easily WITHOUT anything else changing? What does the stretch of the vocal folds feel like to me?

2) What sensations do I notice at the moment that allows me to just change dynamics easily WITHOUT anything else changing? What does it feel like to connect the cords easily?

Just keep an open mind, observe and have a guess!

When you feel like you have a good guess. Drill them through scales to where you can execute them more autonomously.

Now of course. Even with the best ideas/strategies singing can be notoriously tricky. Sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re doing it right without getting good objective feedback.

So if you’re really feeling stuck, don’t spend years trying to figure this out on your own. Sometimes all it takes is a couple of weeks/months to get the ball rolling. So if this is you. I want to work with you! (LINK DOWN IN THE DESCRIPTION)

Anyway! That’s all. If you found this episode useful, please share or give it 5 star wherever you’re listening from. This really helps spread the word and means the world to me. Take care!

Extra Links/Resources

🌍 Book Private Singing Lessons here: https://calendly.com/singingsimply 

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

🌍 Stream my music: https://linktr.ee/singingsimply

🌍 Business/other inquiries: [email protected]