Posture – Posture is important for singing. Make sure you are standing with your legs at hip width apart, chest opened up to give your lungs plenty of room, and shoulder blades sitting flat on your back. Your knees should be soft with your body standing straight, pulling up through the spine. You will notice a big difference in the amount of air flow you can produce when you are singing with the correct posture.
Breathing – Breathing is key to creating a good supported sound. Singing is dependent on how well we are breathing and in order to breath correctly, we need to train our muscles. Diaphragmatic breathing is very important for a singer. Practicing breathing exercises can help you develop more capacity and stamina and let you sustain longer notes for a greater period of time. Any strain from singing too loudly is usually because you aren’t supporting your voice well enough with your breath.
Drink lots of water – Singing is correlated with your mucous membranes, and they function the best when your body is well hydrated. Keeping your voice lubricated is very important.
Relax – Muscle tension in the tongue, throat or facial area causes weak tone and resonance in the voice. A proper body warm up which includes the facial muscles and the voice helps ease tension. The more stretched and relaxed you are in your body, the better your sound will be.
Vocal Warm-up – You can start with breath exercises and then move onto to making a sound. Your vocal muscle is like all other muscles in the body, it has muscle memory and needs to be stretched gently before a full work out. The best way to warm up is to gradually increase the intensity of your volume and range.
Don’t strain – When you are singing in the correct positioning, singing should feel effortless. Often singers are working too hard or too little but your voice should never be in any pain. If you feel uncomfortable, stop, take a drink of water and start again. If you feel pain when trying to hit very high or low notes, you should look it whether the notes are in your range.
Tongue position – The tongue plays a bigger role than you probably expect when it comes to vocal tone. Bring your tongue forward and make sure the tip of it is touching the bottom of your teeth. This allows more airspace and should help you produce a more vibrant, resonating sound.
Larynx position – While singing, the larynx constantly moves up and down. When having a conversation with someone, the larynx tends to be relaxed and is stable. The goal is to experiment and be conscious of where you want it be positioned. Ideally you want your larynx stable when you are first starting out, but a more experienced singer will be able to control the degree of movement.
Smile – If you’ve ever noticed a singer smile when they are hitting a really high note, it’s because smiling helps hitting high pitches, as it opens the back of the throat and produces more airflow.
Record yourself – If you don’t like how you sound, it’s normal for your perception to be subjective. Every singer needs to listen and be honest with themselves and put in the practice. As part of your development you can record your performance or just while practicing to determine where you need improvement. It will also be a good way to track your progress and see how far you have come.
How to improve your voice – By practicing! Just like every other workout, you need to train your voice daily. A short daily practice will make your vocal cords stronger. Sing as often and as much as you can. Day by day, your voice will improve. Always keep an eye on your technique so you don’t form bad habits. Make your practice interesting and fun.