Singing Guides and Resources

The way singing works is that you breathe air from your diaphragm through your vocal cords and out your mouth. The air makes your vocal cords vibrate which produces a sound which is then shaped by your mouth, tongue and jaw.

The way you produce different pitches also has to do with the way your vocal cords are shaped when the air passes through. These cords are essentially a muscle and can be contracted and released to produce various pitches and sounds.

Yes, absolutely. Your vocal tone and style is something that happens naturally, but the techniques great singers use to perform on a top level can be learned. But the important thing to know is that practice is what will actually make you a better singer. You have to learn the techniques, but you won’t get any better until you put them into practice on your voice. It’s the boring practice that really changes your ability to sing correctly. Check out our favorite singing lessons guide above for a great selection of the best ways to really improve your voice.

Yes singing can cause enlarged or swollen lymph nodes, vocal nodes or a sore throat – especially when using incorrect technique (breathing, posture, etc). That’s why it’s extremely important to not push your voice too far – if you feel any pain STOP immediately. You should never have to strain to hit any notes. If you find yourself straining, you need more training and practice. You don’t want to ruin your voice and cause lasting damage. Also remember to always warm up properly before singing anything, even during practice.

Singing does use up quite a bit of energy. Aside from the performance aspect (you’ll burn calories by dancing, running or jumping during a performance), singing does burn calories. A 150 pound person would burn 140 calories or so if they stood up and sang for an hour straight. It goes down to 100 calories per hour if you’re sitting and singing. So it’s probably not the best use of your time or energy if you’re just trying to lose weight. But hey, dance around and sing and you’ll get some pretty good cardio out of it!

Yes, to a certain extent singing can be helpful for relieving anxiety for some. It can help you reduce stress or improve your mood. According to Time Magazine, singing may actually release endorphins that are associated with feeling good. It’s also thought that it can stimulate the release of oxytocin – the same chemical that makes you feel good when you hug someone. Oxytocin is known to help relieve anxiety and stress.

Actually, yes, the human voice is able to break glass. But it’s extremely difficult. It requires an extremely loud and powerful voice and the ability to sing at a frequency that matches the resonant frequency of the glass. Trained opera singers are able to sing 100 db (120 db would make your ears hurt badly). And if their pitch range is large enough to hit that super high frequency, they may break nearby glass. But if the conditions aren’t exactly right the glass will just reflect the energy back into the room.

A run is a fast series of sung notes that are either ascending or descending (or both) in a particular musical scale. It’s used to add embellishment, emotion and energy to a performance. Think of when you hear singers like Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey sing fast ascending or descending notes during the high-energy moments of a song. Runs are also called “melisma’s” in music theory.

Music in general has many health benefits – especially when concerning mental health. Singing is also great for mental health. It’s known to relax you and release chemicals associated with feel good and reducing anxiety, stress and depression. On the physical side of things, standing up and singing can burn 140 calories an hour. Add in the fact that if you’re really into the song you may be dancing along with it, giving you a pretty good cardio workout.

There are a few things that affect how you perceive your voice when you’re singing in the shower. If you’re taking a hot shower, then the air is much moister (and heavier) than normal, so your voice is travelling through that air before it reaches your ears. Of course, you hear yourself inside your head too, which is why most people don’t like hearing themselves on a recording. But beyond all that, the acoustics in bathrooms are very distinct, and you voice reflects and echoes off those hard surfaces. Those reflections from all the surfaces add a certain characteristic to your voice. That’s likely why you prefer hearing yourself sing in the shower.

The first thing you need to do is learn the proper techniques to singing. Then it’s a matter of practicing those techniques. There are many different exercises that you can use to tackle each area of singing. Most practice sessions for singers involve doing a warm-up then several sets of exercises that help you sing different sounds and hit different notes. And you have to do it daily. Some exercises will also help your vocal dexterity and other areas of singing. Check out our “How to Sing better” guide above for a complete practice plan!

You may be surprised to learn that not all singers write their own songs. And oftentimes even if they do, it might be a collaborative process. Not all singers are songwriters and not all songwriters are singers. But every songwriter has their own process for how they come up with their songs. Some freestyle lyrics or melody ideas and string things together for various sections of the song, others may do things differently. Check out our section on Songwriting to learn more!

To maintain your singing voice, you need to incorporate good habits into your lifestyle and performances. Never sing without warming up your voice. Don’t strain your voice often by yelling. Stay well hydrated all the time. Drink warm liquids to help sooth your throat. Stay away from things that can affect your voice – caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, etc. Take care of yourself and you’ll also take care of your voice.

When you see a singer wearing headphones it can be for a few reasons. If they are in the studio recording it’s to hear the music they are singing over and to get a better idea of how their voice is actually sounding through the microphone. We hear ourselves differently through our skulls. Your recorded voice will sound different to you the first time you hear it. If the singer is performing it’s a similar reason – often it’s hard to hear the music and your own voice through the speakers when you’re on stage. That can cause performance issues. Having an earpiece helps you hear exactly what the audience is hearing.

It’s very difficult to hit every pitch you’re singing spot-on. You may be extremely close, but you’re probably not hitting the EXACT note. There is often some flatness or sharpness to a singer’s pitch. Autotune is a pitch correction software that can help the notes be closer to the exact pitch the singer is trying to hit. If you use it too heavily, you get the robot-style sound as an effect. If you use it lightly, it will nudge your voice towards the pitch center of the note you’re trying to hit.

Not all singers lose their accent when singing. But some are able to sing like their favorites/influences that may not have an accent to begin with. Also, when you’re singing you often pronounce words differently than when you’re speaking. The way in which you pronounce the sung word can make it seem like you no longer have an accent.

The way you hear and perceive your own voice is quite different than how other people hear you. That’s why people often get surprised the first time they hear their own voice in a recording. Holding one ear when singing can alter the way you hear yourself through your skull. Also, if there is music playing along with the singer, holding one ear can help you hear yourself better so you know you’re hitting the proper notes. The music may be loud and drowning out your voice to yourself.