Here we want to guide you on how to sing without tension. As practice has shown, you cannot go far in nature alone.
It would help if you had the right vocal preparation. It is especially true for breathing exercises and correct chants.
Without practicing since childhood, the lack of equipment, skills, and professional stretching can cause stress while singing.
Practice our six exercises to sing right and develop a beautiful voice!
How To Sing Without Tension?
The human voice is wonderful, but it has limitations. When you force your voice to perform something, it isn’t used to. You get vocal strain.
If you want to learn how to sing without straining, here are six exercises that we’ll go over today:
#1. Set A Correct Posture
Improper posture affects the voice as an additional barrier that inhibits the release of air and sound. The bent position of the body provokes hypertonicity of the muscles involved in the respiratory and sound-generating process.
Suppose you deflect the lumbar portion of the spine, the abdominal muscles contract. The ribs spread when the singer takes a deep breath, and the diaphragm expands. It creates an air reserve for holding the breath at the lowest point of the vocal support.
The curvature of the thoracic spine affects the diaphragm and the ability to sing while holding the breath. Tense muscles squeeze the chest resonators, the lowest point of voice pivot shifts. It prevents the vocalist from mastering diaphragmatic breathing and using the lower resonators.
When the neck is bent (retracted), the larynx and lower jaw muscles help keep the heat in the spine. These same muscles are necessary for singing using the upper, otherwise head, resonators.
When you tilt the head, the sound loses its volume, becomes pinched. The double load on the muscular system does not allow the air ducts to take the correct position for the free passage of the sound wave.
When the spine is in the proper position, each joint bears the same weight, and the muscles are not overworked. Ideal Posture conserves muscle reserves for free Breathing and smooth passage of sound.
The strength’s basis and the sound’s duration of a voice are singing breathing. Correct body position helps keep the air inside for a long time and supply it to voice communications.
The following is a definition of good posture:
- the back is straight;
- pull the stomach in;
- straighten your shoulders;
- the clavicle and shoulder blades are on the same line;
- the neck is straight;
- the head continues the straight vertical line of the back;
- direct the gaze forward;
- straighten the joints of the lower extremities.
With correct posture, the voice flows freely and sounds harmonious.
#2. Diaphragmatic Breathing
It would help if you did breathing exercises two times a day, no longer than 10 minutes in one lesson.
- You should start training with exercises in a lying position, move to other positions only as you master the technique.
- It is advisable to train outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.
- It is important to monitor your breathing rhythm.
- You should measure the exhalation and inhalation while the exhalation is always longer than the inhalation.
You can achieve the positive effect of training by tightening the muscles in the abdominal region to check the correct execution technique. It would help if you did not draw the abdomen in since breathing to the upper chest.
The second important step in proper breathing is to relax the diaphragm. In a relaxed state, the muscle naturally takes up the correct position.
It is achievable under the only condition: you feel the work of the muscle, understand its structure and function, and can consciously control it.
Exercise 1:
- Take a lying position in a comfortable position, eyes closed, body as relaxed as possible.
- Place your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your belly near the navel.
- Breathe in, breathe in medium depth and exhale longer than inhalation.
- The right hand is the control one. During the exercise, only it should move. The left hand should be motionless.
- Ensure that both bloating and retraction of the abdomen during the exercise are due to air movement.
- Muscles should be minimally involved in the inhalation process and not involved in exhalation.
Back exercises are good for beginners. They can help you start rebuilding your breathing habits, accustom your muscles and organs to the correct position.
Exercise 2:
- Sit in a comfortable chair to relax and close your eyes.
- Breathe in the same way as in the lying exercise, but without arms.
- It would help if you rounded the abdomen. The chest does not move, Breathing is even, rhythmic, of medium depth.
- Exhale strictly by relaxing the diaphragm.
- You should breathe like this for 15-20 minutes.
- Stop the exercise if you experience discomfort such as disorientation, dizziness, nausea.
Dog breath:
This exercise gives the most intense load on the respiratory organs. You should perform it last when the first two exercises are already well worked out.
It is the only one that allows you to breathe via your mouth during all the exercises. The lesson aims to learn to feel the diaphragm and control the respiratory process.
- Get on all fours with your back straight, your neck continuing the line of your spine.
- Relax your abdominal muscles.
- Breathe quickly and rhythmically through your mouth, watch the muscles work.
- Exercise with a book
The book has a weight in this workout. It strengthens and controls the abdominal muscles over the accuracy of the breathing process due to the pressure.
The exercise itself is no different from the first: in the position on the back, only place a book on the stomach instead of a hand.
Lie on your back, breathe with the book, trying not to drop it from your stomach, watch the immobility of your chest.
#3. Tension Relief Exercises
If you do not relax, it will be a problem. So, whenever you feel stiff, try the following exercises.
Relax your neck:
With gentle movements, turn your head in a circle, first to the right and then to the left.
Gently lower the lower jaw downward and then return it to its place. Do the exercise smoothly.
Open your mouth as wide as possible and relax your muscles.
Pull your lips with a tube, move them to the left and right, rotate in a circle.
Move your tongue:
Roll your tongue up, take the shape of a bath, lift the sidewalls and the tip.
Open your mouth, tongue, touch the upper palate away from the front teeth.
Rhythm, dancing, fitness, sports:
That’s what will also help you. In general, do your best to learn how to relax your body! Breathe deeply and relax mentally.
#4. Sing With An Open Throat
A vocal yawn or half-yawn is not the same as the yawn we are accustomed to.
The vocalist does not yawn when singing but correctly puts the larynx, tongue, lower jaw, and soft palate.
To understand how to achieve the above effect, try the following exercises in front of a mirror:
- open and close your mouth several times sharply, focusing on the work of each muscle;
- open your mouth as wide as possible, fix this position, and yawn, remembering the sensations during the yawn;
- repeating the previous point, say without a voice, in a whisper sound [a], and then try to sing.
If the exercises work out correctly, you will sing the sound [a] with your open throat. Remember this feeling, fix the position of the speech organs in your memory.
Practice chanting other vowel sounds as well. The purpose of the exercises is to learn to “put” the larynx in the desired position automatically, without tension.
An open throat is only one condition for free singing of high notes. It’s also necessary to control your posture, head position, and breathing. Otherwise, you will not be able to sing beautifully. Slouching will reduce chest resonance.
Trying to lift your chin, pulling high notes, will only narrow the lumen of the larynx. Exhaling too hard will over-strain the vocal cords, negating efforts to “open” the throat.
Therefore, it is useful to attend vocal classes with an experienced teacher to ensure that the muscles’ wrong position does not become fixed or a habit.
#5. Chant Quickly Before The Show
If you only have five to ten minutes before a concert, the system’s main thing is. Please choose the effective chants for yourself in advance and always use them.
Start by breathing:
Calm him down and tone him up. One breathing exercise is enough.
Do a comprehensive exercise for diction and range. An exercise on the sound “m” helps to chant quickly. It would help if you hummed, found the upper resonator, hummed with almost no voice, got distracted from the technical part, and “caught” this sound.
Try your voice on a portion of the piece:
We do not recommend singing the whole piece so as not to “burn out”. High-quality voice training for vocals does not require overstrain. Save all your emotions for the performance.
#6. Vocal Exercises For Increasing The Range
This collection contains both popular chanting exercises and new, unusual ones. To begin with, tune in to singing, think of something good, let go of unpleasant thoughts.
Immediately after completing the exercises to warm up your voice in the chromatic scale from the middle of the range to the upper and lower limits, you can proceed to the following:
Melodic exercise “MI-and-and-and-I-a-A”:
You need to perform the chant according to the first five sounds of the major scale. For example, according to “do-re-mi-fa-Sol-mi-do”, the long sound “and” gradually brings to the top – the sound “I” – which should sound like a springboard, from which “a-a” “rolls out”.
Hey Hey:
Exercise for the delivery of a sound stream. Play the energetic sound “hey” with the sounds of a major triad, for example: “do-mi-sol-mi-sol-mi-do”.
It is important here to monitor the same sound flow, energetic movements of the abdominal muscles. Avoid clamps in the throat: the sound flies far and freely if you do everything correctly.
Singing a scale of one octave:
Singing a scale of one octave with the names of the notes or to any vowel sound. Ensure that the larynx remains below when climbing up when doing the exercise.
Then there will be no tension. Otherwise, the sound will remain on the ligaments. Practice some vocal exercises with this video:
Closing Points
You don’t need to worry about how to sing without tension from now on.
Correct posture, diaphragmatic breathing, and opening your throat are just a few of the many ways you can help with the problem.
You can always seek some helpful advice to help with your singing overall. Check out some of these top online singing instructions on our site to find the perfect program to improve your singing!
