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I wrote last month about the importance of keeping your head on straight when singing. In order to do this you also must keep the rest of the body in alignment. Once you get the body in alignment and the head on straight you are then ready to start learning how to sing. Over the forthcoming months I will be covering BREATHING TECHNIQUE, TONE PLACEMENT, ENUNCIATION, REST, WARMUPS, PRACTICE TECHNIQUE AND OTHER AREAS OF VOCAL TECHNIQUE. THERE IS ALOT MORE TO SINGING THAN JUST STANDING UP AND LETTING IT FLY, IF YOU INTEND TO DO IT VERY LONG IN YOUR LIFE, AND PRESERVE YOUR VOICE. If you intend to sing professiionally, and sing for a long period of your life, you will need to constantly be paying attention to each of these area in your practice sessions and warmup sessions, as well as ON THE STAGE. This goes for those who are just starting, and for those of us who have been doing it awhile. It is very easy to go back to bad habits, if we don't consciously watch how we are singing on a regular basis. I recommend to practice singing a song and your warmups at least once or twice a week in front of a mirror and watch your posture closely to analyze how you feel when you are doing it correctly and to duplicate that feeling in your body when you are singing on stage, if you are already a professional singer. If you are just starting, you will need to practice warmups and a song in front of a mirror every day to watch for your errors and correct them immediately.

I would like to continue to address the area of correct POSTURE. The first thing to approace is HOW YOU STAND. You need to stand upright and not slump when you are singing. That means that your legs, spine, neck and head are all in a straight alignment with each other. It also means that your hips are tucked in, your stomach flat, your chest up and head straight on your body.

You should never lock your legs at the knees. But you should stand with one foot slightly forward and use the other one to mostly bear your body weight, almost as if you were getting ready to use it as a pivot foot in playing basketball. Which foot bears weight and which one becomes the one slightly forward will vary among individuals. Some people will stand with their left foot slightly forward and some will stand with right foot slightly forward. You need to try each way and see which one is most comfortable for you. You should also keep your legs apart about the width of your upper body, which will help in weight distribution and correct posture. The main goal that we have in everything is to keep our bodies in alignment and head straight in order that we may KEEP OUR VOCAL MECHANISM FROM STRAIN.

You should always keep your hips in alignment. If you do it will evenly distribute the weight from your body and cause your lower body to absorb any stress or strain instead of allowing that stress or strain to be displaced into your upper body and neck area to interfere with your vocal mechanisim. To keep your hips in alignment you need to use your legs, as I have described in the previous paragraph, and to make sure that you stand with your spine straight. Do not lean forward or backward , or to either side while singing.

Your NECK should be straight and as I said last month, do not turn it to either side or tilt it backward or forward. It should always FEEL LIKE YOU ARE SLIGHTLY STRETCHING IT FROM THE BACK, AND NEVER FROM THE FRONT.!!! The front of your neck needs to feel relaxed at all times. When it is, your vocal cords then are not restricted and they can adjust to the tensions themselves to make the tone that you are wanting to make, and with proper breath support you can sing clearly and beautifully, while preserving your vocal cords to be able to work effeciently for a longer number of years.

Your CHEST should be raised enough that your lungs have room to expand well. This should NEVER BE DONE BY RAISING YOUR SHOULDERS STRAIGHT UP. Because the same muscles that move your head back and forth come into play when raising your shoulders. They are not the only muscles in action then, but they do come into play enough that they can hinder the working of the vocal cords. So, what do you do? Standing erect is the best remedy for this, DO NOT SLUMP. If you stand erect your chest should almost automatically be in a good position.

SHOULDERS should never be raised and lowered while singing. They should remain in a static position while you are actually singing. Breathing (which I will address later extensively) should be done from the diaphragm and not involve the movement of the shoulders.

HANDS should not be behind your back , or in your pockets. Your ARMS should be at your sides in a relaxed position when singing into a MICROPHONE that you are NOT HOLDING. If you are HOLDING A MICROPHONE, be sure that you keep the shoulders and top part of your body in alignment as much as possible, this can be done by actually doing movement of the microphone with the arm FROM THE ELBOW DOWN. The more movement that you force on your shoulders, the more probability there will be that you will bring muscles into play that will interfere with your vocal cords and their ability to function correctly. Well it seems that it is time for me to stop for this month. I will be addressing the posture issue throughout these columns, because it comes into play with every other technique that I will be writing about. Next month I will address how to sing when you are SITTING IN A CHAIR (CHOIR).

I want to thank those of you who logged on and made comments about last month's column. Your comments were all very special to me. I thank God for each and every one of you who are sharing His message through music. The world needs to hear what you say, and Lord needs you to keep on keeping on. God richly bless all of you.

Bill Baize

Reader Comments

Cyndi, it is wonderful for you to know all of the technical names of nerves, and bones and things, however those big words are completely useless when attempting to teach everyday people how to sing correctly. You do not need to have a medical degree to understand how to sing correctly. Bill is doing a fantastic job of explaining to the everyday person how to sing and to sing correctly.
Keep up the good work, Bill.

Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
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