If I Were A Boy cover

[Blameitonthevodka]

So yeah, I actually am a boy but still sang this song haha....uhhh my voice control really sucks, also there's a lot of tension somewhere, I think my jaw, but it always sounds like this....please tell me how I can improve!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyIlxlY7Q38

For background on my singing: I took voice lessons a few months, learned basically nothing from my teacher...and then got a second job so have no time for lessons, pretty much every technique I have learned, I've learned on my own.

[SkyKnight]

I never heard this song before.

However it seems like a Showtune song.

But here are my thoughts.

I think a different singing style would suit you better. Your voice is naturally soft and you are trying to sing soft also.

To me it makes me feel some notes are under powered like when you sing "guys" at :29 seconds.

Maybe you could attack this song from a different angle. Maybe make it a "louder" song and do big belted supported notes with only a touch of vibrato.

Carry on my friend. Thanks for sharing

P.S. there was a moment where you reminded me of Darren Hayes from Savage Garden ever so slightly for like a brief second.

[Foreinger]

good

[Blameitonthevodka]

I never heard this song before.

However it seems like a Showtune song.

But here are my thoughts.

I think a different singing style would suit you better. Your voice is naturally soft and you are trying to sing soft also.

To me it makes me feel some notes are under powered like when you sing "guys" at :29 seconds.

Maybe you could attack this song from a different angle. Maybe make it a "louder" song and do big belted supported notes with only a touch of vibrato.

Carry on my friend. Thanks for sharing

P.S. there was a moment where you reminded me of Darren Hayes from Savage Garden ever so slightly for like a brief second.

Thanks for the advice, singing with more power may help my out of control vibrato haha, yeah I got nothing on Darren Hayes =P

[JensTP]

I agree on the voice control sucking, but that can be fixed by singing. Keep practising singing on-pitch in a comfortable range (with no straining) to get the motor skills improved in the throat section and get your relative pitch perception as good as it can be.

Work on your breath. You can use breathing for effect (as Beyonce would do it), but you need to make sure you have to ability to hold back (the high note suggests you aren't completely oblivios to that concept, but keep working on ít). Maybe singing half a verse of this song in one breath.

Play with your voice. Make dark tones, bright tones, solemn tones and wacky tones. Find out which ones you like and apply them in singing (eventually becoming your style).

The high sustained notes (F4) in the last chorus (after changing the key) sound really good to me and it sounds like you got a boost of confidence hitting those, so you got into the song a bit more and raised the overall performance. Don't be afraid to sound like shit or it'll make you sound more like it. (In performance, not practice. In various Idols, Voice, Popstars and X-factor T-shows we've heard these people who immerse themselves so deeply in the music even when they practise, that they've never heard how awful they sound.)

Although the high notes don't sound strained, you probably need to retool your approach if they are - even if it sounds good.

[Blameitonthevodka]

I agree on the voice control sucking, but that can be fixed by singing. Keep practising singing on-pitch in a comfortable range (with no straining) to get the motor skills improved in the throat section and get your relative pitch perception as good as it can be.

Work on your breath. You can use breathing for effect (as Beyonce would do it), but you need to make sure you have to ability to hold back (the high note suggests you aren't completely oblivios to that concept, but keep working on ít). Maybe singing half a verse of this song in one breath.

Play with your voice. Make dark tones, bright tones, solemn tones and wacky tones. Find out which ones you like and apply them in singing (eventually becoming your style).

The high sustained notes (F4) in the last chorus (after changing the key) sound really good to me and it sounds like you got a boost of confidence hitting those, so you got into the song a bit more and raised the overall performance. Don't be afraid to sound like shit or it'll make you sound more like it. (In performance, not practice. In various Idols, Voice, Popstars and X-factor T-shows we've heard these people who immerse themselves so deeply in the music even when they practise, that they've never heard how awful they sound.)

Although the high notes don't sound strained, you probably need to retool your approach if they are - even if it sounds good.

Thank-you, your advice means a lot to me! I wanted to sing this because I actually never practise singing high notes at all and wanted to test out sending the sound to the hard palate and seeing if I could actually hit high notes with that technique. I was happy that I hit the notes but I feel there was something wrong, like tension or something in my throat, or lack of resonance maybe?