Need Your Expertise! Please Critique My Training Exercises! :D

[Ambition]

Hello everyone!

I started practicing singing about 5 months ago, and I've been diligent about practicing 30 minutes to one hour a day. I mostly focus on scales and lip trills. However, progress has been slow and I worry I may be worsening even!

If you could take the time to listen to a few minutes of an average practice session, and give me feedback as to its efficacy, I'd be most appreciative!

Here is the recorded session (with time codes in the description):

Thank you so much!

[beghelli]

Ambition,

I think you have two major issues: you don't know you are out of tune and emission. You are not singing, you are talking, and in a really shy way. I got the impression you are almost lazy doing the exercices and specially singing the songs. Maybe the mouse clicks also influence in my perception that you are not paying too much attention.

Practice and sing with an instrument, or a back track. I think it will be easier for you to listen you are out of tune. The scales you do, do it first with any instrument, it can be a virtual one. You just need to start exercising your perception.

About the emission, if you were practicing and the other residents of you house or even neighbors (if you live in an apartment) didn't notice that, than you're probably not emitting your voice properly. It's not screaming, but it's more than talking. You need to create some air compression below your vocal folds and keep it while singing.

The lip rows are a great exercise to start practicing your breath control and give you the sensation on how to use air in an efficient way. Also, they usually avoid you doing too much tension. Note that you can't stand more than a few seconds doing it. That's wrong, and that happens because you let too much air to escape. Without being capable of controlling the amount of air you use, you will never be able to create the compression you need to sing.

So, my advice is to focus on lip rows. You should be able to do that for more than a few seconds. Also, stand up while practicing. You need space to retrieve air, expand your back, your stomach, and a little bit your chest. Don't practice while sitting down, that's inefficient and it will not help you.

I hope those tips are useful. Good luck.

[Ambition]

Thanks a lot, beghelli!

Sorry about the mouse clicks, I had my mouse right by my microphone and didn't realize it would be so audible in the recording. :-(

I have been learning to play guitar too, so I'll try to sing along with that. I find I have trouble matching a pitch at all though.

I'll try to sing louder; I am by nature a very shy person, and even doing this much is running up against psychological blocks. >_<

I'll focus on conserving breath too, so I can do the lip row things for longer than a few seconds at a time.

Is it normal to feel a lot of vocal fatigue? Going through these exercises seems to really weaken my voice.

Thanks again!

[beghelli]

No, it is not. If you feel tired, stop. I think you are feeling tired because of your lack of breath support, you are trying to compesate that with your neck muscles, which leads to fatigue. If you can't improve by your own, I think you should really consider a vocal coach.

Cheers.