How to Improve Your Awareness and Posture for Better Singing
Hey there, Smule fam!
Did you know? Your posture for singing can also alter the sound and projection of your voice. Standing up straight and keeping your head level will help you prevent vocal strain and fatigue while singing, especially across a wide octave range.
If you dug our last blog post on how to improve your singing voice, then you’ll love what we have in store for you today. In this post, we’ll explore in more detail the correct singing posture and body awareness you’ll need to sound like a veteran vocalist. Our in-house vocal expert, Sarah Cleary, is here to lead the way–so keep reading for some helpful singing hacks!
Location, Location, Location
In our first post, we talked a bit about the three voices in singing and where they’re located in the body. However, we’ll give you a little refresher here to bring you back up to speed.
Singers typically slip in and out of three voices while singing: the chest, middle, and head voice. But how are they different from one another?
- Chest voice – This voice is home to lower, bassier notes that fill the room with a strong vocal presence. A great example of a mighty chest voice in action is Judy Garland singing the verses on her cover of ‘Old Man River.’
- Middle voice -You’ll often hear these mid-range tones in just about anything on the radio. Songs sung in the middle voice sound bright and melodic to the ear, making them ideal for today’s top pop hits.
- Head voice – The high, lilting notes in the head voice can usually be heard in falsettos and opera. It’s also arguably the most difficult voice to train and use correctly, and in turn one of the easiest to strain.
Now that we’ve reviewed these voices and where you can “find” them, let’s talk more about the proper posture for singing.
Stand Tall, Sing Big
Practicing good posture doesn’t just help your back–it also makes a world of difference while singing. But good singing posture goes beyond standing up straight, and trained singers know that it starts with your head positioning and goes all the way down to your toes.
We’ll break this down by body part to give you a clearer idea of how you should stand while singing.
- Head – Your chin should be parallel to the floor.
- Shoulders – Roll your shoulders back, keeping them pressed down without straining so that they don’t scrunch up. This will allow for better breath control.
- Chest – Puff your chest out slightly and hold it high.
- Stomach – Tuck your stomach in so that it is flat.
- Knees – Bend your knees slightly, and never lock them while singing!
- Feet – Keep your feet a little less than shoulder-width apart, with one foot in front of the other. Tip yourself forward slightly so that your body shifts to the front of your feet.
As you can see, singing goes beyond just your vocal chords–it’s a whole-body affair! However, mastering this body placement will only help you become a better singer and preserve your voice in the process.
Time to Sing!
Armed with this new knowledge of how to stand correctly while singing, we have no doubt you’ll be belting out some tunes (the right way!) soon. As always, thanks for reading, and be sure to check back for more new blog posts in our How to Sing Better series!
