Category: Essential Vocal Concepts

Do you secretly love singing but don’t know where and how to start?

Are you frustrated with singing that you just concluded that you just don’t have “the voice”(whatever that means)? If you are what I just described, please read this very important post.

I have been singing all my life and have struggled with my voice for about 20 years. At age 45, my voice is finally getting to my ideal level – hitting a solid tenor high C with full voice!

Fortunately, for you, you don’t have to take as long as I did.

Why? Because today, I’m going to show you how to avoid the mistakes I’ve made and save you years of confusion with training the singing voice.

You ready? Let’s learn about the the most essential vocal training for beginners.

Some Myth-Busting about Singing!

​Here are some of the myths about singing that I would like to bust for you:

1. Singing is about having a great voice.

Not all great singers have a great voice to start with. You don’t really know what kind of singing voice you have until you build one. Yes, you need to literally build a good voice for singing.

Once you develop those singing muscles to be strong and flexible, you will start sounding good.

2. You are stuck with the vocal range you have now.

No, that is a total lie. Through effective vocal training, your voice will become stronger. 

You will be able to hit higher notes and even sing lower, because you have built the right muscles for singing. I personally have gained notes I never thought possible through vocal training.

The problem is – most people, even voice teachers, don’t know how to build a strong voice without straining. But, you just need to know, there is a way to do it!

no matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.

Carol S. Dweck, Mindset

3. If you can’t sing, it’s because you’re not talented.

No, that’s another big fat lie about singing that I resent the most. I don’t know how many potential good singers have bought into the talent myth that made them stop singing.

For me, talent is not some inherent ability to sing great without any training. My definition of talent is being fortunate enough to be introduced to a great voice teacher or a great methodology.

4. You don’t need vocal training.

No, every singer needs vocal training. What you really don’t need is BAD vocal training.

Vocal training CAN change your voice, either in a good or bad way. What you need is finding the right training method for your voice. It will make a whole world of difference in your singing. 

I still remember how I sounded in my first few years of training. In fact, I don’t have to remember – I have the recording from more than 20 years ago. I sound totally different now – in a good way!

How do I start training my voice for singing?

Now, I will reveal to you the most important things you need to do to starting building a good voice. 

1. Pay attention to your speaking voice.

Every person has their own way of producing the speaking voice. It does carry over to singing, because singing and speaking both originate from the same place – the vocal folds.

If someone want to argue about talents for singing, then the speaking habit does affect the singing voice.

If you sound lazy and raspy when you speak, try to raise the pitches of your voice slightly higher, just slightly. It will lift the weight off your vocal folds and relax your straining muscles more.

2. Breath low into the abdominal area (Inhale).

Just to clarify, you can’t really breath air into your stomach, but you should feel like it’s going there. 

The diaphragm located below your lungs are flattened, giving the lungs more space to carry the air you inhale without unnecessary tension.

Now, I didn’t use to breathe this way for many years, but my new voice teacher Jaime convinced me about the important of breathing low. It gave me tremendous vocal freedom and even extension in my full voice range.

3. Bear down on the abdominal muscles when you sing (Exhale).

Traditionally, there are 3 ways to breathe for singing or any kind of vocal production – with the abdominal muscles, breathe out, breathe in, or bear down. 

Let me just tell you – the most effective way is to bear down, kind of like you’re going to the bathroom. What that does is it will draw back the air in the lungs so that air does not rush out causing extra tension on the vocal folds.

Listen to renowned vocal coach Jaime Vendera explain how to breathe and support:

4. Feel the buzz at the roof of your mouth when you sing.

When you feel the buzz at the roof of your mouth, that means you are producing sound in the most optimal way – your vocal muscles are balanced with the amount of airflow going through them.

5. Start building the vocal muscles.

Try to strengthen your voice by strengthening your falsetto voice first. (In case you don’t know what falsetto is, think Bee Gees and Prince, that’s the voice.)

You need to strengthen the falsetto voice to a point that it’s clean, focused, and not airy, and then transition to strengthening the full voice. This is how to start building power and range.

This is probably the most difficult part of vocal training. You might need a vocal coach to guide you through this. Or, you might be in danger of hurting your voice. 

6. Practice transitioning from chest voice to head voice

Chest voice is where you talk, and head voice is the higher range where you feel the resonance more in the head.

There is a break in-between chest and head voice. You need to balance your voice as you transition from chest to head voice.

The easy way to do this is to lighten up the voice as you ascend in pitch in order to connect to the higher and softer head voice.

This can be a rather tricky maneuver to beginners to practice. If you need more instructions and training to learn how to transition between chest and head, I recommend you check out the 30 Day Singer training course designed for beginners. 

Unleash Your True Potential through Training

Imagine stunning your friends with your singing in one of your gatherings so that they discovered the other side of you that they knew about – the Singer in you!

Imagine singing at your church one day so that you can give your most beautiful offering to the One above.

Imagine singing a solo in your local choir wowing not just your audience, but your fellow choir members as well.

Or even better, imagine singing on stage with raving fans adoring the voice the voice that’s coming out of your mouth.

Why am I saying these things to you? Because it’s all possible through good vocal training, and I need you to believe that!!!

You can drastically improve your singing under the right instruction and training program.

Finally, my best advice to you…

Train your voice, even if you’re a beginner or you think you just can carry a tune. That can all change through vocal training.

Invest time, money, and effort to train your voice. 

Don’t have time to practice? How about 20 minutes a day? 

Don’t have the money? There are online singing course at the most incredibly low price.

(I pay $400 per month for voice lessons. You can get the best online vocal training for less than a tenth of what I pay.)

Don’t want to put in the effort to train? Then you need to re-think if you truly want to become a singer. Good Vocal training can do wonders to your voice, but you need to work, or else nothing will happen.

Ready to start training and take your voice to a new level?

Click HERE to see my top recommended vocal course for beginners.

If you have any questions, comment below. I’ll be happy to discuss with you.

All the best to your singing,

Rex

I want to talk a little about hitting high notes in full voice or belting high notes.

I never thought I’d ever write this post about hitting high notes.

I have been trained to Mix or in the SLS tradition for many years, and I was taught to mix or transition to head voice in order to hit the high notes.

I’m 45 years old and have been singing professionally for 15 years. And today, I am very sure when I say this about singing high notes…

In pop singing for male/female and classical singing for male, singers should hit high notes in full voice, no mixing or switching to head voice.

In essence, Mix or head voice is nothing more than a fuller falsetto – it is not full voice, real voice, belt voice, or whatever you want to call it.

Why So Much Confusion about how to hit high notes?

There was kind of a movement in the late 20 century with vocal training that builds the mixed voice for the singers to sing everything. 

The mixed voice has the vocal quality that is not as intense as full voice, and not as weak as falsetto.

The key leader of that vocal movement is arguably the founder of Speech Level Singing(SLS) – Seth Riggs.

From my observation, the reason why SLS gained popularity was that traditional vocal training stopped producing voices that able to hit high notes without straining in full voice.

Many singers who are disappointed with wasted years and money with traditional vocal training adopted the mixed voice approach to singing.

However, the fact that traditional vocal training stopped producing great voices didn’t mean that the overall approach is wrong – the problems lie in the details and intricacy of training routines.

wikipedia.com

Countless singers who made the switch to Mix singing are hitting high notes with this “heady” and softer Mix voice, which is still different than full voice (chest voice, modal voice, or whatever you want to call it.)

So, what now? What is the right way to hit high notes?

The answer is training the full voice like how it was done traditionally, just do it correctly. 

There is a way to hit a high C without switching – I can do it now after training with a master teacher who doesn’t mix.

You don’t have to mix to hit the notes – although you can, as mix is a kind of vocal quality for stylistic choices, but you don’t have to.

Right now, there are basically 2 major singing schools teaching the opposite methodology – those from the SLS school and those that trains the full voice like the traditional school.

If you want to train your voice to hit high notes in full voice, you shouldn’t study with a Mix or SLS singing teacher.

Check out my top recommended online training program here to build a stronger voice to hit high notes:

My Confession about Mix singing and vocal training

2020 is a big year for me as a singer as I decided to take a major pivot in my vocal training.

I switched from Mix singing to full voice training, and I’m seeing great results.

I’m able to sing major tenor arias like Nessun Dorma and La Donna e Mobile.

These are songs I could not finish singing prior to this year, because I could not hit the high notes in full operatic voice.

rexwee · Nessun Dorma – Tenor Rex Wee

But, now I can, which speaks volumes as to the better approach to train my high notes.

I feel really bad for saying this, but SLS and Mix could not get me to sing those big songs, and I trained my Mix properly for about 6 years with the help of a master teacher.

This teaches me, “Never underestimate how wrong you can be!”

I’m 45 years old and have been training my voice for over 27 years.

I’m still training my voice and always will be. How about you?

Recommended:  Essential Vocal Training for Beginners – Building a strong voice!

Happy singing,

Rex

Recently, I have been fascinated by the concept of Voice building.

I know as a veteran singer and professional voice teacher, it sounds really weird for me to say.

But I sang Mix(mixed voice) for many years – when you sing Mix, you are trying to coordinate and balance the vocal muscles to get the most out of your voice.

It’s actually quite fascinating how you can use the least amount of effort to produce the most amount of power and tone quality, just by tweaking the vowels and airflow.

That’s the strength of Mix, but the problem is you have to have a decent voice to start with.

If you have a weak voice, which a lot of people do because of advanced audio technology, you can only get so much out of your voice with the Mix technique, because the muscular strength is not there.

Why You Need to be a Vocal Athlete

Not just for singing, but for speaking and talking as well.

You need to build a strong voice in order to be more convincing and authoritative in whatever you do. Trust me, your voice makes a big difference!

I didn’t use to believe this when I first heard Robert Lunte’s promotional motto for his online course The Four Pillars of Singing – “We train Vocal Athletes!”

Robert Lunte is an expert in vocal strength building!

I didn’t think singers are athletes that need to workout their muscle to get them stronger. 

At most, I would compare singers to golfers who are very coordinated and balanced when they swing. 

Of course, I was ignorant to the fact that Tiger Woods and other golfers do heavy weight training in order to get a stronger swing.

I believed in Mix wholeheartedly, and I was singing pretty well with my Mix which gave me power and control with my voice. 

But there was a problem – I didn’t gain one note of range extension with this technique. 

I’m talking about singing a high C in Full voice, not Mix – I just could NOT ever do it!

This year, I finally decided to start my voice building program to workout my voice.

Guess what – I quickly gained 2 notes with my full voice (B4 and High C) in the first month!

After 27 years of vocal training, I had an epiphany – the voice is an instrument that has to be built by YOU personally!

After the instrument is built, it is very easy to use with a little technique in mind – the rest is left for you to sing your heart out FREELY!

Recommended reading:  What is Full Voice? Your Key to Successful Singing!

The only way to sing high notes is Mix? Not really…

Because, for some reasons, traditional voice teachers were failing to produce strong voices and superior singers by the end of the last century.

In the 1990s, I had a voice teacher so bad that he added so much weight and tension to my voice that I lost all my natural notes with my full voice.

That’s why I starting singing Mix – I thought that the only to sing high notes in by singing Mix.

The truth is there is a way to hit high notes with full voice. 

The problem is not many singers or voice teachers know how to do that correctly and effectively, which usually end up with the singers yelling their guts out on the high notes.

I have personally experienced this year the strength and power I am building into my voice at 45 years of age.

I have been singing my whole life and thought I have reached the full potential of my voice.

But it’s happening!

My voice is changing…for the better!!!

Build a voice – start your training this way…

Start by building a good falsetto voice. I’m serious.

Most people have weak falsetto that airy and floaty. We don’t want that in your voice.

Train your falsetto muscles until it is strong enough produce a sound that is clean and focused with no “airyness” whatsoever.

You start by doing falsetto exercise at a tiny volume to get the “wind” out and make it very focused.

Falsetto – only edges of vocal folds are touching, very easy to blow excess air through.

Once you do that, you can then transition to full voice to train the muscles at the fullest level.

Why is falsetto training so important? Because it is the foundation of voice building.

If you can’t sing good falsetto, you cannot sing good full voice, plain and simple!

When you can get the notes in good falsetto (clean, focused, no airyness), you can then get the notes in full voice.

Another secret about voice building is – any notes you can sing in falsetto, you can train it to sing in full voice!

Don’t believe me – the heavy metal guys are hitting high notes in the female range every single day!

Listen to Jim Gillette from the metal band Nitro: 

It’s absolutely possible! I’m experiencing range extension right now in my journey of voice building!

Mix or Voice building? My Conclusion…

I loved Mix. I really did, because it did wonders to my voice, and it can with your voice as well.

I’m just sharing with you the results I get with voice building recently – My voice is reaching new heights!

After 27 years of vocal training, I realized that I have not even reach half of my vocal potential, which is extremely exciting!

I never thought I’d be saying this – I’m going to do voice building for the rest of my life.

Mix has done wonders to my voice for many years, and now, I’m into the voice building stage of my vocal training path.

When you want to start your vocal training, here are the two opposite approaches you have to choose – Mix(SLS) or Voice building?

Most voice teachers and singing programs fall into these 2 major categories of vocal methodology. 

You need to make your choice which approach is best for you, because different methods work for different singers.

If you don’t know how to choose, well…try both, and see which ones work best for you!

Recommended:  Sign up for Robert Lunte’s FREE 8-part singing course to build your voice

If you want to further discuss this topic or need course recommendation, comment below.

Happy singing,

Rex

I like to keep things really simple, because that’s really how people learn the fastest, including myself.

I did think about writing a post about “50 Tips and Exercises to develop a vibrato.”

But I thought, other than it being a really cool title and post to rank on Google, it’s not going to help anybody.

All you need is one or two simple tricks to practice and develop a vibrato or any other singing skills.

So, I’ve decided to write about what really matters when it comes to developing vibrato.

I don’t want to tell you any fluff, because the truth is it’s really simple!

After I share with you how to sing vibrato with the 3 most important tips, the rest is just hard work to develop this singing skill.

Why is Vibrato Important for Singing?

Before I share my top 3 tips for developing a Vibrato, please bear with me as I explain to you why vibrato is important for your singing.

I know that for some forms of pop and rock singing, vibrato is probably not used as much as other musical styles.

But, you should still develop it even if you don’t have to use it as often in your songs. 

Reason #1 – Vibrato is a natural musical expression

Aesthetically, it sounds great and most natural to hear at the end of a musical phrase. 

Even for rock and metal guys, those who are truly master rock vocalists can do vibrato in their singing.

Jon Bon Jovi, one of the most “beautiful” voice for rock and metal, has a very natural vibrato!

In my opinion, having the ability to sing vibrato helps your musical phrasing, even if you don’t use it a lot – you get a feel of how to do phrasing in your songs.

When singers are choppy and have no phrasing while singing, they really don’t sound that good – at least for my ears.

Reason #2 – Vibrato balances the vocal muscles

There is a reason why vibrato happens. 

When the singer is in a balance state while singing, meaning they are using the right amount of air flow and cord closure, vibrato will happen.

Most singers have no vibrato when they are starting out.

I remember I was trying so hard to practice vibrato in high school, because I didn’t have one. 

In the beginning it was unnatural because the muscles are tight and the pulsing is uneven – either too fast or too slow.

After practicing for a period of time, my voice started having vibrato “naturally,” and it sounds good.

When the vibrato is right, that means the muscles are working correctly – not too tight and not too loose.

Robin Trower

Rock Vocalist & Guitarist

“I think the fundamental part of my technique is my vibrato.”

Reason #3 – Vibrato can be used for emotional expressions

Once you mastered vibrato, you will notice that you can control the speed, “wideness,” and intensity of the vibrato.

Thus, vibrato becomes a great tool for emotional expression.

When you are expressing warmth, you use a slightly slower vibrato.

On the other hand, when you are expressing excitement, anger, and other strong emotions, you can use a faster and wider vibrato to enhance the emotional intensity of your singing.

Here it is – The 3 Most Important Tips to Practice Vibrato

I still remember how I started singing with no vibrato and how I practiced to get one eventually, so here it is:

1. Pulsing

This is just the rapid change is vocal dynamic from strong-soft-strong-soft with the diaphragm pumping at a fast frequency.

Imitate how a dog pants – that’s exactly how it feels in the diaphragm when you practice pulsing for vibrato.

Actually, “dog panting” is a breath exercise used by some old-school voice teachers to develop vibrato in their students.

Another way to practice pulsing is to place the fingers of both of your hands on the diaphragm just below the rib cage and jiggle your upper stomach with your hand while your sing a long note.

You will notice your voice will start pulsing, but that’s not vibrato yet.

In order to have a complete vibrato you need to have the second thing…

2. Pitch Fluctuation

This is your voice fluctuating between 2 notes – usually a second or a third apart.

For example, sing AH on middle C(C4) and drop the pitch down to Bb3, and then back up to C.

Do this pitch fluctuation about 6 times slowly at first.

Speed up the pitch fluctuation little by little – the end goal is to do this 6 times per second!

And, you do the pitch fluctuation with pulsing together!

3. Get Complete Vocal training on your voice

For most singers, vibrato happens naturally after they have been singing for a period of time.

When singers receive proper vocal training to build a stronger voice and get fuller control of their voices, they usually can do vibrato at will, even if they are not trained to develop vibrato directly.

In my opinion, this is probably the best way to have a vibrato, because vibrato is a peculiar thing.

Sometimes when you try to have one intentionally, and you focus too much on it, it might sound awkward and unnatural.

The best way to develop a vibrato is to one day have it without you even noticing it.

When I’m trying to say is – let vibrato be the result of good training and great singing. It will sound best this way!

If after a period of vocal training, you still don’t have vibrato, then you can start training it with a more direct approach.

My conclusion about Vibrato

People have different opinions about the development of Vibrato. 

Some voice teachers are vehement about the practice of developing the vibrato directly.

I take more of a moderate and neutral position in this subject.

If a student comes to me wanting to develop vibrato, I will take them through vocal practices #1 and #2 shared in this post without hesitation.

I will do all that I can to help the student develop vibrato, if they express interest or concern about it.

Otherwise, I will take them through standard vocal training, and for most of them, vibrato will happen sooner or later.

If you have anything you want to discuss about Vibrato, please comment below.

Happy Singing,

Rex