Vocal Xchange

[Adam Makin]

Aftera two-year hiatus, the ITE Vocal Xchange returns this weekend with a concert featuring close to 80 vocalists and musicians from seven groups across all three Institute of Technical Education (ITE) colleges.

Six-member Singapore vocal band MICappella performed I Want Your Love, which sampled the 1950s song of the same name by China-born singer Grace Chang, while singers Sezairi Sezali and Gao Mei Gui performed the emotional duet Ku Mahu in Malay and Mandarin.

Other performers included Bonnie Loo, Ian Fang, Jessica Lu and Tosh Zhang. The show also incorporated Chinese pop music with taiko drums, anime, gongfu hip-hop and traditional Chinese cultural elements.

Taking the stage are jazz pianist and singer Amanda Lee, a local torchbearer of the swing and stride piano styles of 1930s and 1940s classic jazz; Raf Soundwalker (drums), who has more than 20 years of experience performing in Singapore and across Asia; and Judy Tsai (double bass), whose wide-ranging performing experience includes orchestra, string, chamber and cello ensembles, jazz combos, big band and musicals.

To keep people who inject drugs safe, we offer sterile injecting equipment (syringes, cookers, cotton filters, water ampules) and other supplies (bandages, antibiotic ointment, gauze, alcohol pads) for safer injection. For people who smoke or sniff drugs, we offer stem tips, chore-boy copper filters, and multicolored straws to reduce the risk of sharing.

Our Peer-Delivered Syringe Exchange (PDSE) is a program to help reach injecting drug users (IDUs) who are, due to different factors, unable to visit our Syringe Exchange Program (SEP) to collect their necessary materials, as well as dispose of their used syringes safely.

Vocal Exchange juxtaposes treasured songs from three cultures. Without needing to understand a single word, listeners will experience national flavors through the very sounds of the languages. Russian-American soprano Erika Baikoff (a fluent French speaker) offers her unsurpassed vocal skill and bewitching personality, with instrumental contrasts and reflections rounding out this multidimensional program.

According to a couple of websites, the best way to learn how to sing is with a vocal teacher, a recorder, and practice. But let's say I don't have the means to get a vocal teacher right now. What other resources are available to me that I can use to sound better?

As @luserdroog said in the comments, it would be best if you could get at least a couple lessons. Otherwise you risk learning bad habits with the physical aspects (that can't be taught well except in person) that you'll have to un-learn later.

Another approach is to join a community choir. While some choirs require auditions, others do not (particularly church choirs, but not exclusively religious). The choirs I've sung in have included work on technique, not just learning the repertoire.

Let me offer a serious suggestion that has been a popular method of learning to sing for people for many generations: Attend church services on Sunday mornings at a Christian church and sing along with the hymns. Find a church whose congregation sings traditional church hymns from a hymnal book.

This style of church music deliberately uses simple melodies in simple rhythms, with a narrow range of pitches that are easy for non-trained singers to sing. Once you get comfortable with it, you can try learning one of the four-part harmony lines in the hymn arrangements. This will be your introduction to harmonizing.

If you feel comfortable after awhile, ask to join the church choir. Then you can start learning more demanding and challenging vocal music, and you will have an opportunity to learn, practice and rehearse with some structure and some goals in mind, every Wednesday night and Sunday morning, for free.

It doesn't really matter if you are a Christian or not, or whether you believe the message in the lyrics or not, although it helps. All sorts of musician have gotten their start this way for centuries.

Then I'll do the same but with the record button pressed. Again, I keep rewinding (and erasing the recording) until I'm reasonably happy. By this time, I may still not be able to sing the song very well but I'll certainly have learnt a whole lot about how to sing it.

All singing is produced on vowel sounds. Consonants don't have pitch. Some consonants like M and N are produced through a pitched hum - but that is not exactly singing. You need to work on what goes on in singing vowel sounds with your body.

Take a breath, think of a word like "who", "where", or "whah", say it out aloud and don't allow the vowel sound to finish. Keep the sound going (or resonating) for as long as possible - even after the count of one second you will be singing.

Try to extend the sound. Imagine the sound stretching or streaming out into the next room. How long can you sustain the sound? Notice that your stomach starts to tighten a bit - that is your diaphragm muscle kicking in to support the sound. Aim for holding the vowel sound for as long as possible while staying relaxed. Count in seconds in your head and keep a record of your progress.

Once you get the hang of extending the vowel sound focus on listening to the qualities of it - eg. volume (can you produce loud or soft?); pitch range (can you make the sound high or low?); pitch constancy (can you hold one pitch? Can you visit other pitches in the same breath?)

In addition to noticing your diaphragm move, think about your jaw, lips, tongue, cheeks and upper palate. Are they relaxed? What size and shape is the cavity inside your mouth? What happens to the sound if you change it? Make very small changes to consider the effects. Does it please you?

Next consider your nose, eyes, eyebrows, face, head and neck. Where are these positioned? Do they move? Are they relaxed? What happens if you raise your eyebrows? Close your eyes? Imagine your head has an invisible string lifting you straight up. Does it make a difference?

Move on to thinking about the rest of your body. Where are your shoulders, back, arms, bottom, hips, legs and feet? All these body parts have an effect on your sound. Experiment by moving these body parts differently. What happens?

Pay attention to your emotions too. Do you feel happy? relaxed? tense? anxious? angry? Ultimately singing should make you feel positive - in either a happy, envigorated or relaxed kind of way. If you don't feel uplifted, keep trying different body moves.

I know an audiobook (100% free) which is called how to sing. You can get this book (text can be downloaded from Gutenberg Project), and you can get some idea and knowledge about singing. Also you might take a look at Music Notation & Terminology.

There are many good vocal coaches out there but also many bad ones. Many classically trained vocal coaches will tell you to push you diaphram, which can be harmful to your vocal chords. I had a teacher that would always tell me "Singing is an athletic exercise!". It's not, it should be very easy. You should never feel tension.

Basically, you need to record yourself and practice often. If your like me, you will hate the sound of your own voice at first. Don't worry, you will get better. Most importantly, don't hurt yourself. If you find a teacher that claims singing is "athletic", find a new teacher.

Just sing frequently, with and without your favorite songs playing :P. If you're tone deaf like I used to be then I highly recommend interval training. Once you're able to recognize when you are off-key then you can start correcting it, and you need to practice a lot to develop the musculature and control needed. Constant practice like this has changed me from terrible singing to passable, though I do wish I had time for lessons.

Man, I've seen a lot of questions here like that and I think the best way is to get an teacher. It is my oppinion. I think we can learn by ourselves but an experient teacher can make you progress faster and in the correct way.

I'm going to say it's close to impossible for anyone to teach you to sing, but reasonable for someone to help you sing better. Start on your own. Second, anyone who sings period, even those not as good as you, can help you.Here are some tips, though...

Can you match pitch? If so, just try singing single notes, you don't even have to know how to play piano, just hit one random key at a time try to sing the pitch. (A good place to start is the middle of the piano and go up if you're a female or down if you're a male.) Also, sing what you like. It's a lot easier to do something that you enjoy. I don't enjoy basketball, so I don't play/practice it. That doesn't mean I don't get any exercise whatsoever, though. I just do what I find enjoyable.

3 bad habits to avoid would be: (don't worry too much, though... a lot of good singers do this)Clearing your throat. It grinds your vocal folds together. (I'm guilty of that. ?) Don't even think about it. It makes you want to. Also, don't sing way out of your comfortable range. Who isn't guilty of this? Many popular male singers (me too) sing way higher they probably should. Don't drink anything but water before, and don't eat anything sticky/sweet before. It makes it harder to sing and reduces your vocal range.

4 good habits would be:If a song is too high: Use your resonant (so-called "head") voice. It can increase your range about a half octave. (6 semitones exactly, for me) If you have no idea what I mean by head voice, look it up. It's a bit hard to explain. The other option is to sing louder (but don't yell) if it is too high. My head voice is very weak, so I sing loud instead. Also, make your consonants clear. (I'm guilty of this one, too! ?) If you sing into a mic, probably want to use the soft spongy covers for it if you get into this habit. That way you're s's won't make everyone cringe from the high pitch. Don't freak out if you suddenly sound terrible on one note. The closer you are to being on the correct note the worse it sounds, until our ears can't hear the difference. And warm up first. Even if that's singing a scale.

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