Singing the Blues

Clive Barker the great author used to write:

“Why'd you want to sing about sad things?" Candy had asked him.
"Because any fool can be happy," he'd said to her.
"It takes a man with real heart"
—he'd made a fist and laid it against his chest—"to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.” 

So usually when we're upset, comes out the music players with a list of sentimental and depressing songs to either make or break us. But after months of doing that, I came to realise...

So I told myself that I'm not gonna dwell on having a bad voice but work on it. Let me share with you tips I pick up to improve on your singing as well as mine: 

1) Open your mouth wide, but keep the muscles around your mouth and jaw loose. This allows a richer, fuller tone.

2) Lift up your soft palate (gently drop the bottom part of your jaw). To do this, breathe in as you would before yawning but don't go so far as to actually yawn. Use your tongue to determine what makes you do it; this increase in space also provides more tone. It acts like a resonating chamber.

3) Remember to take in all saliva so your mouth is empty and the voice comes out clearer.

4)  Move your tongue forward so that it's touching the back of your lower teeth. You don't want to stick your tongue out, but make sure that it's not in your throat. Your throat should be relaxed and open.

5) Lip thrills or tongue thrills help to connect your breath with your vocals and muscles.

6) Compare the way an artist sounds in a live performance to the way he or she sounds in a recording. It is amazing what a good sound engineer can accomplish during a recording session. If you really like an artist's recordings, try to figure out how much is real and how much is engineered, before you decide that "you can never sound as good as that!"

Remember, when you're down, sing your heart out but in long term, you just want to sing it right !!!