How To Improve Your Singing Voice Without Taking Lessons

Chest voice: the lowest, most comfortable notes that resonate in your chest cavity. Low voices sound warm here, and higher voices sound breathier. Middle voice: the middle ground between your chest and head voices. This is a bright set of notes that resonates in your neck and mouth. Head voice: the upper end of your range. These notes resonate in your head and come easily to higher voices. Most strain and tension occurs here. Smooth transitions between registers contributes to a balanced, blended voice and helps eliminate voice cracks, too.

Evaluate things like pitch (“Did I hit the right notes?”), support (“Did I breathe deeply and use a full tone?”), or rhythm (“Did I sing the words on time?”). Compare your recording to a professional’s and ask yourself what you like about their version. Is it their volume? Their expression? The sound of their voice? If you’re preparing for a recording session, use a simple external USB microphone to hear what your voice sounds like on better equipment. [3] X Research source Remember, it’s OK if you don’t like your recording. It’s just one moment in time and doesn’t reflect your true talent or skills!

Sing along with recordings, then sing alone to hear how your voice responds to the music. Which notes sound best? What emotions are you projecting? Start with songs you know very well. You’ll sing with more confidence and get a better feel for your voice’s capabilities with simpler, familiar tunes. [5] X Research source

Keep an open mind during this exercise—your range may not be as high or low as you thought. Remember that gender doesn’t define your voice type. After you record your highest and lowest note, determine which voice type you most closely fall into: Bass: E2-E4 Baritone: A2-G4 Tenor: C3-C5 Alto: F3-F5 Mezzo-soprano: A3-A5 Soprano: C4-C6

Remember to keep control of your voice and diction while you’re emoting. Your audience wants to understand your words clearly. Your expression contributes to the excitement of your performances. Practice in front of a mirror to see what you look and sound like to an audience member. Adding expressive touches to a song makes it unique to you, plus you can adapt it to fit your voice and stylistic preferences.

Sing confidently even if you’re alone and just practicing—it’s the best way to practice performing and exercise your voice to the fullest.

Hold your abdomen firm, allowing it to expand outward whenever you breathe. Shift your weight slightly forward so that it’s closer to your toes. Get used to what this feels like by standing against a wall. Make sure your heels, calves, buttocks, shoulders, and head are touching it.

Imagine your abdomen filling with air and your rib cage expanding as you watch your stomach hand move outward. Your chest hand should be still. Exhale slowly through your mouth, feeling your rib cage contract slightly as your lungs empty. Use only your diaphragm to breathe—keep your chest and shoulder muscles relaxed.

After you speak this exercise a few times, sing it on one pitch. Focus on keeping your jaw loose and relaxed until it becomes second nature. Practice the lyrics of whatever song you’re working on next, making sure to keep your jaw elongated so each syllable sounds resonant and effortless.

“Think down” when you sing high. It helps your larynx stay in place and gives a little more weight to your high notes so they don’t sound breathy or strained. A good larynx position blends your voice and smooths out the break from chest to head voice (where your voice is most likely to crack).

Feel the soft area behind your chin with your thumb and sing. If you feel pushback, your tongue is tense. Use more air support to relax it. [14] X Research source Do some head and shoulder rolls to relieve tension in your neck, shoulders, and chest. Tension in any area is usually the root cause of unhealthy singing.

Take a deep breath and hold the syllable “eee” for as long as you can, 3 times. Use the note F above or below Middle C (whichever is most comfortable). Glide from your lowest comfortable note to your highest comfortable note and back down on the word “knoll” 3 times. Sing three 5-note scales in the middle of your range on the syllable “oll. ” Use the first 5 notes of a major scale (do-re-mi-fa-sol-fa-mi-re-do).

Start in a comfortable spot in your voice, then raise or lower each following scale by a half step to warm up your lower and upper ranges. Play around with “zzz” for 3 minutes, then switch to vowel sounds like “aah” or “ooo. " After another minute or 2, switch to solfege syllables. Solfege is the 1-syllable words assigned to each note of a scale. The syllables (like you’ve probably heard in The Sound of Music) go do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do.

Focus on keeping the syllable pronunciation consistent from the bottom all the way to the top of the exercise. Each of these syllables works a different part of your voice. “Nay” balances air pressure with vocal cord closure while “gee” helps your larynx drop. [19] X Research source “Mum” helps you resonate in the spot between your head and chest voices.

Push a fast air stream from your lower abdomen through your lips. The vibrations loosen up your lips and make them more agile for pronunciation and opening up vowel sounds.

Start in a comfortable, resonant spot of your range and move up or down by half steps on each repetition. Maintain resonance throughout your range.

Hold single pitches or do short scale patterns, moving each repetition up or down by half-steps. Do this about 5 times. Focus on keeping the tone quality and resonance the same at all pitches.

Try to spread your practice evenly throughout the week—doing 15 minutes every day is better than cramming in 2 hours the night before a performance. If your voice gets tired but you want to keep making progress, set aside some time to look up new songs to sing. Practice with a metronome (a physical one or a metronome app). Metronomes use clicking sounds to make a steady beat so you’ll sing in time.

This is a great exercise for older adults who want to preserve their singing or speaking voice.

If you’re going to be singing for 30 or more minutes, drink warm water with 100% pure honey (add enough to soothe your throat without coating it). Consider humidifying your home or practice space so you’re not breathing dry air. Cold water makes your sensitive vocal cords constrict or tighten up. Room temperature or warm water helps them relax and sound their best.

If you’re short on sleep, try to grab a 20-30 minute nap in the afternoon or before a show or rehearsal to relax and restore your voice.

Regularly exercising or meditating can also help you stay low-stress over longer periods of time.

No amount of smoking or smoke inhalation is good for your voice. Cut back or quit smoking as soon as possible to preserve your vocal quality.

After using your voice for a long time, take a vocal nap—no singing, talking, or whispering for a few hours. Try not to cough or clear your throat excessively. If possible, sing or practice in short sessions (30-60 minutes) with breaks in between to avoid overusing your voice. [32] X Research source

Chronic hoarseness, raspy voice, voice quiver, or choppy voice. Pain or a lump in your throat whenever you talk or sing. Unintentional changes in pitch or odd-sounding speech.