Feeling nervous about an upcoming performance? It’s a totally normal feeling! Getting used to being in the spotlight can take some time. Learn how to sing with confidence in this article by voice teacher Sphie H...
How many times have you listened to your favorite musical artists, bands, and pop stars and pictured yourself in their shoes? Many people dream of unleashing their inner rock star, but very few actually set forth in doing so. It takes a lot of courage to learn how to sing and, for some, understanding how to formulate the first note can be a challenge — let alone imagining the excitement of singing on a stage!
With the guidance of the following few, simple steps, all of the butterflies will melt away and you will be on your way to discovering your voice in no time. So, what are the ingredients in building confidence as a singer?
1) Have Patience With Yourself
The first ingredient in learning how to sing with confidence is patience. Learning how to sing can be a very similar experience to a baby learning how to walk. When a baby learns to walk, they learn step-by-step. In singing, the process is not very different. You are learning not only how to listen to the notes but also how to formulate and re-create the notes you are listening to.
Because your body is your instrument, it takes your entire body to learn how to sing, so be patient with yourself. It is the baby steps in learning that formulate the bigger picture. Finding fulfillment in the building blocks allows you to feel confident in the work that you have achieved.
2) Practice Often
The second ingredient is practice. When I studied opera as a teenager, I sometimes loathed stepping into the practice arena outside of my teacher’s guidance. It felt like wandering through a foreign territory only to find myself at a dead end.
I thought to myself, “I don’t want to sing opera. I want to sing soul.” I felt in my youthfulness that this soulful voice was somehow going to jump out of me and one day it did. What I didn’t realize at the time was that it was all of those years of practice that had helped me to achieve it.
Practice helps strengthen both quality in tone and the relationship in building your own voice. Practicing singing is like an insurance policy for you voice. The more you practice, the more you know your voice. The more you know your voice, the more confident you are singing in any situation. Preparation is the backbone of self-confidence.
3) Take Risks
The third ingredient in building self-confidence as a singer is in taking risks. You may have heard the quote, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” When applied to singing, the same rings true!
We often hear this voice in our head when we first start singing that sounds much different than the voice that actually comes out. When applying the building blocks in practicing scales, exercises, and simple tones and in mastering them one step at a time, we then feel comfortable enough to take risks in the creation and formulation of new exercises. If you hear something in your head, but don’t know exactly how to create the sounds, try anyway. Taking risks in singing means stepping into uncharted waters of sound and testing all of the different sounds available to you. This can be as simple as humming a line to your favorite song out loud.
Every great singer has to know how to hit the “bad” notes a few times before they understand what it means to hit the “good” ones. In the end, confidence in singing comes from knowing both the “good” notes and the “bad” notes and how to move more fluidly and comfortably between all of them. The truth is, you will never know unless you try and it takes more courage to try than not to. Having the courage to take risks will build confidence in knowing your voice.
Learn How to Sing With Confidence
When it comes to learning your voice, it takes patience, practice, and a little bit of risk-taking! Ultimately, you are the captain of your own ship. Learning how to sing is an art and a balance of the above three items. With the combination of all three ingredients, you will find yourself well on your way to singing even more vibrantly and confidently in no time.
Post Author: Sphie H.Sphie H. teaches singing, piano, yoga, and more in Indianapolis, IN. She offers her students in-home lessons, as well as lessons in her own home studio. She’s been teaching for over a decade and aims to offer a relaxed, versatile, and professional approach to her lessons. Learn more about Sphie here!
Suzy S.