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Your first step is to make a commitment to practice at least thirty minutes a day. Forty-five minutes would be better, an hour even better. But only you can decide on how much time to practice.

Fit singing practice into your life in a balanced way. Do not let practice be anything but fun. Also, remember to take a day or two off from singing every week.

There is a lot of time in any day that is wasted or spent inefficiently. For example, driving back and forth to work wastes an hour a day for most of us. We can do something else while we drive.

With a practice tape in your car's cassette player, you can practice over 20 hours a month! This is a lot of practice time and will produce results. If you plan to enter contests, this time is precious. The more you sing, the better you'll sing. The better you sing the more enjoyment you'll get. Enjoyment is a powerful reward. Add to this the praise of your family, friends, and the public. Add also your personal sense of achievement and satisfaction.

The following thirty minute practice plan is a suggested outline. You have the option each day to do one or all of them. An exception is the first one, the daily warm-up program. This should be done every day.

Sing the word "sung" and hold the "ng." Make sure you hold the "ng," the tongue against the back portion of the roof of your mouth. Now slide the sound upward into the upper reaches of your voice. Now slide the sound all the way down to the lowest reaches, and back up again. This will sound like a siren.

Your imagination has the power to greatly contribute to your singing. This handbook includes a number of exercises that utilize creative visualization. Do not underestimate the power of these exercises.

1) Close your eyes and imagine that you are on a slow moving ocean wave. Imagine that the waves raise you up and down, very smoothly, very gently.

2) Now sing up the scale, do, re, mi, etc. As you sing, imagine that the wave is smoothly and gently raising you up.

3) Connect the notes of the scale together in the same smoothness as your ride up the wave.

4) Now sing down the scale from the top. As you do so, imagine the wave taking you smoothly and gently downward.

5) Connect the notes together in the same smoothness as your downhill ride on the wave.

The purpose of this exercise is to break the beginner of the habit of singing each note as a separate entity. There should be a thread through all the notes so that they will form a single phrase. Other silent-slide visualizations can include imagining that you are floating on an endless river, or playing a violin, gently drawing the bow back and forth as you sing. Go through the motions of playing the violin while you sing. This can be very effective in creating the smooth connection between notes.

1) Write down three specific goals, one dealing with performance, and two with singing improvement.

2) Close your eyes and imagine a place where you'll sing to an audience.

3) Imagine all the details: your hair, clothes, your attitude, the smile behind your eyes, the size of the place, etc.

4) Choose a song.

5) Imagine the music on the track. Does it consist of one or two musicians, a band or orchestra?

6) Start singing in your mind. Have the muscles of your vocal system work in the same way they would if you were singing out loud.

7) Silently sing the words, "I am singing beautifully." Imagine that this is effortless, and yet, powerful.

8) Imagine that control and freedom are "in a dance" with each other.

9) Imagine that improvements in your singing are now happening. Keep doing this for a while. This is the heart of the exercise.

10) Imagine the end of the song, with a big high note. The audience applauds, and you have sung better than ever before. Dwell on this for a while.

Do this just before you practice and just before you sing in public. Each time you do, you take a step closer to your ideal voice.

You might want to record this exercise on a tape, or order one from us.

Practice track tapes make practice the fun that it should be. The practice track tape does not have your voice on it, only the background music, the empty orchestra that needs your singing. Singing along with an instrument or two, or with a band or orchestra, adds much fun and joy. The feeling of fun and joy must always accompany your singing, public or private.

You can practice with your tape at home, in your car, or any practice space you create.

If you don't have a practice tape, you can buy them at a record store, or call us at The Ipswich Voice Studio. We can get your key over the phone and create one custom made for you.

As we explained in Chapter 1, the key is determined by where the do-re-mi starts. If you know which note "do" is, you know the name of the key.

The track must be in a good key for you. The highest and lowest notes of the song must be within your strong range. At The Voice Studio we use a digital key changer to make practice tapes in the student's best key. This is important for all singers. Your practice tapes should be in good keys.

You can figure out which songs are in good keys for you simply by singing along with them. Some songs will feel more comfortable than others. This means that you won't have to strain your voice on high notes or low notes. Out of those songs that are comfortable, choose the ones most popular with karaoke audiences. This is a powerful secret!

There will be songs that are simply not right for you. Their high notes will be too high. At the same time, their low notes will be too low. Don't do these songs. There are plenty of others you can do. As time goes on, you will discover which songs get the best audience reaction. Sometimes it is the song that creates the response, not you. Choose songs that you AND the audience like.

As a beginner you face a problem: others can hear you practice. You probably don't want this until you get better. In our experience at The Voice Studio, this problem contributes to quitting more than anything else.

One way to solve this problem is to follow these steps. You will need a microphone, your stereo system, earphones, and your practice tape.

1) Unplug the speaker connected to the left channel of your stereo.

2) Plug your microphone into one of the left channel inputs. (You may need some adapters to do this.)

3) Plug your earphones into the earphone jack.

4) Play your practice tape.

5) In the earphones you will hear your voice and the track.

6) Turn the volume of the right channel up until it is loud enough to cover over your voice in the room. Others in the house should not be able to hear you. They will hear only the right channel which is playing only the track, and not your voice.

This completes your electronic private practice space!

Other strategies include practicing only in your car, or simply not caring if others hear you.

Half of all your practice should be with a microphone. This will help you learn to control the distance the mike is from your mouth. This will also help you get used to hearing your voice amplified. Good mikes can be bought on sale for as little as $50. Go to a musical equipment store and buy one. Be sure to get any adapters you'll need to hook it into your stereo or other equipment. Ask the salesperson to help you.

Answer the following questions

1. What is the next strategy to learn in order to

improve your singing?

2. What is the next thing to do about the other

nonsinging things that will help you improve?

Always know your next step.

Walk around while you sing. Learn to use your steps to create better singing. Observe how professional singers stand, walk, and move.

Many serious singers, at various stages in their development, practice in front of a mirror. Practicing in front of a mirror can be very helpful. You can see your mouth, and whether or not you are using it properly. You can see if your posture is correct for singing. You can see your general appearance, and your face as you sing. You can see how confident you are. You can see your whole "act."

On the other hand, seeing yourself can be very distracting. Perhaps you are not completely happy with how you look. Perhaps you don't like the way you look when you sing.

As you can see, there are reasons for, and against, using a mirror when you practice. You need to decide for yourself.

Taking lessons from a teacher or working with a vocal coach is invaluable to your development as a singer. You cannot hear yourself the way another hears you. A good teacher will provide helpful information, monitoring, and support.