It won’t make a difference if you are the most wonderful singer in the world – if people in your audience cannot hear you. In developing a stronger singing voice, remember that a strong voice is not dependent on your throat or mouth – real singing power comes from the lungs. This is why we have repeatedly stressed that strong singing does not involve yelling. When individuals yell to the point where the throat becomes sore and voice hoarse, they are physically damaging the voice box, and not properly using the lungs and diaphragm for a strong singing voice.
To better help you develop a strong singing voice, try practicing the lung exercise outlined below.
- Sit upright and place one hand on your stomach and your other hand behind your back. Picture your two hands on top of each other, separated only by your torso.
- Take a deep breath, attempting to move both of your hands out as far as possible while they are still placed on your body. It takes a lot of practice and lung strength to make your back move, so don’t worry too much if your back doesn’t move at first.
- Exhale quickly, making no sound as you breathe out. Noise during the exhalation process is an indicator of tension in the voice box.
- Breathe in again, hands still on your stomach and back
- Exhale again, only this time say the first letter of the alphabet.
- Repeat this exercise until you reach the letter Z. As you advance through the alphabet imagine that you can speaking to someone farther and farther away. Your voice should get louder and stronger while still breathing normally.
This is called belly breathing. Remember how this movement feels as you practice the voice exercises. Belly breathing is how you always want to breathe in order to maximize the use of your lung capacity to generate a full and rich voice.