How Daily Habits Make A Better Singer

How Daily Habits Make A Better Singer


Recently I came across an article online that talked about successful people and some of the things they have going for them.  One thing that stood out among them was their routines or their daily habits.  Simply put these people had some set of routines and daily habits that they followed through with no matter what happened.

No excuses…

No complaints…

It was a must and they had stuck with it for years and had positive things to say about it.

This had me thinking because as singers who want to get better, we also need some set of daily habits and routines to help us achieve that.

In this article, we will be looking at some of these habits you need to help you become a better singer.

1. Affirmations

Now before you get scared and think this is some spooky stuff, self-affirmations are a good way to get your mindset set on a particular topic.

Here is a study showing you some of the benefits of a daily self affirmation plan.

As singers, one thing we have to cope with is the pressure of trying to be better – at all cost.  This can put some added pressure and stress on you that you have unrealistic ideas and plans of what you can and cannot do. This is a bad habit to form. When you have added pressure from such unrealistic ideas it can hurt you and make you frustrated. And when you get frustrated you lose your passion which can then lead to you quitting, but when you take it slowly and have your daily affirmations habit to back you, you find that you become aware of your thoughts and words and reduce the risk of negativity setting in.

One way to get started with this is simply to have a daily affirmation habit of saying “ I know that I can be a better singer but there is no pressure on me to get there in a hurry”

Doing this daily for at least 30 days will change your mindset and remove all negative thoughts from creeping in.

2.Daily Warm Ups

By now you know that your warm ups are very important.  Think of it like this… an athlete has to warm up before every event. This helps him make sure that his muscles do not cramp up or fail him during the event. The same thing applies to you as a singer.  By daily practicing your vocal warm ups you make sure that your voice does not fail you when the time comes to use them.  What you can do is to make out time preferably in the morning and do your warm ups for 30 minutes.  Do this daily and your will notice definite improvements in your singing.

3.Vocal Exercises

This point and the one above go hand in hand.   Warm ups are the ones before the main event while exercises are the main event.  The simple truth is that your vocal muscles may/can go weak as a result of inactivity, and you definitely do not want this to happen.  To prevent this you need to make sure that you do your vocal exercises everyday.  There are lots of vocal exercises that you can do each day with the focus being on increasing your range or learning how to breathe properly or even learning the correct diction as a singer.  You do not need to go through all of them daily. The important thing here is to focus on one thing and get better at it before moving.  So for example you might decide to focus just on your breathing and only do breathing exercises for a while.  By focusing on just one aspect then you will definitely see results as against trying to do all at once and getting little or no results.

4.Vocal health care

One thing that most singers and people who use their voices are scared of is losing their voices or causing any kind of harm to their voices.  This is a big deal and you should be scared also – just kidding, but seriously, you need to ensure that you are not straining or causing any permanent damage to your vocals.  This is more of a preventive measure than a daily habit.  You need to be aware of some of the bad habits that might cause harm to your vocal cords, So things like smoking, drinking, yelling/ screaming, taking lots of dairy foods and some more which you can see here are an absolute NO.  Your voice is your most important “tool” as a singer and if you neglect it, it will repay you back when the time comes.

5. Healthy Living

Finally you want to make sure that you take care of your body and yourself.  This is simply because a healthy you is a happier and stress free you.  Things like eating right, exercising, sleeping and resting properly are things that you should not neglect. A daily habit of drinking a set quantity of water and staying hydrated will definitely help you keep your vocal cords in a good shape, or doing some aerobic exercises for 30 minutes daily will ensure that you learn to breath and use your diaphragm properly each time.  Living healthy and taking care of your body does not have to be all about fitness or losing weight, as a singer you need to make sure that your body is well taken care of especially your voice and your vocal cords. One thing you need to remember is that daily habits take some time to get used to.

You need to be ready to make the change and follow through. The most important thing is to take action and be consistent.  Above all make it a fun process. If it becomes boring then it becomes very hard to be consistent and follow through.

Hopefully with this article, you have all it takes to get started.

 

Uche Ibe

Uche Ibe is a passionate singer and blogger as www.welovesinging.com. He enjoys teaching people how to sing and helping them become better singers. You can connect with him by visiting his blog or sending him an email