Mastering Your Voice: Overcoming Common Singing Challenges with Effective Solutions

Singing is a fantastic way to express yourself, reduce stress and be creative. It’s a great way to express your feelings, whether that be through your own songs or existing ones. However, singing can also feel confronting and vulnerable. Along your journey, you might encounter mental or physical blocks that hinder your ability to sing freely and enjoy vocal expression.

Here are a few common obstacles, along with some tips on how to overcome them.

Stage Fright:

Maybe one of your goals is to perform on stage, and you wish you could do it without those overwhelming nervous feelings. Perhaps you're afraid to sing in front of your family or friends. You're not alone—it's normal to feel scared and unsure about what might happen.

My advice is to embrace the discomfort, take small steps, and acknowledge your growth as you go. Even singing in front of a new teacher is an achievement in itself - be proud of that! Work on your voice with your teacher, share your concerns, and together, you can work through them.

A good small step to overcome this could be to prepare a song for a lesson performance, consider it a mini show, your teacher can be your number one fan until you feel ready to expand your audience. Trust the process and put in the work. I'm confident the day will come when you'll bravely take the stage.

Vocal Strain:

This can happen for a number of reasons, it’s not uncommon. Most singers will face this challenge at some stage and will need to find solutions to maximise their vocal potential.

It can happen because of a mental block—You might fear losing control or sounding off, or you might be just starting and learning to use the right muscles. Give yourself time and grace to get familiar with your voice and don’t be afraid to fail or sound imperfect.

It's common to develop habits that involve engaging muscles that are unnecessary for effective singing. The challenge lies in unlearning these habits and retraining our bodies to support our voices correctly. Consistent repetition is essential for breaking old habits and establishing new ones.

Solutions:

Sirens - A helpful vocal exercise is the "puppy dog siren." This stretch is excellent for making sound without engaging unnecessary muscles. It focuses purely on bringing the vocal cords together without tension.

Lip Trills/Lip bubbles - these help to keep your throat and voice free while encouraging core engagement to carry the voice as it should.

Vocal release - It may seem counterintuitive, but learning to let go of controlling of your voice can actually help you gain more control. Letting your breath support your voice can free you up and improve your singing. Try some vocal release exercises without judgment - make sound freely and don’t hold back.

Here’s a video to follow along with to get your started - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z7SGCBUxCk

Slow down & find your own sound - Slow down assess the issue and get help if need be, give yourself time to work out how to use your voice and find your own style too. Sometimes when we copy other peoples sound it can create tension as we try to distort our own voice to sound like another. So learning to embrace your own voice is a good start.

Here’s a video to find your own unique tone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9fTcxAWi0w

Poor Posture:

As simple as that, if you’re finding it hard to sing adjust your posture. Remembering our body is the instrument so like you wouldn’t play a guitar backwards you wouldn’t sing slouched over or with your body closed in.

Stand or sit up straight with your shoulders relaxed, plant your feet, imagine a string putting your whole body up through your head, take ownership of your space and be proud of your ability to make sound and use your voice.

Not using your breath!

Maybe you run out of breath quickly after a few lines or you feel breathless when you sing, let's look at why this might be happening and ways to solve this issue.

Often people don’t realise how much your core and breath contribute to creating a strong, supported vocal sound. Breath support is crucial to your singing journey.

Start by practicing deep breaths into your stomach, keeping them low and controlled to relax your shoulders. Avoid letting the air reach your chest and neck, which can cause tension around your vocal cords unnecessarily. Take five deep breaths before bedtime, focusing on breath control. With consistent practice, you'll master the singer's breath in no time!

Another great exercise for core engagement and using your breathe effectively is making “Shushing” sounds. Make short sharp ‘sh’s’ and notice your abdominal muscles engage, they are working as they should. Now apply that same form but with a note on an ‘Ah.’ Take notice how it feeling and how it sounds, is it stronger, is is easier?

Learning to use expression when you sing

When you sing, you become the storyteller. If it's your own song, that's fantastic—you're the ultimate storyteller. But even if you're covering someone else's song, it's just as equally important to convey the emotions of the song. People connect with music and lyrics, so it's your responsibility to ensure they feel the message when you sing.

Some ways to explore how you might use your voice to portray emotion:

• Singing particular words or phrases in different ways, try a breathy tone vs a more clean sound etc

• Listen to the original artist or people covering the song to get ideas. What did you feel, what did you like about the delivery?

• Make it your own, how do you relate to the story. Make it feel real to you, research the meaning of the song and find your own connection with it.

Music is to be shared and many times songs are written about universal experiences, they should be sung with emotional and expression.

If you relate to any of these challenges, don't be discouraged. These experiences are very common, you might find that your peers who also enjoy singing have gone through similar things. As you grow into your voice and yourself, things will shift and change. If singing on your own or in the shower is where you’re at right now, that’s perfectly okay. Keep going, keep trying, and you’ll reach your goals.

Embrace the journey and don’t stop singing!

Written by Lisa Hawkins