To Sing or Not to Sing

By: Krista Slaney

Copyright 2010 Wood Middle School Publishing

This book is dedicated to: Brianna Taylor- To hope you become an awesome singer one day! 2010 Thank you to Ms. Dara Massoni for letting me take pictures of Period 4 choir class

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: How to sing better-Easy Chapter 2: How to sing better-Hard Chapter 3: Parts of the body used Chapter 4: Different notes, instruments, and singers Chapter 5: Tips Chapter 6: Top 10s

Page 1-4 Page 5-8 Page 9-12 Page 13-16 Page 17-18 Page 19-20

Chapter 1: How to Sing Better- Easy (Intro)

There are many ways to get better at singing. As we take a look into this chapter, we will see how to get better at singing. We will learn how to get better whether you are a soprano or an alto through simple breathing exercises and vocal warm ups.

Soprano
If you are a soprano, there are many ways to warm up. First up are breathing exercises. Before you start to sing, take deep breaths, breath in and out slowly. Next take a long yawn to stretch out your throat to sing better. Lastly, get up and stretch, because even though you dont think it helps, it does. Another easy way to warm up are vocal warm ups. One easy vocal warm up is called the yell-yawn. What you do is you start to go into a yawn, but in the middle of it, start to yell while yawning. Another vocal warm up is to sing small songs, such as Row Your Boat. If you want it a little bit harder, you can get a group of your friends to sing with you. Lastly, you can do an additive scale. An additive scale includes going, Do, do re do, do re mi re do. And so on. The additive scale consists of the notes and words do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, and do.

Alto
For altos, you have to go a little bit lower. For an easy warm up for an alto, relax your throat and sing oohh for eight beats on one note. You can also do an additive scale, but you just go lower than a soprano. If you want it even easier, dont pick a high note song to sing. Warm ups for voices are pretty much any song to sing, so for a warm up, just sing one of your favorite songs! If you want a low note song to sing, one song you can choose is, Tell Me Something I Dont Know by Selena Gomez and the Scene. For breathing exercises, you pretty much do the same thing. But as an alto, you have to relax your throat. First, breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. You can also do a yawn-yell, but just relax your throat more. Are you getting my point on relaxing your throat? Good.

My Warm ups and Breathing Exercises

On this page, I will tell you a few of my vocal warm ups and breathing exercises. First upsongs. A few of my songs are: Eliza Jane, Jubilate, and the additive scale. Eliza Jane Lyrics: I got a gal and youve got none, little Liza Jane. I got a girl that calls me hon, little Liza Jane. Oh Eliza, little Liza Jane. Oh Eliza, little Liza Jane. Jublate: Jublate deo, jubilate de-eo, al-aluajah. (x3) Additive scale: Do, do re do, do re mi re do, do re mi fa mi re do, (and so on.) A few of my breathing exercises I have are: the yawn sigh (which I have mentioned), and lots of deep breathing. But the fact is, I do each one differently. You can try to do it these ways, or just do it the same. As a soprano, for the yawn sigh I have to actually make myself yawn first before I go into a yawn sigh. On the deep breathing, try to have everything calm and quiet around to help you relax and sing better.

Chapter 2: How to Sing Better Hard (Intro)

In this chapter, you will learn how to do more warm ups that are slightly harder. You will learn how to sing more warm ups and breathing exercises whether you are a soprano or an alto. You will learn things such as skipping notes and words, or doing shorter breaths and longer singing.

Soprano
If you are a soprano, there are many hard warm ups to do. One vocal warm up you can do is the additive scale, but skip notes. The way to do this is pretty much do the same thing, but instead you skip random notes. For example, you go Do, do do, do mi do (The dashes are where re is supposed to be.) in those small breaks in between notes, you can clap or snap. An example of this is Do, do (clap) do, do (clap) mi (clap) do, do (clap) mi (snap) mi (clap) do. A warm up that you can do is you breathe in for 1-5 beats, like youre sucking through a straw, and hold it for 15-20 beats, while going ssssss. You can long deep breaths and hold them in, because if you do, it will expand your stomach muscles and you can hold more air in to sing better.

Alto
As an alto, as I said, you have to go lower. You may also so the additive scale and clap and snap, but you may have to go lower to reach your goal. You can also take smaller breaths and hold it for 20-25 beats, but go can go a lot louder since you can hold longer notes more than a soprano. Some breathing exercises you can do are pretty much the same thing as the sopranos. But for the altos, when you do some of the certain breathing exercises; do not lock your knees! If you lock your knees you will eventually pass out from not enough blood and oxygen going into your legs and you will faint and fall to the ground.

My Breathing and Warm ups

Some of my breathing exercises and warm ups are up now. First, my songs and vocal warm ups: The additive scale, and the small breath beats. Additive scale: Do, do (clap) do, do (clap) mi, (clap) do. And so on. My class also stomps, snaps, and whistles. Small breath beats: take in a small amount of air like your sipping through a straw for 1-4 beats. Then breathe out in small, separated beats by going, sss-sss-sss-sss for 2025 beats about 3 times. Some of my breathing exercises are: the deep breaths for 1-4 beats, and letting it out for 20-25 beats. If you do it very often, then your stomach will eventually get bigger so you can hold more air to sing with.

Chapter 3: Parts of the body used

In this chapter, the parts of the body will be explored and explained in detail. These parts of the body that are involved in helping you sing include: the diaphragm, stomach muscles, the throat, the head, and the vocal chords. We will also learn how to take care of each part of the singing body parts.

The Diaphragm/ Stomach Muscles

The two parts inside of your stomach that help you sing are your diaphragm and your stomach muscles. First up is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle inside of your stomach, right below your lungs which help push all of the air out of your lungs. When you start to sing, you have to take a lot of air into your lungs. As your running out of air, you have to use your diaphragm to help push out the rest of the air, like trying to get the rest of the toothpaste out of a tube. To protect the diaphragm, do not yell a lot and try to keep your voice down, because it can ruin your voice and vocal chords. Next are the stomach muscles. Theres a big muscle inside of your stomach that you use to help lift up your ribcage, and that help you to get a richer sound. As you imagine the stomach muscle below your ribcage, it pretty much is a big Tootsie Roll that wraps around another muscle that cause your ribcage to be lifted, which causes your singing voice to be richer. To take care of this, pretty
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much just eat more healthy food to keep it in shape.

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The Throat/ Head

The next parts of the body that are used are the throat and the head. First is the head. When you sing, you sometimes have to use your head voice to help you get the notes. Sometimes though, you dont want to use your head voice because sometimes you may have wrong notes and youll sing them instead of your right notes, and then youll want to sing out of your throat and stomach. To take care of your head voice, try not to yell (again), because then youll hurt your head. The throat is really easy to sing from. In fact, its what you will most use when you sing! When you sing with your throat, you have to be careful. If you sing too high or youre in the wrong voice part, like youre an alto but supposed to be a soprano, it will damage your vocal chords as well as your throat. Youre throat and notes may get scratchy and your notes will be wrong. To take care of your throat, dont yell, make sure youre in the right voice part, and dont strain your voice.

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Vocal Chords
Lastly are the vocal chords. These are inside your throat, inside a box-like structure in your throat. Inside are the muscles that help you sing and talk, such as the vocal chords. These will help you to sing, but the same warning goes for the vocal chords. If you are in the wrong voice part section, it can ruin your vocal chords and can permanently damage your vocal chords, unless you figure it out soon where then you can fix your voice, but it takes months, sometimes years to fix them! To take care of your vocal chords, all you have to do is not strain your throat, because that leads to your vocal chords, and dont be in the wrong voice part like the throat!

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Chapter 4: Different notes, voice parts, and instruments

There are many different things you can do when you are singing. You can add instruments, and there are many different notes and voice parts you can use. Tenor and Bass First are all the different parts, more specifically, bass, tenor, alto, and soprano. Lets go into the basses. The basses are mostly from the bottom of the piano to the 2nd C. The basses can go higher, but when they sing, thats about as high as they can go. When they sing, you can hear a rumble of their voices, and you can actually feel it! The basses are best paired with the altos, since they are both the lowest of the boys and girls. The tenors are 3rd C to the 4th C. The tenors can also go lower and higher, but their range consists between the two Cs. When the tenors sing, you can hear the different notes from different people. They are best paired with soprano since they are both the highest of the girls and boys.

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Soprano and Alto The altos are from the 5th C to the 6th C. The altos are mostly accustomed to singing kind of low, so when you hear them sing, they will sometimes sound like the tenors. When the altos actually sing, you can hear the clash of notes easily since you dont have a cover up. What I mean by that is that the basses are so low you cant even hear if they have mistakes or not. The sopranos sing so high that you can also not hear their mistakes. As I had said, alto is best paired with the basses. The sopranos are the highest of all of the voice parts. They tend to be up from the 6th C to the top of the piano. (All of the voice parts can go all around the piano, but tend to be in between all the Cs.) The sopranos can sing pretty much any note, since most sopranos can use their talking voice to go as low as they can. When you start to hear the sopranos, your ears will probably start to hurt since they go so high. As I have mentioned, they are best paired with the tenors.
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Instruments There are many different instruments that can be played when youre singing. These include: the piano, woodwind instruments, and brass instruments. When I say woodwinds and brass, I mean instruments such as: flutes (woodwind) trumpet (brass) and drums (rock band.) You can also go a-cappella, which is singing with out piano or instrument accompaniment. You can also use different soundtracks and CDs to help you sing instead of having a live instrument play for you.

Notes There are many different notes when you sing. Below are pictures of some of the notes, and heres what they are, and here are the definitions. There is the whole note, which is held for 4 beats, the half note, held for 2 beats, and the quarter note, held for 1 beat. There is also the sixteenth
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note, which is held for 1 beats. This means that there is a little dot by the quarter note and that means when you go to the next note for only a half a note. There is also the note that looks like two quarter notes connected, and this is held for two notes, which can also be pronounced teatea to help you. Lastly, there is the note that looks like there are four quarter notes connected and you use that note really fast, and its usually used to show the notes are going downward in a quick way.

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Chapter 5: Tips
In these two pages, I will write personal tips and tips from choir teachers and famous singers to help you. - Do not strain your voice - Make sure youre the right voice part - Do not yell a lot - Study all of the notes - Study words - If you forget the words, fake it by saying, Rhubarb, rhubarb, watermelon, watermelon, over and over again - Lift up your stomach to sing better - Practice, practice, practice! - Develop a natural voice - Dont copy accents in your favorite songs - Sing songs out of your comfort zone - Be emotional - Listen to criticism and ideas to get better - Experiment with different genres and types of music
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Tips (Continued)
- Stay positive - Control your breathing - Lift ribcage - Make your diaphragm push against your lungs to get more air

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Chapter 6: Top 10s

(Its only 2009 because its too early in 2010 to tell)

Top 10 Songs of 2009 10: Whatcha Say by Jason Derulo 9: You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift 8: Love Story by Taylor Swift 7: Down by Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne 6: Fireflies by Owl City 5: Right Round by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha 4: Just Dance by Lady Gaga featuring Colby ODonis 3: Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas 2: Poker Face by Lady Gaga 1: I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas

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Top 10 Singers of 2009 10: Drake 9: Chris Brown 8: Miley Cyrus 7: Michael Jackson 6: Akon 5: Lady Gaga 4: Eminem 3: Taylor Swift 2: Beyonce 1: Lil Wayne

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Author Biography
Krista Slaney always wants something to do with the outdoors, and things that are exciting, and love to play outside. She will write only if she has to, but she is substantially good at it when she gets started. Krista lives in Wilsonville, Oregon on her farm with her 4 family members, and is obsessed with the Jonas Brothers. (Ask her anything!) Her favorite places to go are the beach and the forest, and loves sour stuff, reading, and scary movies!

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