5 YouTube Coaches To Help You Improve Your Singing

You may be hoping that if you just start the setlist at a gig singing “easier” songs with a narrow range, it will do. Don’t believe it. When you start gigging frequently and you sing in a way that makes your vocal cords hurt afterward, or your voice doesn’t sound right in certain pitches, it’s time to look around for professional advice. These are my tips on how to deal with it easily and online.

1. High pitches: a piece of cake 

For those looking for comprehensive programs and detailed tutorials on how to master vocally challenging covers, I can’t recommend Ken Templin's school enough. Gábina Gunčíková once went to take lessons from him to learn how to make her (already pretty killing) voice resilient and flexible. Ken shows in a very simple way how to adapt your voice to even the most difficult songs—and not lose it. If you want to hit the high notes and look like it didn’t cost you a thing, check out Ken.

2. The best tips for working with your voice

Every teacher will basically give you the same basics. Learn to breathe from your diaphragm, relax your throat, and project the sound "into the mask." The difference, however, is how they explain these tasks to you. It’s not that easy to find a singing teacher who will speak to you in a language you can understand. For example, on the New York Vocal Coaching channel, you’ll find nearly 120 short tutorials that explain in different ways various tricks of working with the voice. Maybe this is where you’ll find some "aha" moments that will help you relax your throat and get the best out of yourself when on stage.

3. Belting—connecting screaming and falsetto

Surprisingly, this is not an exotic technique from adult films. Belting is a singing method that helps overcome the transition—well known to singers—between the chest and head voice. In layman’s terms, it is how you change from screaming at the top of your lungs to falsetto and all the way up (that you can’t go any higher). Training your voice to be so flexible that it sounds equally full, pleasant, and effortless from the lowest pitch to the highest one takes years of diligent effort. If you weren’t born a super talented singer, you probably put too much pressure on your voice. And if, after a few gigs a month, you feel like razor blades in your throat, maybe you should consider the belting technique. How is it possible that Sia belts out Chandelier live, lying on the bed, looking as if it’s no big deal? It’s thanks to a well-mastered belting technique that, in addition to the diaphragm, engages the intercostal and back muscles, and sometimes the buttocks, too. All the effort you put in will pay off the manifold. Felicia Ricci is the master teacher of belting. She has over half a million subscribers on YouTube. You can also have a look at her paid lessons on Udemy, but the basics can be picked up from her free channel easily. You can try out her teaching technique with a video where she focuses on mastering songs such as Chandelier. If you touch on her other videos, there are separate lessons for both female and male vocals.

What about you? How do you work with your voice? Have you found a way that suits you better than others? Share it with us in the comments!