2 questions about singing?

darn I can’t read!
edit- How is your voice crap when you can hit high and low notes with no problem?

If your voice doesn’t sound good there’s not much you can really do other than chain-smoke.

I have the same problem, btw…

@cyndihugs I can hit high and low notes, but not amazingly well, plus my voice is never close to what the song sounds like.

@sampson, how the hell would smoking help?!?!?
and in case you didn’t read, i have asthma

My husband has the opposite problem. He has the most beautiful voice but is completely tone deaf. He says he sits in the front row in Church because God just said make a joyful noise, not a beautiful noise, so God appreciates his voice even if no one else does.

The yawning may be related to your asthma since we yawn when we need more oxygen.

As far as the voice is concerned, it didn’t seem to be a problem for Bob Dylan. The first time I heard him sing I couldn’t believe that someone with a voice that crappy managed to get a record deal.

:)

It’s awesome that you can memorize so well! Maybe it’s okay that your vocal quality isn’t as great as you’d like right now, because it’s still developing, and it’s only going to change, anyway.

How is your ear? Can you reproduce the same frequencies that you hear (sing in tune)?

I’d recommend learning some songs from singers with similar vocal characteristics as your own, and figure out how they are controlling their sound to change expression. Also, I enjoy singing along in the car to the music of artists who are softer or bolder than myself, and exploring how to change the character of my own voice. Try singing along with artists who have voices that are rough, smooth, powerful, soft, operatic, talky… Observe how you change your breathing, posture, embouchure, nasal/chest voice, etc. to blend in with these artists. Soon you’ll have internalized a lot of physical techniques that will stay with you as your voice develops.

Is it possible that the yawning is a symptom of nervousness? (I have a difficult time not grinning like an idiot when I’m really scared or disturbed—not sure why…).

Hope this helps!

@XOIIO If your voice isn’t close to what the artist that sing it sounds like, there’s not much anything you can do about that.
The asthma may be the cause of why you yawn (like @Buttonstc said), I don’t have asthma but I still yawn sometimes too.
And as for your voice, the only advice I know or can give you is just let it be. You can’t really change it…

If you are 15, your voice is still developing. I was fortunate, like you, to have a good range and everything except what I perceived as vocal quality. I agree with @deathmango
You should look into voice lessons. Until I decided to become a voice major, I did not think I needed lessons because of my natural talent. Vocal lessons, besides teaching you to polish your native skills, will teach you the skills of breathing and breath support. These two techniques may be the answer to your yawning and your vocal quality.

1. Asthma has nothing to do with it. I have a friend who’s a professional singer and he has asthma. Just avoid smoking and generally places with bad ventilation.
2. It’s normal to yawn, especially if you’re asthmatic. You use a lot of oxygen to speak/sing, and yawning allows you to get more oxygen in. There are breathin exercises you can do. Or just yawn, you’ll be fine :)
3. What do you mean your voice is “crap”? In my experience, a good/bad voice depends on your ears, not your throat. If your ears are good enough to hear that you’re making a mistake, then you can practise until you get it right. If you can’t hear it, then you have a problem. Besides, you’re 15, work on your voice for a couple of years and you could even be a pro.
4. Being able to memorise a song is not really that helpful. Sure, it’s good, but you could be a singer and have the lyrics written on a piece of paper if you can’t remember them. Singing on tune is far more important than that. But it’s a cool skill nonetheless (and can help you with school lessons).

I know what you mean, I know plenty of “singers” who technically aren’t that bad but their voices just don’t have a nice sound. This is not rare. Unfortunately that is the part that you can’t really improve on. You can have singing lessons to help with your support (which will help with the yawning problem too!) and the strength of your voice but it won’t do much to change the actual sound of your voice. However, like @Yetanotheruser said, at 15 years old it’s not set in stone as to how your voice will turn out once puberty is over.

You say your voice doesn’t sound like the original artist’s when you sing. Some of the covers I love the best (Cake’s “I will survive”, Iron and Wine’s “Such Great Heights”) sound nothing like the originals. Claim your own sound and be proud of it. And as your voice changes, own it. We don’t all have to sound like Nickleback (thank God).

I was going to suggest voice lessons but @Yetanotheruser and @Leanne1986 beat me to it. Besides, you want to develop your own instrument, not sound like everyone else.

@Leanne1986 This.
I have the same problem and I gotta back them up on this.. You can be really good at singing in essence but still have a voice that no one really likes. I’ve been criticized about mine ALOT. But I also agree with @deathmango in that sometimes you just have to search really hard and find a style that suits you. If you know you can sing, in the technical aspect, at least that’s half the battle, right? Take confidence in the fact that there’s gotta be at least ONE song you can sing. And once you find that song, look up others from the same artist. Or hell, type it in on Pandora If you stay in that vein, you should be okay.

And then there is Britney Spears.

Try using your stomach to push the notes out, rather than your nose. Try pulling your jaw back, or making a whispery strain on your throat. There are plenty of things you can do to change your voice.

@Darwin LOL

Listen to Georges Brassens, one of the the most famous (and richest) of the French folk singers. He wrote most of his own contextual songs, played a limited style on an accoustical guitar and had a very limited voice.

One song

Bio “Georges Brassens… . Now an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his simple, elegant songs and articulate, diverse lyrics; indeed, he is considered one of France’s most accomplished postwar poets. He has also set to music poems by…. Louis Aragon ), Victor Hugo, Jean Richepin, François Villon, and Guillaume Apollinaire.”

To everyone, I don’t smoke, and hate the smell.

I listen to maroon 5, coldplay, Gabon degraw and basically anything catchy. If I have to sum up what I listen to it would be rock/pop I’m not sure.

I can get any song for free, so if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Here’s my Last.fm playlist, you can look around there and find out what you like. I listen to any type of rock.

I have a suggestion: send me a PM with details about how to get any song for free. :D

@Buttonstc Limewire or www.beemp3.com No PM needed.

Yes I am aware of Limewire and similar. When I said details I meant how to use these.

I really am a techno-tard but was hoping for some link to a tutorial page of the “For Dummies” variety.

I’ve also read often enough that files on these types of sites are full of all sorts of Malware. How does one avoid that. I do have a Mac but I assume it doesn’t insulate against everything, does it??

@Buttonstc I’ve been using Limewire for 3 or 4 years now and never had a virus. I guess alot of people don’t hover cursor. If you hover cursor over a file, it will list its details. If under Duration, it says something like 0:03.. that’s 3 seconds and PROBABLY not what you’re looking for. Could be a virus. If the bitrate section is empty, could be a virus. If the file is improperly tagged, could be a virus. This is where it pays off to be OCD and always want things tagged correctly. Something that is correctly tagged will look something like.. (let’s say you want Nymphetamine Fix by Cradle Of Filth);
Artist: Cradle Of Filth
Song: Nymphetamine Fix.mp3
Album: Nymphetamine
Duration: 5:02
The general rule of thumb is; hover cursor and take a good glance over the details before you download something, know exactly what you want, and never download anything that doesn’t have a listed bitrate (bitrate determines the speed or frequency at which the file plays. If there is no speed, there is no play. Ne?). Also pay attention to file TYPES. If you’re looking for a song, you’ll want an mp3, ideally. wma files are typically ‘okay’, but stick to mp3s as a precaution. Don’t download any filetypes you’re not sure of. Anything outside of this protocol is risky business.

Limewire and the like are illegal, so be extremely careful in your downloading…

@Sampson I agree. Under no circumstances should you drive up to a police station and announce via megaphone that you illegally downloaded a copy of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.

Am I mistaken to think that the illegal part is the distribution rather than the downloading?

I remember reading that somewhere (maybe in stuff about the Pirate Bay case) but I wasn’t sure how accurate that was.

One of my former housemates introduced me to the PB website about a year ago and promised to show me how to use it but then moved out before he had the chance.

I know about this stuff. It’s just the H-O-W that eludes me.

I realize that sounds kind of lame but that’s it.

@Buttonstc FTW. Limewire isn’t illegal to use. I know at least 100 people just near me that use it.

I use limewire, I don’t think it’s illegal or else it wouldn’t be there. It may be illegal to download music, but not to just have it.

What’s your opinion on a site called File Den?

@Buttonstc I’ve never heard of that site before.

Limewire and Pirate Bay are different. Pirate Bay is basically a search engine for torrent files. It is illegal to both download and distribute, but you have far less of a chance of getting caught downloading torrents than you do mp3s from Limewire. And less of a chance of downloading a virus.

OMG i have the same problem about the yawning! When I took Oral Communications. Uncontrollable yawning. I think is nerves. My teacher always counted off for it though LOL It takes me a while to memorize a song but I can change my voice too. Its a very unique gift you should definitly practice on keepin it fresh by doin that do re me fa so la te doh or however goes…Different tones just to play around with it.

@XOIIO
Something else you might want to consider is joining with a choral group, maybe a choir or chorus, at your church or school, or a local community organization. Even if you don’t particularly like the type of music they sing, the experience will provide you with valuable experience, and you will be able to get feedback from other singers.