In my late 20s I joined a more serious choir. The musical director started many of our rehearsals with talks about various aspects of vocal technique. It didn’t take me long to realise that I had little idea of what he was talking about. Fortunately for me, my father offered to buy me a course of singing lessons as a birthday present.

Ideally, we would all like to be able to afford a personal vocal coach, but the reality is that singing lessons are expensive. To make them worthwhile you need to practice at home between sessions and you need to go at least once a week. It’s a bit like learning to drive – you need to keep the momentum going and keep in practice.

Realistically, not everyone can afford the time and the money to take a lengthy course of private singing lessons. One alternative would be to look for group classes. This was something that my choir started to offer after I had my private lessons. Group classes are fun, you are in good company and the cost is less than one to one lessons. However, the groups were small so the lessons still cost a considerable sum and still required an extra weekly commitment to attend.

Committing to weekly lessons isn’t easy if you have family commitments or work/school commitments.

A third alternative is to consider learning at home. This has become easier now that most people own a computer. Along with the computer comes the ability to record yourself and play back so you can hear where you are going wrong. If you want an accompanist – the computer can do that too – playing the accompaniment for you. If you want to repeat a lesson – no problem, computers don’t get bored. They will repeat a lesson, or part of a lesson as often as you want until you feel you have got the hang of it.

There are a whole range of online courses, some of which come with their own recording studio software to allow you to record yourself and mix with a choice of backgrounds and accompaniments.

If you decide to learn at home you can learn at your own pace, in private. If, like me, you start knowing nothing, you won’t be embarrassed by finding that anyone else on your course knows more than you do. With a bit of practice you will start to gain in confidence and ability, without the need to pay for an expensive course of lessons

If you decide to learn at home, take a look at Sing Smart Not Hard

After a few years in the choir I realised that although I really enjoyed being there my singing wasn’t as good as most of my friends and fellow choristers.  I needed to learn how to improve my singing.  My father agreed to pay for a course of six singing lessons.  I found a friendly local singing teacher and that began eighteen months of hard work.

I soon realised I had a lot of vocal problems.  But I persevered and so did my long suffering tutor.  At last, after months of hard work and practise I learnt how to sing properly.  My singing improved out of all recognition.  The next time I auditioned for the choir I was instantly elevated to the status of automatic semi-chorus member.  A great surprise to me.

Working on your singing technique takes time and practise, but it can be done.  I know, I did it.  Not everyone has the time and the money to pay for singing lessons every fortnight for 18 months.  Looking back, I dread to think how much that cost me.

There is an alternative to expensive singing lessons.  A comprehensive course that you can do in your own home which will teach you how to improve singing.  This course takes you from the basics through to advanced techniques.

You don’t even need to own an instrument to practise with.  This amazing course includes your own computer based piano as well as your own recording studio software.  Record yourself, accompany yourself, listen to yourself – all from your computer and all the software you need is included.  To check out this totally awesome singing package Click Here! and start learning how to improve singing today

The “Middle Voice Method” will help you change that.  This method will help you sing smoothly and consistently across your range.

Many of us have sat in a choir or singing rehearsal and had our conductor or instructor tell us to “use your head voice” – how often do you silently think “you must be joking – I can’t use my head voice down there” .

If you are an alto, you’ve probably had the opposite problem – your conductor has told you to “use your chest voice” on a note that seems impossibly high.  What do you do?  You probably carry on singing the note exactly as you did before, hoping that someone else in your section of the choir will be able to make the required change and that your inability to do so won’t be noticed!

If that sounds like you, or if you are tired of singing solely in your chest or head voice, afraid that making the cross over will let your voice down, then check out the Middle Voice Method – designed to help you sing better across the whole of your vocal range.