Opera is considered to be one of the most challenging styles of singing, and for a good reason. Opera singers need to master the basics of singing. However, they also need to rely on their bodies to produce the tremendous volume levels needed to sing over a full orchestra.

If you have seen opera live on stage and have been impressed by the singer’s powerful voices, you might be inspired to learn more about the genre. To help you out, we have compiled a comprehensive guide on how to sing opera for beginners.

How To Sing Opera for Beginners

1. Watch and Listen

Start by listening to opera singers such as Renée Fleming, or the Three Tenors. In addition, listen to the compositions of Mozart, Puccini, Handel, Bizet, and Berlioz. By doing this, you’ll start to get a feel for the flow and style of this genre.

You can watch popular operas on DVD or on the big screen through the Met’s annual opera screens at a local movie theater. Visit big companies like the Glimmerglass, Santa Fe Opera, Metropolitan Opera, or Boston Lyric and find local opera performances in your communities.

By watching and listening to these operas, you will start discovering the chorus parts or roles that appeal to you most.

Here’s a video of Renée Fleming singing Casta Diva:

2. Master the Singing Fundamentals

Opera is a challenging and complex style to learn. Therefore, your foundation needs to be strong.

The two important things you need to focus on are how to sing high notes and how to sing with power. Your body and voice are the most powerful instruments, and you need to take care of them properly.

Several people end up straining their vocal cords, particularly when aiming for high notes. This can end up injuring your vocal cords. The same goes for singing with power. If you don’t do it properly, you can severely damage your voice.

By learning how to sing correctly, you can avoid tension, strain, and vocal cord damage. You should also register for a singing course, either online or in-person with an instructor, to solidify your basics before you start singing opera.

3. Study Classical Languages and Techniques

To develop the range, strength, and stamina of an opera singer, you need to study classical music and art songs first. These shorter operatic songs are excellent for young, developing voices, from teenagers to young adults.

If you’re serious about learning opera, you should also learn French, Spanish, Italian, and German – the languages that are most commonly sung in opera. You’ll be able to comprehend and express the intended message of the song while singing and also enjoy the opera better as a listener too.

It is also important for you to learn how to read music and to play the piano or a stringed instrument. You will often be asked to sight-read and sing challenging melodies, and being an opera singer, you won’t be able to get away by saying, “I don’t know how to read music.”

4. Find the Right Teacher

Once you have mastered the basics of singing and can hit high notes and manage your power consistently, you can move on to building your opera skills. However, it is nearly impossible to learn opera by yourself. Therefore, it is worthwhile to hire a coach who can facilitate you on your journey.

Finding the right teachers depends on several factors, including your existing skill level and how serious you are about singing opera. If you want to sing as a hobby or only part-time, several great opera teachers can help you learn opera singing at your own pace.

On the other hand, if you wish to make a career out of opera singing, you will have to be more discerning regarding the teacher you pick. Ideally, you should opt for a teacher who has strong knowledge of the “bel canto” technique, studied under experts of the genre, and attended master classes and other programs to polish their skills. Such experts aren’t easy to come across, and they can be selective about who they take on as students.

5. Learn Opera Singing Techniques

Apart from breathing and vocal warm-up exercises, your instructor will make you focus on your diaphragm – that is the key to supporting the airflow so that the note you sing lasts longer.

Another thing you’ll do in your opera lessons for beginners is become aware of the resonance of your voice. You should try to feel the resonance in your cartilage, chest, teeth, and the rest of your body and keep it there – you will notice how your voice doesn’t cut off and, with time, becomes more powerful.

Moreover, you need to pay attention to your expression. Opera singers convey emotions very intensely, but this doesn’t mean you need to be a good actor to master this. Rather, you need to work on your facial expressions, confidence, and diction.

All of this results in a strong charisma that every opera singer possesses.

6. Practice Daily

Opera is very demanding both mentally and physically, and you won’t be able to sing opera if you don’t practice properly. Therefore, it is important to practice this art form every day or at least every week. Remember, opera isn’t something that you can learn overnight. Rather, it takes months, or even years, to master a voice range, song, or role. Artists might sign opera contracts 2 to 3 years in advance of the performance so that they have sufficient time to prepare for the role.

There are plenty of helpful resources you can buy, including the vocal exercise books by Concone, Seiber, Vaccai, and Lutgen. These books are not too expensive, and you can use them daily to hone your opera singing skills.

It is also important to spend time mastering your arias. Nevertheless, bear in mind that there’s such a thing as over practicing. While there’s no magic number of minutes that every singer has to practice, pay attention to your body. If you experience any kind of fatigue, it is best to take a break, so you don’t end up damaging or straining your voice.

7. Perform

Once you and your instructor are confident about your singing progress, you should take a step forward and begin auditioning and performing.

Start small. There are several competitions, talent shows, and scholarships awarded to opera singers. Get experience performing your classical art songs. Also, try to put together scenes from your favorite opera. Look out for opera auditions taking place nearby.

To start off, you may want to audition for the chorus or a summer training program abroad. Singing in the chorus is an excellent way to start performing opera – you’ll learn a lot from other artists and about production. Attending a training program is also highly beneficial and a great addition to your resume.

Last Few Words

Opera is all about mastering the foundation of all singing fundamentals and of using them to their maximum potential. Remember that no one – not even Luciano – was born with this talent. He honed and improved it throughout his life. Start building your foundation, and don’t stop until you reach the highest point of your potential.

Whether you have been singing for days or decades, you can always work on increasing your vocal range. Unless you have achieved Mariah Carey or Axl Rose-status vocals, there is always plenty of room for improvement.

Hitting high notes with ease can make all the difference between a memorable show and one that’s easily forgotten.

However, the most important thing to keep in mind is to not injure yourself in the process. Singing isn’t quite as strenuous as boxing or football, but you can still injure yourself if you aren’t careful enough.

In this article, we will explore a few tips that will help you increase your vocal range safely. So get ready to hit those tough notes!

8 Tip on How to Increase Your Vocal Range

Tip #1 – Get to Know Your Existing Range

Before working on your vocal range, you need to know your existing range. It is important to keep in mind that your vocal range doesn’t comprise of the lowest nor highest notes you can possibly squeak out.

Rather, your vocal range is the range between the highest and lowest notes you can sing consistently and comfortably.

If you don’t know how to determine your vocal range, you can simply do so by downloading a keyboard app or hopping over to a piano. You can identify your range by using the piano numbering system.

A popular technique is to accompany the note names with their given octave number on a keyboard. Middle “C” is known as C4 as it’s the 4^th C up on the keyboard.

The “C” an octave above C3 is C4, the “C” an octave below C5 is C4, and so on.

Once you know your range, you can start expanding and improving it.

Tip #2 – Pay Attention to Your Vocal Health

Even though it isn’t possible to be in excellent health all the time, there are some things you can do to take care of your vocal health.

• Sleep Well – Make sure you sleep for 7 to 9 hours every night!
• Drink Water – Try to drink at least half a gallon of water every day.

Another great way to take care of your vocal health is by avoiding particular foods and drinks before singing. These include

• Drying Foods and Drinks – Citrus juices or fruits, alcohol, and coffee.
• Dairy Products –The problem with dairy products like milk is that they add a layer of mucus to your vocal cords.
• Throat Irritants – Extremely sour or spicy foods.

You surely need to avoid these foods before you start singing because singing through heavy mucus, constriction, or dryness will result in a major strain on your vocal cords.

Tip #3 – Sing with the Right Posture

It might sound overly simplistic; however, singing with the right posture is surely one of the simplest ways to increase your vocal range. Standing with an upright and tall posture is the right way to stand and hold your body for singing.

This posture is very easy to attain. There are essentially 4 steps:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Your feet, hips, and shoulder should all be in line.
3. Stand straight and slightly raise your chest.
4. Don’t slouch too far forward or too far backward. Rather, form a straight line down your back.

Tip #4 – Relax Your Muscles

When you sing high notes, you often tighten your body and strain your vocal cords. This tendency may be counterproductive to increasing your vocal range. Thus, instead of straining and tensing your vocal cords, you need to stand firm and keep your feet grounded on the floor.

Try to sing in an “ooh” vowel from a lower note right up to a very high note. Practice this in front of a mirror.

If you are like most people, you will notice that as you move towards a higher note, your jaw is going to relax naturally as you aim to reach the high notes.

Tip #5 – Check for Tongue Tension

A great way for easing into your higher notes is to check for and get rid of tongue tension.

Tongue tension even makes the larynx move higher. As the larynx rises, the vocal folds are going to tighten, and this usually leads to a vocal break. Rather, you need to keep your larynx and tongue relaxed as you sing higher notes.

To check for any tongue tension, just put your thumb below your chin and on the muscular tissue underneath your tongue.

While feeling this spot with your thumb, swallow, and you will observe the muscles underneath your tongue tighten. While you sing, you need to ensure that this part of your throat stays as relaxed as possible.

Tip #6 – Practice Vocal Sirens

A vocal siren is one of the easiest exercises you can do to increase your vocal range. In such as case, you can try to sing vowels like “ee” or “ooh” from a very low note right up to a very high note and back down. This produces a siren sound.

The thing with vocal sirens is to let your voice attain the top-most notes without straining or getting tight.

Tip #7 – Use Warm-Up Techniques

Warming up your vocal cords before you start singing is just like warming up your body before starting to exercise. However, it is important to slowly warm up your vocal cords. Hum is the gentlest technique to start warming up your voice. Start with some large pent scales and work your way up by half a step as you can comfortably go.

Repeat this procedure, now descending a half step as far as you can safely go. You can even hum arpeggios, octaves, minor pentatonic scales, and any other melodic patterns. Simply hum till your vocal cords start to warm up and get ready.

Tip #8 – Be Consistent and Patient

Increasing your vocal range is a slow and gradual process. Perhaps the most difficult thing you need to do is wait.

With continuous exercise, you are doing a lot more than simply adding a few notes to your vocal range. While you might not be able to hit the E-flat as soon as you would want to, you will quickly start to observe your voice getting stronger and lasting longer than when you began training. Plus, you will also observe that the notes you can generally only reach on a “good day” will start to come out a lot clearer. Thus, if you start feeling discouraged, shift your focus on the good things you’re doing for your voice as you work to increase your vocal range.

Last Few Words

We hope our tips have been helpful and you are now prepared to start increasing your range.

The most important thing to keep in mind while you’re in this process is to always prioritize your safety. Don’t overdo it in your practicing, performing, or warming up.

Pushing through strain or not letting yourself rest when required can injure your vocal cords and set you back much further than if you had just decided to go on a break. You should never sing if you’re in pain, so don’t ever feel guilty if you have to skip a few days of practice!