How to Sing Jazz Like a Pro in Five Steps

How to Sing Jazz Like a Pro in Five Steps Sign up successful 2. Remember to Breathe If a singer were a car, breath would be gasoline. The better you get at breathing like a singer, the longer you will be able to sing without taking a breath. To breathe like a singer, stand up straight but not stiff. Place your hands on your ribcage (above your waist) so that your four fingers are on the front of your ribcage and your thumbs are on the back. Take in a slow breath, trying to feel your ribcage expanding outward in every direction. This is how you should breathe when you sing. 3. Speak Easy Much of jazz singing occurs on the same pitches we use when we speak. Thinking of singing as projected singing makes it much easier. Using your “singer breath,” practice projecting words and phrases from a song as normal speech. Now, add the notes back in, maintaining the speech-like quality. Use a mirror to make sure your body and face stay relaxed as you sing. 4. Lift That Palate The soft palate is the squishy muscle right behind your hard palate in your mouth. This muscle moves up and down to seal your nasal tract off from the rest of your mouth and throat. Singers use the soft palate to keep air from escaping from the nose during singing, since singing out of the nose produces a nasal sound quality. To lift your soft palate, pretend you smell something awful but have shopping bags in both of your hands. Practice “plugging” your nose this way without actually touching it. Test whether your soft palate is up by singing a note, raising the palate, and plugging and unplugging your nose with your fingers. If the sound quality changes, your soft palate isn’t all the way up. 5. Exercise Your Weaknesses As you practice jazz songs, you might notice that some parts are harder than others. Study the parts that are hardest. Why are they hard? Are there fast-moving notes? Is there a large leap? Try practicing these parts slowly, taking the words out and using a single vowel (such as ‘E’ or ‘Ah’). Find vocal exercises that address that particular issue, and work them into your warm-up routine. All That Jazz With the right songs and some practice, you can quickly learn how to sing jazz well. Use your new skills to blow people’s minds at open mic night, or just to have fun while you sing along to Ella Fitzgerald in the car. No matter where you take your jazzy abilities, remember the number one rule for singing: have fun! Elaina R. teaches opera voice and singing in Ann Arbor, MI, as well as through online lessons. She is currently  working on a Master of Music at the University of Michigan, and she has a B.M. from the University of Southern California. Learn more about Elaina here!   Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo  by  ataelw