3 Singing Principles I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out!

One of the things that drew me to singing as a teenager was how the music made me feel: the groove, the emotion, the harmony, melody, lyrics, rhythm, or a mix of all of them. When I began to sing, my main goal was simply to express and enjoy that feeling. What I didn’t realize back then was that solid vocal technique and the ability to coordinate the voice was the real key to becoming more expressive, more relaxed, and ultimately freer to make vocal choices. Good technique lifts the limits caused by excess tension or poor coordination and lets you enjoy the music without fighting your own body. 

If expression is like a road trip, then vocal technique is the car that gets you there. When the car isn’t running well, the journey can feel bumpy, frustrating, and distracting. But when the car is tuned up and functioning smoothly, you hardly notice it; you're free to enjoy the view, the sing-alongs, and the joy of the ride itself.

As I now work with singers of every genre and level, I notice many of them started singing for the same reasons I did. Only when they hit a bump in the road do they start asking about technique so they can break through and feel that freedom again. Here are three lessons I’ve learned (both as a singer and a teacher) that I wish I’d known from the start.

The secret to easy “money notes” often lies in the setup

By “money notes,” I mean those big, powerful, often high and sustained tones that really wow an audience. When a high note feels strained, unstable, or dull, most singers zero in on that note. While some direct practice on the high pitch is useful or necessary, the real magic usually lies in the notes that lead up to it. With that in mind, here are a few tactics to execute this strategy:

• Optimise the lead-in. Check your breath, posture, and resonance on the notes just before the money note. If those are free and balanced, the high note will almost always improve.
• Think in phrases, not islands. Many money notes sit at the climax of a final chorus. If the verse, pre-chorus, or earlier chorus is tense, that tension snowballs into the high note.
• Test the difference. Try polishing only the approach notes, then sing the phrase again. You’ll likely find you don’t have to work nearly as hard on the top.
• Finally, Contrast is your best friend. If you are giving 10/10 in terms of energy and intensity in the lead up to the money notes, you likely won’t have much juice left for the big notes, and even if you do, you will likely have to push hard to make the “money note stand out from the rest. Whereas if you use a wide range of vocal dynamics (soft-loud) and vocal coordinations (breathy-compressed), you will likely be able to make the money notes stand out even if it is sung at a 7/10, because the phrases and sections leading up to it were operating between a 2/10 to a 5/10 on the intensity scale.

Exaggeration is often the first step to balance

My very first voice teacher, Dr. Irene Bartlett, had me cackle like a witch while “stirring a pot” in an early voice lesson. It sounded absurd and wildly bright, and I didn’t understand why she wanted it until it worked. That exaggerated brightness unlocked a freer, more resonant tone. Once I could access that feeling, she guided me back toward a balanced, pleasant sound while keeping the freedom I’d uncovered. An easy way to remember this is function before fashion, or put another way, substance before style. Both technique and style are equal in terms of importance, but I would suggest that in terms of chronology, efficient technique that sounds exaggerated (even off-putting) is much more useful and healthy than an aesthetically pleasing sound that feels painful. The latter has an expiration date. 

The principle applies in many areas, for example: 

• If you’re tight, sing overly breathy for a moment to loosen things up, then refine.
• If your tone is swallowed, deliberately sing the phrase with an over-the-top clarity and intention, then dial it back to neutral.
• If you’re too quiet, sing out to recruit a balanced amount of breath flow and vocal fold compression, and then ease off if you overshoot.

Pushing a vocal element to an exaggerated extreme helps you discover its boundaries. Once you know where those edges are, finding balance becomes much easier. The key idea here is that we want to exaggerate the opposite of our usual vocal habit, leaning into a helpful contrast to break patterns and find new options. It might not always sound pretty, but if it feels easier and more efficient or reveals a coordination that can eventually blend with your existing technique, it's worth exploring. That said, this process isn’t instant; it often unfolds over months or even years.

Disclaimer: The one exception to this is operating in the extreme of vocal strain or any vocal coordination that hurts. That said, something like pressed phonation in small doses, when not overly pressed or done for long periods, can be used as an effective stylistic tool for expression, but use it with care. 

Many hands make light work

We all know the saying: if everyone pitches in, no one has to do all the work. Singing is the same. Breath, resonance, and muscular action are the three main “hands” on the job. When one system overworks, strain appears.

• Breath provides steady airflow and pressure to initiate/sustain vocal fold vibration.
• Muscles fine-tune pitch, register, influence dynamics, and tone.
• Resonance shapes and boosts the sound, and can assist in the efficiency of vocal fold vibration.

If your throat muscles are working overtime, look at breath and resonance: maybe airflow is under-energized or the vocal tract isn’t boosting enough overtones. Sometimes the breath pressure is too much because the laryngeal muscles are too decompressed. The goal is for every “hand” to share the load so no single part gets overloaded. This balance is going to be different depending on the task (note, phrase, style of music, dramatic intention) and depending on the singer (voice type, experience level, etc).

Conclusion

I began singing for the joy of expression and to share that joy with anyone who would listen, and good coordination keeps that joy alive. Remember: (1) set up your money notes well before you reach them, (2) use exaggeration to discover balance, and (3) let every part of your vocal system do its share. Keep these ideas in mind, and you’ll stay connected to the very feelings that inspired you to sing in the first place.