Free · five steps · your voice, then your songs
How to start singing: find your voice first.
Many people start with a song that sits too high or too low and decide they can't sing. Start the other way round: find where your voice sits, warm it up, then put your songs in the key that suits it. Five free steps, about twenty minutes the first time.
From his cushion tower on the terrace Mika hears every voice in the street. Start by finding yours.
- Where does your voice go?Vocal range test
Your lowest and highest comfortable note, played back and named, like A2–E4. Comfortable, not extreme: that's the range you'll sing in.
mic - What type is it?Voice type test
Three held notes, and the easy one counts most. You get the type you lean towards and its neighbour: a band, not a box.
mic - How do you get it going?Vocal warm-up
Five, ten or fifteen minutes of humming, lip trills, sirens and scales, all inside your range. Do it before every session.
micThe whole routine, step by step: Vocal warm-up exercises.
- Which key suits your songs?Singing key finder
Hum a bit of a song for seven seconds; it names the key you sing it in. That's the key to ask for, or to move the chords to.
mic - Can you hold it?Hold a note
Eight seconds on one note, drawn live: how long you stayed in tune, where it drifted, your vibrato. A steady note comes before a song.
mic - Then?Brumm, the app
Hum a line over a running track that follows your key. Your first song, in your range.
mic
What to do with the results
- Your range
- Pick songs whose top note sits a little below your comfortable top. If a song goes higher, move it down until it doesn't; nobody hears the key, everybody hears the strain.
- Your voice type
- It tells you which parts and songs sit easy, not what you're allowed to sing. Types overlap, and a range grows a little with practice.
- Your key
- Along with a recording you're in its key. Hum the song alone and the finder names yours; give that to whoever plays the chords, or move them with Transpose chords.
- Your held note
- If it sags at the end, it's usually breath: shorter phrases, a steady vowel, a little less volume.
Five habits for beginners
- Warm up first, every time, even for five minutes.
- Sing in the middle of your range; the edges come later.
- Stand, breathe low, and let the belly move, not the shoulders.
- Quiet is fine. In tune comes before loud.
- Stop when it scratches. A tired voice needs a day off, not more practice.
What these tools can't tell you
They read pitch: notes, ranges, cents. They don't judge your voice or its sound, and they don't replace a teacher, who hears breath, posture and strain. Your range and type shift a little with practice and with the time of day. If singing hurts, stop and rest.
Not sure you can sing at all? Can I learn to sing? starts with the ears.
Every step uses the microphone: it opens on a tap and closes right after, your voice is read in the browser, and nothing is kept or sent. How the site counts visits.
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