]. The basic 'do re mi' scaled do work and if you warm up for about ten minutes or so before actually trying to sing, your voice will cooperate with you more than if you don't warm up. To keep those vocal cords from getting scratchy, drink water and hot tea with a spoonful or two of honey to soothe them. Also, pay close attention if you're singing along to songs on the radio to what your range is. What you can comfortably sing, what you absolutely cannot reach pitch/tone, and what you could achieve with a bit of practice. 
WHYD'YA HAVE TO GO AND MAKE THINGS SO COMPLICATED?!I sing, though don't do it so much anymore. For a while during high school I was in with a small group of friends trying to start a band. I wrote some songs and dabbled on keyboard while we all sought out the right vocal parts for each of us. Needless to say, it didn't work out. We dilly-dallied too much and never really got anywhere. I was a high-soprano in my high school choir. Never did any stage solo work, but on occasion would be pushed into doing a solo bit in class while we practiced songs. I'm not too bad, and I still love to belt it out every now and again, but only if I'm alone. I've noticed that I won't take my singing voice seriously if I feel self-conscious and purposely will not sing to my fullest potential. Guess I think I'd be showing off or I'd just make an ass out of myself
Practice scales. Warm up your voice and learn to breathe through your diaphragm. It was all stuff we did in choir [and we were number one in our state regional competition
Dunno what you mean with serious vocal music making, but as a kid I got singing lessons in the music academy and got pretty good grades. I stopped during high school (it was considered attention whoring), but recently overcame my stagefright developped in high school to sing with some of my friends on occasion. My goal is to eventually overcome my fear of the stage and be able to rock a karaoke bar
You can't sing with a tight throat. You want to feel like you're yawning, not squeezing.
I sing reasonably well. My claim to fame is one year of voice lessons (opera) and I play flute (breath control principles are identical).
My advice (to be taken with a grain of salt): Scales are your key to vocal control. They're the most efficient way to gain control and improve. Get a piano/keyboard/guitar and sing scales while playing along. This will help you hear whether or not you are in tune.
- Sing scales slowly without vibratto to practice things like breath control, beauty of tone, and intonation
- Sing scales fast for agility (be careful to stay in tune)
- Sing scales in thirds (do, mi, re, fa, etc.) and other intervals
Stuff to watch out for:
1) RELAX!!!
2) When you're tired, you will probably go flat. Being flat sounds worse than being sharp, so try to be sharp when you're tired. (in case you don't know: when discussing errors of intonation, "sharp" = pitch slightly higher than it should be. "flat" = pitch slightly lower)
3) Learn to breathe. If you're breathing into your upper chest and raising your shoulders, you're probably doing it wrong. Use your diaphragm. To find out how, lie down on the floor and take a deep breath. Your lower belly should expand. When you forcefully exhale, your lower belly should feel like it's trying to expand (abs are engaged). I hope that made sense...
I STRONGLY recommend taking 3 or 4 voice lessons if you're serious about singing... just so you can get the basics down. Happy singing to you!
Good advice. I think you explained it better than I did. It didn't occur to me to maybe explain what breathing through the diaphragm meant until I read your post. [good save, good save... lol]
