You must know for yourself that you spend a lot of your time singing and, secretly, dream of becoming a great singer. Maybe you know that becoming a professional singer is not easy and requires a lot of effort. However, the good news is that you can achieve your dreams. Practice your vocals and singing style, have the right equipment, and promote yourself to be a successful singer.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Developing Singing Skills
Step 1. Take a vocal class
Whether you're determined to be the next star, or are just starting out as a singer, taking vocal classes can have many benefits. By learning from a vocal coach, you will not only learn how to sing better, but also learn to tune your voice so that you can sing the way you want. Look for a music school or private vocal tutor that provides vocal classes in your city.
Step 2. Practice
As a singer, your voice is your instrument. If you want to be a good singer, you have to keep practicing, practicing, and practicing. Practice, whether it's singing in the shower, singing in the car, singing to cheer up your grandparents, performing in the church choir, or singing alone in your room.
- Practice singing not only your favorite songs, but also songs from different types of music. By trying different types of music, you can learn a lot.
- Singing is an art form that requires a lot of physical readiness. In addition to singing the right notes, you also need to do some exercises such as breathing exercises, posture exercises, and others.
- Through lots of practice, you'll learn about your abilities and characteristics as a singer, such as your range of voice, natural tone of voice, and the type of music you prefer.
Step 3. Go to college majoring in music
Although you don't need a specific degree or educational background to become a singer, there are many benefits to a music education, especially if you are serious about starting a career as a singer. Many universities offer undergraduate and postgraduate programs in music and sound performance. The education provided can enrich your knowledge and experience in the field of music, so that your overall quality as a singer will be better.
- In addition to learning the basics of music theory and sound performance, it's a good idea to take courses or take additional courses in other fields, such as business or marketing. This can help broaden your field of education and provide valuable skills to use later as you promote yourself as a singer and wrestle in the music business world.
- Many universities require you to audition for a music education program.
Step 4. Learn how to read musical notation
Even if you have a great voice, if you can't read musical notation, you can't read the goals of your dream career in music. By knowing how to read musical notation, you can communicate with other musicians, write your own songs, and deepen your knowledge of the arts. If you don't have a formal education in music, learn how to read musical notation yourself and understand the basics of music theory, such as rhythm, harmony, and more.
Step 5. Learn how to play a musical instrument
Singing is already a skill or talent in itself. However, if you have at least a basic ability to play another instrument, you can become a more advanced singer. Being able to play a musical instrument such as the guitar, piano or drums while singing helps you in the process of rehearsing, writing songs, and communicating ideas with other musicians. Your skill in playing more than one instrument can increase your chances of performing at various performances or other events.
Part 2 of 3: Looking for Opportunities
Step 1. Boost your self-confidence
In order to sing well in front of a crowd, you need to have confidence and charisma. The only way to develop self-confidence as a singer is to show your talent and sing as much as possible. You can try some of the things below:
- Sing at karaoke.
- Singing
- Appear in talent show
- Appear in singing competition
- Offer to sing at events such as parties, weddings, religious ceremonies, on family holidays, and other public events.
Step 2. Join a choir or other vocal group
When you're ready to go out and start singing in public, you can find a vocal group to sing with. These groups include church choirs, school choirs, singing groups, community choirs, vocal quartet, hymn singing groups, and others. Even if singing in your group may not be in the spotlight, at least you can learn a lot from the group and push yourself to further improve your quality.
If you are interested, you can ask your vocal group leader or administrator about opportunities to sing solo
Step 3. Find your singing style
Once you've shown your progress as a singer, you can focus on making your appearance more unique. Start by being a flexible singer. Try singing in as many different styles or types of music as possible. After that, you can decide which type of music or singing style you like best and you can perform well.
If you have vocal characteristics that are special as a singer, this is the time to develop those characteristics. For example, you may have the ability to sing very high notes, or have a slightly raspy voice that is perfect for soul music
Step 4. Write your own song
If you really want to be a singer, you can start writing your own songs. Focus on songwriting in whatever genre or form you enjoy the most, but always look for opportunities to expand and develop your work.
- You can compose songs and write the lyrics yourself, or work with others to develop your songs together.
- If you can play an instrument, use an instrument to help you develop your musical ideas, even if you plan to compose songs that will be performed on different instruments later.
- Keep a notebook to jot down musical arrangement ideas or lyrics whenever you get inspiration for your song.
Step 5. Set your goals and work hard
Achieving success as a singer certainly takes a lot of hard work, and it's likely that you will experience setbacks or rejections on your journey to success. Most importantly to be patient. Although there are some news about singers who seem to become famous overnight, most singers have to work hard and go through a long time before achieving success.
Determine the success you want for yourself. You can make a five-year plan to determine where you will take your success as a singer. However, stay open to change and accept the fact that your plans, at least, may change
Part 3 of 3: Promoting Yourself
Step 1. Look for paid offers to become a regular viewer
As soon as possible, find a job as a singer. This job can add professionalism to your experience as a singer. Even if the job is not very prestigious, there may be a way to achieve success through it.
- Paid work as a singer, for example, offers to sing on cruise ships, in playgrounds, in clubs, at weddings, at parties, or sing for commercials, and so on.
- Some singers find work as backup singers for local singers or singers who are on tour. This can be a good opportunity to build a network of contacts. Look for announcements about auditions you can take part in, or you can contact the artist directly.
- You can start looking for offers or jobs in clubs or other places in your city. Of course, it will be easier for you to get offers or jobs if you have a manager, your own music kit, and demos of your songs.
- While waiting to get a job, you can share your singing knowledge with others, teach music, book to perform at clubs, or any other job related to singing. These jobs can provide you with valuable experience and income as you pursue your dreams.
- It may be very difficult for you to get a job as a regular performer. If you can't find work as a full-time performer, find another job, and work on your career as a singer in your spare time.
Step 2. Buy the right equipment
You can increase your chances of performing if you have your own equipment. This will give you the opportunity to perform in places where there is no sound system, or at least if you prefer to use your own equipment. Musical instruments are often sold at high prices, so you don't have to buy the best equipment or replace your equipment with the newest one if you're just starting out. However, if you're serious about pursuing a career as a singer, you'll want to buy as much equipment as possible, such as:
- Microphone
- Public address system (PA system)
- Sound processor
- Required effect generating equipment
Step 3. Make a demo of your song
Once you have a few songs, both your own and other singers' songs covered, you can record them to use as song demos. These recordings are useful for obtaining performance offers, employment contracts, and other opportunities. You can rent a recording session at a professional recording studio (which can be expensive). For a cheaper and easier alternative, you can do your own recording at home using a standard computer and certain applications.
For most demos, you only need to provide 4 songs. If you want, you can of course record more songs and choose the best ones to send as demos
Step 4. Find a manager for you
Managers can help you find appearance offers, promote you, find contacts, negotiate contracts, earn more, and develop your career. You can find a professional manager in your city, or even ask a friend or family member to be your manager.
Professional managers usually need to be paid quite high. The salary is obtained from a percentage of your income from appearances made and others. Make sure you come up with a written contract that you and your manager agree on
Step 5. Submit a demo of your song
While looking for opportunities, your manager can help send demos of your songs to clubs, radio stations, record labels, and more. Make sure that the demo of the song that is submitted showcases your best work, and is the most potentially well-known work on the market. In addition to the demo, you can also include a short cover letter and/or resume covering your work experience and achievements as a singer.
These days, demo songs don't always come in physical form like CDs or anything like that; demo songs can also be sent in the form of tracks uploaded to the internet. Whichever method you choose, the considerations are the same
Step 6. Stay connected with others
In this day and age, you need to show your presence on the internet if you want to be a successful singer. Create a professional profile on various social media, post your recordings and videos while they are performing, and list your music on streaming and download services.
Making money streaming music can be hard, but at least your name will be known and people will be encouraged to come and see you perform live
Step 7. Improve your physical appearance
Self-image and appearance are important aspects for singers. As a singer, you reflect your self-image and the type of music you are into. It's important to think about aspects such as the clothes you wear, your gestures or the way you walk, as well as other physical aspects that affect your appearance on stage. Think carefully about how you use your appearance to connect with your audience, as well as to convey to them your uniqueness.
- For example, if you're performing classical music, it's usually a formal outfit that works best. However, if you want to be different, you can display Beethoven's work in a more casual outfit, such as a t-shirt and ripped jeans.
- Just like before, if you perform goth rock genre music, the audience will feel strange if you appear wearing overalls and a cowboy hat. However, this can at least get you in the spotlight.
Step 8. Continue to promote yourself
Most singers continue to promote themselves relentlessly in order to be successful. Don't let the opportunity pass you by. Apart from looking for offers of appearances and recording opportunities, you can also do things like:
- Expand your network at music events.
- Sell items with your logo or name (t-shirts, stickers, hats, CDs, etc.).
- Make a press kit to show your identity as a singer.
