Arts & Entertainment, Music

Singing

Lesson time 13:38 min

You don’t have to be the greatest singer in the world to pursue singing. Watch as Reba breaks down her tried and true warm up exercises, and teaches you the techniques she uses to protect her voice from strain and damage.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Warming Up • Breath Control • Protecting Your Voice

Preview

You don't have to be the greatest singer in the world to go pursue singing. And if someone says you not that good a singer, if you found the song that matches your ability, you could have a monster hit. My range at the greatest was three octaves. It's not there anymore, because I'm not singing as much as I used to. When I was doing a 75 to 100 shows a year, I had a three octave voice. That's, I'd say, medium for singers. I don't think range is that important for the overall career in country music, or any music. No, I can't say any music. I'll say country music, because if you have one and a half, two octave range, and you find the songs that work out great, that's your range. That's perfect for you. I don't think there's a set rule. I don't think there has to be a maximum, a minimum. It's whatever fits you, whatever floats your boat. Whatever works for your is the perfect thing. [MUSIC PLAYING] Being a new singer, you really need to warm up your voice before you sing, number one, to be able to sing a song better; number two, not damage your voice. It's just like a track and field runner running a race without warming up first. This is a muscle, and you have to warm it up. It just makes things more loose and flexible, because right now it's real tight. And then when you warm it up, it's more pliable, and flexible, and it can reach higher notes, lower notes. But if you go cold turkey, it's not good for anything. I like to go in the morning, when I jump in the shower, take a shower. I like to warm up then because there's a lot of moisture in the shower and it's real safe for my voice. It's good from a vocal cords. I don't like to warm up at all where it's dry, hot. That's just not good for my vocal chords. Sometimes I will vocalize in the car, but it has to be a humid day, and that's most of the day's in Nashville. And then after I do that, and if I have a recording session, before I go into the recording studio I warm up again. I do my trills, I do my scales. I hit all the vowels, because that's what I'm going to be singing. I don't have any consonants that I sing to warm up to, but I will go the scales, [SINGS A] real closed up in the back. The more I do it, it'll go [SINGS A]. Hear the difference? It was in the back and then it moved to the front. And if it's real to the back, I put my little finger in my mouth and go [SINGS VOWELS] and that keeps everything more crisp right there, right behind the teeth. Warming up is very important. I'll never forget one time I was recording at Star Struck, and mom and daddy were in town. So they were sitting in a control room and I wasn't hitting my note. And I walked back in, Daddy said, you didn't warm up enough. He's a rodeo cowboy. How did he know? He was exactly right. I didn't. I got busy that morning come in, and I didn't really warm up ...

About the Instructor

You know her songs. Her Oklahoma charm. Now learn directly from Reba in her first-ever online class. Join her as she records a never-before-heard song, creates a new acoustic version of Fancy, breaks down her hits, and delivers emotional performances on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. This is more than a music class. This is Reba's life, business, and country music MasterClass.

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