5 Tips to Choose the Right Song for Your Voice

What is the right song to sing to showcase your musical talent to an audience? This is a question you must consider as a performer especially when you’ve just started growing in confidence about your abilities. A well-chosen song can do wonders to your musical growth and confidence.

Remember, there is no such thing as a perfect song - but a good song choice can make you sound perfect.

In this blog post, we address a problem that many amateur singers face – how to choose the right song to sing for your voice. So, check out our 5 tips to help you choose the right songs for your voice.

Tip #1 - The Shower Test

The shower test simply means the song that’s got you hooked, the one you are singing in the shower. You are often heard and understood when you can immerse yourself in the performance. The audience has a tendency to connect through emotions, so it is vital that you can feel and show an attachment to the song you are performing. So, a great place to start is to think of a song that you emotionally connect to or a song that holds some sort of meaning in your life. When you choose such songs, the audience feels the emotion behind it, this is especially the case if you are singing. Such communication between the performer and audience creates a very beautiful moment that will remain for a long time in one’s memory that marks you as a very capable and talented performer and entertainer.

Tip #2 - Match your Vocal Style

Ask yourself, does this song suit your voice? Rock/Pop – do people tell you that your voice sounds like someone? The way you sing? That’s a good reference. A song should come across as a part of your personality. Sing songs that tell your story, share your ideas or communicate your feelings. Consider a melodic song that will highlight your singing voice. A song with a dull monotonous melody will make your voice seem dull too. Let the melody do the job of complimenting your range and dynamics.

Tip #3 - Match your Vocal Range

Figure out your vocal range, Showcase your vocal abilities – choose songs that highlight your vocal skills like vocal range, Playing with Vocal Tones – airy, cry vocal mode, yarl, Vocal Modulation, Pitch Sustaining or even vocal improvisation skills. However, you must be realistic and honestly assess your own capability, it is always more attractive to listen to simple skills that you can showcase with full confidence than the complicated ones which you can only barely touch. It is important to challenge yourself but remember that when you are performing you should feel comfortable playing or singing that song as well. So, choose a song depending on the stage of your development that compliments your style. Tessitura – pick a song that is comfortably in your vocal range or change the key of the song to better suit your vocal range. Know your vocal abilities and limitations. Choose a song that will show off your talent, not your limitations. If a song is too high or too low for your voice, you will not impress your audience. There is also a possibility of vocal injury if you are going out of your range.

Tips #4 - Connecting with the Audience

This is a very important factor while performing. The whole idea of performing is to draw attention from the crowd that has come to listen to you. If you can attract them through your performance then you have done your job well as a performer. So, when choosing a song, do research on the kind of audience that might show up in the show and then decide what kind of songs would be well-received by them. For example, trending songs would be more popular among the younger audiences whereas an older audience would connect more with the classics or older songs. When performing, it’s important that your song selections reflect your audience’s preferences when possible. Think about it… if you were opening for Aerosmith, you wouldn’t sing something from The Sound of Music. So, if you’re singing at a high school or karaoke talent contest, do you really think your audience is going to appreciate something operatic? Knowing your audience can make or break a performance, because if you sing what they like, they’ll likely get into it and feed you energy. But, if you slow down the tempo and sing something that they aren’t a big fan of, there’s a reasonable chance that people will start checking their cell phones, talking, or worse, leave during your performance. So, always keep in mind what your audience will enjoy when selecting your song choice.

Tip #5 - Get your Act Together

Finally, don’t make the mistake that so many people do and not consider what your performance will look like when picking your song. When you’re on stage, you’ve got to be able to play the role of the song. The more you do, the more the audience gets involved and the more everyone (including you) enjoys it! If you pick a song that’s high energy, you’ve got to be high energy on stage. If you pick a slow ballad, then you need to be able to command the attention of your audience while singing it (this means do more than just stand there). The performance is always a good factor to consider when choosing a song because some performances take longer to prepare than others, especially if you’re not a natural performer. So, as a kind reminder, be sure to take the time to plan out your performance and if possible, practice it enough that it becomes a habit. That way when you’re on stage and the nerves kick in, you won’t have to rely on your memory to get you through it.

Summary
These points can help you get started in the right direction towards choosing songs that can make you a good performer. However, remember that it is important to keep performing to build confidence and stage presence as a performer. Practise is the only thing that can take you from amateur to professional. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/d8hyoFy7khA

Music Pandit offers curated lessons followers Practice Routines to help you perfect your techniques. This is very important when it comes to taking care of your voice because the wrong technique can cause injury or worse - permanently damage your voice. A lot of the times as a beginner you won't even know how to practice, so imagine your teacher taking you through what to practice as well? That is the best part! Finally, you can take a video of yourself and submit it to the website and an instructor watches your video and gives you detailed feedback about how you are doing.

We hope you enjoyed this topic and it was useful to you. If you want to know more about such topics, please comment below and we will definitely address it. Please make sure you follow our blogspot to get access to more such content.

Music Pandit brings you the best and the most effective way to learn music online with a complete 360-degree approach to learning music.

Music Pandit offers Online Video Lessons with the support of Personalised feedback from our Music Pandits, curated step-by-step lessons, extensive content - you can choose multiple instruments, carefully organised Practice Routines, a Musical Community, Creative Challenges, Goal setting and so much more – so you can learn Anytime, Anywhere at your pace! Sign up today on https://musicpandit.com

4 Step Guide to Start Learning the Guitar

Guitar is easily one of the most popular instruments around. The Guitar is easy to carry around, looks cool and is a great way for you to express yourself. So, to fulfill that desire, we are going to tell you our 4 steps to how you can start your guitar learning journey.

Step 1 - How to Choose the Right guitar for you

The first thing you do is to look online and see the tons of options and get confused! So, how do you know what to buy? Let’s begin by discussing the two main types of guitars that you can choose from - first is the Acoustic Guitar and the second is the Electric Guitar. What’s the difference between the two? The difference is simply that the Electric guitar as the name suggests, needs power to work (it is plugged into an amplifier with a cable, and the amplifier needs power to work) and the Acoustic guitar can be played by itself (it does not need power). Now, the electric guitar looks really fancy and the acoustic guitar looks very beautiful. 

So, the question becomes - where do you need to start as a beginner?  Ideally, it’s best to start with an acoustic guitar. The reason is simply because if you buy an electric guitar then you need to buy cables and an amplifier available so it becomes an expensive proposition to begin with. That’s why we always recommend beginners to choose an acoustic Guitar. And the best part about the acoustic guitar is that you can actually carry it easily. You can take it to parties, play and create amazing memories with this wonderful instrument. Now, if you have an electric guitar then there is nothing wrong with that either. It’s just a little bit more bulky as you will have to carry several items along with it.

So, let’s now discuss the kind of acoustic Guitars available. There are two kinds of categories one is the basic acoustic guitar second is an electro-acoustic guitar. The electro-acoustic guitar can be used like an acoustic guitar and can also be connected to an amplifier - so there are advantages of buying an electric-acoustic guitar. Now, let's say you buy a guitar right now which is an acoustic guitar and you start practicing it once you become a little bit more comfortable after six seven months. Now, you want to perform, with the acoustic guitar, you won't be able to connect your guitar to a speaker - that's where electro acoustic guitar comes in the picture. The only reason you won't use an electro acoustic guitar instead of an acoustic guitar is because of price differentiation. The  electro acoustic guitar is a little bit on a higher side. 

So, make sure you choose your next guitar wisely. At the time of purchase, you might be only concerned about the present situation. However, in just a few months you'll be playing the guitar so comfortably and you won’t want to invest again it might be 2k to 3k  rupees extra but it's worth that price. 

Step 2: Where to Buy your Guitar from?

So, now that you have decided which guitar to purchase, where should you buy this next guitar from? There are several options here, you can go to a Musical Instrument Store and you can purchase it online. It’s really nice if you can actually get a feel of the guitar before you buy so that you can see if it fits you right, and  it sounds good etc. However, that is not always possible. So, if you don’t have access to a good, safe instrument store, make sure that you check out reviews online and on youtube before you finalise the model. If you're purchasing online you can purchase it from www.Bajaao.com or Raj musicals  - all these websites are safe and do really good packaging so you don't need to worry about damage to your instrument during shipping.

Step 3: Which Guitar model to buy? What Accessories are required?

So, you have decided to purchase an acoustic guitar - which one should you buy? We highly recommend buying Yamaha guitars. The reason is that Yamaha Guitars are good quality in terms of both sound and build. They are long lasting and are typically made from sturdy material. The model numbers to consider are Yamaha F280, F310 and FS280C.

In terms of Guitar Accessories, there are some accessories that are essential when purchasing the guitar. You would need to purchase a guitar strap, one extra set of guitar strings, a guitar tuner (clip-on is better) and some plectrums. These are all essential items when it comes to using and maintaining the guitar, so make sure you buy them along with your guitar.

Step 4: Where to Learn from - Music School or Online?

Now that you have chosen your guitar, figured out where to buy it from and what models to choose - you have come to the final step that is how to start learning to play. If you don't get a good place to learn from, you will end up wasting all  that money that you spend on the guitar. And most important of all, you will not be able to realise your own dream that is of playing this amazing instrument. So, you gotta make sure that you learn from a good place that will help you develop into a good guitar player. 

The first option is for you go to a good institute, a reputed institute and try to learn from there. There is one thing that you need to know when you go to an institute is that some places will try to teach you classical base. They will try to teach you Mozart or Bach and there is nothing wrong with it. These are all good musical pieces made by remarkable composers. However, you as a beginner student should not go directly into a genre. This applies to anyone teaching even rock or blues straight away. Don't go into that direction. As a beginner, you have to explore your style and the best way to do it is learn from the fundamentals. Start learning chords, start learning songs that you want to learn. Once you start exploring different different things, then you can make a decision about which genre you really want to go for. A good teacher or an institute will make sure that you are exposed to different kind of genres so that you yourself can make an informed decision. So, make sure you follow this when you're choosing an institute for yourself.

Next, let's talk about different kinds of mediums that you can learn from. One is when you go to an institute or a teacher comes to your place. The second medium is online, wherein you get free recorded lessons so that you can watch it anytime and you get the support from the teacher whenever and wherever it's required. Offline learning or going to an academy/institute is great, learning one-on-one is great but there are some drawbacks to this kind of learning. 

The first and the most important is how long is the teacher going to be available to teach you? You need to really take that into consideration because once you break from a teacher it's very hard to get a good teacher to match the rapport. Next, learning from a one-on-one sessions with instructor is where you will have these lessons designed for you. Once or twice a week, you will take lessons, then go home and if you have a doubt what's gonna happen? You will not be able to clarify all these doubts. You will have to wait for your next session to happen, only then can you clarify these sessions. And how do you know what to practice? The third factor to consider is what if your teacher gets busy with a show/gig or is not in a good mood? How is this going to affect your learning? Finally, the fourth point to really consider is that offline classes happen at a fixed location, so it’s going to be expensive and you will also need to travel to and from that location - this is going to take a lot of your time. And, if you need to reschedule every now and then, it’s not going to be flexible. Imagine if you are running late and reach home at 10pm? Would you have access to the lessons then?

This is where online lessons come in. The best part about online learning is that you have your lessons available to you anytime you want to learn. They are available to you 24/7, whenever you want to practice. Also, practice sessions are available to you anytime, so you can practice anytime you want. Take a simple instance of, what if you wanted to take a closer look at a finger position, you could pause the video anytime and replay it and get the technique correct. And the best part of these lessons is that the teacher is not going anywhere. The teacher takes you through the entire course and is there with you through your musical journey. There are a lot of advantages of online learning formats and you should definitely check out https://musicpandit.com if you want to explore this option.

Summary

So, there you have, your 4 steps to begin your guitar learning journey all laid out for you. Start today and see how quickly you will be playing your favourite songs!

We hope you enjoyed this topic and it was useful to you. If you want to know more about such topics, please comment below and we will definitely address it. Please make sure you follow our blogspot to get access to more such content.

Music Pandit offers you structured step-by-step lessons, short videos so that you can watch them anytime you want. Music Pandit also offers lessons that discuss technique, followed by practice videos to perfect those techniques. A lot of the times as a beginner you won't even know how to practice, so imagine your teacher taking you through what to practice as well? That is the best part! Finally, you can take a video of yourself and submit it to the website and an instructor watches your video and gives you detailed feedback about how you are doing.

Music Pandit brings you the best and the most effective way to learn music online with a complete 360-degree approach to learning music.Music Pandit offers Online Video Lessons with the support of Personalised feedback from our Music Pandits, curated step-by-step lessons, extensive content - you can choose multiple instruments, carefully organised Practice Routines, a Musical Community, Creative Challenges, Goal setting and so much more – so you can learn Anytime, Anywhere at your pace! Sign up today on https://musicpandit.com 

Keyboard vs. Piano - How do you Decide?

The Keyboard or Piano is actually a very easy instrument for you to start with. In fact, you can start this instrument really early on in life, at the age of 8 or so. It’s probably the first instrument that we recommend you learn, especially as a child. 

A lot of students also ask this question - “If I learn to play the Keyboard, can I learn to play the Piano and vice versa?”  The answer is YES! Of course, you can play both because the layout of the keys are the same. So, what really is the difference?

There are a few differences between the Keyboard and the Piano.

How it Feels - the Piano keys are harder, heavier and keyboard keys are very lightweight. 

Playing Style - The way you play and the style of playing differs on the keyboard and the piano. The Piano can be used for more clear, rich tones but it can’t create any other sounds. Whereas, with the Keyboard, you can be your own one-person-band! You can play beats, use different voices (like guitar, piano, violin etc.) and so much more!

Sound Quality - when you are playing a piano you get that rich sound. You can also change the way it sounds by playing in lighter or heavier depending on what you want to achieve. This is something that is very important for a musician when creating music. Many students also love this about the Piano.

Look & Size of the Instrument - Piano is big, made of wood and looks quite majestic. Keyboard on the other hand looks like a poor cousin - small, made of plastic and cheap in comparison.

So, make sure you consider all these different aspects when choosing between the piano and keyboard. Now, once you have made your decision, then the question becomes - what to purchase? Which models?

Below, we are going to discuss the several recommended models for both Piano and Keyboard split by beginner, intermediate and advanced levels so that you can get started on your musical journey.

Purchasing a Keyboard

Main Factor of Consideration: when you're buying a keyboard you have to check if the keyboard has the following features - touch response, beat, metronome, auto accompaniment, digital display and a sustain pedal (or sustain button).

Beginner Keyboard models

For beginners, we would recommend CASIO as the first brand of choice as it is reliable and inexpensive. The basic model we recommend will be the CASIO CTK 3200. Do not go below this model number as it won’t have the features you need to continue learning. The price of these keyboards would be Rs. 7500 and upwards.

If you prefer to purchase YAMAHA, then you can go for the E363 and above. Do not go below this model number. The cost of these keyboards would be Rs. 9000 and upwards. We highly recommend the YAMAHA keyboard, because the overall quality of sound and the features are superior to other brands in the same category. 

So, if the budget permits, we highly recommend the Yamaha keyboard.

Intermediate Keyboard models

For intermediate level players, we recommend YAMAHA as the brand of choice. The basic model would be the S500, S670, S770 or the S900. The costs of these keyboards range from Rs. 30,000 upwards. These models are really worth it for the price - they give you a lot of features, sounds and versatility. For instance, you can upgrade the rhythm if you want more choices as you expand your repertoire. You can even upgrade the digital display which is really useful when you are playing LIVE gigs. Finally, there is something called ‘Registration Memory’ that helps change rhythms quickly - this allows you to save your settings so that you can recall it whenever you need to. Finally, the speaker quality of these keyboards are quite superior and you will definitely notice this as you become a better player.

You can also go for the ROLAND keyboards. The basic models are EX30, BK3, BK5 and E09. The costs of these keyboards start from Rs. 25,000 onwards upto about Rs. 80,000.

You can also consider the KORG keyboards. The basic models here you can consider are PA300, PA500, PS600 and finally the PA900.

At this level, all of these keyboard brands and models are comparable however there are some distinguishing factors. For instance, the YAMAHA keyboards have the best sound. The ROLAND keyboards have good computer integrity (technical) and sampling features. The KORG keyboards are good with Rhythms and you can tweak your sound according to your taste - it gives you a lot of options to layer and use split features. However, if we had to pick, our choice would be the YAMAHA X900 or the KORG PA900.

Pro-Level (Advanced) Keyboard models

For advanced or PRO level players, there are several options. For instance, in YAMAHA, you can go for Tyros or Geno. These are a little expensive as they start at Rs. 3 Lakhs upto Rs. 6 lakhs.

You can also consider the ROLAND keyboards, models P8000 or PA 4X PRO. These keyboards are also in a similar price range from between Rs. 3 to 5 lakhs.

One last thing to consider is that, if you want a keyboard which has a feel of a piano but delivers all the features of a keyboard, then you can consider the DGX 66B by YAMAHA. This starts at about Rs. 55,000 and goes up to Rs. 1-1.5 lakhs. 

Purchasing a Piano

If you are planning to buy a Piano but your budget is less that Rs. 50,000, you can go for CASIO PREVIA series piano. The sound is quite nice and the feel of the key bed is much better than most of the PRO keyboards.

For a slightly higher budget, of between Rs. 60,000 to 80,000, you can look at the KAWAII piano. This is a good brand and you can consider the model KDP UH 70 series.

If your budget is a little higher, for instance between Rs. 80,000 to 1 lakh, you can consider the YAMAHA CLP series - 645, 545 or 745. They are very similar except for the feel and some features (like metronome or bluetooth) so we would recommend that you try these out before you purchase.

In this range, you can also look at the ROLAND pianos, model RD2000 and above. This series of piano will cost you Rs.1-2 lakhs

In Summary

One, last piece of advice, if you are planning to purchase a Keyboard or a Piano, try to go to a nearby store that has the products and try it out. Listen to how they sound, see how they feel before you finalise your decision. If you are unable to try the products out, check out reviews online. See videos of the products on YouTube and then take a decision. Make a list of the pros and cons I’ve mentioned and see what your preferences are. This will help you make the right decision in the long run. Your relationship with your instrument won’t be short lived. Some people keep their first instrument with them all their lives. So, make a carefully thought out decision. If you want to see a video about this in detail, please see https://youtu.be/C8N25OMvRYQ

Finally, having an instrument does not mean that you can magically start playing and become a maestro. You need to be guided properly and correctly. You need to develop the right techniques and playing skills. That’s where Music Pandit comes in. Music Pandit is the best place to learn Music online. Why? Because on Music Pandit, it’s not just about lessons. When you learn something in a lesson, then that is applied in a practice routine. Practice Routine is a teacher guided practice session that helps you develop the techniques and skills taught in the lessons. Then, to know how you are doing, you can send your video to Music Pandit and your instructor will evaluate your progress and then respond with personalised details on what you did right and where you can improve. Finally, there are quizzes and certifications. So, it’s a 360 degree learning approach to Music. So, check out https://musicpandit.com to start your musical journey today!

If you want access to detailed guided practice routines, do check out our lessons on musicpandit.com for access to step-by-step lessons that cover a whole lot of topics like vocal projection, improvisation, vocal vibrato and so much more.

We hope you enjoyed this topic and it was useful to you. If you want to know more about such topics, please comment below and we will definitely address it. Please make sure you follow our blogspot to get access to more such content.

Music Pandit brings you the best and the most effective way to learn music online with a complete 360-degree approach to learning music.

Music Pandit offers Online Video Lessons with the support of Personalised feedback from our Music Pandits, curated step-by-step lessons, extensive content - you can choose multiple instruments, carefully organised Practice Routines, a Musical Community, Creative Challenges, Goal setting and so much more – so you can learn Anytime, Anywhere at your pace! Sign up today on https://musicpandit.com