Five Free Online Resources for Singers

As a singer it can be challenging to work on songs without proper tools and techniques. While working with a vocal coach or instructor can be a great service, there still lies the ability to do some things on your own time. You still will need time to practice your song and take into account your trouble spots, and find ways to work on them. 

So, whether it is assistance with matching pitch, gaining more flexibility to reach higher notes, or simply identifying what areas need to be improved upon, here are five great resources that you can utilize to help your singing. And the best part – they are free!

One of the most important things you must do every time you sing is warm-up your voice. Your vocal lessons will entail a series of helpful exercises that you do before you work on your songs. When you work on singing in your own time, you can use the warm-ups found on the Throga app, which are free, to help you target specific dimensions before diving into your song.

The Throga app offers practice scales, a vocal assessment, and video exercises to help you along the way. If you want to make an investment you can dive further into your vocal studies with The Vocal Gym and Beyond The Gym, or work with a Throga-certified coach.

There are few people that have what is known as “perfect pitch.” These people have the ability to correctly sing a note in the proper key when asked to do so, without the help of a piano, guitar, or pitch pipe to give them the note. Singers like to hone in and work on this skill to help them improve their intonation.
“Guitar Tuna” is a handy and free guitar tuner app is a great way to tell whether or not you’re matching pitch. When you sing into it, the app can tell you what note you are hitting exactly, and help you to really work to hit the note “right on the head,” rather than scooping up or down to it.

Sometimes as a singer, you just don’t know what songs are great for your voice. With all of the auditions that can come up during the course of a year, you want to have a decent portfolio of songs to fit your voice type and show off your amazing talent! 

There are free resources (yes, even more than one) where you can look up songs by voice type and style. Here’s a very short overview of these resources, however, you can check the more specific lists by music genre or voice type in the links at the end of this compilation.

Female Voices

• “This Place is Mine” from “Phantom” by Maury Yeston
• “To Keep My Love Alive” from “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” by Rodgers and Hart
• “How ‘Bout a Dance?”  from “ Bonnie and Clyde” by Frank Wildhorn
• “Wherever He Ain’t “ from “Mack and Mabel”
• “You Got the Love” by Florence and the Machine
• “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson
• “Roar” by Katy Perry

Male Voices

• “A Bit of Earth” from “Secret Garden”
• “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love” from “Finian’s Rainbow”
• “C’est Moi”- from “Camelot”
• “Gonna Be Another Hot Day” from “110 in the Shade”
• “Lost Boy” from Darling
• “Human” by Rag’n’Bone Man
• “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver

The above suggestions are a compilation made from takelessons.com, musicnotes.com and teenstarcompetitions.co.uk. 

When you are working on a song that is complex, you may find that you are having trouble identifying what parts to work on when you practice. It can help to record your voice singing it and play it back so that you can more effectively locate those problem areas within your song, so you can pick them out and work on them piece by piece.

“Audacity” is a free audio software for your computer or mobile device that you can easily record yourself with. You can listen to yourself on playback with or without the instrumental music so that you can accurately find spots within the song to focus on improving. If you are so inclined you can even use this free tool to help record your voice to put over music in mp3 format as well.

It is essential as a singer to know at least the fundamentals when it comes to music theory. Understanding notes, key and time signatures, symbols, and more will only help you advance and become a more well-rounded singer.
“musictheory.net” has a plethora of available online resources that are free, so that you can explore the world of music theory. They have interval, key and note identification exercises, as well as many other free tools to expand your musical education knowledge.

When learning on your own many people tend to pick up their own habits and ways of performing, and they aren’t always the best. The greatest investment that you can make for yourself as a singer is to work with a certified vocal coach, since they will be able to provide you with the best singing techniques and tactics, as well as help you establish the best habits for your singing. Hopefully, though, these free resources can help you when you are working on your singing at home in your own time.

AUTHOR: KERRI HARDWICK