To sing a capella is a true test for all singers since it requires the ability to sing correctly on key without any backup track or instrument. It has grown in popularity over the years, from the award-winning group Pentatonix to the box office hits of the Pitch Perfect films, inspiring singers from all over the globe who want to demonstrate their ability to sing without accompaniment.
It is beneficial for any singer to be able to sing well at a capella, since on auditions you can’t always rely on having a track or accompanist there to play your piece.
However, the proper training necessary in order to sing a capella well is difficult and requires a lot of hard work. A capella singing is considered to be one of the most challenging types of singing.
Sing, Sing, and Sing Some More
First of all, sing as much as you possibly can. The only way that you’ll get better at your singing is if you are continually practicing to make it better, so singing as much as you can is important. You need to train your muscles to match pitch correctly and learn how to blend when singing with others.
Some easy ways you can do this is to join a local church choir, participate in community musical theater productions, or even find a local singing group to join if you’re able. Though these activities aren’t specific for singing a capella, it will still provide significant training for your vocal skills.
You’ll learn how to listen to others when singing, and work on other aspects including your pitch, tone, rhythm, and intonation on a daily or weekly basis. Keep in mind that warming up your voice is an essential exercise before singing, so don’t forget to do this every day as well.
Expand Your Music Theory
Work with a local music teacher, or take some voice lessons from someone who can introduce you to learning music theory.
As a singer, you should already have an idea of theory terms like voice leading, scales, key signatures, and vocal timbre. Theory should be helping you to expand your horizons and learn more in-depth musical knowledge.
Soak in as much information about theory as you can, especially anything in regards to singing a capella. Learn the chords and intervals, and apply them to your singing endeavors.
It may even help you to apply new and innovative music techniques such as Throga (throat yoga) to further your singing knowledge and ability.
Throga is a concept in vocal development that anyone with the ability to speak has the ability to sing, and examines closely the 7 dimensions of singing including areas like flexibility, range, articulation, and provides some great exercises to benefit your voice to achieve your best potential as a singer. It even showcases a vocal vocabulary that explains part of your anatomy essential to your voice.
Arrange Music
If you don’t know how to arrange music then you should learn, and quickly! The talent of arranging music will aid you in creating your own a capella pieces, which attributes to your creative talent and can land you more opportunities to sing.
Pick songs you really love and can sing well and find new and different ways to showcase them. Take some time to study professional a capella pieces and other arrangements of well-known songs.
Learn how to distinguish which pieces are good and which ones aren’t, so when you arrange your own pieces you can follow the proper guidelines.
Train your Ear
Working on your listening and tuning your ear is “arguably the most important part of learning how to sing a capella,” according to Tracy Reina, the founder of Music To Your Home singing lessons. You’ll need to learn to detect proper pitch and tone simply by listening. One of the best exercises that you can do to help train your ear is as follows:
- Pick a standard well-known short song (like “Happy Birthday” or “Amazing Grace”)
- If you can play, pick out the notes of the melody on your piano, guitar, etc. so you can sing along in the correct key/pitch. Practice this many times. (If you don’t play an instrument, you can use a track.)
- Once you get to the point where you are comfortable enough singing the melody, start practicing it singing a few notes at a time, while checking yourself against your instrument to be sure you’re hitting the right notes as you go.
- After you go through note by note, try singing through the song a capella a few times, and record yourself doing so, then you can go back and check your pitch and identify any spots or areas you need to fix. Take some time to focus on your improvement areas and only sing those spots to be sure you are on track.
- Repeat these steps as many times as you need, or find new songs to practice doing this with to continually improve your abilities. You can even use some helpful apps for your ear training, such as Complete Ear Trainer or Good Ear Pro, so be sure to utilize every resource you can to assist you.
Get Your Group Together
When you’ve accomplished feeling like you got the hang of a capella, it’s time for you to find a group to join or maybe even start one of your own.
If you can find a capella competitions to enter your group into, it’s a great way to put your talent to the test. The a capella circuit is a competitive market, so be willing to put in the work if you hope to succeed.
Looking for an online music teacher? Check out Music Tutors Online.
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