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Have you ever heard a song that instantly brings a tear to your eye? The kind of song where the lyrics seem to somehow apply perfectly to the exact situation you're in with your life; love songs are particularly great for this; the kind that get your heart racing and make the hair on your arms stand on end...
I'm sure we all have. But, do you know what it takes to make a song have that effect on people? What exactly about the song makes a person react that way? Feeling. Pure, raw, human emotion that pours out of a singer's mouth while singing the words to a song that means so much to them.
So as a singer yourself, you're probably wondering how you can infuse that same kind of powerful, paralyzing feeling into the songs you sing. Here are three techniques to help you along the way.
1) Momentum. This is something that happens as a singer builds volume and power leading up to some important lyrics. For example, Open Arms by Journey. Check out the song to hear what I'm talking about... in the chorus he sings the words, "So... now... I... come... to.... you... with....open.... arms" For the first three words, "so now I," he builds the volume and power bigger with each word and builds anticipation for the big note on the word "come," it's the top note in a chord so it comes out full of power and the audience goes nuts every time. Listen for opportunities like this in your songs, for areas where you could add momentum and "roll" with the words to create excitement leading up to a big note or really important word.
2) Find a way to relate the lyrics to a personal experience of yours. Something that affected you in a good, or bad way and made you emotional. If you think about it, most songs are about an experience that someone has had. Since we're all very similar in nature to each other, we all get emotional about similar things... love, money, friends, family, etc. Most of the time, you can probably recall a person, or an experience or situation that the song lyrics seem to describe so accurately... when you sing, pretend that you're singing about that particular thing you've experienced. Remember it, re-live it, and re-feel it the whole way through the song. You won't be able to keep the feeling inside!
3) Play with the timing a little. Not all songs need to be sung perfectly "straight" Singing something "straight" means singing it exactly in time with the beat of the song, exactly on pitch, note perfect, essentially. Many Jazz songs can be good examples of playing with the timing a bit... often the singers will start singing a phrase an instant later or earlier than the natural beat of the song. (The time signature) Doing this can draw more attention to the words., causing them to really stand out and be heard. Try playing around a bit. Start singing your word a half beat after it's supposed to start, or slide into it an instant before it should start.
The basic point and most important one is that you should always just try to feel the song yourself. It should mean something to you. If you mean the words you're singing, the feeling will be naturally be communicated and you can be sure people listening will feel it too. Mission accomplished.
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