How can I learn to play piano and sing at the same time?

Question

I want to learn to be an entertainer. What equipment would I need and how can I train?

Answer 1

The most important thing about singing is the breathing, and without proper technique there you're going to have some stamina difficulties and quite a sore throat at the end of a performance. (Bad breathing also can cause vocal nodules, among other issues.) Breathing improperly is also going to impact what happens to your arms as you play piano, which I know sounds ridiculous but I'll explain in a moment. Weirdly, when I sit on the piano and sing I find that it's a bit more difficult to breathe properly and I'm not 100 percent sure why, it could just be my body specifically. (Singing in a car is even worse, and that issue is much more universal!)

Basically, breathing as a singer is the same as meditative breathing, and the exact opposite of a dancer's breathing. When you inhale, pretend like you are filling your stomach with air; as you exhale, clench your stomach muscles and push the air out with your belly. This is the 'support' that everyone talks about. (You may hear people call it diaphragmatic breathing, which is a bit of a misnomer. You cannot control your diaphragm, hiccups are your diaphragm having a party. You can, however, control you abdominal wall, which is attached to your diaphragm.) You should feel very little when you're singing in your actual throat, all of the power comes from your abdomen.

Some exercises to practice this include laying flat on your back and putting a book on your stomach; when you breathe in the book should go up, when you exhale the book should go down. You can also practice this breathing technique by putting your hands on your head with your elbows out. When most people take a deep breath their shoulders move up and down, which is not filling your lungs nearly to their capacity. (This is what I meant when I said your breathing will affect your piano playing, your shoulders moving means it's going to be easier for your hands and arms to move to the wrong places too!) When your hands are on your head like this not only does it open the ribcage but you really can't move your shoulders up and down without thinking about it, so you should do a belly breath pretty naturally. Breathing properly is the absolute number one thing you can do to be the healthiest singer you can be! Usually with my beginner students, once I teach them how to breathe properly I just ask that they sing whatever they want as homework, using a proper singer's breath. It really is quite an ab workout when you first start, but it'll get easier as you practice.

Good luck! Let me know if I can do anything else to help!

Answer 2

Hi Susan,

I noticed that your other answers gave you good advice about developing your singing technique and your ear, so I will give you somewhat simpler advice focusing on the piano.

In order to accompany yourself, you will need to learn to play chords, but the good news is that it's not so difficult on piano. Concerning the major chords, only 3 of them are all white keys (C chord, F chord, G chord), 3 major chords have a black key in the middle (D, E, A), 3 have a white key in the middle (Db, Eb, Ab), and that only leaves 3 chords, which are different, but not difficult. And once you have mastered the major chords, it is easy to move only one finger to turn the chords into minor by lowering the 3rd (the middle key if in root position). And it's also pretty easy to turn the chord into diminished or augmented. And once you are pretty with the chords and how to play them in inversions, then you can add color to your music by learning to play 7th and 9th chords. And then, of course, you'd have to know what to do with the chords once you have learned them, but I promise that it is also easy. If you like, I'd love to help you with it.

All the best,

Dillon

Answer 3

You should practice listening to pitch and other ear training techniques using either the Tenutos app which costs 3.99 or you can go onto musictheory.net which is free online to practice. You should also learn solfage "Do Re Mi" as well as piano scales so you can practice pitch as well as use it as a voice warmup. Then after that when you feel that you are confident with your voice on the piano, start finding some songs that you like. There are so many songs out their that is for voice and piano at the same time, all you need to do is search it up. You can either find songs with one chord in each measure, or songs with one note for each lyric. I suggest starting out with the songs with lots of notes (one note for each lyric) just so you can get yourself used to multi-tasking (singing while playing) then when you're able to do that really well, you can move down to songs with one chord in each measure where you can sing freely and maybe even add some of your own piano notes. Basically, you want to train harder than when you perform, because that's when you'll know that you are really ready and it'll definitely boost your confidence.

Answer 4

First, you would need to learn the basics of each instrument - and yes, your voice IS an instrument! Once you have the positioning, posture and power issues mastered, combining your abilities is simple.

I could walk you through the concepts of balance, voicing, and transposing favorite songs into your range.

You would start simple, with chords and a bass line, then I would show you how to incorporate rhythm or drums - if your keyboard has that capability. Starting slow and easy is the key, along with repetition , listening and practice.

Lastly, you would record yourself from the beginning, checking your vocal intonation (singing on pitch) with your playing. That is the best thing for you - listening to yourself and adjusting your approach to bring joy.

By the way, these skills would make you an excellent accompanist and band member!

Contact me for more information!