Sing With Us

We want you to sing from sheet music. Help us demonstrate our collection. You don’t need to be a professionally trained singer. Just sing and send your mp3 to screamnj@msn.com. That way we can cover lots more songs. There are plenty more where these came from.

We have a video for Mac users and one for Windows showing how to record. There are a hundred ways to do it. You can probably find your own way. The blue Yeti mic is good (and cheap). Or you can use a lapel mic. Singing along through headphones works best for this.

The Value of Sheet Music Singing

We sing demonstrations of sheet music. Because of this our renditions need to accurately replicate what is seen on the music pages. This is the most useful thing for our followers learning a new song.

A performance is something totally different. It seeks to put style and flair into a song in order to entertain or amuse. As such it may vary wildly from the sheet music and give a much broader interpretation of what the song can be. A disadvantage to this in a database such as ours is the problem of degradation of the material. Like a photocopy of a copy of a copy… You’ve probably seen those. Well, if a performer learns a song from a performer who learned from a performer, who knows what the song will become?

PREPARING TO SING

Tip: preview the lyrics. Look for strange words. Use the internet for unusual pronunciations. Older songs often used words a little differently than we do now.

Tip: pitch matters. Each human voice has a limited range of notes. Your singing should not go too high out of your range and not too low. Popular sheet music is generally written within the normal singing ability.

REHEARSING A SONG

Tip: practice playing or humming the melody. This is to get the sound into your head. You can isolate the melody track in MIDI. Listening repeatedly to an mp3 can help. But don’t rely only on your ear. Make sure you follow the contour of the melody line of notes on the sheet music.

Tip: get the tempo right. If you feel rushed, or are having difficulty fitting all the words in, then the tempo is too fast. Slow it down. Moderato means medium. Notice the time signature. Is it in two or four? If you count in two (cut time) when it should be in four (common time), you will have it double speed.

Tip: pay attention to your timing. Be patient and don’t rush ahead or get behind the beat. The sheet music notes tell you when to sing.

Tip: study the rhythms that occur in the melody and beat them or clap them out before you add the words in. Rehearse until you are familiar and comfortable with the melody and lyrics.

Tip: make a practice recording. Listen to see where you missed notes. Throw it away after you have learned from it.

RECORDING A SONG

Tip: use the best accompaniment you can find. It is the foundation of the recording. It should follow the sheet music your are singing from. The MIDIs and mp3s on our website are pretty good.

Tip: stand up when you sing, with your back straight and chest up.

Tip: project the higher notes by support from your diaphram rather than from your throat. Many of these older songs were sung on stage before the invention of amplification. So, the singer had to sing out strong. Singing has a psychological aspect. Don’t psych yourself out. You can sing out, in fact, sing your heart out!

Tip: Sing, don’t shout or yell the notes. You will be able to sing higher, lower, and hold notes longer with practice and experience. Just plant a seed in your mind that you can sing high and strong and still have control. Listen to singers who sing high. Emulate them.

Tip: put your microphone in a sound-insulated box.

Tip: listen to the accompaniment through headphones so your vocal recording will be clear. This isolates the vocal from the accompaniment.

Tip: turn up the volume of the notes while you record. You especially need to have the support of hearing the melody being played. Sing the notes exactly as written unless there is a good reason to change them. When you are done recording you can mix the volume to equalize the accompaniment with the vocal.

Tip: pause at the commas. This is a chance to take a breath.

Tip: record just one short section at a time. Do extra takes as needed to get that phrase correct. This makes it easier to not need to memorize the whole song. It eliminates the stress of making mistakes.

Tip: use two tracks.

Tip: shorten the final note of each section so they won’t overlap.

Tip: lag in your system can be corrected in the audio software. Slide each vocal part over so it aligns with the piano and sounds right.

Have fun with the project. The most important thing is to stay interested in the music. You are providing a great service to the world. We are all on your side, cheering for you.