I know I play flute, but..

I can sing well when I am by myself or I want to sing. Otherwise I stink. Can anyone give me any tips how to sing better (without getting voice lessons?)

Thanks!

~AnneMarie~

I think that if you play flute (I am also learning to play it), you must have a "good ear". Flute is difficult concerning playing in tune.

The problem is that if you do not have this gift, it is very difficult (trying to put it optimistically) to sing anything.

First, why not taking singing lessons?

In very few lessons say, six months with one lesson a week, you can learn the basics of correct breathing and positioning of the voice.

If you mean Opera or other classical music and unlesss you are a born genius, I do not think it can be accomplished by self-learning or with books or videos.

For other music styles I think one can make big improvements by imitation. However, modern-popular-pop-rock music is always sung with microphones and sophisticated audio equipment, including sometimes morphers ant effects boxes.

So it's very deceiving and you may be trying to imitate with just your larynx, the sound obtained by a kind of singer-machine cyborg.

As you say that you sing well when alone or when you want to (I do not get this last assesment), I can also suppose that you could have a problem of stage-panick or just being afraid of singing in public.

It happens to everybody, including all professional singers.

Taking group lessons could help you, as you hear other people's mistake, how to correct them and also, you are forced to sing in front of your class colleagues. And they are cheap when not free.

I take both type of lessons: In a group for 2 years now, it's quite amusing and we are working now on a piece from the Pantom of the Opera. We plan to sing a duet it June, in front of a small public in the academy. They are mainly parents and relatives, but it is quite scaring anyway. But it must be done!

The other lessons I take is with a professional singer. I share the one hour lesson with a friend, so we pay half each and we share the same error correcting and indications from the professor.

Hope this is helpful.

Good luck!

i don't have the gift of singing..
..pretty sad. and i have a very little voice range. it's so weird, i have this high-pitched voice when ever i talk, but when i sing..it's so low. ANyway, i like being a alto in a choir, and i do enjoying singing even though i stink. At least i can sing in tune..if only i had a bigger range...
Yea..choir helped me to sing better, and helped me so much..

jose luis is right,
it is important to have a "good ear" because it what makes you aware if you are singing in tune.

i work as a singer in a performing band in our country.
i didn't take any music lessons, my dad is just so passionate with music(also musician and a singer) that he taught me everything he knows about music.

you can start by imitating the singing style from really good singers(Karen Carpenter, Diana Ross, Olivia Newton John etc.)
remember that too much style is sometimes annoying.so learn when to apply them.
what's important is you're singing in tune and you are aware of your vocal range so that you would know what song is best for you.

Kishi, you took the most important lessons (in music or in anything) a person can get, those from one's parents!

I did not have that luck, my parents had no musical education and showed little interest on it.

But my dad managed to awake in me such a deep interest in technics and science (though he was just a worker, without any high education) that I completed Engineering at the Uni and have worked in my profession since then.

I probably owe that to him. He passed long ago, and I am now older than he was when he died. A premature loss, no doubt.

you are right...so very right...
i don't consider my dad's teachings as a lesson..it is a legacy.
just like yours.
i guess it is what every parent wants.to secure their children's future.

<Added>

sory about your dad.
wherever he is, i know he's proud of what you have become.

Thanks you for your warm and nice feelings.