If you find it difficult to play & sing together as good as you want to, then here's a few reasons why that is... and solutions to those problems!
If you prefer to watch rather than read, hit play on the video below!
Do you struggle to play the piano & sing together as well as you'd like to?
That's a trick question – everyone from beginner through to advanced pianist could improve when it comes to singing at the same time.
(Apart from those few extremely talented performers... but let's forget about them for a moment!)
Even if you can get by singing and playing together, there's always that feeling that if you weren't singing– your piano playing would be that much better and vice versa.
So how do we get so good at playing & singing together that neither one suffers in the process?
My friend, that is a whoooooooole can of worms to open - in fact it's a whole coaching session! (Available in the Creative Pianist membership!)
Unfortunately, it's not something that's widely taught and it's not easy to improve without guidance.
So here are some of my tips to improving in this area drawn straight from my experience singing & playing solo & in bands for the past 20 years.
Reasons why it’s difficult
Focussing on piano means the voice goes to auto-pilot!
It becomes harder to focus on correct pitch with our voice!
Hard to breathe properly & consciously (which is the foundation of good singing technique)!
When performing into microphone it’s hard to see our fingers!
Keeping up tempo in the hands becomes too much to handle!
Singing the right melody note/syllable with the right chord/piano note!
Keeping everything going at once is a real juggling act!
So now we know all the legitimate reasons why singing & playing together is so difficult, here are some tips that you can start to use whenever you want to practise this skill:
Tips to improve your playing & singing ability
1 - know your song
You should know the song well enough to play it on the piano without having to think so much about what you are doing. You should also know how to sing it well enough that you know exactly where you need to breathe (and how deeply) and also have memorised the lyrics well.
2 - Practise piano while just breathing
Once you know the song well on the piano, the first step to introducing the vocals is to focus on breathing only.
Play through the full song, while reading through (or remembering the lyrics) in your head, but only breathe in the right places – as if you were singing.
The second step is to hum the melody - without words. So this will mean you are breathing in the right places and introducing pitch - but not worrying about the words just yet.
3 - Check your Posture
After breathing, posture is the next most important element to good singing technique and guess what? It’s also important for your piano playing.
Make sure your back is straight, shoulders back, chest open, neck straight, head forward and chin up slightly.
You’ll notice that when doing this it’s difficult to see the piano keys as you play them. This is why knowing the song and playing simply is so important, so that you can play for short passages without looking – while you are singing. Then in breaks of the singing you can look at the fingers to check their position.
4 - Stick with very simple accompaniment
Your performance will sound good no matter how simply you play the piano, if your voice sounds good. People tend to focus the most on the vocal performance – though as a pianist, you may want to create a fun arrangement to play with, remember that the piano is the accompaniment – so simple is good.
Leave the jazzy stuff to the pros. (Tempo fluctuation, melismas, anything making it more difficult is not needed right now).
Play the chord root position first (or as written) - or even simplify to bass notes and power chords.
Save riffing elements (flourishes) for when you’re not singing.
But let me tell you something straight...
It's not simply about 'practice, practice, practice'. That sort of reductive talk makes my blood boil!
If you really want to give 100% in your vocal performance and be able to play fun & complicated piano arrangements then you need specific exercises and intentional focus.
These specific exercises are included in a specialised 1-hour coaching session called ‘Playing & Singing’. It’s included within the Creative Pianist membership. Find out more here.
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