How to learn new songs

I go through this every time I get a new student - how to learn new songs.

It seems like it wouldn’t be that big of a lesson, like it wouldn’t be that game-changing for a new singer.

And yet, it is.

Singers I’ve met over the years go through the same process over and over again without even thinking about it…

Listen and sing along. 

Mostly sing along though.

Listening isn’t often a priority. 

(hmmmm sounds about right, eh?)

Here’s the deal - if you want to become an amazing singer, to UPlevel your singing like never before, you need to learn new songs well.

New songs are being released every day, and God knows Taylor Swift isn’t slowing down any time soon.

So if you can maximize your song-learning abilities, your voice will grow, too.

If you want to learn a new song quickly and thoroughly, follow these steps:

Listen, several times. Don’t hum along or hear a chorus one time and think you know it. 

(Cause you don’t.)

You must truly listen, without singing along…even in your head!

Once you have an idea of where the melody is going, you’re ready to start singing along.

Isolate the components: rhythm, pitch, and text. They need to be separated to learn quickly.

So with your cheeks pinched (like below)...

...learn rhythm and pitch on a “lululu.” Rather than singing on the words, sing on a “lululu” with an “l” for every syllable and/or pitch.

You need to be disciplined in this step because it builds muscle memory, strength, and stability into your voice for the melody.

There are a lot of muscles involved in singing and they need time to give you the consistent sound you want.

Once that melody feels super smooth and powerful on a “lululu,” you may start to transition to the lyrics.

Keeping your cheeks pinched, sing on the words. Yes, they will sound muffled, deal with it.

If you’re working on a song with a ton of words, I think you should take it one step further and learn the vowels of the words, so sing only vowel sounds, no consonants.

It’s tedious, yes. And it makes for stellar singing.

Once you can sing through the vowels smoothly and your tongue is swaying away in your mouth articulating all of those vowel sounds, you may add the consonants.

And they’re like icing on your favorite cake. 

(my personal fav is a homemade vanilla cake, succulent and not too sweet.)

The perfect finale to learning a beautiful melody.

If you’ve stayed disciplined through this point, any song you sing will be nearly memorized.

Which is great, because most singers have to perform fully memorized.

One gentle reminder - these steps are non-linear. Just because you’ve moved onto vowels doesn’t mean a song will never need to be reviewed on a lululu. 

One day when you’re feeling great, you’ll sing a song on the words and it’s awesome, your voice is working well.

But a week later, after you got the green snot because your toddler started preschool and you were hoarse for four days, you may need to spend a couple days singing back on the lululu.

And that’s ok.

Singing is a process, you can’t force muscles to do anything you want all the time with no consequence.

Use these steps as a guide any time you learn a new song.

Any age. Any style. Any ability level.

And you’ll learn more quickly and efficiently.

And your voice will love you for it, and you’ll love your singing.

Work these steps on IG and tag me. I'll share and repost!