Another big challenge for singers is to sing legato and smooth. Everyone hears himself or herself differently than other people do. How you feel and what you hear when you sing might seem legato to you, but a lot of the time isn’t to other people. You almost have to be obnoxiously legato, and then it will sound flowy and beautiful to other people. This is a difficult thing for all levels of singers to accomplish. I know I will always continue to work really hard on this.
One exercise you can do to help force yourself to sing legato is to act like you have a “nova cane mouth”. When nova cane is put into something, it becomes numb and is really loosy goosy since you can’t feel it. Making your mouth completely loose will create a free and effortless sound. That feeling will become more and more consistent as you practice.
A second fabulous exercise is to only sing the vowels of the words in your song. Saying certain consonants cause your tongue to block your air sometimes, and ruins the lovely phrases. Practicing singing just the vowels will help you sing smoother phrases when you eventually sing the real words.
A third exercise to help you sing legato is to pretend you’re playing a violin. As you watch your hand move the “bow” back and forth across the “strings”, your voice will mimic the flowing movement of your hand. This causes you to sing more beautiful and is also really entertaining and fun to do.
The last exercise you can do while practicing is to record yourself singing. Like I said before, what you hear when you sing is sometimes a lot different than what other people hear. Listen to your recording. If you hear choppiness in your phrasing, go back and try to smooth them out. Keep recording yourself until you are satisfied with your improvements. Memorize the feeling you had when singing your last recording.
These are very useful exercises that truly do help you improve a lot.
In this youtube video Renee Fleming talks about legato singing. I would highly encourage you to watch it!
