... We Can't Go Into Another Key & You Stay In The Old Key ...

As Randy Jackson might have confirmed this, Lazaro Arbos' take on (They Long To Be) Close To You has been considered the worst live performance on American Idol to date. Also, listen to what Mariah Carey and Keith Urban had to say about a particular issue. Just skip the first 25 seconds of the clip if you don't care about some foolishness.

Lazaro Arbos - Close to You - American Idol 12... by IdolxMuzic

"That is horrible", "It's not the right song for you", and "He can't sing" are few common responses to this embarrassing performance. Randy Jackson pointed out that this type of performance typically occurred during audition round. While we can blame the judges and the whole show for letting the contestant to advance to later rounds, here are possible issues surrounding this particular performance:

• The Wrong Key: In order to choose the right key, singers need to understand the concept of key signature. A key signature refers to pattern of flats or sharps of a musical scale. Determining at which points are sharp or flats requires trial and error. Getting to the right notes and suitable transitions would still need further fine tuning. Lazaro indicated that he had gone through different keys that were too high and too low for the song, but he still struggled.
• Lack of Mastery: It would be easier to assume that the song was not right for him. Whether or not a better one should be chosen, it all comes down to preparation. Besides choosing the right key, other considerations that come into play involve choosing a sweet spot of vocal range, understanding song lyrics, and recognizing singer's vocal potential. After going through all of these, it is not unusual for a contestant to decide on another song at the last minutes. Proceeding with a song, Mariah Carey mentioned that a singer needs to own the song, to express it, and to have greater comfort in performing it.
• Misguided Messages: Each American Idol contestant has his/her opportunity to rehearse a chosen song with musical instruments accompaniment. During this time, a sample of audience that usually involves producers, vocal coaches, and stage managers, could offer feedback and provide constructive criticism on various aspects like song choice, pitch issue, and singer's movement. While any criticism or feedback should ideally lead to an optimum live performance, some contestants might have been misguided by mixed messages. Mixed messages have often occurred with the judges when one tells a contestant to focus on playing the piano while another encourages on dominating the stage, for example. This might have confused Lazaro as he tried to improve his vocal chops with his performance.
• Singer's Issues: A confident and proficient singer would not be swayed by judges' or producers' lack of clear directions. While it was revealed that Lazaro never had any musical training and vocal coaching prior to his audition, lots of better singers that went further in the competition did not get prior experience either. It was also discovered that he was not familiar with many well known songs from the past, which could make it more difficult. This means that Lazaro really needs more time to understand a song and extensive vocal coaching to improve his singing proficiency, which may not be available each week. Based on all factors mentioned so far, it was safe to assume that Lazaro Arbos was not ready for prime time.
• Manipulated Reality: The judges were not fooled by his voice in the audition round and Lazaro's talent seemed promising. He was shown to be stuttering when he talked, but could sing gracefully without any stuttering. Taking advantage on his speech struggle, the producers dramatized his story so the contestant's courage could touch many viewers, gain support from similar handicapped community, and possibly improve television ratings. Working with the judges, the producers might also have set up a strategy of favoring mediocre male contestants in order to boost female contestants' chances of winning the 2013 American Idol. Whether or not it was a real strategy, the show was left with five female singers when Lazaro Arbos, the last man standing, was eliminated from the singing competition.

The difficulty of choosing a key or flowing along with key changes was not the only issue. When the judges and the producers committed him to go further in the competition, Lazaro Arbos either did not get adequate support or the expectations were too high for him. Still, he managed to get votes or support from community that shared the same struggle, or from tweenies that focused on his cuteness or from Cuban community that would like to see him longer in the competition. It was unfortunate that he left the competition with the worst performance or one of the worst performances. Hopefully, Lazaro would seek further vocal coaching and other support to continue singing gracefully.

Additional Tips to Singing Better

There is a revised version of this post. Click Here for tips on how to sing better from experts and vocal coaches. Also, learn to sing better with helpful tools.

Among all tips to singing better, the very simple one is to just keep practicing. But you still need to be efficient in your singing practice, or you would be wasting your time. Many proper techniques and tips to singing have been covered in other posts. Just read and scroll through Vocal Exercises for Singers, Improving Vocal Range, and Improving Singing Voice with Online Vocal Lessons. Here are some additional tips to singing:

• Sing from the diaphragm: It is highly recommended that you practice yoga to facilitate breathing into the belly. It will take some practice to develop the diaphragm muscles to the full potential of balancing the air flow and vocal tone release. Overtime, you will sing effortlessly.
• Come out with style: Professional singers and vocal teachers will tell you to come up with your own unique style. While your idols may inspire you, your style needs to have the dynamics of ups and downs. This means that not only you develop skills that cover your potential range, but you also develop your artistry.
  How to Become a Singer With a Unique Voice -- powered by eHow.com
• Master different areas of voice: You need to play around with low, middle, and high areas of your voice. In other words, it is imperative that you master chest, head, and mixed voice. Without elaborating on each term, mastering them is a key to developing an artistry in your voice.
• Think before you jump: What story would you like to tell your audience and how do you plan to show it? With other possible questions, you should study your songs first and your planned performance. Then when you go out there to tell different stories, you would know how to execute your signature style.
  Stage Presence Tips: Planning -- powered by eHow.com
• Try something different: You don't want to get too comfortable with familiar routines just because it is too difficult to master certain exercises or notes. You need to switch things up a bit, manipulate notes or exercises, and go for them. If one does not work, get some criticism and feedback from other aspiring singers and vocal teachers.

Many tips to singing presented doesn't stop here. You can try some of these tips here and other posts, but it is more efficient if you have a partner or a vocal coach. Another tip that you can do is posting a video of your singing voice in online social media like Youtube and MySpace. Ask for any criticism, comments and feedback. Review them for your singing success.

Improve Singing Voice with Online Vocal Lessons

Competing in a talent show, performing on Broadway musical, or just singing better requires you to focus on specific areas in order to improve singing voice. Unless you are very proficient in doing it yourself, a vocal coach either through traditional classroom instructions or online vocal lessons will help you learn better. With online vocal lessons, there is no time/deadline pressure. That is a big advantage over taking a traditional vocal/singing class. You can also get plenty of assistance and feedback from an online community of aspiring singers.

Visit Brett Manning's Singing Success now. Learn about the site and its tools. Sign up for lessons that can improve singing voice. 

Do It Yourself First

You should always have at least a voice recorder, a notebook (or notepad on your computer), and a microphone handy for every singing practice. Then, you need to develop certain routines that would facilitate your singing practice and your quest to improve singing voice. Some routines should involve:

• Vocal exercises (warm ups): It could be lip buzzing, humming or other exercises. Just focus on one or two that you are comfortable with. Then gradually move into a difficult one.
• Proper techniques: When practicing different notes, avoid straining your vocal cords to avoid the potential of hurting your voice. Other areas of importance are posture and breathing. They will go along together as you monitor your breath.
• Healthy habits: As it is necessary to do your warm up or vocal exercises, you should also do some regular exercises for your overall health. Some recommended exercises involve yoga (for the sake of breathing and muscle relaxation), sit-ups (for the sake of your diaphragm muscles), and swimming (for the sake of stamina). Going along with physical exercises and your vocal practice, it is necessary to drink plenty of water each day.

If you need help with developing routines and do not want a deadline pressure, find some online help. Sign up at Singing Success. Learn about the site and utilize its tools. 


Taking Online Vocal Lessons

Listen to your recordings and take notes. Assess whether you are in tune with the music, whether you are breathing correctly, and whether you struggle to reach certain notes. These and other assessment you might have are points you should consider when choosing an online singing program. Other things to consider involve:

• Vocal coaches: You may need to connect with more than 1 vocal coach. Find out from others about their success rate, their teaching style, and their specialty. Certainly, you want to be able to learn with coaches you are comfortable with.
• Online forum: This is useful for finding out anything about a singing program, a coach, and your difficulties. You should make use of this tool to get some help and feedback about your singing potential. Bear in mind that when using this online forum, you should avoid any discussion unrelated to singing.
  
• Video lessons: Learning from a video demonstration is more effective rather than just reading and memorizing texts. You can go back to and watch any repeatedly. It is also possible that video lessons involve webcam sessions.

Visit Brett Manning's Singing Success. Check out its online forum and make yourself at home. Sign up for video lessons.

Online vocal lessons allow you to learn at your own pace. Consider it as an investment to protect a good asset, which is your voice. Make sure that you utilize any tools provided in order to maximize your success in improving your singing voice.

Recommended Routine to Improving Vocal Range

Having difficulty reaching certain notes is very common as you practice your singing ability. Singers like Taylor Swift, John Mayer, and Hayley Williams may inspire you to do better. If you want to be successful like them, one of singing practice you should do is improving your vocal range. You should not think of improving vocal range as a separate time consuming practice. It should go along nicely with any warm up/vocal exercises.

Interested in video lessons that can help you with improving vocal range? Sign up now at Singing Success and get some coaching. 


Just like when you do any warm ups or vocal exercises, you should utilize things like empty spaces, headphone, and voice recorder. Also, you do not need to force your vocal cords or simply you do not need to force yourself to master a difficult note. Improving vocal range should come naturally overtime by just following some simple and recommended guidelines below:

• Exercise your breathing: Prior to doing any warm up exercises, try to breathe in while pushing your stomach out five times. Then start with singing the lowest comfortable note. When moving to higher notes, increase breath intake gradually and try to sing without straining your voice.
• Practice singing scales: Pick songs that have both higher and lower pitch. You could sing them while you do your breathing and warm up exercises. Practicing higher to lower notes and in between will make you familiar with chest and head voice.
• Learn to sing lower: If you have difficulty singing lower notes, just relax. Just remember to breathe in slowly as you access your chest voice. As you practice, you will learn vibration in your notes.
• Sing higher notes: Like singing lower, you should not force yourself too hard if you have problem with higher notes. Start practicing your head voice by singing vowel sounds like short a or e sound. As you feel vibration at the back of your noise, you want to avoid having the vowels to sound nasally.
  
  How To Sing High Notes on Howcast
• Record, listen and learn : At least once in a while, you should record your practice efforts. Listen to areas that could use some improvement. Always try to relax and not force yourself so you don't practice for nothing.

Try to do the above exercises yourself first. If you want help with improving vocal range, visit Brett Manning's Singing Success. Consider learning from a vocal coach. 

If you haven't done this, look for a huge empty space. You don't need to scream. Also, find places that let people sing and hear other people sing. You will be able to get some feedback and hear how others do it. After all, improving vocal range does not have to be very difficult.