Music is a language of the gods, so why do some people sound like the devil? It's from lack of practice.

If you want to sing like an angel, you must sing often. Sing a song every day, if possible, for singing is like making a journey to the heart, and it's a long way to the heart when you're only thinking about it.

So sing in the shower. Sing in the car. Sing while walking, talking laughing and rocking. The more you sing, the more your singing voice sounds round and centered.

The goal of singing is to develop round sounds, centered around the heart, where the roundest sounds are found.

When you sound round, the whole world is your oyster, and life is a gourmet experience. Sing for your supper and you'll get breakfast. Sing from the heart and God is your friend. Singing is its own reward. May the song never end, and all that jazz.

Of course, great singing doesn't happen overnight, nor even the first few times in the shower. As professional singers know, it takes time to find your heart, and years of practice to develop a voice that other people love to hear, at home or school, in the office, on stage in a club, in films and on tv.

By developing round sounds, like a professional singer, it's possible to push our sound vibrations to the point of musical perfection by putting our whole heart and soul into the song. For example, don't sit or stand still when you're singing. Move your body around, like you're onstage, no matter where you are. Gesture with your hands. Breathe deeply and sing from the center of your heart.

With practice comes a round sounding voice. When your voice sounds round, you're ready for a sing song, and maybe even the world stage. How round is your sound right now? Could you sing on television?

How harmonious is your heart? Sing Songs are a test of musical truth. Take the Sing Song Challenge. Test your talents with a Maxi Song Song.


STARTING NOTES & HARMONIOUS KEYS


Musical harmonies are difficult to achieve at the best of times, especially in sing songs where no one knows what will happen next. But as you sing, you learn how to blend your voice with other voices until you're ready for the recording studio.

As professional singers know, one problem in achieving harmony is finding starting keys pleasing to everyone, male and female, young and old. Adult male voices are more bassy and physical, rooted in the body, while female voices tend to be higher, faster and more mental, like younger voices. That's why women sing in higher keys, while men prefer singing in lower keys, for a more physical effect.

These differences are the source of harmony, but they can also cause disagreements. Some Sing Songs degenerate into an uncompromising tug of war between men who want to sing bass, and women who want to sing in higher keys. If you've tried singsonging, you've probably noticed this tug of war for the key to the song, between lower male and higher female voices.

The solution, of course, is a compromise key, with everyone meeting in the middle and singing from the heart. Sing Songs work best when they're centered in a middle key, providing a musical range accessible for both men and women, so that everyone can sing along.

Centered music can overcome the Starting Key Problem.

As you gain experience with sing songs, the Starting Key Problem disappears with practice. The problem is solved by finding starting notes for keys which everyone can reach easily. If your group is singing a song, and you notice either the men or the women straining to reach the high or low notes, recognize the Starting key Problem, raise or lower the starting key by only a note or two, and begin the song again.

It's important to remember that when you change the key for a singing group, make only a small jump, not a big one, whether you're taking it up or down.

If the men are having treble problems reaching the higher notes, lower the key. If the women are sounding like bassy bassoons, raise the key a note or two and start the song again, so that everyone can sing from the heart in harmony. That's the theory anyway.

ADDING RHYTHMS & BODY SOUNDS

When your group achieves heart centered harmonies with mid-range starting keys, the next challenge is Rhythm. As you sing a song like When The Saints Go Marching In, you can jazz up the song by spicing up the rhythm.

Adding rhythm in a sing song means snapping your fingers, or beating a healthy rhythm on your leg and other assorted body parts. Clap your hands and bang on something musically. Sing slower or faster than the others to create rhythm harmonies. Add half note harmonies and counter point melodies and imaging hearing yourself as a backup singer for a Los Vegas singing group called The Singing Saints, or whatever. Let it all go and put on a show everywhere you go.

That's basically all there is to sing songing. And I bet you thought singing was simple. Like everything, it depends how far you want to take it. It's easy to sing. It's difficult to sing well, but when you love singing, who cares how good you are, as long as you're singing. So sing a song and see where it takes you.


SINGING WITH A MAXI SING SONG BOOK

The Maxi Sing Song Book contains some of the world's best loved songs, songs which almost everyone in the music world knows as popular classics. The full collection expresses the entire range of human musical experience. These are songs everyone can relate to.

In fact, all the songs in the Maxi Sing Song Collection are specially selected so that everyone in the family, young and old, male and female, what the heck, everyone in the whole world, or at least in the neighborhood can join in.

So pick up a Maxi Sing Song Book and start singing. Any song will do. Glance at the book when you need prompting, but sing the songs over and over, so you can learn the words. You'll sing more wholeheartedly when you're singing by heart, and not reading. Your Maxi Sing Song Book is there when you need prompting with the words.


HAVE A SING SONG SATURDAY NIGHT

All you need is two people to start a Sing Song. So sing a song every day and see if someone else will sing along. It doesn't matter what you're singing as long as you're singing so others can hear.

Sing a solo until it becomes a duet. Invite a choir of five or ten people for a Sing Song Saturday Night. The more singers, the merrier the party. Twelve singers is ideal for a wild and wacky sing song, for twelve is the spiritually symbolic number of the heart.

Not every person at a sing song needs a Sing Song Book. Two or three books are sufficient for five or ten people, if you pass them around where they're needed. Four or five Maxi Sing Song Books can keep ten to twenty singers going, if some of the singers know the songs, and everyone takes turns leading the sing song.

If you enjoy challenges, sing every song in the Maxi Sing Song Collection. Sing all the songs in order, and develop a 100 song repertoire. That's an interesting challenge for people who love singing.

Don't worry about the music. That problem usually takes care of itself. When singers sing, musicians love to play along. Start singing and like a pied piper, musicians will eventually follow you on to your personal world stage.

Eventually, you won't even need Sing Song Books because you'll know all the words, and when musicians don't show up, you won't even need music.

If you feel moved to sing right now, pick up a Maxi Sing Song Book and start singing. Someday, you'll find someone to sing with you, but we all have to start somewhere. If no one's around, sing with God. God loves us when we sing. As Maxi Sing Song likes to say, Sing Baby Sing.

SINGING WITH OR WITHOUT MUSIC

The Maxi Singsong Collection is a collection of lyrics without music. The question has been asked, Why a Sing Song Book without music. It's a good question, and there is an answer.

The Maxi Sing Song Book is designed as an exercise in singing, so this book is designed for singers, not musicians. If a Sing Song book contained all the music as well as the words for 100 songs, the book would be too large and much too heavy for singers to hold comfortably while singing.

The fact is, a singer only needs a lyric book for fast reference while singing.

If you know musicians, invite them to the singsong, of course. Accomplished musicians already know many Sing Song Classics. If they can't play the tunes, invite them anyway. But if there are no musicians at your party, you can sing without music if you really want to sing.

Even without music, many voices coming together is an amazing experience. For singing comes from the heart, while music is more in the mind, ie the ears. This is why singers are the stars in a band, for the singing heart is the most interesting instrument in music.

At the best Sing Song Parties, everyone sings and everyone plays and everyone's a star. There's no need to worry about who's singing and who's playing what. Just sing. Sing your hearts out every chance you get, for life is a Singsong Party, for those who love singing.

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Continue Singing With Song #1

When the Saints Come Marching In 

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