Sing Karaoke Online

By Author: Mohan Chen
Total Articles: 434
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You've decided to audition to sing The National Anthem at a local event or a ballgame. There are several things you should know that will help you win that audition and get you successfully through the performance.

Even if you think you know the lyrics, speak, speak, write them down, and speak them again. This is one song you can't fake, and the only way to insure that you make no mistakes is to know the lyrics so well you can recite them under any circumstances. Understand that singing them to yourself or to friends and family is nothing like standing in a stadium with a mic and a huge amplification system.

Find the exact right key to sing online that first note on. Don't be too concerned with that low third note (oh - say) Even if you can just barely hit that note, or even whisper it, you need to plan ahead to that big, all important, ending with it's high note on the word FREE. If you can't power punch that note you've lost the battle. Losing those few very low notes at the beginning of the song won't be noticed nearly as much as when you sound bad on those ending high notes.

Also, ...
... consider that people will be singing with you, and the low notes are usually easier for them. By the time you get to the high part you'll be carrying the song practically by yourself. That's when they are really listening to you.

If you are unsure of what note to start the song on, get together with another musician and have them help you, using the advice I just gave you.

That starting note is so important that you need some sort of pitch pipe (available at most music stores) or you can use your cell phone. While your musician friend is playing that starting note punch the keys of your phone until you find one with the same or a very close pitch. The Iphone actually has a pitch pipe app you can download. Be aware that when you are nervous you are in danger of pitching the song too high unless you use a pitch device. Starting the song even one step too high may cause big problems at the end. Just before you begin to sing karaoke online play the note. Just lower your head and the audience won't notice. Even if they do they really don't care. Record yourself singing the song. Listen and make adjustments, if necessary.

Practice using a brisk tempo (speed) Nothing kills a performance of the National Anthem like singing it too slowly. Time yourself, and work to finish the song within a minute and 20-30 seconds.Don't get too fancy. It's ok to take some leeway with your interpretation, but understand that singing our countries National Anthem is not the place to make yourself a star, or show off. If you want to be asked back stick pretty close to the actual song. A lot of fancy riffing and melody games might be accepted if Mariah Carey were singing, but not from you.

If you are going to be singing in a large stadium be aware that there usually is a long delay as the sound passes around the venue. You could conceivably sing "the dawn's early light" and hear it come back to you loudly while you are singing the next part. (as much as a second later) If you aren't prepared for this you will probably start slowing down-down-down. This is a natural reflex, as your brain is trying to synchronize with the delayed sound. Keep with your tempo and don't become distracted by the delay.

Online video communities like YouTube or MyVideo contain a big variety of karaoke online tracks. Most of them include the lyrics of the song. But for the reason that the videos have to be compressed to upload them, the music may not be in the desired quality. Furthermore some of those videos just include a midi sound. Anyway, you can find lots of useful tracks and videos there.

Make your own backing track! You can easily create your own accompaniment. All you need is a free software called Audacity. You can record all the sounds playing on your PC or Laptop, add effects and filters and so on. Audacity supports all kind of music formats. You even can eliminate the vocals of an existing mp3-file. If you have a keyboard or play guitar, just plug it into your computer and start recording. It's an easy to handle program and there are lots of tutorials and help throughout the web. It's also a great way to bring your originals to a professional sounding style.

If you can't find anything suitable on YouTube or are not that deep into audio-recording stuff, here is another possibility: get high quality backing tracks from one of the providers on the internet. Those tunes come in cd-quality and you can choose from more than 15.000 tracks. This is the fastest and easiest way, and for less than a dollar per download you get the best music for your performances.