Its the evening of the work social and a Karaoke bar has been chosen as the activity and you quite think your the next 50 Cent, but your quite edgy of the pressure of singing in front of everyone, this is a perfectly natural response. Be aware that there is a possibility of having a total calamity with the new 22 year old from HR stealing your signature song and her cleavage stealing the show as that whiskey and cigarette you just finished off, helped you sound more like Louie Armstrong than beloved Mariah!
Picking several ballads that you could potentially sing, means that if someone sings your ballad you at least have a few fallbacks that you are comfortable in singing and will prevent an embarrassing situation for you. Sing the anthems to your housemate a few days before the karaoke night and listen to them and ask for constructive criticism.
Some tunes will just stretch you too much, its recommended to get someone to pick a song that they feel fits your vocal talents and if you avoid over stretching your voice above its natural range then you should do just fine.. Pick songs that you love yourself and your pleasure of the song itself will help your performance really stand out..
Make sure you drink plenty of water, a top quality singing performance needs your throat is hydrated and vocal chords relaxed and if you smoke try and steady the nerves through deep breathing rather than ten cigarettes as that too can twist and corrupt your vocal talents. A good tip is to start up your vocal chords by crooning along to a few tracks during the course of the evening, but don’t strain or sing to songs that are out of your vocal range or it will put paid to your performance.
The other suggestion to avoid cracking up on the boards is not to shout. If you are in a loud place with your friends around and that man from payroll you fancy, then ignore all conversation that will make you shout and just get into performance mode. Spending two hours before you get on to Karaoke stage, chain smoking and swilling down strong Vodka and shouting at your friend about how awful Vicky from accounts appears, then by the time you get on stage your all ready pre disposed to give a bad song.
Felicity is a part-time writer, writing occassional pieces in the UK on behalf of SingToTheWorld.com, who offer
online karaoke in the UK and specialise in karaoke streaming online.