The word VOCAL, has to do with the voice and vocal organs. It also means to utter sound through the vocal or voice cords. It means to make sound through your vocal cords. The vocal cords are the two folds of tissue located in the larynx. The larynx is an organ in the neck which helps to control your breath and helps you produce sound. It is the power house of  your vocal cords. The larynx is also called the voice box. When air passes over the larynx, they vibrate to produce sound waves that come out as speech or sound.

When you ask the question 'who is a vocalist'? It is the same thing as asking' 'who can sing''. If you can talk, you have a voice, then you can sing. I mean, anybody can sing.

However, singing is an act, it doesn't happen by chance. It is a deliberate effort you put in to express your feeling, through your voice or vocal cords when singing. A vocalist is  simply put, a singer. He/she can also be termed a musician. A musician is one who is skilled in music or singing. He can also be someone who plays a musical instrument or writes music as a profession. Although, some people are naturally endowed to sing, they still need to work on their skill to become good, very good or excellent.

The definition above, goes to show that anyone can learn the skill or art (act) of singing as long as he/she has a voice, the desire or passion and he/she is willing to learn or change. Only the dumb needs not bother.

I would like to explain here, though, that it's not enough that you can talk and make speech or sound, you must also make conscious effort to work on your ability to  listen and hear sound. You should be able to distinguish between notes and tones. Train your ear (music ear) to listen to sound. How well you sing, solely depends on it. Your ability to hear and distinguish between notes and tones, helps you groom your music ear and makes you a good singer. You may not necessarily be a professional but a good singer. You must work hard to get to the level of music or singing you want in singing or music - good, very good or excellent..

Though not everyone is cut out to sing, because some people are 'TONE DEAF', that means they cannot differentiate between notes and tones. It will be very difficult and frustrating for such people to try to sing. For this set of people, they have to first of all, work hard on their ability to hear, listen and distinguish between notes, tones and tunes. If not it will be very difficult for them to sing. They will always sing out of note, tone or tune. But it suffice it to say, that everyone is a potential singer or vocalist.


HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON HOW YOU CAN BECOME A GREAT SINGER:


1. Having Good Vocal Tone

 Your tone is a combination of different factors, but it basically means “the overall sound of the voice”.

It’s almost always the vowels in words which are sustained in lyrics (i.e. “ah”, “oh” “ee” etc. rather than the consonants e.g “ch” “ss” “th” etc.) and singers with good tone use clear consistent vowel sounds.

Tone also means the way the voice is hoarse or smooth, hard or soft, broad or narrow, light or heavy, and so on. 

To improve in your singing and your tone, it’s a great idea to practice both your HEAD VOICE and your CHEST VOICE. You should be able to recognize when to best use them. Low and mid-range notes are often more comfortably sung in CHEST VOICE, while high notes require use of your HEAD VOICE. 


2. Have Control Over Your Voice.

One great factor in being a great singer, is the ability for you to have control over your vocal cords. You must be able to gain control of your voice.

Having good vocal control over your voice, means staying “on pitch”. This means singing the pitch of notes accurately. It means not being TONE DEAF. It also means not going off key or singing in the wrong key. Singers with good vocal control are able to sing each note distinctly for the intended musical effect in a melody or harmony. Working on your vocal control will help improve your singing. 

A great singer should be able to sing accurately on notes, without singing off, while the notes leap as the instruments are being played..


3. Clear Enunciation (Pronunciation)

No matter how good your voice soundand how well you can sing, if you are poor at pronouncing syllables and words when singing, It doesn’t matter if you’re hitting all the right notes, it will make no sense.

Good singing goes with clear enunciation, crafting each syllable precisely as you ought to. Eeach word should be expressed exactly as the singer intends.

Practicing your enunciation is an easy way to improve your singing voice, and get better at conveying your lyrical message.


4. Versatility

A great singer doesn’t just have one genre or type of music they love. One if the main characteristics of a great singer is that they are versatile and can actually adapt their voice to suit any style of music using different kinds of techniques.


5. Be Consistent

Being consistent from the beginning of your singing to the end, tells so much about you as a good singer. It’s very important to sing with consistency. If you sound good for a few notes but then terrible after that, the general impression would be a bad one.

Being a good singer means having a good voice throughout a song, not just now and then. It means having consistent volume, tone, pitching, support, and style at all times, and it will also help to know what singing conditions are most conducive to consistent singing.  

To improve your singing voice, aim for a consistent sound/tone when you practice – like you would with any instrument.