Ask HN: any hackerlike ways to train your singing when alone with no feedback? I will try to search algolia and come back to you with my research
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Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#22Ask HN: any hackerlike ways to train your singing when alone with no feedback? I will try to search algolia and come back to you with my research
Or even not alone - is it possible to get better at singing, or is it mostly just natural? I can kind of "hold a note", but only about 8 of them! Can you meaningfully extend your range, or is your range your range?
IIRC you can improve your singing
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#23I wish there was a good way to sing together over videochat. The lag makes it impossible--if you've tried singing Happy birthday to someone over Zoom, you've probably noticed that it's the worst! Everyone tries to adjust to everyone else's lag and it just makes everyone even more and more out of time with each other.
ninjam should work, although I have not tried it myself, anyone else?
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#24I wish there was a good way to sing together over videochat. The lag makes it impossible--if you've tried singing Happy birthday to someone over Zoom, you've probably noticed that it's the worst! Everyone tries to adjust to everyone else's lag and it just makes everyone even more and more out of time with each other.
I've found that the lag impacts even day to day speech. Turn taking cues are all out of whack, and I notice that e.g. my teammates interrupt each other significantly more. It makes conversations in groups larger than 4-5 people very awkward.
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#25Shame poorer inner city dwellers all live in close proximity with thin walls or shared accommodation. Singing is almost impossible in those circumstances without annoying a neighbor.
My last tenancy agreement had specific references to playing any music instruments / singing practice.
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#26> Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
Not where I live in an apartment in a crowded city where the culture is to not bother others. Neighbors would not be happy to hear me sing no matter how good am, any more then they are happy to hear my stereo.
When I commuted to work in a car I had 30 to 60 minutes of singing time each way. Now I have karaoke box 3 - 4 times a year.
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#27I have a terrible voice and a very limited range, so I whistle
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#28Ask HN: any hackerlike ways to train your singing when alone with no feedback? I will try to search algolia and come back to you with my research
Rock Band, SingStar etc will tell you when your pitch is off. It won't help you with anything beyond that, but it's a start.
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is incredible how even minuscule delays can be heard. I first laughed about calibrating sound systems with microphones to compensate for different cable lengths until a sound engineer let me listen to the differences. He could hear if a box had a delay about 2-3ms. Quite hard requirements.
Note that delays can also be an issue when singing in real life. In a large church choir, people in the back have to start singing a tiny bit earlier than people in the front because of the speed of sound in air. And then there is the pipe organist too, often at an ever greater distance. https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/30454/how-does-a-p...
You also see this in marching band, where playing in time with the conductor's hands results in messy sound for the audience, because of how far apart different band members might be. The conductor also can't listen to the sound and hear if the band is in time - so you have to watch their feet instead. There's some good videos about these effects on the Drum Major Academy website: https://drummajor.org/marching-band-sound-delay
Re: Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
#30Terrence McKenna believed stress relief is the reason that so many shamanic rituals include singing and steady drum beats. The anxiety surrounding communication with the dead or the gods is released through the music. He also pointed out rightly that singing requires deep, slow breathing, which prevents hyperventilation and its attendant stress. More practically, his recommendation for bad drug trips is to sing or hum a low and slow tune. I can unfortunately attest to the effectiveness of this technique.