sit up really straight and flex your abs. take in a breath and push your air out slowly . if you place the tips of your fingers on your stomach, you should be able to feel it deflate like a balloon.
that is a crucial muscle to singing and i think you should work on making more come from there as opposed to your head.
and try opening your throat a little more. take a sharp breath in. if you note how your throat opens up, it's very similar. or try to yawn; that feeling that your throat gets is a sign of efficient technique.
for vocal exercises, start small. talk in your speaking voice and take note of your, "natural," range. from there, try some scales and go up to a little less than as high as you can go, and work on arpeggios. after a while, work on octaves and whatnot.
also, try to sustain a single note cleanly. try not to waver, and try to remain, "on pitch." after lots of work, you'll notice things really paying off.
This post was edited by Giveuptheghost on Apr 18 2011 11:03pm