Lift Up Your Heads, Oh Yea Gates!

Lifting your head slightly will open up your voice and make it easier to sing overall, especially if you want to belt. A good way of getting into the practice of keeping your voice box open(chin slightly lifted)is to make sure you position your microphone correctly.

Make sure your microphone is positioned directly in front of your mouth. Set it up to be directly vertical to your mouth about 2 inches away. If you're singing whilst playing an instrument, like a guitar or keyboard, this is especially important in order to avoid craning your neck to the mic.

You can also position the mic slightly above your mouth, just under your nose. This will ensure your chin is slightly tipped upwards, keeping the voice box open when singing. Especially useful for singing guitarists. An excellent example of this is Taya Smith singing Oceans (Hillsong United)

Don't forget to adjust both the microphone stand and arm, not just the clip that holds the mic.