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However there is a little bit more to the proper posture for singing.  There are few very subtle things that really make a difference.

Firstly, of course you should stand straight.  Most people hunch just a little bit when they stand, stand as straight as you can.

Next relax your shoulders and let them hang freely.   Now we are going to arch the upper back forward.  By upper back I mean right between the scapula’s.   Or, another way to think of it is arching your sternum upward.   This will expand the chest cavity and rib cage to maximum, before a breath is taken.  It’s important to hold the arched sternum position when singing.  If you let your sternum collapse it will cause you to lose power in your voice (support) and slip into an unwanted falsetto.  This is especially true to when singing powerful notes in the higher range.

The head should be level, or just tipped back a bit, depending on the singers preference.  But, never tipped forward and down, this starts to fold the opening of the throat and cut off the resonance of the voice into the head cavities.

The knees and hips should be relaxed.  The end resulting stance will have the singer standing as if defiant or proud.  This stance helps support the voice.  

This posture should be in place before a breath is taken and held the whole time while singing. 

If you are looking for complete, professional singing instruction I recommend www.vocalrelease.com

What happens though when you are in a bad environment and no matter how much water you drink on stage your voice dries out badly.  Some situations that might cause this are singing outside in arid areas, smokey bars and air conditioning sapping all the humidity out of a club.

In this case the best things you can do are:

• concentrate on breathing through your nose when not singing, and when taking breaths in try to do it through the nose.  This will help to moisturize the throat a bit.
• Keep drinking water.  Though it may not be helping much, it’s not hurting
• Chew a small bit of gum and keep it on the side of the teeth when singing.  This will keep the saliva flowing and keep the throat moist.  Be careful not to choke on it. This is particularly helpfull for new performers who get ample amounts of adrenaline flowing, which dries out the throat and mouth.
• “thayers slippery elm lozenges,”  these will give you very gentle coating on your throat lining without clogging you up.   Avoid lozenges that are made to aleviate coughs and sore throats, most will make your throat feel better but actually dry out the throat and make you lose your voice because of the menthol in most of them.
• Use a personal humidifyer on the side of the stage between sets or when you don’t have to sing if the area is really arid of if you have problem due to getting over an illness.  These bring moist air directly to your mouth and face through a mask.

If you are looking for online singing instruction the best one I can recommend is www.vocalrelease.com  If you are serious about singing you should purchase a copy, it is the best singing instruction you can get.

There are many reasons why trying to learn to sing this way is awful, and will actually hurt your voice.

1. Your favorite singer might not have good technique, and in fact have bad habits.

2. When you sing along to another singer you are just learning to imitate, not control every aspect of your own voice.  You won’t know how to sing outside of the imitation.

3. You won’t be learning to control your whole range.  Even good singers, usually stay within a small part of their entire range for most songs, because most commercial song don’t wildly go from a high pitch to low pitch.

4. Trying to impersonate a singer beyond your current skill level will hurt your voice.   Really great singers with powerful voices and large ranges, have developed those voices from years of training and developed vocal endurance and control.

5. Most important, when you learn to sing by singing along to another singer you are learning strictly by ear, by sound.    It is possible to make a good sound with bad technique that will damage your voice.   A bad technique producing the same sound as good technique is not sustainable over many performances.  So, while you may be able to pull of a good sounding performance one night, the next night your voice would be strained from the previous performance and not able to function in subsequent nights.

If you want to REALLY learn how to sing WELL, the best instruction you can receive is from www.vocalrelease.com    It contains true secrets of singing well and will have you singing your best in no time flat, with your own voice, not a bad imitation of your favorite singer.