I'm doing 14 things
So after starting four years ago from scratch (I couldn’t sustain a note, voice would crack singing happy birthday and I had bad pitch problems) to having spent almost two years working on my voice with instructors and with a lot of self study material I guess I’m ready to say call this one done, but really I’ve come to believe, as with anything musical singing is a life journey.
If I was looking to accomplish this goal and was just starting out here are some questions I was trying to think of questions I would want to ask myself, so I’ll format this as sort of a Q&A.
Do I really believe anyone can do this? Yes and I had two vocal coaches tell me they believe this also. Not all voice coaches hold to this belief, but after reading some of the research done recently by Appell there’s no question we’re all born with the ability to sing.
If everyone can why are some people so horrible at it? Lots of reasons; being in pitch can take work for some… learning to breath properly and how to apply the right amount of pressure. These are things that come natural to some, but there are proven techniques for teaching them. A big problem I had with my own voice is that all the guys in my family who sing are either a bass voice or baritone and I never felt comfortable singing in my natural range… I think a lot of people have a certin range of voice types in their head of how they would like to be able to sing and if their natural range doesn’t match up they quit.
Once I accepted that I was always going to struggle trying to sing like a baritone, I was able to focus on developing the top end of my voice (which had gone untouched), I was taught how to identify my vocal range on a piano and on sheet music which lead to how to identify songs that highlight my sweet notes and how to transpose songs into keys that help me in that area.
There’s too much to detail here and I would not claim to be a great singer compared to some of the amazing talents out there, but as you can have good guitar players who can’t hold a candle to the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, you can have someone who is a good singer who is not of the worlds best. The gap between being good and one of the best is very very wide. The more I learned the more comfortable I have become and the more I wanted to know….
My only advice is don’t stop.
One last things:
I purchased a lot of the on-line programs early on (Singorama, etc…) I wish I could say one of these programs holds the key, the truth is they all pretty good and but they do become redundant (except Vocal Release, which I think steals from other sources). I think it’s important to hire a voice coach early on. I thought it was silly at first, but it’s not silly.. Professional coaches work with non-singer who want to learn all the time. After a few months you may have what you need to continue on without an instructor. I did professional lessons off and on.
Good luck.
