Maybe she’s born with it…?
September 19, 2015Learning To Sing…
I don’t mean to brag, but I am very lucky to regularly get comments about how much people like my singing voice, and my songs. Things like ‘you’re such a natural’ and I have a beautiful ‘God given’ gift. They are lovely things to say, and I am grateful that people are kind enough to take the time to write to me and let me know they are enjoying the music I am making.
The truth is, I’m not a ‘natural’ and my gift is very much earthly born from years and years of very hard work. (I am still grateful for the compliments however, so thank you).
New students often say to me things like ‘oh I don’t sound like you’ and ‘it’s ok – it’s easy for you’. And yes, they don’t sound like me after two hours of trying, and some things are much easier for me after decades of training.
There is something magical about music I grant you, (and particularly singing in my view:) but the truth is, it’s just a bunch of stuff that can be learned. That’s it. Just like we’re not born knowing how to walk, or speak, bake cakes or practice law, we learn and perfect those skills (well I’ll never perfect baking cakes – not because I don’t have the aptitude, but because it doesn’t interest me, and I will never put the required practice in to get it even close to right!)
There is no doubt that some people have more natural aptitude for singing than others – but this is no different than every other skill set that we learn. Some people have a knack for languages, some people take completely naturally to running, my brother was always a genius with computers from a really young age and it just looked like gobbledygook to me… That doesn’t mean I couldn’t learn it if I tried, but it didn’t make such obvious sense to me.
Singing is the same. Some people have an ear for melody and can copy a sound quite easily (this is how we learn to speak – the process of imitation). Some people have a natural sense of rhythm – we often see them throwing shapes on the dance floor at family parties. Some people can remember reams and reams of words really easily… There are many aspects of learning singing and any musical instrument, and most people can’t do all of them, or even more than one, well straight away. There will always be the odd person who sings really well without any help – just like my brother being able to write computer programmes at the age of 9 without being shown how – but they are the exceptions, not the rule. Some people might not be able to do any of them well at all to start with. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try. If you’re really unhealthy and unfit and you want to do something about it, you don’t wake up one day thinking ‘well I’m not fit or healthy, so I won’t try to be’. You know that there is something you can do to work towards it, even if the changes are small at first. You find some small thing you CAN do at the moment in your current state of fitness, and as your fitness improves, what you can do changes. It’s the same with singing.
Two things you should know about learning to sing
1) Singing is a physical activity
Many of the parts of your body that make up your singing voice are muscle tissue. Like any other muscle in your body, the more you work it, the stronger it will get. As far as singing goes, this then translates into the quality of the sound – you will be able to sing higher, lower, longer, richer and with greater expression, intonation (tuning) improves and the sound becomes freer and less strained. All the good stuff. But it only works if you do the exercises and keep doing them. Just like physical fitness, if you stop exercising you will get flabby again. Singing is the same. If you stop exercising your voice, you get vocally flabby again.
2) Singing is a musical art form
If you were to learn another instrument, piano for example, and you couldn’t play well at your first lesson, you would be quite right in thinking to yourself ‘that’s what I’m paying the teacher for – to show me how to do it’. You have a bunch of notes and scales and physical techniques and a whole other mess of stuff to learn that improves your ability to make music on the piano. Singing is the same. Whatever instrument you learn (that includes singing) the more you learn the language of music, the better your singing will be.
The good news…. Is that this is very much within your control. Just like your physical health and fitness, no one can do it but you. If you take the steps towards improving your vocal fitness, and learn how to sing, you will improve. You will.
The bad news…. Is there’s no magic wand – just like weight loss or fitness again, some people’s bodies respond very quickly and a massive improvement can be heard in a short space of time. Others take a bit longer and the improvements are less dramatic. More bad news, you have to get off your butt and do it, but back to the good news – there are ways of doing that.
I have taught countless people to sing over the years, of all ages and walks of life. The only difference in my experience between people who can learn to sing and people who can’t is attitude. You have to understand and remember all this stuff I’ve said here, and keep at it, just nibbling away – consistency is the key, which does not necessarily mean loads and loads of time (which is something that can put people off starting). You have to apply yourself, work smart, and stick at it. I’ve had people complain to me ‘these lessons aren’t working’ on occasion, and I ask ‘have you been doing the XYZ I gave you to do?’ And always the answer comes .. Well err no, um I just have been singing along to the radio in the car like I always have… And the answer well um err is – then you will sound the way you have always sounded.
It’s not easy – it’s a lot of weird noises and feeling very exposed some of the time (although I promise you I understand how awkward it is, and do my best to make you feel comfortable as I can!). Feeling embarrassed and foolish can make people pick at and criticise themselves very harshly, which is also counterproductive. Understand learning to sing is a process, be patient with yourself – as patient as you would be teaching someone else something that you’re good at and do every day – give yourself a decent amount of time (AT LEAST 3 months of weekly work) before you decide you sound like a ‘strangled cat’ and you can’t be taught. Also, give your tutor a break – give them time (with whatever instrument) to help you get results. We learn how you learn best and adapt our approach to suit you as an individual, and we both get to know your instrument and identity as a singer.
I was not ‘born with it’, very few people are. I was just obsessed with music from a very young age and worked very hard. If you want to improve your singing, all you have to do is show up, and play ball.
Do it, it’s great fun!