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You Can Learn To Sing – The Journey From Zero To One

January 29, 2020

I have heard this dozens of times:-

“But I’m not good enough to have singing lessons.”

My response is to ask that person if they would feel that way about any other musical instrument. If you wanted to play the clarinet or the piano, and you had no scrap of knowledge, would you feel as self conscious asking an experienced, knowledgeable tutor for help? Or would you feel you had to be able to play – at least a bit – before you go for any lessons? Most of the time, at this point in the conversation, people begin to realise that they perhaps would not. If you went to your first piano lesson, and the tutor put music in front of you and said ‘play that’ you’d probably be irked. And rightly so.

Getting off the starting blocks with any new skill is a huge step, and here at Igloo Music we take that step with students of all instruments all the time. We love it. But it does seem to be especially scary for singers. Singing can be so personal. I believe for some people, there is also some expectation that you ‘should’ be able to do it, and that either you are born with the ability or not and nothing can be done about that. In our culture, we’re encouraged to sing from a very young age, with the teaching of nursery rhymes, singing in school assemblies, at birthdays and special occasions, so I suppose there is some kind of cultural expectation to sing, that does not happen with other instruments. You don’t turn up at someone’s birthday party to be asked to play the harp, unless everyone knows you can already play the harp.

Singers who I see, that fall into this category, go on a journey from inaction born of disbelief that improvements can be made to their voice (not really in their heart of hearts – something obviously made them come to me, but they don’t really think it’s going to work), and taking the appropriate steps to begin working on their vocal. I call this the Journey From Zero To One.

I am currently writing a book about this journey, and how I walk alongside students who wish to take these steps with me. If you are someone who has harboured the inexplicable desire to sing, simultaneously believing that you are so lacking in skill you have no right to try, this book is for you. If you would like updates, just pop us an email at info@igloomusic.co.uk and we’ll keep you posted.

You are not alone.


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