Why take singing lessons?

Why have singing lessons?

There is a perception out there that you are simply born a singer or you are not. A beautiful voice is a genetic thing, like having curly hair or brown eyes. Would that that were true! It is true that the sound of your voice and its unique character comes from the physical structure of your larynx, but your speaking habits, your accent, your musical taste and background and crucially your breathing and posture all have an effect.

Everybody can change the sound they are currently making. An ENT surgeon at a conference I attended said that we have more control of our voices than any other part of our bodies. Just think, you have more control over your voice than your hands. This means you can learn to make the sounds that are right for the genres of music you love. It’s a completely antiquated belief that you are born with a classical voice or a folk voice… those things are nurture, not nature. Learning about voice qualities keeps your voice musically flexible, helps you purposefully develop your own unique sound as an artist and improves tone.

You can also improve your pitching, most often by learning the correct breathing and support or by training your ear. The latter is more painstaking than the former, but not impossible.

Another area that voice training will help with is stamina and tension in the voice. Singing can be tiring and your voice can become strained if you don’t have good form, the same as if you hit the gym and started lifting heavy weights without checking out what the best way to do the exercises is first. The key aim of vocal pedagogy is healthy voice.

I often meet people who think that vocal coaching is all about teaching people to sound like Julie Andrews. It is if you actually WANT to sound like Julie Andrews… if practised by a properly trained professional, it’s actually about helping you to find your own sound and meet your own goals healthily and effectively.

If you are a guitarist, producer, songwriter, pianist or involved in many other areas of music, being able to sing will improve the results you are getting on your instrument/DAW. I have met several producers who wanted to work on their own voices so they would not always require session singers to demo a track. Also, as a songwriter myself I find it very helpful to have an understanding of how the voice works so I don’t write lyrics that close over the larynx or scansion that a singer cannot produce. I can also pitch tracks to artists better because I can calculate the range and key more easily than I could were I not trained in singing.

I have worked with pianists who wanted to be able to direct choirs and guitarists who wanted to gig as a solo act rather than having to find a singer.

So, if you have decided that raining your voice is the way to meet your goals, I put together a little video on how to find the right teacher for you. It doesn’t matter if someone helped your friend or has an amazing reputation if their background, approach or personality doesn’t work for you.

Ofcourse, I offer several ways to learn singing from one on one coaching via Zoom or in person, group lessons and online video and audio courses. This free audio course will introduce you to the kind of exercises that make a difference quickly, including working on range, pitching, breathing, posture, voice qualities (the sounds associated with different genres of music) and releasing tightness in the voice.

Thanks so much for checking out this post and I wish you every success as you find your own unique voice.

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