Learning to sing is less of a destination and more of a journey.If you plan to sing professionally and make a career out of entertaining with your voice, you'll probably spend a lot more time, money and energy on learning to sing than a hobbyist. I'm going to address both of you - the singer who wants to sing professionally and the singer who just wants to get good as a hobby.
Learning To Sing In Preparation For A Singing Career.If you plan on singing professionally, regardless of style and genre, you'll need some vocal training. It's true that there are a lot of self-taught singers out there doing just fine without ever taking a single lesson but I can tell you from living and breathing singing since my teens and working in the music business that it's definitely the exception and not the rule.
Many people have found it a lot easier, not to mention cheaper to learn to sing by using CD's and DVD's to help them to visualise exactly what they should be doing. There are many singing courses around that offer CD's to help you, but you really do need to be careful which one you go for. Read everything about learning to sing this way, listen to examples, see what qualifications the person who is making the CD's has. If you go for a Singing Success type course you will have CD's and a DVD which you can listen to and play over and over again until you are happy with your progress. Compare this type of learning to sing with the cost of paying a teacher on an hourly basis, and you will see that learning to sing in this way will be less expensive than learning with a personal teacher.
You'll also probably be surprised to know that some of your favorite singers took or currently take voice lessons. Brandon Boyd of Incubus comes to mind as an incredibly powerful singer who was good before he took lessons but now he's just incredibly solid, in tune and relaxed and guess what...his sound is still the same! If you're still in high school, join the choir or the band. Playing an instrument always helps your singing because it improves your ear and general musicianship. But who do you go to for voice lessons? You'll find the most competent vocal coach at a university or college that has a music program.
Many people will maintain quite strongly that singing is a natural ability that you are born a singer or you're not. Now I will concede that there are many 'natural' singers in the world and I wouldn't even be surprised if the vast majority of professional singers were naturally gifted. But given will and determination almost anyone can learn to sing.
Record yourself as much as possible and get as many expert opinions as you can. Network a lot and connect with other musicians. Challenge yourself daily. Be cordial with others because this very much a business about who you know, and there's no reason to piss anybody off when they can make or break your career or at the very least hurt your reputation.
Gig as much as possible while learning to sing. They'll never be a perfect moment when you're perfectly ready to deliver the perfect performance. This is real life. Your voice is going to feel great one day, crappy another day and everywhere in between. Welcome to the emotional rollercoaster, that's what it is. Make your own opportunities and capitalize on those presented to you. Ask your teachers for help. They have connections, experience and want to see you succeed.
Most of them anyway... Expect to run into some really unsavory people. But that's with any industry. As you take voice lessons and/or sing your gigs, keep continually educating yourself on all the different aspects of music: music history, music theory, aural theory, orchestration, arranging, harmony, etc. Essentially, you've just gotta keep working your butt off and growing and more and more opportunities will come your way. Remember, you're your own number 1 teacher. Even a great vocal coach who's your friend and mentor and an amazing singer and teacher can NOT replace your own drive and desire so be careful of emotional dependency, transference and vicarious living through your teach.
It's easy to get dogmatic about what constitutes correct singing and I definitely have some strong opinions on the topic, myself, but everybody has their own musical ambitions and who am I to impose my preferences on you? That's why I say that these learning tools are complementary pieces of your overall singing education. Just like Bruce Lee said: "Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own." If you think of singing sort of like a martial art, then that's great advice.While most of the items I talk about are online vocal training courses proper, there are a few that can be legitimately called "singing software". Some software, for example, visualizes your voice on-screen on your computer or iPhone/iPad and let you see whether or not you're singing in tune, how steady your vibrato is, and other parameters.In my opinion, these are extremely useful tools, especially for people who are visual learners, as I am, and as many singers I know are. In fact, more and more vocal coaches are using them in their studios now because actually SEEING a visual representation of your singing on screen helps you adjust what you're doing when you sing more quickly and accurately. It's immediate feedback and cuts the learning curve big time.
Even though I studied classical operatic voice in University, performed in local opera and musical theatre productions, sang in high-level choirs and taught students of all ages in my private studio, I left that profession to do internet marketing. I don't want to bore you with my personal story (that's what the about page is for ) but I have an important point to make. When you study classical singing, there's a definite RIGHT way to sing and definite WRONG way to sing.
I remember my somewhat progressive choir director (she was hot, too) telling me that "singing is singing" and I was like "pfft, not it isn't. There's right singing and wrong singing, my opera singing books told me so!" Man, what a jackass I was! Pardon the language, but it illustrates how easy it is to drink the "my way is better than your way" kool aid.The point is, she was right. Singing IS singing. But with that said, every singer needs to learn how to sing in tune, how to sing high notes with ease, how to keep their body relaxed, how to listen, etc., regardless of your favorite style of singing. These are just fundamentals.After leaving my singing career, I began to see singing education more objectively and democratically and now I realize that the modern singer can and should add as much as possible to their singing toolbox and even the best teacher in the world will be wrong sometimes and it's good to consult with other sources. One person can't know it all, especially when it comes to something as incredibly rich and complex as singing.
Learning To Sing In Preparation For A Singing Career.If you plan on singing professionally, regardless of style and genre, you'll need some vocal training. It's true that there are a lot of self-taught singers out there doing just fine without ever taking a single lesson but I can tell you from living and breathing singing since my teens and working in the music business that it's definitely the exception and not the rule.
Many people have found it a lot easier, not to mention cheaper to learn to sing by using CD's and DVD's to help them to visualise exactly what they should be doing. There are many singing courses around that offer CD's to help you, but you really do need to be careful which one you go for. Read everything about learning to sing this way, listen to examples, see what qualifications the person who is making the CD's has. If you go for a Singing Success type course you will have CD's and a DVD which you can listen to and play over and over again until you are happy with your progress. Compare this type of learning to sing with the cost of paying a teacher on an hourly basis, and you will see that learning to sing in this way will be less expensive than learning with a personal teacher.
You'll also probably be surprised to know that some of your favorite singers took or currently take voice lessons. Brandon Boyd of Incubus comes to mind as an incredibly powerful singer who was good before he took lessons but now he's just incredibly solid, in tune and relaxed and guess what...his sound is still the same! If you're still in high school, join the choir or the band. Playing an instrument always helps your singing because it improves your ear and general musicianship. But who do you go to for voice lessons? You'll find the most competent vocal coach at a university or college that has a music program.
Many people will maintain quite strongly that singing is a natural ability that you are born a singer or you're not. Now I will concede that there are many 'natural' singers in the world and I wouldn't even be surprised if the vast majority of professional singers were naturally gifted. But given will and determination almost anyone can learn to sing.
Record yourself as much as possible and get as many expert opinions as you can. Network a lot and connect with other musicians. Challenge yourself daily. Be cordial with others because this very much a business about who you know, and there's no reason to piss anybody off when they can make or break your career or at the very least hurt your reputation.
Gig as much as possible while learning to sing. They'll never be a perfect moment when you're perfectly ready to deliver the perfect performance. This is real life. Your voice is going to feel great one day, crappy another day and everywhere in between. Welcome to the emotional rollercoaster, that's what it is. Make your own opportunities and capitalize on those presented to you. Ask your teachers for help. They have connections, experience and want to see you succeed.
Most of them anyway... Expect to run into some really unsavory people. But that's with any industry. As you take voice lessons and/or sing your gigs, keep continually educating yourself on all the different aspects of music: music history, music theory, aural theory, orchestration, arranging, harmony, etc. Essentially, you've just gotta keep working your butt off and growing and more and more opportunities will come your way. Remember, you're your own number 1 teacher. Even a great vocal coach who's your friend and mentor and an amazing singer and teacher can NOT replace your own drive and desire so be careful of emotional dependency, transference and vicarious living through your teach.
It's easy to get dogmatic about what constitutes correct singing and I definitely have some strong opinions on the topic, myself, but everybody has their own musical ambitions and who am I to impose my preferences on you? That's why I say that these learning tools are complementary pieces of your overall singing education. Just like Bruce Lee said: "Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own." If you think of singing sort of like a martial art, then that's great advice.While most of the items I talk about are online vocal training courses proper, there are a few that can be legitimately called "singing software". Some software, for example, visualizes your voice on-screen on your computer or iPhone/iPad and let you see whether or not you're singing in tune, how steady your vibrato is, and other parameters.In my opinion, these are extremely useful tools, especially for people who are visual learners, as I am, and as many singers I know are. In fact, more and more vocal coaches are using them in their studios now because actually SEEING a visual representation of your singing on screen helps you adjust what you're doing when you sing more quickly and accurately. It's immediate feedback and cuts the learning curve big time.
Even though I studied classical operatic voice in University, performed in local opera and musical theatre productions, sang in high-level choirs and taught students of all ages in my private studio, I left that profession to do internet marketing. I don't want to bore you with my personal story (that's what the about page is for ) but I have an important point to make. When you study classical singing, there's a definite RIGHT way to sing and definite WRONG way to sing.
I remember my somewhat progressive choir director (she was hot, too) telling me that "singing is singing" and I was like "pfft, not it isn't. There's right singing and wrong singing, my opera singing books told me so!" Man, what a jackass I was! Pardon the language, but it illustrates how easy it is to drink the "my way is better than your way" kool aid.The point is, she was right. Singing IS singing. But with that said, every singer needs to learn how to sing in tune, how to sing high notes with ease, how to keep their body relaxed, how to listen, etc., regardless of your favorite style of singing. These are just fundamentals.After leaving my singing career, I began to see singing education more objectively and democratically and now I realize that the modern singer can and should add as much as possible to their singing toolbox and even the best teacher in the world will be wrong sometimes and it's good to consult with other sources. One person can't know it all, especially when it comes to something as incredibly rich and complex as singing.
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