Anyone Can Sing!
18 July 2018
“My voice is terrible!” “I can’t Sing!” “I’m tone deaf!”
All phrases I hear time and time again as a singing teacher. The simple fact is; If you can speak….You can sing! Now, not everyone is going to be able to sing like Mariah, Beyoncé or even Pavarotti. But…you can sing like you!
We all have the same muscles to make sound but everyone’s are slightly different shapes and sizes just like the rest of our bodies, which allows everyone’s voice to be beautifully unique.
When learning to sing, the main obstacle for most is their mindset! Often people who say they can’t sing will have had someone tell them they are a terrible singer, a choir teacher who told them to sing quieter, a bad karaoke experience or simply have told themselves that singing is not for them. Like anything we learn, if you do not have confidence or willingness to learn, your skills and ability will not improve! So, throw away any negative emotions towards your voice and tell yourself “I can sing” and employ a can-do attitude!
Ok, so you have your “can-do” attitude but you still won’t be winning the X-Factor anytime soon…
The next step is to train your voice. At its core, the voice is a series of muscles and processes that come together to make sound and when we learn how to control and strengthen them, we can have full access to all our singing voice.
Wow, that sounds very clinical doesn’t it?
Yes! But the simple fact is when we learn how to control these muscles we can all learn how to make high/low, loud/quiet, happy/sad sounds and sing through any songs we desire.
No-one is going to become a singer overnight! Learning to sing is like learning an instrument, how to drive or even how to cook! We all have the ingredients but it takes time for the actions to become muscle memory and feel confident in what we are doing. Slow and steady really does win the race and with the right tutorage and practice your voice will develop and your confidence will grow.
Don’t try to sound like Jessie J on your first lesson! You need to find your own sound first. If you begin by copying other singers or only learning one style or singing method, that is all you will be able to do. Big belting and impressive singing has taken singing stars years to develop, so start with appropriate repertoire and build up your skills. Also, don’t just learn opera or pop singing, go ahead and unlock every corner of your voice in different styles and then specialize from there.
Florence Foster Jenkins was someone who practiced all the time, had passion and belief in abundance but still her singing was not great…why? To improve any skill, you have to be honest with yourself and open to critique with a willingness to learn which is something Florence was not able to do.
But one thing she was… happy!
Singing filled her life with joy. And at its core singing really is the ultimate expression of emotion, and no matter if you want to sing out of tune in the shower or sing professionally at the Carnegie hall, so long as singing makes you happy, then I think we really have shown that anyone can sing!
Come watch Florence Foster Jenkins in all her glory from 19 to 29 September 2018 at KC Art Centre – Home of SRT!
“SOME MAY SAY THAT I COULDN’T SING, BUT NO ONE CAN SAY THAT I DIDN’T SING”
Article by TJ Taylor
TJ is a UK born Musical Theatre teacher/performer and has lived in Singapore since 2013 teaching at many of the top international schools and theatre academy’s as well as performing in various productions. TJ is Sing’theatre Academy’s very on Head of Musical Theatre and is a part-time lecturer at Lasalle College of the Arts on the Musical Theatre and Acting degrees. TJ graduated from the UK with A First Class Honours Musical Theatre Degree and has been working professionally in Singapore ever since.
Here is a Fun Fact about the Author:
TJ is the vocal coach for Souvenir!
