I was in choir in juniour high school, but we didn’t really learn much as far as musically. We were just always rehearsing for Christmas plays. :roll:
That’s been…hmm…a few years and in between I bought a few “teach yourself to sing” book/CD combos but didn’t really stick with it.
In a little less than two months, I’m going to take beginners’ singing lessons, although it will be as part of a group of people rather than one-on-one (costs much less this way).
I don’t want to be Celine Dion, I just want to eventually be able to sing simple tunes.
For yourself in the privacy of your home? As part of a choir? Solo in front of an audience?
Some observations:
Sing songs you like; keep it fun.
Stage fright never goes away.
Posture makes a difference; practice in front of a mirror.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t sing. (I once took a voice class at a local community college. There was a woman in the class who, all her life, had been told by her own parents that she had a terrible voice and should not sing. She had one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.)
HTH. I’m sure others will have better advice for you.
I disagree, Slude, about stage fright.. Stage-fright does go away with experience. I had it bad for years as a classical guitarist. I conquered it from doing school assemblies and other gigs of Cal. Gold Rush and other folk music in costume. It seems like the hammier the setting, the quicker the fear evaporates. It’s that focused attention on just the one aspect of technical singing or playing that seems to boil the bowels, in my experience.
You need to get outside of your frame of reference by performing in all manner of settings in front of people. Recording yourself also helps cement the tunes but isn’t enough without performing live somewhere.
Perhaps it’s different for each individual. I have heard interviews with professional performers in which they state that they always get stage fright before a concert. (I can’t remember who it was at the moment; I’ll get back to you if my memory decides to cooperate.) I haven’t performed enough to overcome it myself, since I mainly sing at home for my own enjoyment.
Your observation that it’s easier in hammy settings certainly makes sense to me. When I have performed in front of an audience, it was certainly easier when the song was humorous (though I do enjoy a good tear-jerker).
Weekenders has it right. The more you do it the easier it becomes. Performing in front of folks, attentive or in passing becomes a very comfortable place. And when you find yourself having fun doing that, then you even start to look forward to it. The more you trust yourself, the more you can remove yourself from the process and the better the results. (use the FORCE Luke…)
You just kind of Zen out… it becomes more like intending/directing/aiming a performance rather than executing a series of moves or patterns… when all that gels the results are extraordinary.
Although it is cheaper to go the group rate route, I feel that you will make greater headway with one on one instruction… you will benefit from the time spent only on your singing.
But, apart from learning how to use your breath and diaphragm correctly, I have never been sold on sining lessons. The human voice is a uniquely individual instrument (no two being the same), and I rather enjoy hearing the variety. Be yourself, regardless how you go about it. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself.
For me the stage-fright seems to go away more and more. At this point I haven’t really had a real stage-fright in a year or two. At this point it’s more like a nice adrenaline rush. The problem is that it seems to go away more and more as well. I aways crave a larger audience to get that rush, which is not good. I want to be genuinly excited whatever stage I enter.
I haven’t really been singing that much in front of audiences, just a bit with my band, because I know most of the lyrics. I’m not the lead singer. My preforming has mainly been on instruments.
I’ve been taking both choir and individual singing lessons for a little more than a year, and the choir lessons can be really good if the teacher is good, but it’s no where near as rewarding as 1on1 lessons. I’ve really learned a lot this past year. The most important thing I’ve learned as a beginner is probably to let go of the fear to sing a false note which will lead me to sing a lot with the throat on the high notes. When I learned to let it all go and just push them up there without tensing the vocal cords I made a huge step forward. I had a great teacher and he made me shout to him across the room like I was trying to reach him over a noice or something. It felt really weird at first, but then when I suddenly uncounciously used that technique for a high note in a certain song I had been stuggling to reach it suddenly fell into place and it sounded great.
Posture is important as jsluder pointed out. Another thing which might be quite important is to learn to use the different types of voices where they are appropriate. Trying to sing a certain song with one type of voice might sound funky but even more importantly for a beginner is that it might be harder. For example, it might be best to use the over-drive for rock songs, softer voice for ballads and powerful voice with lots of support for Tom Jones style songs.
I can’t be Celine Dion. I’m the wrong gender, am too fat, bald and ugly, can imitate Bob Dylan without changing my voice, and have waaaaaaay less money!
Musing on all this, another thing occurs to me. That is, PRACTICING singing.
If you are self-conscious about how your voice sounds learning, it’s hard to even sing in your own house for fear of being heard. If it doesn’t bother you, more power to ya. I don’t have stage fright in front of people where I am SUPPOSED to be, but I have a heck of a time breaking out in full volume singing at home on high notes or unfamiliar vocal personae. The conversion of expression to instrument is much easier because if it sounds bad, well, its the instrument. No hiding from your voice though!
What brought this about was the annual St. Pat’s ordeal of being the band member chosen to sing “Danny Boy” a few years back. I can see no other way to sing that thing, and its famous high note, except pedal to the metal full voice and man, I had every window shut and curtained while training on that one. I only felt safe in the damn car, where I was positive nobody could hear. I seriously considered finding a vocal coach at that moment, though i couldn’t possibly justify doing it for one annual gig…
I realized that, in costume, being the ol’ 49er, I wasn’t myself but portraying myself as a crooner but without a great resonant voice was another thing altogether.
Yep. I’ve always found it easier to practice solo in front of other singers (like in a class) than to practice at home when other non-singers are around. I guess I just expect other singers to understand…
i second that. there’s about 500 songs on my computer, my voice can handle about 20, that isn’t much, maybe i’m not much of a singer, but i sing these very well.
you’ll have to pick out the ones that suite you.
that way won’t end up like many that developed cancer from singing…
I enjoy performing in front of people. It is more like excitement than fear, when I speak or play whistle. It wasn’t always like that, but now it is. Singing brings a lot of jitters, and my new endeavor of playing flute somewhere in between. Probably because I’m not very good at singing, though improving, it is still scary. As for advice, have a good time, don’t let criticism get you down (it’s just an opinion), mistakes are average, know the songs. If the class involves a mic, mic technique is worth the time to do right.
Yes. Borrow, acquire, or accost a three-year-old girl. They find most songs funny or at least fun, won’t criticize your pipes, and generally encourage singing.
