Can you sing? If yes, was it natural?

[TERF4Life]

The skill/ talent of singing perplexes me. How are some people naturally good at it yet others can have years of lessons and still be terrible?

If you can sing, how did you know you could? Do your friends know you can sing? Are you shy with it?

If you can sing, how did you know you could?

Some people are going to say they can sing, when they absolutely can’t…they just think they can.

I have a friend who was told she was marvellous by her DM. I actually used to change the music we were listening to as teens to something she didn’t know, just to stop her singing along because she’s so awful! I love her dearly but she sounds like a foghorn! She did have lessons, and still sings everywhere (badly) now.

I know several people who can sing okay-ish but who massively overestimate their abilities and warble away anywhere (work, supermarket, street). It’s massively attention seeking. However, I’ve only ever known one amazing natural singer, she kept it to choir and stage performances and was never attention seeking like the less talented people I know. Strange that.

I’m envious of people who can sing even okay-ish though, as I sound like a strangled cat!

I have a beautiful singing voice, pitch perfect with a gorgeous tone. Unfortunately nobody else who hears it agrees - I assume out of jealousy? Anyway I never needed lessons. I'm naturally brilliant.

I've always wondered this too. How I would love to be able to sing! It looks like it would be sheer joy to do it well. I don't know how people can project so loudly and strongly.

I work in a school and there is someone who comes to teach the children to sing every week from a choir. He really gets the best out of them. He has a lovely voice, it's just gorgeous when I walk the corridors and hear him demonstrating a song to the children.

I think it’s something that can’t be taught, you can either sing or you can’t and singing lessons will only help if you’re not tone deaf

It's the high notes, how do people sing them out so strongly and purely without it really hurting their throat?

I can sing, I don’t know why - my parents are both abysmal singers! I’m not the next Celine Dion but I have a pleasant voice, a good range and decent pitch so I sound fairly nice. I don’t use it anymore but I was a chorister in my youth and did musicals at uni. I sometimes sing at weddings for friends and family by request, and have done a few friend of friend weddings after they’ve heard me sing at other people’s, but that’s about it. I think being a good singer maybe has more to do with ear than your actual voice. Most people can learn to sing if they have a decent ear.

Well it’s probably partly genetics and the health of your body - bone structure, jaw, sinuses, lungs etc. Plus practice. The voice is an instrument and the more refined the shape of the instrument, the better the sound. Just like a violin.

If you google image search ‘mewing before and after’ you’ll see what I mean… different face/jaw structures… some people believe you can improve this by mewing (practicing good tongue/jaw posture).

Yes. I sang a lot on stage in School, and I was also in the choir.

I have good pitch and rhythm. And a fairly limited range and not especially interesting voice. So basically I can tell when everyone else is off key, out of tune or out of time but can’t sing well enough for anyone to really want to listen to it. It’s a great combo obviously. Great fun at parties. I can almost never sing happy birthday because there’s usually at least two different starting notes in the room and then everyone fucks up the octave leap so I don’t know how anyone expects me to sing along.
Any musical training helps with pitch and rhythm. And singing lessons will help expand range and help develop vocal style.
I sing for myself when no one’s around. And for my toddler.

In my experience I think the mechanism of the voice is a muscle (in simplified terms) which you definitely can train and improve range and technique etc. However, without a musical ear and brain that can hear a melody and sing it back then you’re never going to be a singer. That is the bit I think you either have or you don’t. If you’ve got it, the rest can be taught.

I can sing. Most people in my family can, and from childhood we all sang in choirs. I think most people can sing if given instruction and encouragement. Something happens to children and it's crushed out of them, which is so sad. Singing is so fun and such a lovely thing to do with others. It's not attention seeking - how strange to think that way - it's just a lovely natural pleasure, like running around or cooking with friends or playing games.

In choirs you do learn technique, especially around breath support, phrasing, etc, that makes it easier to sing complicated things. But mainly it's just about letting yourself. Just let it go!

I can. I learned piano as a child and have near perfect pitch… not sure if the two are linked. I also really liked the theory/composition side of things, harmonising etc.

However, although I’ve rehearsed with a few covers bands etc, I am pretty much Robbie Williams - there’s a range in which I’m comfortable and I’m sticking to it! I’m also much happier as a belting singer rather than anything delicate. I’m definitely not going to set the world alight but I sound decent with the right song.

Yes I can sing. I always had a good voice and had done singing lessons as a teenager too.

I am musical though, it is my thing so to speak.

I play piano, cello, flute too.

It’s something most people can do to a basic level at least, lessons and practice will extend your range and teach you breathing techniques etc to improve tone but the actual act of producing the notes is innate I think. I can sing from a score which I’ve learnt, to see the note a on the page and reliably sing it took loots of practice but even that was partly innate too. I do not have a loud voice, lessons would help this and tone for sure, I’ve never had formal music education but sat through my dc’s lessons so picked up stuff!

I can probably definitively say I can sing - I have grade 8 distinction in Voice. Not much good at anything else, but I can sing. 😉

My dad can play the piano so I started singing with him (Gilbert & Sullivan songs) when I was about 6. So it was evidently apparent I could sing around then. My parents knew some musicians and there was some discussion as to when I should start lessons but I started when I was 11 in the end.

There's a couple of elements to it - having a sense of pitch so you can sing in tune, and having 'the voice'. People often ask me if I learned to have the vibrato (the 'wobble' of a classical singer) but I actually learned not to have it. I had a very large voice for a kid so actually I needed to control that so it didn't knock my pitch off.

I went to a very musical school and was able to sing solo in concerts and with choir. Through my teacher I also sang in some kids choruses and roles at London's opera houses. A role at the Royal Opera at 16 was the peak of my 'singing career' and remains a highlight of my life; I'm not sad I never became a professional, I'm just glad I had an opportunity that some people wish for their whole life, even if it was just the once.

These days I sing with a very good amateur choir and have had the opportunities to sing some 'big' solos in famous pieces and it makes me happy. We have regular audience members who tell me how much they enjoy it and that's really gratifying.

I sing in 2 choirs, soprano one, I have a high voice! Had to sing b flat the really high one yesterday

I can’t and always wished I could. One of the things I really liked about DH was he can sing (he was once a St Paul’s Cathedral Choir Boy) and thankfully he has passed it onto both DD (Grade 5 singer) and DS

I think there's an element of natural ability. I cannot sing. I would love nothing more than to be able to sing along to music but it sounds appalling, I have no range and it gives me a sore throat. I imagine some people with a reasonable amount if talent can train their voice to be better and sadly some of us who have no chance.

I've sung in a number of audition-only choirs, worked with a couple of well known choral conductors and sometimes get paid gigs so I'd class myself as a good amateur, and I'd say it's a bit of both. I naturally have a pleasant voice and good sense of pitch and rhythm, but I've built on all of that with a lot of training (vocal and instrumental lessons, lots of practice and self-directed musical education). I think anyone can improve relative to where they started, but some will start with greater natural talent than others.

Lots of air support (and talent).

Can anyone sing Minnie Ripperton's 'Loving You'? I have a friend with a truly beautiful voice who just refuses to be my jukebox.

I think it is like pretty much everything else. Some people have more natural ability than others but training and practice will allow you to build on what nature has given you. I can't sing, but my DD can, and although she has always had quite a good voice, lessons made a big difference.

Funny timing this thread, I was singing at the top of my lungs driving dd home from school this afternoon 😅

I'm alright, other people have said so

I think i could've been a pop singer, not one of the super talented ones like beyonce, but able to hold my own in a girlband like the spice Girls or something

On the flip side, I could be absolutely dreaming here 😅😅😅

I can sing. No one else in my immediate family does - they might be able to. For me, I think it’s a mix of opportunity, enjoyment, natural talent.

I run a choir these days, though as a PP said I don’t have a particularly interesting voice. I’m reliable, confident, can sight sing, sing tenor (as a woman), so am a good asset as a choir member. I run the choir using my teaching skills (my job!) and musical skills acquired through singing and playing orchestral instruments and piano. Singing imo is a mix of a range of skills, which starts but certainly doesn’t end with natural talent for pitch

Pretty much anyone can be taught to carry a tune.

I can sing. I won't make an album any time soon, but I've done lots of stage shows and choirs for decades and love it. I had lessons as a teen because I wanted to go to drama school but my parents then wouldn't let me take up a scholarship.

I'm currently in a philharmonic choir. I used to be a soprano, but after having me tonsils out in my twenties I didn't sing for a long time and I really should have had lessons. Through lack of use of my upper reaches I am definitely an alto these days!