Singing lessons

[Mickeyboro]

Have you had them? Were they worth it? Discuss, please…

[stewblack]

Yes. I am not a singer. I assumed I could not be taught. No one let me sing in public unless there was a fire.

The lessons appeared to have nothing to do with singing at first. But actually they were teaching me about the mechanics of singing. What to do with my throat, my mouth, my diaphragm. In other words the instrument. 

I have since sung in front of people and no one threw anything. I have sung harmony acapella with three others.

 

[chris_b]

I know a guy who fronted his own band for 20 years. I thought his voice was OK, but he took singing lessons about 10 years ago, and you can hear the difference every time he steps up to the microphone. His projection is stronger and he hits the notes with more accuracy. Those lessons are paying dividends every gig.

[Stub Mandrel]

I did and it helped a lot.

[Desbass]

I have been singing BVs for about 50 years and even did lead vocals when the singer went on holiday or was sick. Now , in my later years , I'm still at it but have found the breathing getting a bit harder. The move to in-ear monitoring has made things a lot better but I'd like to regain some of the strength of my earlier years. I know I'm not in anything like the shape I was in when I was younger and had decent breath control but I'm too old and arthritic to start running marathons again! I would like to have singing lessons from "proper" teachers but I've looked for people involved with Scottish Opera and The Glasgow Conservatoire but can't find anything available. I don't want to join a choir to get training as I'd rather be honest and pay someone knowledgable. A lot of on-line searches come up with people trying to lure in parents intent on making their kids Tik-Tok stars. I suppose I could just cut back on the deep fried Mars bars and Guinness and get fit but surely there must be some easier way- maybe surgery or hypnotism?

Edited December 18, 2024 by Desbass

[AlexDelores]

Yes, I think they’re worth it.
 

As mentioned above If you want to sing regularly and maintain good vocal health then you won’t regret lessons. Even if you just have a few and learn about the mechanics of how your chords work, how to breath, hold, warm up and recover correctly.

 

Finding a good teacher is key though. I once turned up to a ‘singing lesson’ in some local fellas spare room. The bloke started  fake crying towards the end while singing me a song on the piano about ‘the pain of losing his voice’ after sitting me on a chair and telling me to ‘manifest the voice I want to achieve’ 😅 

 

In the end I went to Sally Rivers and she was brilliant.

 

7 hours ago, Desbass said:

I would like to have singing lessons from "proper" teachers but I've looked for people involved with Scottish Opera and The Glasgow Conservatoire but can't find anything available. I don't want to join a choir to get training as I'd rather be honest and pay someone knowledgable. A lot of on-line searches come up with people trying to lure in parents intent on making their kids Tik-Tok stars. I suppose I could just cut back on the deep fried Mars bars and Guinness and get fit but surely there must be some easier way- maybe surgery or hypnotism?

 

Have you tried any local theatre groups? They may be able to point you in the direction of someone local that’s half decent.

[Stub Mandrel]

I had no trouble finding a teacher at a Cardiff music school.  WNO too.

[Mickeyboro]

6 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I had no trouble finding a teacher at a Cardiff music school.  WNO too.

Blimey. Welsh National Opera! Impressed…

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

20 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Blimey. Welsh National Opera! Impressed…

 

 

 

Less impressive that they have to teach to make ends meet!

[Leonard Smalls]

I've never bothered because my singing voice is up with the very best of 'em!

I could easily win XFactor or Cardiff Singer of the World but want to let everyone else have a chance.

Last time I sang in front of an audience they were all so impressed they ran out of the room to tell all their friends and to announce my talent to the whole world!

[Lozz196]

Must have been a proud moment @Leonard Smalls 🤣

[Mickeyboro]

5 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Less impressive that they have to teach to make ends meet!

Or go on Strictly Come Dancing…

[Dan Dare]

I found singing lessons helpful. The main benefit for me was that I learned to use my voice efficiently and without strain. The techniques also come in handy when I need to project my speaking voice.

[Rosie C]

On 17/12/2024 at 23:07, Mickeyboro said:

Have you had them? Were they worth it? Discuss, please…

 

I took lessons for about a year - 30 minutes per week in school terms over a year, so about 15 hours. My teacher took me from being unable to sing to being able to front a pub band which got decent audience reaction and re-bookings. 

 

She taught me a bit of technique - having a solid support from the diaphragm, holding notes for the full length, hitting a note square on and becoming used to intervals. We also would spend some time working through songs I'd be performing where she'd point out where I was making errors. She also helped me control chest & head voice and helped me with higher notes adding seven semitones, so now on a good day I have a 2 octave range. At the school I went to one lady taught singers mostly for pop / rock / musical theatre. The other taught more along classical & choral lines. All in past tense as I caught covid a second time and within a couple of weeks I had a dairy allergy which has taken most of this year to figure out. I'm hopefully retuning to lessons next year.

 

I have found the voice is a delicate thing. It's not like a bass guitar that can be played for 2 hours then chucked in a bag until the next a gig. I can't sing for 2x45 minutes like I did last night and expect to sing again today - though hopefully that will come with time and better technique. I seem to have had more colds since I started singing, though I think it's actually that because colds have such an effect, I notice them more. 

[zbd1960]

I'm a very experienced choral singer... but I hadn't sung a note until I was in my mid-30s when I started lessons. Since then I have sung with many choirs and I've sung everything from small choir a cappella singing to large choirs singing in major concert halls with big orchestras - all as an amateur. 

 

There is technique to being able to sing without straining the voice and risking injury. Too many singers that I've heard singing with bands are just doing 'tuned shouting' and that is a recipe for tiring the voice very quickly and long-term serious problems... Or they sing with a vile very wide throbbing vibrato, partly to disguise that they can't sing in tune.

 

You need to find someone who has trained formally as a singer and preferably holds a singing/vocal training qualification (I'll try to look up what that is - I can't remember). The latter is important to deal with detailed vocal technique issues. My first teacher was a counter tenor who was trained at RNCM, performed as a soloist, and ran a county music service. He got me going and taught me the essentials needed to sing and perform in concerts.

 

After some years of singing I became aware that I had a lot of power at the top of my range singing as a baritone (i.e. around and above middle C), but lacked much power at the bottom of the bass clef. Working with a vocal coach we discovered that my voice had changed and I was really a tenor rather than a baritone and that meant working on detailed technique with a suitable tutor. In case you're wondering - men's voices don't fully 'settle' until mid-30s.

 

Lessons will help with things like breathing, control, sound production, tone, projection, rhythm, pitch...

 

One of the important things is lessons will help to protect and preserve the voice. A full performance of Handel's Messiah is a BIG sing as a chorus member and it is very demanding. With proper training you can survive the on-the-day rehearsal and concert and still have a voice left. 

 

   

Edited December 28, 2024 by zbd1960

[zbd1960]

On 18/12/2024 at 14:27, Mickeyboro said:

Or go on Strictly Come Dancing…

Most musicians do not have salaried positions except the very lucky few and have to teach or do something else as well to make a living... 

[Richard R]

On 18/12/2024 at 08:23, Stub Mandrel said:

I had no trouble finding a teacher at a Cardiff music school.  WNO too.

 

Better than a WiNO. 

 

I would like to have singing lessons, just to be able to hold a tune for more than a few bars before going hopelessly off piste.

 

[Mickeyboro]

7 minutes ago, Richard R said:

 

Better than a WiNO. 

 

I would like to have singing lessons, just to be able to hold a tune for more than a few bars before going hopelessly off piste.

 

Winos are never off the piste… 🍷