Can Anyone Learn How to Sing Well?
There are two parts to the question here. First, can anyone learn how to sing? The second part has to do with the last word of the question, “well”. Can anyone learn how to sing “well”? The answer to both parts of the question is a resounding yes. We are going to elaborate that here.
Is Singing You’re Born With or Something You Can Learn
Good news! Yes, anyone can learn how to sing. Ok, I’d like to point out that the first part of the question pertains only to the ability to sing in tune, pitch or the right note, regardless of voice quality that most people consider as good or pleasing to the ear.
I can attest to the fact that not one of us came to this world with the ability to cry in tune when we were born. We were just screaming our hearts out to see where in the world we’re at, at the time.
Unless you are one of the few that has a condition called “congenital amusia” which only about 4% of the population, most of us can sing back a tune with our voice.
In my opinion, there’s still hope for those people that have the preconditioned disorder. It will just take a whole life long of therapy if singing is a matter of life and death to them.
Studies and research have been done to prove that anyone can learn to make a sound with their voice in tune. It’s not something that you either have it or you don’t, definitely not one you’re born with. The music that we hear all over us, instrumental or vocal, has a big impact on our ability to sing back a melody that’s being played on the radio, television, internet, smartphones and so on.
Add to that, the environment we grow up with, the strong influence of family, friends, school music activities and other peers where there is constant and lots of singing going on.
That answers the first part of the question.
How Can Anyone Become Good in Singing?
The second part of the question, “can anyone learn to sing well”?
The answer is absolutely yes. Although most can sing a certain melody doesn’t mean everyone will have an awesome, fabulous singing voice, but we all know that there are only recreational singers and there are “good” ones. What is considered good? There’s already an established, common knowledge on what the masses consider as good. Whatever that is, to get to that point, there is a process involved.
Singing is an athletic endeavor, coordination, muscles, just like someone that goes to the gym day in and day out. Great singers develop over time with hard work and that’s how they make it to the top, not everyone is going to be top in their field, just like a bodybuilder, soccer player, and in other sports.
The ones who have a genuine dedication to their passion are the ones who will go far, the ones that will be the stars on stage. You might see them practice many times a day until they’re completely satisfied with the result. If they have the opportunity, they line up for auditions, competitions, and other kinds of singing gigs.
They believe that what they put in, day in and day out is enough to make them at a certain level into the competition. Belief in themselves is also one of the ingredients to move them forward to success.
Win or lose, they go back to the drawing board and plan another course of action for the next series of singing opportunities they find. In fact, most of the ones I know that already made it, have joined multiple such opportunities and failed many times before they made it big.
So, the point is you can be good and be the best you can be with full commitment, dedication, and passion
To Get Better, Here’s What You Can Start Doing on Your Own
Join a choir in church or community. You can find a choir almost everywhere close to where you live. Look for a non-auditioned choir to start with. Then eventually as you progress, an advanced choir would be a goal in the future. The great thing with groups like these is that there is less pressure in being your best because of its friendly environment, sense of community, people helping each other. The chances of an advanced member teaching you are most likely. The director himself most often works directly with “budding” singers.
Listen to the music of your choice. Although listening to tons of music every day is advisable, actively singing yourself is the next level. Here’s my suggestion. Pick one song, print out the lyrics and listen to it many times over until you feel comfortable with it. You can find accompaniment tracks for any song online these days.
Try going to youtube.com and just type in the title of the song, then the word “karaoke” or use a Software program called Vocal Remover to eliminate the vocals to a song on your computer or online and leave only the background accompaniment track. You can also simply download a ready-made mp3 accompaniment track from Karaoke Version with over 51,000 songs to choose from.
After working on it repeatedly over time, record yourself, that way you will learn to judge whether the first take is better than the second, and so on. You may also have a friend listen and see what he thinks and encourage him to comment on it. There’ll be some encouraging words, I’m sure, but be ready to take criticisms as well and make the adjustments right there or on your own.
You can invite friends and family to do a Karaoke at home or at a nearby location to “reveal” something that you’ve been working on for a while. Be the superstar at your next get together and impress them with an unforgettable mini-concert. Karaoke singing is most popular in Asia, but you can propose to do one and it’s one of the best ways to rapidly progress.
Is Voice Lessons Necessary? You Need to Consider These
Teaching yourself how to sing put you only at a certain level. An experienced voice teacher (or coach) has already seen it all, especially if he has been teaching for many years. Just associating yourself with one gets you close to a wealth of not only treasured information in singing but also the wisdom to implement them in your singing career, if you’re heading that path. That will ultimately take you to a completely separate level.
Having a voice teacher is definitely the way to go if your goal is one of the following:
- You already sing quite a bit, but you want to get better even faster
- You want to join a competition
- You want to audition for a part in a band, musicale, church solo, etc.
- You want to perform on stage in school or community
- Your goal is to become a star
- Singing is your career path, to be a professional
To attain the ultimate level of success, having a qualified, experienced, knowledgeable individual that is concerned about your aspirations as a singer is irreplaceable.
If a local voice teacher is not what you have in mind right now, check Roger Love online. If you don’t know him, you’ll find out very quickly.
This might be a surprise, but don’t you know that Christina Aguilera has a singing Master Class online? You might want to check it out.
Some Things A Voice Teacher Can Help You
Below are some of the things that a voice teacher can provide that you might not already know.
- Establish good habits that you might not be aware of especially in the beginning, a solid foundation
- Proper vocal technique – working of the whole vocal instrument
- Various exercises – physical, breathing, warm-up exercises
- Determine voice range
- Develop the balance between the chest and head voice ranges
- Overall performance interpretation
- Nurture proper vocal health
If you have any questions, please leave a comment down below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. You can share this with someone you know if you think he/she can benefit from it.
Thank you for stopping by.
I love this article. It is very enlightening. I had no idea anyone can learn to sing. I always thought only those with a gift would be good singers.
This also answers a question I have had for a few years. I use to think I could sing fairly well but my voice has changed with age. So I started thinking that I just thought I could sing but I was tone deaf. Now I am confident that I could sing but without practice, I have lost that ability.
I am going to use your suggestions to improve my voice again. I will never be a singing star but I will be happier with my ability.
Thank you so much. This has cleared up some very important thoughts for me. Your article is so informative and well written. I enjoyed reading it. And the title caught my eye. I am happy I stepped in to take a look at it.
Yes, anyone can learn how to sing, unless you’re one of the 4% I mentioned in my post. I still believe that even with them, with enough therapy, they will eventually be able to sing. We all are diverse in terms of skill level, just like in other areas – in sports or academics. What mainly separates the exceptional ones and the average is the time and effort, plus the all-consuming desire to be exceptional. I would not even consider it as “talent” because the term implies a natural ability which is definitely not. It’s in the practice room that a star is born. It’s the never-ending grinding, polishing, listening and experimenting, that will get someone at the top. They are the ones that show up to an audition or competition, flunk it and do it over again, and again. Of course, not every one of us is not heading that path by choice, which is perfectly reasonable, depending on who we are going to sing to. What you put in is what you get out. For family and friends or a small group of listeners, we don’t need to put in as much practice time and effort. For a bigger audience, a competition or audition, it’s a different story. A voice teacher (or coach) is undeniably a huge advantage. Yes, definitely apply my suggestions in the article, it’ll be definitely rewarding.
I’m glad you stopped by Laura.
Richard
This is a great article to read for those who love singing but somehow, singing has not shown the same affection to them so far. It balances what in-born talent and hard work can contribute to future success in this performing art. Hoping that Richard Yague writes more on this topic.
Yes, absolutely! Hard work plus sincere desire play major roles in developing singing abilities, coupled with tons of listening and observing other singers and experimenting on what a pleasing, quality sound is. I must add that the term “in-born” pertains to the physical structure of the vocal system that distinguishes the character of an individual’s vocal tone from others rather than criteria for being skilful in singing. Yes, I will unquestionably be adding more articles to this website especially when I know that people are benefitting from it like you.
Thank you for leaving a comment Dennis.
Yes! I absolutely agree that ANYone can learn to sing, and sing well! I learned to sing as a teenager, while taking piano lessons and working on interval training for that. Training my voice to “find” those intervals at the same time as learning them in notation and on the keyboard worked really well together. There is so much joy in singing with a group, but they want you to be able to sing on key, so practice, practice, practice!
Glad to know that you were into singing yourself. Looks like you’re musically inclined with the piano playing as well. You mentioned interval training. Yes, that’s what’s needed if you are in a choir, isn’t it? Reading music by sight is a challenge for most people that are not used to sight singing. It’s mostly a learned thing either from school or training like you said. I agree that there is a reward (joy, friendship etc) to being in a group singing. I have traveled with a group in Europe, Asia, Canada, and the US and I miss it a lot. Keep reaching out to local choral groups in your area. I’m sure there’s many of them that don’t require an audition, then improve as you gain more singing with them…the friends you develop will keep you there longer than you expect 😉
Great write up. Your post touched me to the core. I love singing though I do not sing well in group. I do better when I am by myself and nobody is watching me. Sometimes I come up with the song though I do not write anything down, so I easily forget after a while. I sincerely need voice training. I do not want to join choir because I know anxiety will make me forget the song lyrics or sing of tone. Singing is something I love and enjoy singing the few songs I know.
Thanks for sharing. Music makes the world go round.
Thanks for the comment, Regina. I’m glad to hear that the article has touched you. That’s alright if singing is only for yourself. We have different purposes fo using our voices to sing. You mentioned voice training. If your goal is to sing for yourself, perhaps to your close friends and relatives, you probably don’t need serious training. Get some songs together and start working on them. To get better in anything is the repeated practice you put into it until you come to a certain level of satisfaction. I suggest that you record yourself and listen to it, to correct some flaws you hear. Then repeat the process many times over, and over….and over.
Thank you for stopping by.
This was a very useful article that I am sure you will get a ton of traffic from! The reason I say this is almost 99% of the people I have known over the years (MANY years hehe) want to know if they can learn how to sing (or how to sing better). As such, I would imagine your visitors will come from all kinds of areas and have all kinds of backgrounds.
This is a good thing, as music and singing unites us, inspires us, calms us, etc. It is a central part of so many people’s lives. Many also want to express themselves through the power singing provides, but may have less than stellar skills to be able to do so.
As a young lad, I was part of the school choir, the church choir, and a member of a rock and roll band. I also felt a kindred spirit with music, singing, playing of instruments (string, mainly) and I loved it. Life got in the way of aspirations of making a living from singing, however.
My case is not an unusual one, nor is it a sad case. I still listen to my music, have many muso friends, and stay involved in singing for fun and all the rest. I always urge people to take action if they too want to explore ways to get better with singing. The internet and technology have opened singing to the multitudes.
Your article is particularly helpful for those people who may be looking for guidance but too shy to ask someone they know how they can learn to be a better singer. The term good as used in your title is a subjective measure, as in some people think they are good, but…they need help!
This was a very upbeat (no pun intended) article and I have bookmarked it for friends. They may not go look while everyone is around, but I would be willing to bet more than a few will look from the safety of their own homes! Thanks and really enjoyed this read!
Hi Dave, that was a very refreshing comment. Your insights are comforting. I couldn’t agree more. Singing as a whole provides a positive impact on the individual that does it and people who listen. Just singing in your mind, inaudibly, put you in a different mood as you mentioned in your comment, “.. music and singing unites us, inspires us, calms us, etc.”. There’s power to change an attitude, state of being and intentionality.., but sad to say that it can be on the other side of the coin as well.
If an environment is full of people that sing together consistently and collectively, I believe that unity is inevitable. I have a picture in my mind of masses of people shoulder to shoulder, singing peacefully, for a common cause. It’s such a perfect world.
I’m glad to hear that you still keep singing. I’m originally from the Philipines. You can’t find a house there without some kind of karaoke system and also karaoke bars in every corner of a city. You can have a two week vacation and sing your heart out every day, ;-).
Thanks again, Dave.
I am delighted to have come across this read about learning to sing. I love to sing. Singing along to my favorite songs while driving around, cleaning at home, etc, just feels so good. Your article helped shed some light on all the intricacies of this very valuable skill. I might not be getting a voice coach for myself but I’m glad to have the idea in mind. Thank you for sharing!
Singing represents a happy heart and most of the time it heals a broken heart. As you mentioned, there’s a feeling of goodness in the process of doing so. It’s alright if you’re not going to be serious about getting a voice coach, singing finding its’ way in your heart is good enough. We all have different purposes for it.