Singing - A Few Useful Facts

Singing A Few Useful Facts

There is a commonly-held belief that good singers must be born with wonderful voices. On the contrary, good voices are developed with training and dedication. Many people are born with pleasant voices and innate musicality, but that will quickly fade if the voice is not used correctly and wisely. The important factor for any would-be singer is enjoyment of singing and the willingness to practice. Even lack of tunefulness (often known as tone deafness) can be corrected with a careful teacher and practice.

A competent and experienced singing teacher will have strong technique to pass on to her students. This will always involve development of breathing and support for the voice, even tone, extension of range and musicality. She will be able to take her students through exercises which address all of those elements of vocal development. The student will begin to notice a difference in their voice quite quickly in the early stages of training and this brings a great deal of joy and achievement.

We also learn to apply our growing vocal technique and a good teacher will help the student to choose appropriate songs for his/her stage of development. In the case of early classical training, the student may also elect to undertake the traditional `bel canto` Vaccai exercises which address many musical aspects of singing, from intervals to ornamentation.

At one end of the spectrum, we may have a `country western` singer and at the other a wonderful singer of opera. These are not separate art forms the physiological action of the voice is the same, except that with greater support of the voice, the opera singer is able to maintain the higher and longer movements of the laryngeal folds. Opera is often mystified by the fact that it is usually sung in another language and words/lyrics are more difficult to discern when they are sung in a higher or traditional operatic voice. There is a trend nowadays for accomplished acting to accompany such vocal prowess and opera directors are also choreographing more movement into opera.

Modern Musical Theatre is a narrative and `acted` form of singing where the musical line is driven by the necessity to discern the lyrics sung by the actor/singer. `Les Miserables` is a good illustration of this as the lyrics move forward with a speech quality against the accompaniment. This form of singing is taught with the ability to reveal narrative and portray a character.

I think it wise for any singer who wishes to achieve longevity with their singing to train with a competent teacher, ensuring enjoyment of their singing as the voice and body ages and ensure protection of their vocal instrument in all performance conditions.