A Myth Buster

A lot of times, when talking about singing with friends or strangers, I hear a lot of this..." I can't sing... I wish I had that talent but it's just not in me."

I too, once believed in the myth that singing was a talent that you had to be born with to have. However, I was proven wrong when I went to college at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

At BYU-I, freshman weren't really considered REAL music majors until they past a jury (finals) where judges could determine whether or not someone had what it took to study and improve their talents. It was necessary to weed some people out because there were a lot of freshman that wanted to go into music, and not enough professors to give one on one voice lessons. Because there were so many freshman, I had to share voice lessons with two other freshman. At first this really bugged me. I felt like I never got the amount of time I wanted with my voice teacher to learn everything that I wanted to. However, as weeks went on...I started to love watching the progress some of my peers were making in my voice lessons and in masterclass (a class where you listen to each other perform and watch a teacher fix any problems). Before, I thought some of my peers were not very good, but as I watched them improve I saw how a normal singing voice could become something gorgeous.

After my freshman year, I continued to watch my peers improve. I became incredibly fascinated, and then decided that I wanted to help others build their talents by being a voice teacher.

How can singing be learned? Singing involves a lot of muscles that need to be strengthened. Some of these muscles, you may have never used in your life correctly (like the diaphragm, or the serratus posterior inferior, or even some of the muscles that help you have correct posture.) There are a lot of things that go on in your body when singing correctly which is why it makes it hard...yet with instruction...anyone can sing beautifully. It just takes time and hard work.

There are some people who are born knowing some of the techniques in singing without knowing what they are doing, but improve with a little more instruction.

A lot of people blame not being able to sing on being tone deaf...however, even amusia (the inability to produce or comprehend music or musical tones) can be learned. I have seen this myself with teaching voice in college.

Anywho...I just felt like I had to bust that myth. I try to tell people that anyone can sing...but no one believes me until I actually show them...So there you have it. Consider this myth busted!

Speaking of mythbusters...take a look at this!