We humans have this incredible privilege that is our voice. If no pathology prevents it, this body of ours can generate sounds thanks to breathing and the vocal cords, and can also amplify it using so-called body resonators. Furthermore, we have this brain capable of enriching a language with which to create stories, laments, adorations that will be sung by that incredibly flexible and rich voice.
The singing voice and the spoken voice
The spoken voice already has, by itself, enormous power. A speech can ignite crowds, it can provoke personal illuminations or plunge us into misery, it can pierce the greatest defenses. But, if we also enhance the musical element in a verbal construction and simply start singing, ahh, friends, that is a different experience, it is a higher state. We have all felt it in our flesh, inside us, that is a song doing justice. The act of singing can be seen from many angles but each and every one of them inevitably includes that special torrent of emotion and, often, also of meaning. Podcast episode dedicated to singing
Who can sing?
Many people think that they cannot sing, that they do not have the voice for it, that they are not comfortable in that position of letting themselves be carried away by the sensations of the moment and playing with their vocal instrument, expressing their ideas or feelings with the enormous variety of nuances that a voice can articulate, however limited it may be. Sometimes, the aspirations that one has, the references that one sets, will make this action as natural as singing impossible. Let's look at the boys and girls. Most of them have no idea about tuning, breathing applied to singing, rhythm or much else apart from enthusiasm and joy. They don't care about all that stuff about interpretive quality, about perfect tuning, about academic correctness,… they don't care about all that adult stuff. Boys and girls have a lot to learn, no doubt, no matter how smart they think they are, but when it comes to singing they are absolutely right. The most important thing is the very act of singing, how beneficial it is for us and everything else that may come after cannot, or should not, nullify or condition in any way this first intuition, that original truth, the indisputable fact that Singing does us good.
Listening is the key
But, of course, we are human. We like challenges, difficulties, improving and being recognized as good, at least, and if possible, great, extraordinary. And, well, to achieve this status, in addition to a beautiful voice and if it can be powerful or angelic, then better, we must also practice. Maybe go to a school or get private lessons and so on. But, as often happens, in the process of calculating our progress, or comparing ourselves with that or that singer who dazzles us, or singing scales like a repetitive and meaningless machine, we forget the key of singing, which, if we put Sufficient attention to this will make us sing better and also understand our voice better. The key to singing is listening. Said like this, it may sound absurd or exaggerated, but let's think about it for a moment. Is there anything more crucial than listening when singing? Whether we want to imitate our favorite artists or explore new territories with our voice, listening is what will give us the clarity to evaluate and choose one option or another, to develop our personal taste and to explore the physiological possibilities of our device. phonator And yes, there is a possibility that you have enormous difficulty hearing and, therefore, hearing yourself and knowing what and how you are singing, but honestly, the probability that you are one of those people is very low. What is more common is that we lack practice in listening, in the quality of our way of listening, and not so much in our potential singing abilities. But, if we talk about singing, what's the problem? Knowing music, being able to sustain a certain tempo, articulate a good swing, causing the audience to fall at our feet due to the superhuman quality of our interpretation, all of that is secondary. It is less important than starting to sing. It is something that, for it to happen, we have to have started singing many times before. And without ever becoming a good singer, we can and should enjoy this ability that we all have. And if we have musical ideas, if we like to write songs, for example, that imperfect song will easily serve us to compose our songs, to sing them ourselves and so that others can sing them with, perhaps, a more prepared voice or, directly , privileged. Even the concept of singing well is under constant review and admits different approaches and evaluations. Who sings better? Elvis Priestley or Dolores O'riordan? Freddie Mercury or Beyoncé? Diamanda Gallas, perhaps? Well, it depends. It depends on the musical style, the specific song, the purpose of the performance, who you ask, … It depends.
The craft of singing
And if you want to sing seriously, professionally, learn and practice the craft of singing, then go ahead. You're going to have to listen, you're going to have to sing, and study some things, and take care of your voice, and listen and sing again. And you don't need to be María Callas or Pavarotti. Nor be a musical genius or write unforgettable lyrics. In the world of music there is room for singers of all types. Virtuous, competent and, let's say, different. Bob Dylan, Sid Vicius and many more singers have practiced their profession without a good voice or exquisite vocal technique. You can say that they are bad singers, that you don't like anything about their voices, that you hate their vocal work. Whatever you want, but what you won't be able to say is that they are singers or that they contributed their grain of sand to Western music and singing, so to speak. Up to this point it is demonstrated that singing is something valuable in itself, without going into the qualities or abilities of this or that performer.
You can listen to the Podcast episode titled “The voice as an instrument, singing” to expand on the topic.
Conclusion
So, to sing or not to sing? That's the point. Singing is so important…, I won't get tired of repeating it. It is so good, in so many aspects, it brings us so many benefits: expression, evasion, communication,… Singing poorly, being able to tune more or less, or phrases with little rhythmic sense, for example, are direct consequences of listening with little attention or practice. Singing should not be a competition or a sport. Even if we reached a global agreement on what it means to sing badly and what it means to sing well, I am sure that singing badly is not bad, but we don't have to necessarily stop at that either. Improving our auditory education will improve our tuning. Singing more often will make it more likely that we will detect those musical aspects that we could improve. Listening to melodies more carefully and imitating them will improve our ability to sing songs with meaning and to create our own.
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