Being a performing guitarist and vocalist I have noticed that after my performances members of the audience often come up to me and say how the performance really made them wish they had the talent I have for playing a musical instrument or singing. I usually thank them for the compliment and tell them that anyone can sing or play an instrument and they should do it if they have the desire. Well can anyone really learn to sing? Can anyone become a great singer without any perceivable musical talent? In my humble opinion the answer is yes. Anyone can learn to sing. Not only can any person sing but anyone with the desire to sing can learn to sing with mastery! What we are told and have witnessed in our day to day lives is that anyone who has talent can sing quite well naturally. But what is more important to keep in mind is that anyone can become a great singer or musician with or without that natural so called talent! How is this possible? If everyone can sing like a master then why isn't the world filled with people singing like Pavarotti and Celine Dion everywhere you look? Well the truth is that the world is filled with people like this! Shows like American Idol and America's got talent or any of the international talent shows prove it. I am not surprised or shocked when I hear or see a great performance because some cell phone sales man or a young man from Thailand brings the house down with an exceptionally well executed performance. I believe that anyone who has the desire can master singing. What I find more surprising is that we are not looking into ourselves to unlock this unknown potential within! First off let's look at talent. What is talent? Is talent a gift from the creative forces of the universe? Is talent a physical quality of the mind and body? Is talent a special aptitude or disposition? Is talent a result of being born a genius? Talent can be all of these things that we identify and recognize as a natural state of being talented. It’s important to understand what we have been taught about being talented so we can understand what talent is defined as in our culture. Let’s look to Merriam-Webster’s definition and examples of talent: 1 a : any of several ancient units of weight b : a unit of value equal to the value of a talent of gold or silver 2 archaic : a characteristic feature, aptitude, or disposition of a person or animal 3: the natural endowments of a person 4 a : a special often athletic, creative, or artistic aptitude b : general intelligence or mental power : ability 5: a person of talent or a group of persons of talent in a field or activity a singer with an enormous amount of talent I have no musical talent. Her artistic talent has been obvious ever since she was a child. They sang a duet in the talent show . She has a job that makes the most of her talents. His experience, skills, and talents make him perfectly suited for the job. There are many good players on the team, but she's a special talent. The company has hired some expensive legal talent for the trial. The team has recruited some of the best talent around. The company is doing a talent search to find the right person for the job.
I would like to bring to your attention that you can learn to do all of the things in the definition of talent. You can learn to be talented! Define talent in your life as something that can be taught and that you can learn to do it. With that mindset, let’s look at ourselves as individuals with a desire to sing or play an instrument. To unlock the potential we have within us as great singers and musicians let's subscribe to the idea that anyone can sing without any born talent. To illustrate this point let’s take a look at writing being that writing is an example of another art form.
Now the reason I will mention writing is because we are not born with pencils in our hand and all have to be taught write. Writing is an art but writing is also basic communication skill isn’t it? Most anyone with average intyelligence or below average mental functions can write. This is evident on many a web forum where you will find a lot of people flaming others on the web for writing “lame” or “retarded” posts! If you were to ask someone from a third world nation where learning the skill of writing is hard to come across for lack of facility, chances are you will find that it can mean the difference between life and death and that writing is much more than just characters on a piece of paper or on a web blog. Learning to write is like learning to sing but with singing, we were born to sing. A baby’s first musical not is his cry. Yes we were born singing.
As in writting, what is the difference if the marriage of words and punctuation come from Hemingway or some freedom fighter writing his family in his or her last minutes to communicate that he or she has been mortally wounded and wants to say goodbye? Is it in the number of characters he can jot down? Is it the number of years he has studied writing? Is it in the way he dots his I’s or crosses his T’s? For the most part no of course it is not. What matters is the WILL and FEELING of what is being expressed. Just like many blogs I’ve read where readers have responded with overwhelming kudos, its all about the author’s will to communicate something engaging and the feeling that the words convey. Much is in this way that a musician and or singer takes action in expressing himself musically. Have a will and express your feelings in your craft and you will succeed.
Your will and feelings for the craft will bring on your dedication to becoming a great artist. These are the basic fuels that you will draw on in unlocking the talent within. You must have a will to succeed in overcoming any barrier in life. Much so if you do not think you possess the natural “talent” for singing of playing an instrument. You must make it your will to discover what knowledge and techniques that will overturn that view of yourself with practice. You must have feeling for what it is you are trying to achieve in both the artistic sense and in the dedicated application in the routines that will bring you to fruition of what you hope to achieve. You can do anything if you at least have these two fires in your soul. Seems like basic common sense doesn’t it? Well it is. We have to be reminded that in singing and playing musical instruments.
However nice it is to be able to excel in your training and lessons and to have a certain sound to one’s voice, keep in mind that one can work hard to make up for any lack of a special gift of talent by developing your skills and knowledge. Develop these components into a second nature process that can be your undeniable talent. Yes make your ability for seeking. applying knowledge and practicing singing technologies into the talent that delivers you to the point that you become the music itself. Add your feelings to this newly developed mix and you will unlock the talent within.
Ask yourself why have I been making excuses? Who told me I can’t become a singer? Who says it’s a waste of time to try? Who says I can’t? If you are not the one in your life who says “I can’t”, then believe me you can. Singing is like speaking. A baby cries his or her first note at birth. We are all born singers and it’s only you who can gain the knowledge for yourself in achieving anything desirable in life. Determination is the key. Your will to become a great singer is a huge part of it. Use your will and vision to keep you motivated in your studies of what will make or break your singing dream. It’s important to learn to take opinions of others like water off a ducks back. Take criticism in a positive way whether or not if their comments were not meant to be positive! Never listen to those who may not understand what you are learning and that we are all works in progress. When you are ready for formal instruction, don’t think that paying a lot of money will get you there. There are many online vocal coaches claiming to be great singing teachers and the truth of it is that most of these self-proclaimed vocal coaches to the stars just want your money and have never jumped into the singing ring as a contender. Be careful of who you make your source of musical knowledge, Many inexperienced or mediocre vocal trainers today have a fancy Facebook friends list that got them an audience to teach their so called “right way” of singing. Remember many inexperienced and closed minded vocal teachers have indeed discouraged their students because they themselves lack the vision to see the unique artistry of their student’s voice or their students may not be the usual description of what they perceive as a quality of voice that they have experience in working with. The truth of the matter is in many cases that many vocal teachers themselves are not great exceptional masters at the craft they claim to be experts at. Yes it is true they can get you started, but be careful who you seek instruction from or who you listen to because not everyone has the ability to see your inner gifts as you yourself have. You must believe in yourself and you must do all of your own searching on your own to become a master at anything. It is all in your will to keep going and your vision and feeling for what you desire for yourself. No one can teach you that but yourself. Finding the right information can be daunting and confusing with all the different music styles out there. A technique that I know that produces the most dramatic positive life changing results for people who have been told that they should give up singing for lack of talent is called the true voice technique. True voice singing is a form of singing instruction that focuses on the voice that you were born with. Not on the sound that made someone else great. Its origins are in the old classical master style of the opera. True voice singing has made a lot of recent news in the vocal community with it being the preferred form of instruction. I am always asked by people where should I start learning the right way of singing? I suggest where ever you go, make sure the singing teacher knows how to sing exceptionally well, because you are only going to get greatness from greatness itself. I have found a free online resource for true voice singing techniques by world renowned opera singer Rosita La Bello at http://www.singingtruevoice.com I suggest going to there and start learning the mindset of powerful singing because it is a very unique site with the type of information you would be paying a vocal coach several hundreds of dollars per session to learn! You can pay for every vocal course and not find information as specific and relevant as what I found at http://www.singingtruevoice.com and being that a world renowned opera vocalist teaches the free lessons makes it even more desirable. But whoever you take instruction from remember it is your will and feeling that you put into your art that will deliver you to the greatness that you desire.
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