The CoMMUNITY SINGer

Hello and welcome back to episode two of the community singer with me, Abi, and me, Ross.

So, in this episode, we are going to be debunking singing myths. We get told time and time again about all the reasons why people can't sing. So, what we wanted to do today was run through these singing myths and debunk them all for you so that you understand why most of these things really aren't true. The most frequent reason that we're given for not being able to sing is "I've been told I'm tone deaf " or "I think I'm tone deaf".

So true. The term tone deaf or Amusia, medically speaking, is when the ear cannot differentiate between two different pitches of note. For example, this note, and this note. One is higher, one is lower. If you can tell the difference between the two, then you're not tone deaf, which is great news!

Now, it's thought that only three to five percent of the population actually suffer from Amusia, so ninety five percent of people are not tone deaf. So, myth debunked.

Absolutely myth debunked. So, if you can hear the two pitches, what does that mean for your singing journey?

Right, so, all you've got to do then is translate that information into vocal production, which I think we're gonna cover later on.

So then you'll be able to start singing - if you can hear the two pitches, you can hear low, you can hear high, you will be able to hear enough to sing.

Let's go on to the next myth, "I can't sing because you have to be naturally talented to sing".

Oh, yes, I get this one a lot and, you know, it's really difficult, isn't it, because we all know people who naturally have a beautiful voice, have a lovely voice. We've all had it. We've all heard of people like this from when they're young, from when they're children right through to adults and that is very off putting if you think that you are not that person, then why would you want start singing, and how can you start singing. The truth is, most of what you see in somebody who is talented, comes from a lot of hard work. It's the same as in any subject.

If you have a natural disposition for something, if you're interested, if you're committed to it, then you will want to work really hard and you'll become good at it and that is what talent is - it's true in anything in life. If you get into something, if you're really passionate about something, then you want to put your effort into it and you want to get good at it.

Of course, there are people who, when they're young, have a naturally good sound and that is the core of them being able to start to sing early. Even the most talented people rely on a huge amount of effort and hard work in order to get their voice to a place where they can do what they want with it. So, actually being talented is not what it is about. It's not the most important thing.

Everybody who can hear two pitches, as we've just talked about, can sing. Everybody has a voice. If you can speak, you can sing.

So, are you saying you don't have to be talented to sing?

No. I'm saying that there are people who have natural aptitude and they've worked really hard and, therefore, their voice has become a great instrument to use. But that's not to say that you have to have a natural aptitude, to begin with, in order to start your singing journey. Anybody can do it.

In fact, I would replace the word talent with enthusiasm.

Okay. Myth debunked. I've got another good one. "Only women sing".

Well, we know that's not true. But the problem is there seems to be a thing in society, that women feel much more free to come and sing, particularly in choir environments, and men, for some reason, seem to find it more intimidating and more scary, and there are reasons for this. The main thing is women speaking voices are naturally closer to their singing voices. When I'm speaking, my normal pitch is exactly the same as it would be if I was singing. So, I'm speaking here, and I could be singing here, and it doesn't really make that much difference. So, therefore, the jump from speech to singing is not that big for most women. However, for men, it can be a lot more difficult because men's voices have broken and so their voices have become much lower and then, in order for them to sing, they have to find this big jump into a different kind of voice, potentially, that that might feel very uncomfortable and very unfamiliar for them.But that is the key -it's unfamiliar. It's not wrong and it certainly is possible.

Ross, perhaps you could demonstrate with your speech level pitch and then showing some singing.

Okay. So if I say, I love to sing, I love to sing, I love to sing. It's kind of down there, but a lot of the time we gonna be wanting to sing up here.

I love to sing.

As you can see, there's a big jump in the male voice compared to the female voice between speech and singing. And this therefore for men can feel very unfamiliar and can be a big hurdle for them in starting their singing journey. But, if you think about some of the great male singers, Tom Jones, Mick Jagger, all of these men have their speaking voices and then have made the jump to a higher voice for their singing voice, and you can do that too.

Excellent - myth debunked!

So onto the next myth, "I can't sing because I don't understand how music works"

Oh. because music is quite magical, isn't it?

So a lot of people think.

So a lot of people think.

So, music is defined as a pattern of sounds. So, as a result, there are a series of rules and foundations which can apply. So, actually, once you understand some of those basic principles, then you can use that for your singing.

And it's not magic at all. No. And do you have to be able to read music in order to sing?

Absolutely not. In fact, reading music and writing music notation is just a form of communicating ideas. So you can easily learn to sing by ear. Which is how a lot of choirs learn. In fact, if you think about your experience as a teenager, listening to your favourite pop hits, you just learn by listening to it and we will be exploring these foundations of music later on in the series.

Okay. Great.

I've got another one, "I sound terrible when I sing".

Oh, this is a very common one and something we hear all the time, not just from amateur singers, but from professionals as well. Because in reality, what we hear in our ears when we sing or even when we speak is completely different from the reality of what everybody else is hearing.

For example, if you record yourself into any device, either singing or speaking, you'll probably be really shocked at the sound that you hear because it won't sound to you what you expect it to be and this is the same for everybody. Whenever I listen to myself back, I think, oh my goodness, why don't I sound like Jennifer Hudson?! Very disappointing. Needless to say, you don't sound terrible, you just sound different from what your expectations are.

So, it's much better to just take it at face value, not listen to yourself, and just go with the feeling, go with the understanding you're doing the right thing, you're enjoying yourself, and that's the most important thing. So, the key to it is getting comfortable with the sound that you're creating and understanding that this is part of the journey and in order to progress, you need to get okay with the sound of your own voice.

So as you can see, people find reasons not to sing but as we've explained, we haven't found one yet that is remotely true so don't let these myths get in the way of the singer that you want to be.

See you next time.