Who said you couldn't sing?

I've just come back in from a walk in the mountains - our visitors haven't left yet after the Festival and it sort of feels like I'm on holiday still and it's very hard to sit down and do some constructive work!!  A blog feels a bit half and half - work and holiday:) 


People ask me regularly can they learn to sing cos somebody told them they couldn't sing .... and I thought that would be a good subject for today's blogalong...


Everyone can sing ... if you can talk you can sing!  
And you already know how to do it ... but sometimes we all need a bit of coaxing to trust what we can do...

Who said you couldn't sing?!

Was it a teacher?  or a relation? or a friend? who said that you should keep quiet and stand at the back and just mouth the words? .... what abuse!

I recently had a student who was told when she was very small that she couldn't sing  - she's now retired.  So she kept joining in, wanting to sing, but always felt that people were laughing at her and saying she wasn't brilliant...or so she felt.     After her initial nervousness and doubt about coming to class, we discovered a lovely sweet voice in there... totally in tune and with  a perfect sense of time - not a big voice, but lovely all the same.  What a waste! ... all those years of believing she couldn't do something she loved so much.  

Let me repeat this ....

"Everyone can sing ... if you can talk you can sing!"  

I feel like I need to shout that!

Now the big problem is, if we can't sing like Pavarotti or Streisand or Ella or whomever our ideal voice is, then we think we can't sing at all .... 

Total rubbish!!  

The thing is ... you can never sound like one of them because our voices are totally unique - there can only be one Pavarotti or Streisand or Ella, just like there can only be one you.   But you can still sing!


I believe that we have a physical need to sing - just see how much your spirits lift after singing to yourself in the shower or the car.  

So, if you've always wanted to have a go, just get on with it and practice - sing more in the shower or in the car and perhaps find a community choir or a teacher near you - someone who will encourage you and guide you.  And your voice will get stronger every day.   

Blogalong with Effy Day 2