- Mood:
- Music:
Is there such a thing as being "tone deaf"? I used to believe that until my father - a brilliant musician during his time on earth - disproved my belief. I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own years how he nursed and nurtured my uncle (Uncle Tone Deaf) who couldn't carry a tune! How can anyone hear a song correctly, yet be unable to voice it out in tune? I have been a professional singer since I dubbed voices for other kids at the age of 5. And in all those years, I haven't been able to find a single soul in that category. There may be thousands, perhaps millions of people who swear they can't carry a tune, or even sing one note in tune. Then there are the ones who can carry a tune but have serious doubts whether they should even try. I have taught a few chosen students my knowledge of singing and I believe that people can be taught to hear themselves and gain confidence in their own vocal capabilities. With proper guidance and nurturing, anyone can sing just about any song they want to do.
On the other side of the coin, there are the millions who can sing and sing very well, and all they need is the proper guidance to polish and enhance what they already have. In my observation, many karaoke singers online who CAN sing, only need to realize how much control they really have over their voices...and usually, this just amounts into "self-awareness" while rehearsing or performing.
I am a very happy member of the online karaoke community. For the people who invented online karaoke, I bow before thee. You wonderful people have made millions of singers around the world happier than you can imagine. Thank YOU. With this singing facility, amateur and professional singers alike are over the moon! I speak for myself and for the professional and amateur singers in my circle of friends.
Around the world, we hear people sing. We were born hearing music in lullabies, in church, birthday songs sung to us as toddlers, songs we learn at home with our parents and in our school. We had a culture that supported our musical education as children. We all grew up thinking of nothing about the talent such as singing. It was part of our lives, just like speaking.
Let's get back to Uncle Tone Deaf. In a couple of weeks, after school, I sat in and watched my Dad on the piano, giving Uncle TD his lessons. I sat and listened to Dad recap their past week's lessons. I hadn't heard them as I was busy with school and my life as a bouncing kid that played with every kid in the neighborhood. Then this melodious sound came from Uncle TD that totally floored me. He was producing notes that I never heard him do before. When before we used to giggle as he hummed out of tune to any tune on the radio, here he was singing something beautiful, and it was only his second week.
There will always be people with singing talents and others who don't have it. But it doesn't mean that the ones who were not born with singing talent, cannot learn and hone whatever talent they have. I guess in brief I am saying that singers are not necessarily born, they can be learned. To get this all in perspective, if you have been trained to find your voice, it does not immediately mean that you can be a great singer, and it is critical that you understand the realities of it. With time, effort and determination, you can be as great as you want to be, and able to be.
I hope I don't bore you if I get back to the singing problem that my Uncle TD had. He was tone deaf because he wasn't taught to hear himself. After two weeks, my father was able to impart that important factor that made Uncle TD hear and sing in tune!!!
Perhaps you have taken lessons on listening to music? I used to giggle when I hear about listening as a possible course to take! What? A lesson in listening? The next time you are listening to music, start asking yourself: what is the singer's voice like - tenor? soprano? mezzo soprano? etc; how many instruments are playing - the number of violins, trumpets, etc., do I hear a harp in the background; do I hear the Bass player and is that a piano or an electronic keyboard? AWARENESS. Sing along with the vocalist. I'm sure you have heard other people sing while they are using headphones and they are out of tune. It's mostly because they cannot hear their own voice. Even professional singers who are invited to do the honors of singing the Star Spangle Banner are given ear plugs so that they can hear their voices in the open air festivities.
For Male Singers: Men's voices are normally an octave below women's voices. Today's music can be confusing as a lot of the songs are sung abnormally high vocal ranges for anyone with a normal range. Once you know about this, you wont be blaming yourself anymore thinking that you just can't sing high notes. Know that the song is just not for you. Eventually, I'm sure you will get there if you practice. Like anything else, just like sports, you don't get to run the marathon without learning to walk, jog then run your miles first.
For Female Singers: Fortunately, the keys for women's songs have stayed relatively stable, and only the occasional Sarah Brightman or Celine Dion high ranges would challenge us. But should you be singing songs meant for the male vocalist, then the same advice about vocal ranges apply. Choose the right song for you, until you're ready to spread out your vocal wings, so to speak.
In general, I suggest you stick to songs that are in your normal range. What is normal for you? It is when you are relaxed and you don't sound strained or whiny in your vocals. Having said that, there are many singing stars that got famous because of their whiny sound. That is an exception. Either you capitalize on it or stay away from it. lol. The natural vocal range for both men and women is usually in the speaking range, or what classic teachers refer to as your "chest" voice. In this register, your sound reverberates from your mouth and chest, resonating from the throat where we naturally speak. Doing other ways of singing, from the back of the throat (like most rockers do) often strains the voice. Again some artists capitalize and succeed singing that way - Janis Joplin, Michael Bolton, et. al.
If you have time to take singing lessons, I highly recommend it. No need to take long and arduous ones. You can tell your teacher that you only want to learn to sing properly, that you have no intentions of singing opera, that you just want to sing in your natural voice and possibly improve into higher vocal ranges on your own.
For those of you who already sing, who have gotten this far in my blog, thank you for your time. I know you are probably picking up pointers that you don't already know. They will all come in my future blogs.
This is Blog 1 - telling you that there is no such thing as a tone deaf person, unless it is a congenital defect!
Until next time, I remain - your fellow singer.
Love,
Poppy aka Amapola, aka Amy aka "Hey You!" 
2 Read Comment(s).
Welcome to our Blog! 
OO, nude toon game, [url="http://bcc956l.freehostingz.com/nude_toon_game.html"]nude toon game[/url], http://bcc956l.freehostingz.com/nude_toon_game.html nude toon game, lsbad, recorder fingering charts, [url="http://qy7ywo.free-site-host.com/recorder_fingering_charts.html"]recorder fingering chart 
D, amore cock sucking, [url="http://blogs.rediff.com/scripts/blog_viewcatcontent.phtml?postCat=1&blogName=ashasuckingandtakingclothesoff31c7d1&blogId=1231336144"]amore cock sucking[/url], http://blogs.rediff.co 
Bravenet Blog 
Blog Community
Get a Free Blog
Manage your Blog
bravenet.com