I have heard several times that everyone can be taught to sing moderately well even if they have no natural good singing voice. Is this true?

Yes.

My step-mother, a piano and school music teacher for 40 years, claims that she has had many 'tone-deaf' students (those who naturally sing as though someone's trod on the cat's tail) and that they have left school at age 16 or 18 being able to sing very passably - i.e. nicely in tune and with a reasonable tone.

Definately.

You haven't heard me sing.

That's really good to hear. We went for a trial lesson with a singing teacher and I was wondering whether to go for it or not.

Yes (with the right support and guidance!)

More controversially, can everyone be taught to be musical? I have my doubts about that, but then again is it even possible to define musicality?

Chris

I would say it depends on the reasons for considering it.
If it's because of wanting to learn to sing as an instrument then yes.
If it's because it might help with other aspects of music I'd think more carefully as in could become rather a chore. I had singing lessons for a time. I was in a choir and enjoyed that but the singing lessons didn't work for me because I never could deal with the concept of practising singing. For me it was just something you do.

Yes, very definitely!




I certainly believe that musicality can be brought out and developed to the highest level that any individual is capable of.

As to your second question - no time to even try to start to answer that one!!

And time....

Absolutely - there's no quick fix (despite what so many pop-wannabee's think...)


I think this is a good point, and I've found myself saying it on more than one occasion recently: those who have singing lessons enjoy singing, but those who enjoy singing do not necessarily enjoy singing lessons (if that makes sense!)

Makes perfect sense to me.

The correct answer to the question is: no.

Most people, yes, but everyone, no.
Those who have amusia won't be able to learn how to adjust pitch because they don't have pitch perception, and those who have damaged or absent vocal cords clearly can't.

I'll leave the rest of the population to the singing lobby now .

Never miss an opportunity do you

Yes - and I have the recordings to prove it! (of course, assuming there aren't medical or physiological conditions that would prevent it)

I think the "real" question is how badly do you want to sing well? It can take a lot of dedication, effort, and persistence under the guidance of a good teacher. You won't hear drastic differences overnight, and there will be plateau's and maybe even times you feel like you're going backwards. But in the long run, the results will show if you put in focused practice and keep up a can-do attitude. It's like gymnastics or any other sport; there are a lot of muscles to train and coordinate (even if you can't see them), and you won't get to the Olympics overnight!

To give you an idea: I started out with *maybe* 3-4 notes that I could sing in tune with the piano if I tried really hard, and none of them sounded good or were reliable. Now I have almost 2 octaves I can reliably vocalize on. Some notes still don't sound great, but others are sounding quite nice and I even sometimes have things like vibrato coming in. I've practised almost every day for several months, and still have a long way to go.

If you enjoy singing in the way that sbhoa said, or are motivated enough to achieve the result, lessons are worthwhile and practice is fun. If not, it will be a chore.

I used to say yes anyone can. However there is one category of person who can't.

These people do want a quick fix. They are not prepared to put any work in between lessons. When they do not improve it will never be their own fault, it will be their teachers fault.

Technically and mechanically they can be taught to sing, however they need to open their ears and ditch the attitude before they ever will succeed.

There are two things needed in order to learn an instrument. The instrument and person to physically interact with it, and the right attitude to learn. Without the right attitude your protige will get nowhere.

Did you expect me to?

I don't think we really need to take it there, that's like asking: "Can everyone learn to play xyz" and then answering:"Only the ones who aren't paralysed neck downwards."
I somehow believe (but I might be mistaken) that the OP probably is aware of the fact that you will need certain physical and mental prerequisites to sing (or shall we say "voice").

So to answer the original question:
Learning to sing requires, apart from the physical capability to voice, also the wish to sing, and the desire to learn and improve. Someone who doesn't wish to sing might still have a naturally very nice sounding voic,l but they won't really learn to sing because they don't want to.

Everyone who WANTS to learn to sing though can. I had people who could hardly hit a handful of notes (and even they were out of key), but they had a desire to sing and didn't give up. They are actually doing fine these days and have very decent voices. Maybe not ones for a career on stage, but that usually requires more than a good voice anyway.

This is a really good post Dugazon.

To clarify, this is for someone who can sing in tune but does not know how to breathe properly or get from one set of notes to the other without a big change in tone (I'm not sure what you call this) and also sings very quietly and would like to sing a bit louder.

And loves singing (for fun only) and really wants some technical guidance about how to do it.

It's not for me but for a niece whom I've offered to pay the lessons for but just wanted to check they would be able to make some progress.

So true, and it's WANTS which is the important word here.