Why you can't sing (and how to solve)

Author

Ivan Lu
December 22, 2023

Why you can't sing (and how to solve)

You’ve probably been thinking about this for some time.

Why is that when some people, maybe some of your friends. When they open their mouth, this beautiful sound comes out.

Whereas when you open it. People can’t help but cover their ears.

Let’s talk today about why you can’t sing and I’ll also share some strategies on how we can solve this.

Real quick! For those of you who don’t know me. My name is Ivan, I love making music and also teaching singing to students all around the world. On this newsletter my goal is to make learning to sing simple. If that’s up your lane, consider subscribing. If you want to improve your voice faster, check out the links down below for ways to work with me

If you want to inspire our next episode! Drop in the comments below what you want me to talk about next.

Why you can’t sing?

So where do we start. First of all we need to tackle the elephant.

Singing is not some magical ability.

It’s not something that ONLY certain people have. Whereas others can only dream of having.

Rather it’s a collection of smaller skills which when combined becomes the skill of singing. Of course talent is a real thing. But it just simply means, some people will learn it faster. Others take a bit more time. That’s it.

Now that’s out of the way. Let’s come back to reality.

If you can’t sing, what’s going on.

I said this earlier. Just like how basketball is made up of shooting, dribbling, rebounding. Singing is also made up of a bunch of sub-skills. Now there’s many ways to break it down. HOWEVER today, I want to help you think of it this way.

Singing that sounds good is just a combination of 2 things.

Technique & Style.

Great singers have both part down. Not so good singers lack in these areas.

Let’s help you understand the difference for these two by defining them more.

1) Technique just means, how easy and accurate can you make certain sounds.

For example, can you sing through your range easily?

Does it take a lot of effort? Does it take a lot of strain?

And how accurate are you? Are you pitchy?

Can you add more/less power easily?

Can you do it across different vowel shapes/word?

All of these can fall under the technique element.

2) Because once you have the ease/accuracy, then it becomes about making the right choices in a song. This is style.

Which means, sure you can sing a note softly and loudly. But which one is appropriate for the song you’re singing? Do you know what choice to make?

And so if you can’t sing. The answer is really simple.

You have some holes to fill technically and stylistically. We all do.

So how do we overcome this?

The first part will be awareness. Which of these two, are you even struggling with?

This is an important step not to skip. I find many students, will just straight into vocal exercises without taking the time to get clear. What is it that you need to work on.

What I’ve noticed with my students is not everyone will be in the same boat. Some have zero problem with range BUT just can’t seem to sound good.

For others, they can sound great in songs! But struggle with those higher notes.

Really take the time ask yourself this question. This can save you so much time.

Now in general, I’ve found that most beginners will benefit more from working on the technique. It’s hard to make some sound stylistically good. When your voice just feels tight and hard to use.

If that’s the case for you! There are some key fundamentals that can really help you with this. Things like really understanding what it feels like to even stretch your vocals folds to change pitch. Or how do you connect your cords more to sing with more/less power?

If this sounds unfamiliar to you, I’ve tackled them in more detail in episode 129, 131, 132 can be helpful.

Now likewise, if you feel like you can sing on pitch, you’ve got the notes. But your voice just sounds flat OR maybe not “good”. There’s a good chance it’s style you need to work on. There’s a concept called vocal colours and singing into the pocket. I’ve tackled this in episode 112.

Anyway! I hope this episode was useful. If it was, please support this channel through all the usual social media stuff. Like, comment/subscribe.

If you’re from the podcast, leaving a 5 star would really help us grow and mean the world to me.

Last but not least, if you’ve always wanted to improve your singing faster and with less confusion. Remember you don’t have to do this on your own.

I’ve got ways to work with me in the description down below. Make sure to check it out. Apart from that, my name is Ivan, I'm your voice teacher, and I'll see you for our weekly tutorials every single Thursday or Friday.

Take care.

🌍 Book Private Singing Lessons here: https://calendly.com/singingsimply 

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