How To Sing With Greater Confidence
So you've set your mind on doing more singing. But how's it going?
Have you set to it with full force and are you now singing the songs you want to sing where and when you want to sing them. Or are you finding that your first few steps have been a little hesitant and faltering. Well you'll be comforted by the fact that this is normal.
There are many reasons why you are not, as yet, totally in tune with your voice. Some reasons are universal and others are more personal to you. Let's take a look at what might be standing in your way.
1 Getting Started
So what's the answer?
How do you make a positive start?
Maybe this will help
Try a change of perception
Take a look at how do you think about singing and ask yourself if it's helping you move forward?
The problem is that Western society's view of where singing belongs has become very narrow. Singing has been put in the box marked 'Entertainment'. Which then puts you one of two boxes.
- Passive - Other sing - You listen
- Active: You sing - Others listen
However before the time when non-musical record excecs were able to exploit the other peoples talents we would gather together and sing for pleasure.But gone are the days when people gathered together for a spot of communal singing. Now singer are special chosen people. They perform on stages, sell millions of singles and get through to the live finals on TV talent shows.
A singing pupil of mine told me of a recent incident that shook his confidence. It was about an encounter he had with a young lady he was obviously bring to impress. On telling her that he was a singer she told him he couldn't be because she'd never heard of him. And so it is, for her and many others like her, that singers are people in the charts. They are not normal people who sing for pleasure and the sake of their are.
I was having coffee with a songwriting friend of mine last week and he started talking, quite apologetically, about his singing. He opened with, "I'm not a singer, Ella Fitzgerald is a singer". Yes she is. Can't argue with that. But she is a legend and if that's the yardstick that you use to measure who is a singer and who isn't then you'd have to rule out most of the known singers in the world.
If this is your frame of reference and and you're always comparing yourself to others you will always comes up short. Pretty much everyone can find someone they think is a better singer than they are. Apparently even the great Ella Fitzgerald didn't have any confidence in her own singing. Her last words were "it was the songs that they loved.
This isn't that surprising. You'll often hear well respected actors saying that they can't stand watching themselves on screen. And I'm sure that the first time you heard your speaking voice played back to you you were a bit taken aback by the sound of it. It's natural. But as people can often be their worst critics I'd warn against being too harsh, especially at the beginning.
I advise that when starting out on improving your voice and building a great love and understanding of your voice that you listen with an open heart. This way you will hear what you are doing right as well as things that you can improve.
So A simple change in attitude, in which you see yourself as someone who has the full rights to sing out loud and proud will do wonders for you.
In : Voice Works
