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Like any instrument, technique plays an extremely important role in singing. Poor intonation is less an indicator of a good voice and more of good technique.
by caryme 16y ago
Like any instrument, technique plays an extremely important role in singing. Poor intonation is less an indicator of a good voice and more of good technique. Of course no one would criticize a girl who picked up a cello and just started playing for just not being a cellist, but also no one would advise her to simply practice alone. The best advice is for that girl to find a good teacher and get some lessons.
I find it interesting that Derek downplays the role of his teachers. He mentions he took lessons with several teachers, but neglects to tell us anything about them. I could not begin to describe my development as a singer without discussing my teachers.
Yes, it takes practice to become a good singer, but any number of hours of practicing poor technique won't do much good.
- jerf 16y ago"I find it interesting that Derek downplays the role of his teachers. He mentions he took lessons with several teachers, but neglects to tell us anything about them." Follow the links! http://sivers.org/more-than-one http://sivers.org/more-than-one
- caryme 16y agoThanks, I missed that link. Still, I'm especially interested to hear about his early lessons as well as the ones closer to his breakthrough period. To be clear, I'm not criticizing him or his teachers. I'm just more interested in their role in his development as a singer than his practicing.
- cowmoo 16y ago"Yes it takes practice to become a good singer, but any number of hours of practicing poor technique won't do much good." Yes, this is true and oft-repeated mantra on YC News. But it begs the question, how does one practice the "proper" technique (I mean after all, doesn't everyone want to follow the correct form of shooting hoops/strumming a guitar chord, but most people don't have a dedicated shooting coach/guitar teacher to watch their every move or they do know the right technique by heart in theory but can't carry it out in practice for various reasons). The best protip I've received in learning an instrument (and actually doing anything) is when you are stuck at a particular exercise, move onto the next hardest exercise anyways. When you stumble upon the simplest guitar lick on the first page of a guitar book,you might say "are you crazy? I can't even play the first exercise." But if you play the next hardest lick and stumble upon it for a couple of days, then try to play a third lick even harder than the second lick for a couple of days, and then go back to the very first lick. You might find that you can now play it pretty well, or suck much less than before. Yes, practicing is all about hard work and all that, but it is also about momentum and keeping things fresh and new. If it's not fun, you are doing something wrong.
- caryme 16y agoOne of the most important parts of learning vocal technique is learning what feels right and what doesn't. Good teachers will often work on this with students by asking how the student thought something went ("Was that better or worse than last time? What was better about it?") before offering their own feedback. This isn't easy, but it's critical. When I'm practicing, sometimes I'm just doing something wrong. If I can't fix it or I can't even figure out what it is, but I know it doesn't feel right, sometimes I just stop that practice session. That's when I know I'll be practicing improper technique. I'll try again next time and remember to ask my teacher about it in my next lesson.
- jobeirne 16y agoYou're not using ``begs the question'' properly.
- jimmyjim 16y agoWhat is with your style of quotation marks? I've seen them before, but I just don't understand why anyone uses them. Care to explain, please?
- georgieporgie 16y agoThat's interesting. Apparently, I've never seen the correct usage, or somehow didn't pick up on it if I did. Also, it seems that there is disagreement as to whether the use really was incorrect or not. Modern usage and all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question Either way, I just learned something new.