People do not just pipe up like a sweet songbird the moment they pop out of the womb. Regardless of what Tony Bennett, Elaine Paige, or Andrea Bocelli has led you to believe, Rome wasn’t built in a day—so is your singing voice.
Someone has to start somewhere. Granted, Mariah Carey famously has nodules in her throat that allows her to reach octaves as high as she has. But for every Mariah, there’s an Idina Menzel or Celine Dion who makes the most of what she has. Unless you are afflicted with amusia, a rare condition that makes a person helplessly tone-deaf, you can definitely sing yourself to pitch perfection with good ol’ practice.
Use it or lose it
According to a Northwestern University study, an on-key, accurate singing voice is determined less by inherent talent than effort and practice.
Led by Bienen School of Music professor Steven Demorest, the researchers asked a sample of college, sixth grade, and kindergarten students to listen to a single pitch four times. They were then asked to sing the series back. The researchers also asked the respondents to sing the sequence back intermittently.
They concluded that singing accuracy tends to improve from kindergarten through grade six. The researchers attributed this to music instruction regularly given to schoolchildren during this period. The opposite held true for the collegians, whose performance could be likened to that of the kindergarteners.
What this study suggests is that individuals who cultivated an aptitude for singing at an early age stand to degrade it if they stop practicing. It’s a question of using it or losing it.
Demorest drew parallels between singing and playing musical instrument: Both are learned, not inherited. In other words, singing lessons are as important for adults as children.
In his book See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses, psychology professor Lawrence Rosenblum noted that just about anyone can carry a tune. He noted a study in Canada wherein people in a park were selected at random to sing "Happy Birthday," Quebec-style. Upon analysis, most of the respondents were found to have sung with only a few errors in tempo and pitch. A follow-up study was conducted, this time with respondents professing to have no musical training whatsoever. Result? Eighty-five percent sang as if they were “a group of professional singers."
Latent talent
If you want to improve your singing, remember to take it all in. Sing slowly. By slowing down your pace, you are in full command of your vocalisation and thereby allow yourself room for instantaneous rectifications.
Every day, try to hum or whistle your favourite song. This is one way to practice pitch accuracy without even thinking about it. Also, when singing the song, don’t try to ape the voice of the musician. Use your own range and key, until such time you’re confident you can match the pitch on the record.
If you’re a parent, it is of the essence not to curtail whatever latent talent your child may have. Research shows that children who are told they can’t sing or, worse, branded ‘tone-deaf’ are easily traumatised. They then force themselves to detach from music at an early age.
As an adult, you most certainly have the call not to develop your singing voice. But if your reasoning is based on the perception that people don’t think you have the knack for singing, then you must realise that your mind is in the way, not your vocal cords. In this thought, it is important to find non-competitive spaces where you can just sing without fear of being unfairly appraised. A willing and able vocal coach can help you out in this regard.
