These are the 5 most common misconceptions about singing that I meet while teaching or just discussing it with my fellow man
1. It's not a learned skill.
You would maybe be surprised at the amount of people who, when I say I am a voice teacher say; "oh, really, I can't sing, but I wish, I could". I don't know if piano teachers and guitar teachers or flute teachers hear the same thing, but I image they might hear something more along the lines of "oh, really, I once tried to learn, but I never practiced so I am not very good at it". I don't know why people don't think of singing as a learned skill just like leaning how to play any other instrument - but it is! If you practice and get guidance from a qualified teacher you get better just like most things in life.
2. If I just had more air I would sing better.
Well, this is a tricky one because it could be true if you are a very experienced singer and wanted to sing more Wagner (but then you probably would not make that statement:-) For the general beginner this is not true. Breath training unless you are training for a specific genre is not about capacity, but about management, more capacity - requires better management, so when you just start learning about breath and how it works with the voice, it is more about learning how to manage the air you have than increasing the amount. Sort of like having a budget account at the bank, its not about making more money, but about living within your means :-)
3. I need to learn how to sing from/with my diaphragm
This always makes me smile, because that is one of those things people say and have no idea what they are taking about. Of all the things you try to control while singing your diaphragm is not one of them, it is controlled by the involuntary nervous-system and mostly the training of it consists of learning how to leave it alone and not get in its way. There are other muscle groups in your torso that you can train however - to help create a steady breath flow to support voice use of all kinds, but the diaphragm is not one of them.
4. If I was a better singer I would be famous.
With the danger of making myself unemployed by saying this - it doesn't work that way! There are thousands and thousands of absolutely GREAT singers in the world who are NOT famous and maybe not even making a living using their voice at all, so I think it is safe to say that becoming famous is not a matter of skill. First thing that is off in that sentence is BETTER - what does that mean and who decides that? The people on the panel in X-factor? Well, I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. The only thing I do know is that you should become a "better" singer in your own opinion first - because YOU want to, and LOVE doing it. When YOU think you are "good enough" start pursuing a career - only if you can live with an artists lifestyle and all it's insecurities - then cross your fingers to win the lottery and become famous. Having a higher skill level is maybe the equivalent of actually buying a lottery ticket:-)
5. I don't have a good voice
Again, who decides that? Compared to what? Do you think that is why Tom Waits sings? Does people really care about "good" or is it about something else entirely and are you missing the point when you say you don't have a good voice? I am currently reading "The World in Six Songs: How The Musical Brain Created Human Nature" by Daniel J. Levitin and he talks about how humans are the only species on the planet that creates art, and how music specifically is an art form that combines both absolute and relational processing in our brain, meaning we both hear the absolute pitch and its relationship to other pitches at the same time. To our knowledge no other species on the planet can do this. We as in the human rase can't stop making art, of all forms, because we have used our ability to think in both absolute and relational ways to survive as a species. I want to recommend this book as a way of answering why it doesn't matter whether you have a "good" voice or not - but rather that you have one and are willing to use it!
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