Is Learning A Singing Technique Necessary? By Carol Jack

A large part of being a confident singer is knowing that when you open your mouth to sing, the sound you want to hear will come out! Many singers are nervous because they are unable to control the quality of the sound they make. They don’t know what makes them ‘tick’ as a singer, they don’t know how their voice works and they don’t know what to do when their voice isn’t doing what they want it to do. This uncertainty makes them a lot less confident about performing.

For me, learning a singing technique that I felt comfortable with allowed me to express myself more freely, and I felt more comfortable physically and emotionally. My voice sounded better and I had more range, plus I experienced less strain and irritation.

Most of us have a tendency to change our voices when we move from talking to singing. We have grown up with the idea that you need two different voices for those two functions. This leads to problems such as straining to reach high notes and blowing too much air when singing.

Being shown an effective singing technique helped me to see singing as just another form of vocal communication, which uses the same apparatus as speaking, therefore it’s not necessary to use my swallowing muscles to help me with the sound (the equivalent of trying to swallow and sing at the same time!). Some people sound breathy when they sing. Breathiness can be used as a style, but it’s important to be able to control how you use this technique, from a style and from a vocal health point of view. Too much breath passing through the vocal cords all the time can irritate them.

Some singers feel that learning a technique will take away all the personality and uniqueness of their style. An effective technique should not do this – it should allow you to keep your own style, and to express yourself the way you want to.

There are many techniques out there, and I would not advocate one over the other – what’s good for me wouldn’t necessarily work for you. But I do believe it’s important to find a good teacher to help you use your singing voice in a healthy, comfortable manner.