A
female
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:How an earth is this possible....My sister is 20 and I've known since we were little she can't sing, she usually signs around the house and it's not bad but she's not great either. Well she's been at uni for the past 8 months and has been teaching herself to sing with this book she bought and some cds and we all said it's stupid she wont be able to make herself sound amazing or much better.Anyways, we went to a wedding on the weekend and she wanted to sing as a present to our Auntie and I think partly to show she can sing. Because she went on stage and we were all thinking she's going to embarrass herself or we'll have to lie and say she's good. But she sang beautifully and her voice really sounded great far better than it was 8 months ago!! She said it's all down to teaching herself while she's been at uni, but I honestly cannot believe she sounds like she does, she isn't incredible but if you heard her before it's a definite improvement and she really is a good singer. How is it possible? Can you really teach yourself to sing, if so how come we aren't all good singers then? Please I can't understand this!?
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female
reader, jls022 +, writes (29 August 2014):
Yes it can definitely be done. Singing is a skill like anything else and if you learn it and practice it you will become better at it. Incidentally, I'd love to know what the book is called - maybe my dreams of chart success aren't so outrageous after all!
A
female
reader, Honeypie  +, writes (29 August 2014):
 Yes, you can.
Some people are born with talents, but unless CULTIVATED and PRACTICE they will eventually stagnate.
Some people are born, not with talent, but a willingness to TRY, to practise, to stubbornly not give up on till they have given it their all. They will in time surpass those with born talent (these who have the gift but don't work on it).
Take Jane Austen. By all accounts she had very little in terms of schooling. The schooling she got (her and her sister was sent of to a "private school" for girls)was focused on making these girls marketable as future wives. So sewing, playing instruments, manners and grace were more important than geography, Latin, French, math and politics.
She found LOVE for books, for writing, reading and fantasies in her parents library. She wasn't BORN a great or accomplished writer, but she held a certain passion for making up and telling stories. Her books are ALL classics today. They are used over and over in teachings, in movies, in new writers, and so forth.
Like music, writing, dancing, cooking, painting, singing CAN be improved upon. Not every can do as your sister, and TEACH themselves, that is QUITE a gift.
I can draw (pretty well actually) and I taught myself, I can't sing. I can MIMIC some singers/songs, but I haven't TRIED to teach myself singing. Not really an interest for me. I used to be a darn good rider. It didn't come natural to me, but I WANTED to learn, my big brother..... got on a horse for the first time when he was 30, he was a natural. All through my childhood he was like that. A SUPER SPONGE, he could see something and then do it. Annoying, but amazing.
Your sister's talent is really that she is ABLE to teach herself. She might find out (if she got a real voice coach) that she hasn't quite taught herself the right way and she can improve even more. Or she can learn that SHE did pick up the "right" lessons.
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A
female
reader, eyeswideopen +, writes (29 August 2014):
 Can you hit his high notes in "Blue Bayou"?
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A
male
reader, Sageoldguy1465 +, writes (29 August 2014):
 Come by when I am in the shower, some time, and you'll swear that you are listening to Roy Orbison. I "taught" myself to sing EXACTLY like him!!!!! Yes, it can be done.
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A
male
reader, Fatherly Advice +, writes (29 August 2014):
 There is a certain danger in disbelieving what is obviously right there in front of you.
Singing is a skill. some people could learn from a CD program and improve quite a bit. Some people will need group instruction, some will need individual instruction, some like me really are tone deaf and may never be able to sing well. I have a friend who instructs. She thinks that even at my level of tone deafness (I don't hear my own voice accurately) she could help me. I think that with practice and a feedback device. I might be able to sing again.
Like your sister, I enjoy singing. I just don't like to inflict misery on others so I pretty much keep it to myself.
FA
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A
female
reader, NORA B  +, writes (29 August 2014):
Well the first thing one has to have is a VOICE because all the teaching in the world would not give a person a singing voice unless they had one in the first place.But what a lovely surprise for you at the wedding.Maybe you have a singing voice and dont realize.Would you consider it food for thought.Best Wishes NORA B.
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A
female
reader, Behavioural Analysis +, writes (29 August 2014):
 When singing, or with any other skill, if you practice, you can pick it up. If you stop practicing, you can be quite dodgy, then practice again and get better. Skills can nearly always be improved. Her singing may have been poor before, but listening closer to notes and breathing spaces, etc. can make a lot of difference.
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