Why is singing education so important?

At an early age, one of the first musical instruments we experiment with is our voice. Soon after we discover that we have a voice we can control and start producing our first sounds with it, we begin to sing because we find that we can “play” with it. This is the beginning of a singing journey that we may want to continue throughout our lives.

Every voice has its own melody, even when we speak -if you pay attention, you’ll notice that each of us has a particular cadence-. From there, it’s very easy as children to start experimenting with our voices as if it were a kind of game. And we really enjoy it! Just look at the children around you; singing is everywhere in their daily lives. We are encouraged to sing early on in kindergarten when we begin to associate certain actions or objects with songs we learn. Singing encourages us to do and learn things. At home, it’s also very common, so we often receive and are taught songs for bathing, brushing our teeth, sleeping… and the list could go on! Therefore, our voice is an important element and tool in our learning from a very early stage of our lives, not only because we begin to name things, emotions, and situations with it as soon as we start speaking (communication, no less) but also because we begin to play with the sounds we are capable of producing (music). In fact, there is a theory that says that Language and Music in humans are located in the same gene (a kind of chip that we have).

Now, is singing natural? Well, although it’s not as natural as we think, for some it becomes natural. And if we train our voices, we can use them in a healthy way and learn a technique. That’s why I said before that singing is not entirely natural; because we need to acquire certain skills to do it well and produce something beautiful without harming or using our voice in a negative way that could lead to laryngeal pathologies such as nodules, muscular tension of the vocal cords, and many other problems that require medical and professional help later on (and the truth is that those treatments are often long, exhausting, and discouraging, which ultimately proves counterproductive). Therefore, it’s necessary to obtain proper vocal education.

Finding a teacher isn’t always easy. Rather, it’s easy to find a teacher, but we may have a long way to go before finding a professional who is truly capable of understanding our particular needs, listening to our voices and easily grasping their characteristics and problems, and teaching us in a healthy, clear, and enjoyable way. It sounds like too much, doesn’t it? But, in fact, it’s the minimum we require when it comes to vocal education. We can’t forget that our body is our own instrument and if we don’t take good care of it, we won’t be able to get another one from the Musical Instrument Store.

Therefore, pay close attention when looking for a good teacher. First of all, we should look for someone who can name our problems or difficulties (in case we have any) and is capable of offering solutions that will be tested to find the best one for us. Then, we should see in the short or medium term that we improve. That doesn’t mean we should be able to sing an opera aria immediately, but we should notice a change, perhaps not very big, but something that makes you see the difference immediately. Under no circumstances should we feel that our throat hurts or is being forced or that there is tension because the teacher is urging us to reach extreme notes. We should be able to expand our vocal range to sing, of course, but it should be done gradually. And we should feel comfortable in the environment that the teacher offers for our lesson

https://www.piano-composer-teacher-london.co.uk/post/2017/02/26/finding-a-place-on-the-page