What is singing?

Singers all hold ideas in mind about what singing is and what it isn’t.

Here are a few that i hear all the time from particularly new singing students…
Singing is so difficult!
I don’t know how to find the notes.
I need to sing LOUDER to get noticed.
High notes are out of my reach.
And on and on.

I was leading a MythBusters for Singers Workshop for the NY Singing Teachers Association, a workshop dedicated to examining those untrue thoughts we all have about singing, when the following exchange happened. It was the perfect teachable moment!

The singer had skipped a few measures of the song while singing the first 16 bars or so and I asked him to start again. This is the conversation that followed.

He was upset and said:
“Darn, I didn’t even start singing yet.”

Sally:
“Really? What were you doing then?”

Student:
“I was just telling a story.”

Sally:
“So what’s singing then?”

Student:
“Well… it’s certainly more than telling a story!”

Sally:
“Is it? Were you telling a story with music?”

Student:
“Yes I was.”

Sally:
“So what is singing then if it’s not telling a story through song?”

I could not have had a better set up to demystify one of the untruths of singing.

Myth: singing is something extraordinary – outside the norm of communication.

Truth: Singing is the most natural form of communication. It’s the music that makes it extraordinary.

Minutes after this conversation – with a redirect from me on how to sing the song like speaking – this man brought the audience to tears with his emotional honesty by simply telling his story through the song. I’ll never forget his surprise at the power of simple communication.

As he continued to sing the song, the simple honesty of “speaking” the lyric allowed him to really wail. It was thrilling to hear! The audience said they got goose bumps from his performance. The singer felt empowered. Is doesn’t get any better. And all because the singer simplified and honestly conveyed the lyrics.

Real, truthful, natural, normal communication is the most engaging, attractive, charismatic, powerful and raises the quality of the song.

There’s something almost magical that happens when a singer surrenders to the lyric, to the song. He starts singing from the deepest park of him where there are no filters, where singing myths don’t exist. Honest communication from the heart happens and it’s electrifying.

Singing like you speak, changes the singer’s experience of the song. It also changes the audience’ experience of the performance. It is nearly inexplicable but you know when you hear the difference.

Simple, honest communication through song communicates volumes to your audience. As a student of mine put it, “When I surrender the song becomes a living thing. It has a life of its own. I just sing it.”

Read more about singing myths, Singing That Feels “Too Easy.”

Are you ready to have that type of impact on your audience? As your voice coach, I’ll change your mind about singing. With Sing Like You Speak® singing is as simple and natural as talking to your best friend.

 

ABOUT SALLY MORGAN
Sally Morgan wrote the book on contemporary vocal technique.  Sing Like You Speak® is specifically designed to restore the effortless vocal production that is natural to the human instrument making your singing powerful, joyful and free. Singing so simple it feels like talking to your best friend without sounding trained. Sally has been successfully teaching people how to sing for 40+ years, turning decades of learning into days.

Every master begins as a disaster – including Sally Morgan. She gets it that you need to sing for the same reason you need to breathe. She’s felt the pain of not knowing how to release the amazing voice trapped inside. She’s felt the longing to be accepted as a great singer.

That longing became an obsession with finding solutions to vocal challenges. Sally spent many years developing those solutions into what became the Sing Like You Speak® vocal technique that is now empowering singers worldwide.

In both 2018 and 2019, Sally was a featured workshop presenter at SXSW® where she introduced an enthusiastic audience to the power of Sing Like You Speak®.

Sally has helped her clients heal vocal damage, expand vocal range, land a Broadway show, record their original music and tour internationally without vocal fatigue or strain. Besides teaching workshops Sally teaches private voice lessons and has developed online singing lessons – Sing Like You Speak® Academy.

You can see and hear some of Sally’s clients on Broadway stages, Off-Broadway, in Musical Theater – Regional, on Major Label Recordings, the Conan O’Brian show, A Prairie Home Companion and in Federal Courts, the PA House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate. Sally teaches singing voice lessons in NYC and worldwide on ZOOM as well as online voice lessons on the Sing Like You Speak® Academy