[Aloysius]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm working on the "singer/songwriter" thing harder than I have in the past. I finally made the plunge into PC audio recording lately and I'm as excited about it as I was with poker when I first started 2+ years ago. I also had my 2nd singing lesson last night. I highly recommend this to anyone if you can find a good teacher. I've sung for years but was never sure if I had good or bad habits. Lastly I'm working harder on songwriting than I have in 4-5 years and the results seem really good so far.

I plan on hitting these 3 things extra hard over the next couple months as I'm about to have a lot more free time on my hands. It feels great to be excited about something. Poker is really not stimulating me the way in did a year or so ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

mister Z what is an example of something they'd teach you in singing lessons? More than most things it seems like something you're good at or not, I don't see how osmeone would practice/learn that stuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Singing is a lot like playing an instrument or any skill. If you picked up a guitar today having never played you would suck at it. Not for lack of talent but lack of ever working at it. Guitar lessons won't make you talented or good at guitar, but time and a consistent effort will get you really, really far. Same goes with singing IMO.

The lessons will depend on where you're at with your voice I think. Some of the things we've worked on so far is projection, resonance, proper breathing, warming up, note placement, and exploring/building range. It's actually helped my normal talking voice as well (I tended to speak at the very bottom of my range - they say most people do). Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been taking vocal lessons as well - it's really fun but it is difficult and easy to get frustrated. It definitely helps you appreciate great singing and music in general - listening to say Ella Fitzgerald, or Sinatra... those dudes are f'in musical geniuses.

The hardest part is breath control and proper breathing in general. I'm getting better but more advanced singers than me say it's something you never master - just get slowly better at.

Oh and Bruiser - as Mister Z noted, it's definitely similar to any other musical instrument, and you can get better at every aspect of singing with hard work and training (pitch, tone, range, etc.)

Although, without some prior musical training (like as simple as reading notes, understanding phrasing, chord progressions), I'm not sure how much one would get out of vocal lessons.

-Al