The reason why most people can't just naturally sing well is that singing is not a primary biological function, but a bi-product of a survival mechanism (vocal folds, aka airflow control / airway protection).
The muscles interacting with the vocal folds (thyroarytenoid and cricothyroid) have antagonistic function and work on reflexes rather than control, so the hard part of learning how to sing is to train them to coordinate properly rather than work against each other.
Btw. I'm investigating how I can map the traditional Vs CVT without doing too much confusion. I'm leaning towards keeping traditional and adding cvi notes. And a mapping page.
Let's see
This helped me overcome the tendency to constrict the throat when reaching for a higher note or to go flat when heading lower.
I was not expecting these names!
However, that's not the techniques used in the majority of popular singing. You absolutely can sound drastically different very quickly. This is simply because most people don't use most of the degrees of freedom that the voice has. If you look at the Estill method reference material, which concentrates on how the vocal system features actually operate to produce different vocal effects, they identify around 14 degrees of freedom.Some discrete, but a lot of them continuous. It is very common for someone who thinks that they have a terrible voice to take a few lessons and find that they can sound much better. It's just that, as another commenter pointed out, you can't see inside your own mouth and throat. You can't see that you're always holding them in a certain way.
For example, some women habitually sound shrill, usually because they have had to develop a penetrating voice. This is often true of teachers, who have to be able to make themselves heard over a bunch of shrill children (and aren't able to use the option of a deep bass). This is a vocal technique (twang) but it can also become habitual,to the point where they don't think they can do anything else.
I can play instruments but never thought I could sing outside a range of less than an octave in the baritone range.
When I was 50 we had a singing teacher over at our house for my children. I asked if she could help my range. That day she took my voice to a high C. I am actually a tenor and can sing pretty much all the high parts. I am my in-laws’ favorite opera singer now.
Also I was too timid. Singing is really just controlled shouting.
In-person vocal lessons and consistent practice have dramatically improved my voice from terrible to half-decent.
Learning to sing is taking control of your voice. You use the same biology that you have been using for speech and other vocal sounds since birth. It all comes built in. Of course it comes more naturally to some people, just like any other activity.
There are some decent videos on YouTube, but take actual vocal lessons if you can. Videos are not a substitute for lessons.
I don‘t like the posted page. The descriptions aren‘t very helpful and neither are most videos on YouTube. I know from experience. For a complete beginner, this is frankly a useless resource.
Open mic nights at your local bar are a great source of data. Approach people after their performance, compliment them, and ask them if they have a coach they'd be willing recommend.
https://completevocalinstitute.com/complete-vocal-technique/
Their work includes pedagogical research to develop a consistent terminology which abandons lots of outdated and confusing terms such as you mention. No more ambiguous words like "project" or "space" or "support".
Their research also includes using endosciopic cameras to directly observe the vocal tracts of professional singers.
I've not actually trained with them, I just like their research and approach.
I also agree that the linked page isn't useful, it's more of a glossary than anything, but then again, I'm not convinced that a distinction between head voice and chest voice actually exists. I've never been able to tell any qualitative difference, as opposed to, for example, falsetto, and the community can't really agree on whether they actually are a thing or not.
That’s fine, but it annoys me when people lie about this stuff. I don’t say everyone can program, and that’s okay. Nobody can say “everybody can X” because nobody has met every person.
However, what is true is that, you will sound like YOU. You can get close or make impressions of artists you like. But ultimately your voice is YOUR instrument and it can gain range, and power, but you'll sound like you.
For instance, I'm well aware that I will never have "Celine Dion's voice". I don't mean her skills, I mean literally her voice.
That's what one of the first AND biggest tough thing to accept when singing: you might never sound exactly like the singers you admire. But it doesn't mean you can't sing or be extremely good at it.
It's like Michael Jackson was sad because he knew he would never be able to sing like Barry White. Does that mean Michael Jackson is not a good singer? Nope.
From my own experience many of those "natural" singers simply grew up around music, so it can definitely be learned. Natural talent doesn't really go that far and it's just a small temporary boost that can just as easily be ruined by bad habits later in life. The same is true for other physical abilities.
Some of the best singers got their start on wind instruments. Music is all one big ecosystem of overlapping skills. Unless we're talking legendarily insanely great levels of singing, I don't think any musicians would agree singing is all that special.
In fact, if you isolate the vocals on many hit tracks you might be surprised and disappointed.
Yep, and it's not just a childhood thing. At any age, simply listening to a lot of vocal music (with very light accompaniment) helps a ton in improving your singing (alongside other active work)
Listening to lots of vocal music (preferably with very light accompaniment) also helps a looot. We are really good at imitation.
I'm not positioning it as anything else.
Regarding AI. Sure i used it. But i use it as A(ssited) I(ntelligence). Being both a singer and developer I hope I qualify
A couple recommendations I'd suggest exploring to be even better aligned with current understanding:
Current literature does not distinguish between head voice and falsetto. While "falsetto" often carries a connotation of breathiness, that is not inherent to the register. Both are referred to in literature as laryngial mode M2, in which the Cricothyroid muscle is dominant in shaping the vocal folds. In contrast, chest voice or M1 is Thyroarytenoid dominant. While that may be a bit in the weeds, I found wrapping my head around this very helpful in cutting through a lot of confusing language around head voice .
Use of these different registers changes across genre and voice type. Classical sopranos and mezzos use head voice in their upper range, while musical theatre sopranos and mezzos bring their chest voice up (i.e. belting). Meanwhile, tenors and basses typically use chest voice for their full range in both classical and musical theatre genres, with much more use of head voice in pop/contemporary genres.
One other suggestion is to more prominently feature SOVTs (semi occluded vocal tract exercises). You reference them in your warm up section (lip trills and straw phonation) but these are highly effective and evidence-based tools to develop efficient phonation.
Further, for anyone looking to learn to sing (and anyone can learn to sing!), there's no better resource than a voice teacher. Most teachers nowadays teach online as well as in person. A great place to start looking for a teacher is through NATS or ICVT.
And big yes - there is no better ressource than a voice teacher!!
This is just a lookup tool (and then some)