Can I Sing?

B

Buri Studios

New member
Hello!

This is my first post but I've read quiet a bit on your forums. I know this is a commonly asked and probably therefore a somewhat vexing question but I would like to ask it nonetheless. Before I continue I must say that, just in case Chris Harris graces me with his presence, I am in now way fishing for compliments ;) I am legitimately unsure of my voice. I've had two choir directors tell me my voice was great but I've had two or three peers tell me I couldn't carry a tune (one going to far as to say my voice made them want to die) so I'm conflicted and I would just like to settle the issue before I become the next William Hung hahaha.

The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home (Cover)

Thank you so much for watching and replying it really means a lot to me. Please be honest! If I can't sing well it's far better to be told here then to be told by 20 friends after I publicly embarrass myself!
 
Last edited:
Buri Studios said:
Hello!

This is my first post but I've read quiet a bit on your forums. I know this is a commonly asked and probably therefore a somewhat vexing question but I would like to ask it nonetheless. Before I continue I must say that, just in case Chris Harris graces me with his presence, I am in now way fishing for compliments ;) I am legitimately unsure of my voice. I've had two choir directors tell me my voice was great but I've had two or three peers tell me I couldn't carry a tune (one going to far as to say my voice made them want to die) so I'm conflicted and I would just like to settle the issue before I become the next William Hung hahaha.

The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home (Cover) - YouTube

Thank you so much for watching and replying it really means a lot to me. Please be honest! If I can't sing well it's far better to be told here then to be told by 20 friends after I publicly embarrass myself!
Click to expand...

Yeah you can sing. Are your peers even musical? You had some pitch problems here and there, but still good! That note you held out at 2:23. That may be something I can see where your friends would say something like they did. Falsetto is very hard to get away with. Just keep practicing!
 
CrowsofFritz said:
Yeah you can sing. Are your peers even musical? You had some pitch problems here and there, but still good! That note you held out at 2:23. That may be something I can see where your friends would say something like they did. Falsetto is very hard to get away with. Just keep practicing!
Click to expand...

Thank you Crow!

The ones that have told me I cannot sing well are not musicians themselves but to my thinking most everyone can hear someone when they are off pitch (unless they are listening to themselves).

Knowing what you hear in my voice in that video, if it were you would you post it on your facebook or sing in front of your friends? Or would you recommend I just uh... keep this hobby to myself ;)
 
LOL! I don't post videos of my music on facebook. No one will give a damn. I pretty much only use facebook so people who don't have my email or phone number could contact me. If it were me, I would probably sing it in front of my friends. Sure
 
Well, I'm a very harsh critic and am generally on the "No" side when this question is asked. I definitely think you can sing. It's very Chris Martin'esque (Coldplay), and may not be for certain people, but many would dig it. You need to improve on your pitch and technique, but you have a good fundamental base.

Keep at it!!
 
Shiny Rhino said:
Well, I'm a very harsh critic and am generally on the "No" side when this question is asked. I definitely think you can sing. It's very Chris Martin'esque (Coldplay), and may not be for certain people, but many would dig it. You need to improve on your pitch and technique, but you have a good fundamental base.

Keep at it!!
Click to expand...

Wow thank you very much I really appreciate that. Coldplay is my all time favorite band so that's a pretty large compliment! Really appreciate the feedback and honesty!
 
is it the best thing i have ever heard? No. But it is good and you have no reason to be insecure of your voice. Sing in front of friends, you will be better than probably all of them (unless you have really talented friends). Don't worry about embarrassing yourself. Whats the worst that could happen? so take every opportunity to sing in front of people. Keep working on pitch and breath support and you will also sound a lot better.
 
I liked it a lot :) Yes, you can definitely sing. And as for the occasional minor drifting off-key, no biggie. If I want to listen to some perfectly-tuned crap I'll go listen to auto-tuned pop music lol :D I'd put it on facebook too! ;)

(EDIT: I deleted the double thread and moved the 2 posts from that one into this one)
 
Given that I sang in bands, live, etc.. Ill give you my two cents, and realize that its just an opinion, nothing more. Im a purist and I enjoy more old school style singing thats from the chest vs the falsetto. Anyway, I think you've got a nice tone when you're singing in the lower register, but when you get into the upper register, it sounds as if you're struggling to maintain the pitch. More then anything it sounds more falsetto vs chest, diaphram style of singing. Sometimes people struggle to know where there pure range is. If you sing something simple, like happy birthday or church hymns, do you sing in a lower range, or are you higher? Youre by no means a bad singer, if anything I think you've got a very unique tone and theres some nice subtle vibratto that comes through when youre in a relaxed pitch range. But watch the highs as thats when you fall a bit flat, and its a simple remedy by trying to sing louder and push yourself a bit more, or, by strengthening the core diagprham area so that youre exhale is stronger. But you can sing...heh.. actually, you sound far better then a bass player I once played with and he sang quite a bit. btw: I enjoyed the keys...
 
guitaristic said:
I liked it a lot :) Yes, you can definitely sing. And as for the occasional minor drifting off-key, no biggie. If I want to listen to some perfectly-tuned crap I'll go listen to auto-tuned pop music lol :D I'd put it on facebook too! ;)

(EDIT: I deleted the double thread and moved the 2 posts from that one into this one)
Click to expand...

Thank you very much hiphopopotamus :D

WiscRcdr said:
Given that I sang in bands, live, etc.. Ill give you my two cents, and realize that its just an opinion, nothing more. Im a purist and I enjoy more old school style singing thats from the chest vs the falsetto. Anyway, I think you've got a nice tone when you're singing in the lower register, but when you get into the upper register, it sounds as if you're struggling to maintain the pitch. More then anything it sounds more falsetto vs chest, diaphram style of singing. Sometimes people struggle to know where there pure range is. If you sing something simple, like happy birthday or church hymns, do you sing in a lower range, or are you higher? Youre by no means a bad singer, if anything I think you've got a very unique tone and theres some nice subtle vibratto that comes through when youre in a relaxed pitch range. But watch the highs as thats when you fall a bit flat, and its a simple remedy by trying to sing louder and push yourself a bit more, or, by strengthening the core diagprham area so that youre exhale is stronger. But you can sing...heh.. actually, you sound far better then a bass player I once played with and he sang quite a bit. btw: I enjoyed the keys...
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the tips, comments I really, really appreciate it!

p_wats said:
Sounds nice to my ears. I say keep going for it.
Click to expand...

Thanks much!
 
Your keyboard work is excellent and you have potential as a singer. I can hear a slight lack of control on holding any given pitch but you have good range. Do you take singing lessons at all? Singing lessons would focus on pitch control by deliberately going up and down over your vocal range while using the keyboard as a pitch guide. I think if you did more exercises like that and improved your vocal control, you could be spectacular. Very Coldplay-ish
 
I really think your voice has great potential. If singing is not your greatest ambition then you can't really expect to be really good at it unless you are genetically blessed in a big way. If you are like the rest of us, then you have to train your voice. Like an athlete, you can already run, but if you want to run fast or far, you have to train for it. And you have to train every day like it really means something ro you.

If you don't do this training, you are not going to rise above mediocrity. So, now that you know the rules of the game, let's start playing by them.

Your voice has great tone and you can sing in pitch very well. What I mentioned in my post was a slight wobbliness to it that can be fixed to some extent with vocal exercises before your performance. Call it a warmup. Sing the first 5 notes of the major scale up and down using the keyboard as a pitch guide, then go up a key and do it again. Keep going up until you cant sing any higher and then come back down through the keys again. For example play a C chord on the keyboard and sing C, D, E, F, G, F, E, D, C using la, la, la or na, na, na type sounds if you follow. Then play a D chord and sing D, E, F#, G, A, G, F#, E, D and so on for as many keys as you can manage, then come back down again. The more often you do these, the better you will get.

Do this exercise for about an hour before the gig. Take maybe 30 minutes break before the gig and you should find you have excellent control. Professional singers do warmups and warmdowns before and after a gig. If they do it, so should you.

For the performance, keep a bottle of room temp water on stage and drink just a little between songs to keep your throat lubed. Other singers may object to this but it beats a dry throat.

For a live performance, your voice will be fine. Its not like anyone can examine your recording over and over like we do here. They will hear it once and little mistakes will slip past most listeners without them knowing. You will also feel some nervousness. This is normal and is an excitement that the audience doesnt feel. Only you do. I think that when that nervousness stops, its time to pack it in.

There is a lot more but you dont have much time before your gig. Do those exercises. You have everything else you need. Good luck with the gig.

"It'll be alright on the night"
 
Your transition form chest to head voice is fairly smooth. I think you sing pretty well in this video considering you are also playing piano. There are some pitchy spots that you could remedy with practice. I'm gonna say play this a couple of times everyday for 10 days and it would be solid - that's just an educated guess...
 
i clicked on the link thinking i was about to regret it, but you're actually not bad at all man. get a good vocal coach and you'll only improve
 
Yeah, I think a good base. Sometimes sounds real nice sometimes pitch didn't work. I guess that means practice, practice and breathing and headroom and all that tech stuff. :)
Not an easy song to sing I bet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top