Too Late to Learn?

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Monks

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Recently I've been wishing more and more that I had learned to sing in my youth. I find myself pulling up Disney songs on Youtube when noone else is around, trying to sing along. Perhaps not too unusual, but I find that I truly wish I could belt out the tune myself, even without the original playing, that I could hit those same notes flawlessly.

I've been told most of my life that I have a surprisingly deep voice (I've been called everything from James Earl Jones to All State Guy to Guy with the Golden Voice). This would be fine, as I am, if completely honest, rather fond of my sound. Unfortunately, I've been finding that my vocal range is a bit limited. I falter when trying to hit the high notes of certain songs, or if I switch up a pitch, on the lower notes. That said, I've never had anything close to any kind of musical training, whether instrumental or singing oriented. I have been considering trying some recently, but at age 22, I'd rather not make a fool out of myself if there's not really any hope to learn at this point. So I thought I'd get some opinions; is there a point past which it is too late to really pick up the art of song?

EDIT: An example of an off hand try:
ht'tp://w'ww.youtube.com/watch?v=2eiAvW3Omhs
(Wouldn't let me post a link, so remove the 2 ' from that)

I've heard that people often hear themselves singing better than they actually are because their brains are accustomed to their styles, but even I can tell I was off in several parts there. I guess I just want to know if it seems possible to....overcome that at the level/age I'm at.
 
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It is not too late to learn. My Mum started learning French and how to swim in her 60s. While it's not the same thing I use it as an illustration that if you want to do something, whatever difficulties you'll face, you can do it, at least till you discover you can't or can't be bothered.
When I was 14 I wanted to learn the guitar. I had all the time and willingness in the world for 4 years. I had a book packed with chords. I had everything.......but the guitar ! Didn't start learning it until I was 26. By which time I was working full time, had a very involved life and a number of things that made learning guitar hard. But I persevered through the awful sounds and now I can play it. By no means brilliantly but well enough to record and I played live for nearly 20 years with it.
As a sidetrack, though I sang in a choir for a few months aged 10 and 11, I didn't really start singing till I was 22.
Do what you need to do to at least get that ball rolling.
 
Just a random thought. People say its never too late to learn. What if you only had a few hours left to live. Would you crack open a book, and start learning something new? Would you go to a music lesson?
 
Absolutepower said:
Just a random thought. People say its never too late to learn. What if you only had a few hours left to live. Would you crack open a book, and start learning something new? Would you go to a music lesson?
Click to expand...
Well of course I would. Nothing would be better than to check out of this life in the glory of newness. Just think, to die knowing I could repeat a vocal excercize that I'd just learned. Even better, repeating it as I left this mortal coil. Such bliss. HUUUmya !
 
There may not be too much you can do about range. Most people have a decent range built in but it's pitched in various places.

Various singing techniques will allow you to hit notes higher than you feel you can currently, but whether, without serious work, you can make those notes musical, is another question.

I've never been able to "sing along" to most pop songs sung by males as I just can't get up there. I can often sing songs by females as I come in an octave below fairly neatly, but there is the issue gender-specific lyrics to deal with... :laughings:

Doesn't mean I can't sing. Just means I have to sing in my own range. Good reason to write your own songs...

And just sing... don't hang around here asking how to sing... start belting stuff out and your voice WILL strengthen and improve.
 
Yeah, that's pretty low. You don't sound completely tone-deaf though, so I'm sure you could make it work.

Practice singing. Maybe take a few lessons. Find music that fits within your range. (The person giving lessons should be able to help with that.)

The genre that you'd probably do best in with that kind of voice would probably be acapella. They always need bass singers.
 
I'm 31 mate and I've just started having lessons although I have been singing on different choir on and off since age 23! So no it's not too late. You just have to look for songs that are within your range. I used to sing as a tenor but now sing as a baritone as I can no longer hit the top tenor notes. So I've had to change my repertoire to fit my new range.

Hope this helps

Jacob Anthony
 
Good post. I've been thinking of incorporating singing into my raps.. cause I'm a great song writer, just haven't tryed singing though but I've been thinking about,
 
In his book Musicophilia, Oliver Sachs writes about a man whoworked at becoming a piano virtuoso late in life. He got struck by lightning (literally), and I guess he kind of re-evaluated what he wanted to do with the spare moments of his life.

He got obsessed. (He also lost a wife because of it, if memory serves) But still, I think that may be the key. John Irving said it well in The Hotel New Hampshire: "You've got to get obsessed. You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed". Good luck!
 
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