How To Find Your Voice
The human voice is amazing.
It’s as unique as a finger print and capable of moving an audience to tears or bringing a crowd to their feet. As we build our skills as singers, one of the biggest challenges is making the leap from doing an impression of our favorite artists to singing with our own voice. Finding your voice sounds like some big, existential quest, but it doesn’t have to be nearly that daunting and doesn’t require any mountaintop pilgrimages or the slaying of mythological monsters. Your unique voice is already inside of you; it’s just a matter of learning to hear it. Below, we’ll explain why your voice is uniquely yours and how to explore it; but first, let’s bust a myth.
Busting the Myth that Voice Lessons Will Make You Sound Like Someone Else
We’ve heard a few singers share their anxiety around taking voice lessons so let’s lay this one to rest: voice lessons won’t make you sound like someone else. If anything, a good voice teacher should help you sound more like yourself. In general, voice lessons are all about helping you use your instrument safely as well as strengthening your voice to make your performances more consistent. Like a basketball player who trains to make sure they can make nearly every shot they take, vocal training helps you consistently hit the notes you’re reaching for. The human voice is like a fingerprint; no amount of training, good or bad, can change the physical features that give your voice its unique color.
We’re pretty sure this myth has its roots in the blurry line between style and technique. There are certain styles of singing, like opera, that have a very distinctive sound. Opera singers still have unique voices, but they sound more alike to other opera singers than to, say, an R&B singer because the opera singers are all using the same stylistic techniques and inflections. The foundational vocal technique taught in bel canto (a.k.a.: opera) singing can be applied to any genre of music, but when singers apply the style elements of opera to a pop song, it can sound - well - bad.
We often have a strong emotional connection to style, so much so that it can even be part of our identity. When we find ourselves studying with a teacher who specializes in a different style of music than we want to learn, it can feel like they’re trying to make us sound like someone we’re not. If you know you want to sing rock or pop or opera, find a teacher who specializes in that genre so that you can learn the elements of that style alongside fundamental vocal technique.
What Makes Our Voices Inherently Unique
So what makes our voices so unfailingly individual? There are many elements that go into shaping your voice. The first is physiology. As a vocalist, your instrument is much more than just your vocal cords. Think of an acoustic guitar; while different strings can change the sound, it’s the types of wood used and the shape of the guitar’s body that play a far greater role in making a Martin sound different from a Gibson. The same is true of your voice. The sound created by the vibration of your vocal folds needs to resonate in your chest, throat, and sinuses; and the unique shape of these resonators gives your voice its distinctive character.
In humans and a few other species, vocal timbre is a secondary sex characteristic, meaning that the pitch and tone of our voices change during puberty and differ based on assigned sex. In general, people assigned male at birth experience a flood of testosterone during puberty that causes their vocal folds the lengthen and thicken and their voice to get lower. Of course, humanity is wonderfully diverse and men can have high voices, women can have low voices, and some of our favorite singers have androgynous voices. Gender, or the social and cultural behaviors associated with masculinity and femininity, also influences how we use our voices. Depending on our culture, we may be encouraged to speak in a higher part of our vocal range if we identify as female or lower if we identify as male in addition to other vocalizations like vocal fry and up-speak in young women in the United States.
We learn vocal patterns from our parents, peers, and wider community. This includes the music we listen to and the singers we emulate as children. If you grew up trying to copy the complicated vocal runs of Christina Aguilera, you might find you use them more naturally than someone who grew up singing along to the Beatles. Vocalists who grow up in choirs often develop a particular talent for harmony. If you watch videos of Britney Spears singing as a little girl, you can hear the influences of her musical heroines, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Think back on your own childhood; what songs did you sing along to on repeat? Are there any vocal inflections you have now that might have come from your childhood musical influences?
Learn By Mimicking
As children, we instinctively learn through mimicry; as teens and adults, we can consciously practice this. Trying to sing like your favorite singer can teach you quite a bit about your own instrument. You may discover new colors to your voice by trying to match another singer’s timbre, develop flexibility by copying complex melismas, or realize your range is much wider than you previously believed by reaching for notes you might not have otherwise attempted.
In addition to mimicking other vocalists, experiment with copying the sounds of other instruments. Mimicking the sound of a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo is a great way to practice dynamics, experiment with the sounds of vowels outside of the context of language, and attempt slides and jumps. Copying the sounds of a drum kit offers an opportunity to improve your sense of rhythm and use your voice in ways you may never have otherwise. Mimicking the sounds of instruments can inspire you to learn about a variety of musical traditions as well. Cultures across the globe have traditions of singing nonsense syllables (like German yodeling or Irish lilting) or of using mnemonic syllables to sing percussion parts (found in some West African musical traditions and in Indian classical musical in the form of bols used to teach tabla drumming).
When you master a new technique while mimicking Freddie Mercury’s raspy tenor or discover a new side to your voice while doing your best alto sax impression, you can apply that to your own interpretations of songs. For example, if you love singing in a soft, breathy tone you found while mimicking Billie Eilish, you could apply that to a cover of song that originally had a more aggressive vocal like Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun. Maybe imitating a guitar inspires you to learn more about scat singing or explore improvisation. Take what you discover about your instrument and run with it!
How To Make a Song Your Own
One of the biggest marks of finding your own voice is the ability to reinterpret a song and make it your own. Unless you’re in a cover band (not a bad gig, by the way!), you generally don’t want to do a 1-for-1 copy of another musician’s performance. The key to making your rendition of a tune personal and memorable is to first be able to separate the essential elements of the song from another singer’s performance, and then apply your strengths as a vocalist to your performance. While more drastic changes like changing the time signature or flipping the song from major to minor can make your version unique, there are subtler ways to put your own spin on a cover tune.
Start by reading and analyzing the lyric like a text. Imagine the character who’s singing the song, who they’re singing it to, and why. What are they feeling during the song? Go line by line and figure out which words you would emphasize if you were speaking the lyric as the character; these spots are great opportunities to play with tempo and dynamics. As you practice the song, put on your acting hat and sing as though you are the character; does your voice break with emotion on a certain lyric or do you find yourself whispering an intimate line? Let the emotions of the character guide your interpretation.
If you can read music, take advantage of that skill. Play or sing the melody as it’s written and note where it differs from the recorded versions you’re familiar with. Stripping the song back to the original melody can help you separate the composition from another vocalist’s interpretation. If you don’t read music, that’s totally fine; a lot of vocalists - including famous and successful professionals - don’t! Look for multiple recordings of the song you’re learning to see how different singers have interpreted it. By listening to different versions, you can see what’s a core aspect of the melody and what’s one vocalist’s inflection and style as well as generate ideas for your own rendition.
Finally, take what you’ve learned about your voice from your experimentation with mimicry and apply it to your performance. If you find that you don’t have a big diva range but have a flexible voice, replace dramatic belts and leaps with runs and melismas. A song that’s normally performed more aggressively will sound completely different if sung softly and intimately. Play to your strengths and don’t be afraid to get creative.
Final Tips
As you work to find your own voice, remember to relax and have fun. Make your practice and experimentation sessions a judgement-free zone; the only question you need to ask yourself is “does this hurt my voice or body in some way?” Not “does this sound good?” or “will people like this?” Experiment freely and be playful. If your inner critic starts to pipe up, tell them to go take a walk. There’s no right, wrong, or not good enough when it comes to exploration and experimentation; if you second-guess and limit yourself during this process, you’ll miss out on exciting discoveries that only come from pushing the limits of what you thought possible.
Schedule a Lesson and Discover Your Voice Today
Go forth and love your unique, individual voice! If you need help finding your voice, strengthening your instrument, or working up your own unique interpretation of your favorite song Zelda is here to help. Reach out to set up a lesson to find - and love - your voice!
If you’re ready to find your voice, get in touch with Zelda to schedule a lesson!
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