You are not alone – most people in your choir think they can’t sing well

• Posted by Chris Rowbury December 9, 2015 - Filed in Choir Post - 1,792 views

  [A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]

   

  This weekend I’m running a ‘voice clinic’ for members of my choir. I’ll be spending time working on basic vocal technique and confidence building.

   

  

  Photo by asmythie

   

  When I asked people what they want to work on almost everyone said they lack confidence in their singing voice.

   

  Pretty much everyone has said that they:

   

  • don’t know what’s going to come out of their mouth,
  • are not sure if they sing in tune or not,
  • want to be able to make a ‘nicer’ sound,
  • are not sure which part they sing,
  • run out of breath quickly,
  • can’t reach certain notes,
  • want more power from their voice,

   

  ... and so on.

   

  And yet the choir as a whole sounds amazing! So clearly not everyone is as bad as they think.

   

  We all want to improve our singing voices, and there is always room for improvement.

   

  But sometimes what holds us back is the belief that we are the only person in the choir who can’t sing well.

   

  You’d be surprised. Certainly in a non-auditioned community choir most people will think they’re not very good at singing. And even in more experienced choirs, many people think that everyone else can sing better than them.

   

  I’ve even had one person come up to me in private expressing surprise that I’ve ‘allowed’ them to stay in the choir because they sing so badly.

   

  Next time you’re at choir and hiding at the back waiting to be found out because you can’t really sing, remember that pretty much everyone else there feels the same.

   

  So take a big breath, forget yourself and let rip with your amazing voice that’s just dying to escape. Enjoy!

   

   

   

  Chris Rowbury

   

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