Voice lessons?????

robedney

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Anyone done it? Did it help? One of the big things on my bucket list is busking. I'm a lot more confidant in holding it together with the uke than I am in my voice. So, I have no idea what voice lessons are like. I'm sure there lots of different ways of teaching. Any experiences to share???
 
Yes I did. I bought a bundle of six lessons. It went very well. I was surprised to find out in the very first lesson that my range was much wider than I thought that it was. I think that the most important aspect of the experience was that from the beginning my voice coach encouraged me to find my own voice. So after my six lessons he told me to go forth and sing. It wasn't a long term thing. Anyway, it was time and money well spent. It really helped with my confidence.
 
Yep, I only sang or hummed to myself in the car. Then I wanted to learn to sing cause I had a uke. I took voice lessons from a Classical guitar/piano/flute/voice instructor. I was able to develop more range, especially in the upper registers. We worked for about an hour, once a week. We usually worked at the piano. She had me look in a mirror to correct mouth shapes, and we did lots of scales. We worked a lot on breath control. She would give me the melody parts and sing harmony, to try to pull me off. I had to stay on melody. We left off just as I was supposed to learn to sing harmony. Maybe I'll go back.
Don't ask how much it cost, she wouldn't take any money. It sure did give me a lot more confidence. Now I actually enjoy singing and have gotten several compliments!
Good luck!
 
Is this the right time to break out Harry Chapin's Mr Tanner?

Voice lessons can get you a wide range of new skills. Which depends on what you want to learn. My advice is to find someone that's willing to give you a free intro lesson and then run with it. If it feels right, go for it.
 
Do it. Ask around for referrals. A lot more people sing than play the uke. Odds are you can find someone who's pretty good without looking too far.

Expect to feel stupid most of the time. But you can improve a lot quickly if you work at it.

Time for me to brush up with a few voice lessons...
 
Another point of view. I've always been very self conscious about my voice, I rarely sang when I played my guitar with others. Since playing the uke and bass uke with the group I joined four years ago, I started singing a little more, then about three months ago I suddenly felt that I sound better than I used to. I started singing more with the group and now I do so all the time. I actually feel confident with my singing now. The mere involvement with the group seemed to help me a lot.
 
Good topic. I wonder how much singing lessons can actually improve a bad singing voice. I would like to go from "war crime" to merely tolerable.
 
No, Ive never had voice coaching but I do sing all the time. I can say that consistent singing will strengthen your voice. It is a muscle. I sound much better now than I did when I started constantly singing several years ago and my range has improved. I can tell a difference if I haven't sung for a week and try and sing a song. It takes much longer to warm up. Singing can be tiring. I wish I had gotten some proper training. Learning to breath right and use your diaphragm is hard to learn on your own.

I did look up several Youtube lessons about breathing and control and warmups. That will give you a general idea of the workout you will get. I say go for it!
 
Learn to read single line music; that's the melody line. Play the melody line and sing along with it over and over. That will make you a better singer. Try to match the note as closely as possible.

Get yourself some music books with standard notation, not tabs. The Daily Ukulele books have standard notation. Play the melody line of the songs you like and sing along. When you really think you've got the melody down, play the first note to have a good starting point and then accompany yourself with only the chords. Does it sound right? If so, you're in key and you're singing.

How are you going to learn to read? Get Curt Sheller's ukulele reading book. Do all the exercises and you'll be reading within two weeks. You'll get better and better at reading. Then go on to Hal Leonard books that use more sophisticated chord accompaniments.
 
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Good topic. I wonder how much singing lessons can actually improve a bad singing voice. I would like to go from "war crime" to merely tolerable.

At least from my experience, I might say that there is a good chance that you are a much better singer than you think you are. A good voice coach will help you realize that.
 
I am taking voice lessons now and highly recommend them. I found a great local instructor who also plays ukulele and guitar, so we are able to work my playing into the lessons as well to form a complete song. It has really helped me with my playing and singing.
 
Yes yes yes!

I took a year of voice lessons from a proverbial little ol lady and she taught me a lot about breathing but projecting over pronouncing R T D and other sounds that make a song more clear. More importantly my range increased by almost an octave and my pitch got a little better.


Well worth it. After all singing is just a built in instrument that one should learn to play properly.
 
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