Sound is an incredibly exciting area when it comes to singing. Especially these days where so many people think about how they sound, instead of honouring their authentic voices.
In this blog, I share the simple truth behind the concept of sound.
When you sing or speak, your vocal chords vibrate, your body resonates and voila, there is sound. What kind of sound you make depends on your body type (how your body is built) and how you’re using your voice, e. g. how much you’ve trained your voice and equally important, how you’ve trained your voice. That’s the physical side of things.
The mindset is another matter, and a big problem occurs when we try to imitate other people or get stuck in how a certain genre needs to sound; the unique and authentic voice goes out the window.
I’ll give you an example: Lots of pop singers today seem to think that you need to sound in a certain way to make it. The same goes for classical singers; a lot of them adapt an “opera sound” that has very little to do with what is the point of opera.
The end result is that a lot of the singers out there sound the same.
This approach then feeds into choirs and – worst of all – children, who are too often trained to sound in a certain way, or who think they need to imitate imitating singers…
Let’s get to the good news: Sound is the last thing you need to worry about. You actually don’t need to worry about it at all, because it’s for people who listen to you to figure out wheather they enjoy your singing or not.
All you need to focus on is your expression. Go for expression, not sound, and you’ll stay more authentic and grounded.
Please take a moment to consider it. Sound is driven by our ego. Expression is what matters. Stay strong and stay with your voice. It’s beautiful, I know. How? Because I’ve never come across anything less than a lovely voice as a voice teacher. I work with the core of the voice, and it’s always beautiful.
When your voice is in balance, you can communicate easily in an authentic way. It will also sound good, but that’s just a bonus. And what is more, the way you sound will change.
It’s quite wonderful that the core of your voice will stay the same, but the sound will evolve and grow as you grow.
Happy Singing!
© Nína O’Farrell 2021
Photo by Jean Balzan
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