How Long Will It Take To Learn How To Sing - HERE’S HOW LONG IT’S TAKING ME!
Last week I received this comment on a Youtube video.
“Take a gun and blow your head off you sound like sh**.”
In this video, I’ll talk about my journey and progress as a singer, performer and teacher
to help you answer the question how long will it take to learn how to sing!
Hi!
I’m Chuck Gilmore, International Vocal Coach and Founder of Power To Sing.
Each week I teach you lessons in vocal technique so you can build a powerful and confident
singing voice.
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When I read the comment that said I sounded like fecal matter, I didn’t take it too
seriously.
I didn’t sing in the video he commented on, I only demonstrated head voice and falsetto.
Maybe that did sound…..poopy…., well at least “falsetto...y”
However, his comment made me reflect on my singing journey as a singer and teacher.
Here’s my singing timeline.
Compare your training, experience, and progress to mine.
Where are you in your journey?
Are there some similarities between us?
I’ll review, in bullet highlights, fours areas of singing development.
These areas are: Skill Development, Experience Summary, Technical Understanding and Confidence.
High School - Missionary Service - College
1968-1978
Skill Development: I took private voice lessons for two years
during high school from a well known and respected singer and teacher who had a Masters in Vocal
Performance.
I could not sing above the E4.
I was told if I wasn’t born with vibrato, I didn’t have it.
Experience Summary: I was in concert choir and madrigals for 3
years.
I had the lead role as King Arthur in Camelot in 11th grade.
In 12th grade I had the supporting lead as Enoch Snow in Carousel.
My madrigals toured Europe for three weeks.
Sang in the Brigham Young University Oratorio Choir
Commentary Our European tour included official concerts
in Frankfurt, Zurich, Rome and London.
Unofficially we sang everywhere we went.
We even sang for our airline passengers.
We had an unscheduled overnight stop in Ireland for repairs on our PanAm 747.
That night we put on a 2-hour impromptu performance for our fellow passengers in the dinning hall
of our hotel in Ireland.
It may have been our best concert of the summer.
Technical Understanding: Don’t push my voice too hard
Diaphragmatic breathing.
No understanding of my voice.
Confidence: I had confidence as a singer and performer
on stage with an ensemble.
As a soloist, I was afraid of any note beginning with the D4 above Middle C.
Major fail singing a solo in church Stopped singing solos
Lost complete confidence in my singing voice.
I didn’t like my tone quality, I couldn’t sing above the E4, I had no vibrato.
Commentary I was a music major my first year of college.
I left for two years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
While serving in Santa Barbara, CA, I had a major “fail” singing a solo for the
1972 Christmas Program.
I was so embarrassed I didn’t sing a solo again.
I told myself I was a choir singer, but not a soloist.
When I returned to college, because of my discouragement with my voice, I decided not
to major in music.
However, I sang in the University Oratorio Choir for several years.
December 1978 - 1996:
Skill Development: None Experience Summary: Occasional Church Choir
(never a soloist) Technical Understanding: Zip...Nada.
Confidence: Zero
First Ten Months of Vocal Training
December 1996-September 1997
Skill Development: Attended vocal workshop with Seth Riggs.
Voice lessons with Seth Riggs Associate, Debra Bonner.
Trained to be her associate teacher and a Seth Rigg Associate.
I sang a solo for the first time in 25 years.
It was in a group singing class and also in front of an audience in a Seth Riggs workshop.
Two voice lessons with Seth Riggs in Los Angeles.
Experience Summary: Sang vocal exercises from chest to head voice
with a connected tone.
Increased my range in the exercises.
Also sang an F above middle C in a solo.
Developed vibrato.
(I felt this and increased range were miracles!
I was very excited) Began training to be a voice teacher
Technical Understanding My understanding of my singing voice was still
in the beginning stages.
Couldn’t hear pulled chest vs mix in my voice or in other singers.
Little comprehension of mix.
I wasn’t sure when I was in mix and when I wasn’t.
Confused about Falsetto vs Head Voice
Confidence: Increased enough to start auditioning for
community theater.
Two Years Without Lessons
October 1997-January 2000
Skill Development: No lessons
Experience Summary: I began auditioning for musical theater, (my
first love) Cast in 9 shows with 2 solo singing roles,
Tin Man, Wizard of Oz, and Mr. Bazzard, Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Technical Understanding: Listening regularly to the cassette tapes
from the book, Singing For the Stars, by Seth Riggs.
Through experimentation with my head voice, discovered the difference between my falsetto
and my head voice.
Confidence: Even though I had two singing roles during
this period, my confidence remained about the same.
8 Year Vocal Development
January 2000 - Mid-Year 2008
Skill Development: Studied regularly (interspersed with time
off during shows, etc.) with Speech Level Singing Master Teacher, Dean Kaelin.
Here’s part of a resume that I gave to Dean when I applied to study with him.
Do any of these goals [below] sound similar to yours?
Let me know in the comments section below this Youtube video if you can relate!
What I Hope to Accomplish Studying Voice Increase my confidence in singing, especially
in solo work.
Find a “niche” for my voice and its quality.
Answer the questions: What can I do well?
What do I need to work on.
What are the limitations to my voice?
Develop consistency and control in pitch and quality.
I feel like my voice falls in between half-tones.
More fully understand my vocal technique...when I am in head verses chest verses mix.
Broaden my vocal horizons, sing different things, and be able to audition well.
I want to win more solo roles in musical theater.
Experience Summary: Cast in more singing roles, including, Don
Quixote, Man of LaMancha; Captain Hook, Peter Pan; Ben Rumson, Paint Your Wagon; Fagan,
Oliver; John Dickinson, 1776; The Duke, Big River; Marley's Ghost, A Christmas Carol;
and Twimble, How to Succeed in Business.
Technical Understanding: Fewer limitations to my voice and improved
in tone quality and pitch.
Learned when I was in chest and head voice.
The feeling of mix and the comfort level with my mix voice was growing, but I still felt
uncertain about my mix.
Although improving, still lacked confidence and strength in my head voice in songs.
Confidence: During this time of study with Dean, I developed
much more confidence in my voice and my technique.
The many roles in which I was cast helped me find my niche as a character actor and
singer.
Teaching Speech Level Singing
January 2008 - 2010
Skill Development: In 2008 I began certification as a Speech
Level Singing Instructor.
Studied with various Master SLS teachers including, Seth Riggs, Kathy Kennedy, John Henny, Jeffrey
Skouson, Greg Enriquez, Wendy Parr, Linda Tomkinson and Guy Babusek.
May 2009 began teaching Speech Level Singing full time.
Regular training meetings with Master Teachers, annual SLS Teacher Conferences
Experience Summary: Cast as Sir Danvers, Jekyll and Hyde; Peron,
Evita; Captain Cocoran, HMS Pinafore
Technical Understanding: Broadened and increase significantly through
private lessons and vocal conferences.
Confidence: Increasing confidence as a teacher, singer
and performer.
Teacher-Singer Failure and Breakthrough
January 2011 - January 2013
Skill Development
Failure with Seth: January 2011 I had an hour lesson with Seth.
The first half, doing exercises, I was brilliant.
The second half I sang a song and pulled chest and spread vowels.
His first comment was: “I don’t know who’s letting you do that!”
Then we spent the next 25 minutes narrowing vowels and fixing the song.
I set the goal to never let that happen again and resolved to study and practice more frequently
to prepare for future lessons with Seth.
Vocal Breakthrough In late summer of 2011 I had a breakthrough
lesson with Greg Enriquez, Master SLS Teacher and mentor.
In that lesson I experienced a feeling of a balanced voice without squeezing the vocal
cords.
For the first time I recognized the feeling of pressing into the condition of release,
leaning on a sensation of resonance and not gripping or grabbing the vocal cords.
It’s hard to verbalize, but it had a huge impact on my singing.
Interestingly, it took me about 3-5 more months of listening to the lesson repeatedly, recording
and listening to my practice sessions with that same lesson, before I began to comprehend
what I felt during the lesson.
Experience Summary Daddy Warbucks, Annie; Scrooge, A Christmas
Carol; Narrator-Mysterious Man, Into the Woods; Moonface Martin, Anything Goes;
Technical Understanding: Practicing, and listening to my practicing,
and more lessons with Greg, helped me begin to solidify my understanding of my voice and
Speech Level Singing.
I became able to produce a consistent tone in my chest, bridge (mix) and head voice so
that it sounded like one voice.
Confidence: Attained a new confidence in my voice which
helped me as a singer, performer and teacher.
May 2013 - August 2019
Skill Development: Bi-annual, 5-day Vocal Boot-Camps with Seth
Riggs.
These were the greatest teacher learning experiences.
Small groups of 15-20 teachers striving to learn to teach like Seth.
We watched Seth teach and he watched us teach.
We were knee to knee with a master teacher.
It’s hard to put into words the learning experience of these sessions.
After May 2016, the teacher training Boot Camps were discontinued.
Experience Summary: Captain Hook, Peter Pan (second time); The
King, The King and I; Horace Vandergelder, Hello Dolly; Scrooge, A Christmas Carol (second
time); John Dickinson, 1776 (second time); Alfred P. Doolittle, My Fair Lady.
Technical Understanding: Broad understanding of singing and teaching
technique producing results in my own voice and the voices of my students.
Confidence: Continually learning and growing in confidence
in technique, teaching, singing and performing.
Summary
Skill Development: 22 years (and counting) of study and improvement
as a singer and teacher.
This is a joyous lifetime pursuit that will never end.
Experience Summary: 41 shows (and counting) with many lead singing
roles Created an exclusive Membership Group called
Singers Impact Created Courses, Sing Higher Than Ever Before,
Conquer Vibrato, and Master Your High Notes with more on the way
Youtube Channel, Power To Sing, Begun in 2015 approaching 61,000 subscribers, with over
400 videos including 146+ live weekly broadcasts.
Technical Understanding: 676 past and current students (and counting)
in Utah and throughout the US and 25 countries worldwide have taught and are teaching me
a great deal about singing.
Ongoing mentorship with experienced voice teachers
Confidence: I continue to grow and learn from my students
and fellow teachers everyday.
Performing continues to be a love, passion, and joy that inspires me to help and teach
others... and to keep doing shows.
Here are the lessons to learn from my experience.
It takes years to develop levels of expertise and artistry as a singer, performer and teacher.
It’s never overnight.
Continuous improvement continues throughout your life.
You’re always “refining and improving”.
Start singing and performing now and don’t wait for perfection.
You’ll never be perfect.
Your progress will be faster and your motivation higher by putting yourself out there in the
arena.
No matter how great or how awful you think you are, you’ll always find someone better
and someone worse.
Don’t waste time comparing yourself to everyone else.
Control what you can control.
Enjoy your successes, learn from your failures and keep moving forward with new goals and
dreams.
Depending on the level of your aspirations, you will progress significantly faster by
paying teachers and mentors to help you improve as a singer and performer, if YOU put in the
work.
The bigger the goal, the more time and money you must invest and the harder you work.
Lastly, don’t worry if someone tells you your voice sounds like poop.
What do they know?
Chances are very good, they have no idea what they’re talking about.
To help YOU improve YOUR singing voice, I’ve created a special test to help you discover
your vocal type so you can do exercises tailored for your individual needs as a singer so you
can improve rapidly.
Follow these steps.
One.
Download this PDF, Get Your Vocal Type.
Get it here or in the description below this Youtube video.
Two.
Follow the links on the PDF and take the vocal test.
The vocal test will help you discover your vocal type.
Your vocal type describes what you tend to do when you sing through the bridge.
Three.
Watch the videos about your vocal type and watch demonstrations of exercises for your
vocal type, so you can get faster results.
Four.
Download the exercises for your vocal type and start practicing them.
These exercises, designed for your vocal type, will help you make immediate improvement with
your singing voice.
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voice.
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I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power to Sing.
You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and power.
I’ll see you inside the next video.