Do you need to have natural talent to be a good singer?

Answer 1

Great question!

Every able-bodied person mostly in their right-mind to do things in a ‘certain’ way can act upon our their own volition. A cultural upbringing rich in the seven liberal-arts is arguably the best way a person is able to adapt themselves to the myriad of different areas of music in the future. Some cultures get to gather in large groups to sing and dance together very often while others do not. Also, physical labor may be a primary focal point in some cultures while athletic activities are the favorite pastimes of others. It all depends on what we are exposed to during our formative years that dictates what comes to us easily in adulthood.

As long as we keep the sense of being “naturally talented” separate from “famous and popular”, I believe that we are all born naturally talented at something.

Answer 2

+JMJ

You may need some natural talent, but you would be surprised how people with some major singing problems can tremendously improve. In my experience as a voice teacher, I have been amazed to discover how far some one can progress who originally had pitch problems or sang high notes too harshly.

I worked with a young woman who was playing the lead in a musical several years ago. For a good many songs, she was way off on the high notes and other lower notes as well. But I worked with her on listening to the keyboard and listening to her own voice in comparison to the pitch on the keyboard, as well as listening to her own voice in comparison with and together with the orchestral music. She had to learn that living in her head and singing according to what was in her head was not a good idea. Calm, patient and slow listening and calm, patient and slow imitation did the trick. I also taught her that breathing was very very important in controlling her notes. As she sang higher in pitch, she learned that singing DOWN into her body was what helped her sing steady high notes. Reaching for her notes and raising her voice only made matters worse. Also, I taught her how to flip into head voice as she sang higher. This is always a good practice when one is learning how to stay on pitch. Forcing one's full voice into these notes without proper technique can feel and sound disturbing. It took a lot of repetitive practice and patience, as well as help from private voice instruction, but she improved tremendously and remained on pitch for the performances.