Are you still a musician if someone takes your instrument away?
Read the first half of this article for a story and another voice telling us what IFR already tells us
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Thatās excellent! Thanks for posting. There are many tips here that I can incorporate into my playing to develop musicality.
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Great article, thanks for posting. I think Iām finally starting to understand how important this skill is. Iām now determined to improve my ability to learn by ear. I usually just grab some sheet music and labouriously work my through it, trying to play from the music. Now, my method is to get a recording, play it, slow it down, break it down, and play what I hear. And as I play it, I sing it. And when Iām away from my instrument, I also try to sing it. I think, if I canāt sing it, I wonāt be able to play it. Iāve also tried learning to sing it first, before even trying to play it. Just listening to a song or a phrase, many times and singing from memory before picking up my instrument. It really makes playing a different experience.
Also, Iām really enjoying the recent videos being posted on Sing the Numbers. Singing along with Mireia is really helping with my hearing chord progressions and playing melodies over them. Thank you for making these generally available.
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I wonder why singing is such an āissueā in western culture. āI canāt carry a tune.ā āI have a tin ear.ā When I hear this I always think that if Tom Waits can singā¦ so can you. Same thing with drawing.
Anyway, itās great to āget overā this stuff and move forward. To be a little bit pithy, thereās world of sounds out there, and can appreciate and use all of it.
Thatās a thing that always seemed odd to me. In my case the āwhyā is quite simple. My teachers way back in early school told me I couldnāt sing (& that in some situations shouldnāt even try). They seemed to be right about plenty of other stuff so I believed themā¦
Looking back, a really odd thing is that back then right through school from age 5 to 18, aside from a few unusual situations, we started every school day with an āassemblyā in which everyone (including me) sung a hymn. However the assumption was that you either ācould singā or you ācouldnātā & those of us who hadnāt cottoned on to the idea that pitch matching was a thing you could learn to do just remained in the ācouldnātā classification. I can only assume that it hadnāt occurred to any of the teachers that it was a learnable skill either!? Given what Iāve learnt about this in the last few years, even just an hour or so of simple tuition could have made a huge difference to my perception of the possible. As it was I didnāt make that leap till I was nearly 60.
The only people who got any help (i.e. tuition) with singing were those who could already do it well enough to be in the choir.
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Yes, I agree. And you could say the same about music study in general. If you werenāt considered āmusicalā, then you were not encouraged to do music.
Singing is such an exposing thing to do, you have to make the sound yourself, rather than using an instrument. I think this adds to revealing nature of singing. But only when you do it in public. Singing on your own as part of your music practice, who cares what it sounds like.
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Itās weird right. I spent my life thinking I couldnāt sing. And of course Iām not Ella Fitzgerald. But I can reproduce a melody just fine. I had the same thing in school. Either you where considered āmusicalā and got extra lessons, or you were not and that meant no extra instruction. Weird stuff. Now when I hear people say about a musician āhe/she is so talentedā, Iām like: Yeah, sure, but they are a craftsman too!
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Great comment - except i personally think tom waits is an amazing singer! maybe i have a tin earā¦
Nice to hear stories similar to my own. Definitely a case of " please shut up" which lead me away from singing and subsequently really limited my guitar playing, thinking I could not accompany myself. My friend had no inhibitions and performed whilst I gave up. For me it wasnāt Tom Watts but Bob Dylan & Leonard Cohen that made me think its not always the sound but the content. Now at the age of 61 I am struggling with cancer and have a lesion in my pharynx which means I canāt go higher than G before croaking out but am adapting to a lower range and enjoying exploring it with singing the numbers. Think Lee Marvinās " I was born under a Wondering Star". I am understanding that you donāt need a huge range just the imagination to do something interesting with 7 notes (plus the 5 outriders). Thinking what better rehab could there be for my vocal cords.
Happy Christmas all and may many carols be sung, hummed or numbered.
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Welcome to the forum. Fair comment. Heās certainly amazing. 
I think that at least of the point that @niborsilliw was making, was that thereās scope for a whole range (no pun inteded!) of voices & you donāt need to have an opera star voice to be āA Singerā? @AdrianY 's Lee Marvin is another case in point.
Anyone else here old enough to remember āTiny Timā singing āTiptoe Through the Tulipsā?
In Tiny Timās case he was āputting onā that voice for effect, and could have sung it in a variety of other registers, but his big success what with a song sung outside many peopleās idea of a fine voice.
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Wishing you tons of luck in 2021, Adrian!
I lurve Tom Waits. But his voice is his own and one could argue that without a little encouragement he could have just not sang. From what I understand the Tom Waits āvoiceā comes from him channeling his nonfiltered Camel smoking uncle Ray. May he rest in peace. ;O)
Welcome to the Forum!
In the pocket David!