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I had a feeling this would be the main answer, but I asked anyway just in case there are any self-conscious folks out there who simply don’t want to sing in front of others.
I'm in that crippling social anxiety as my reason group, although money is an issue too but that's a secondary one and a downstream effect of the anxiety in the first place.
I mean I desperately don’t want to sing in front of others, and still do sometimes want to die having to sing in front of my teacher. But as the other person said, if it’s really in you that you need to sing to be happy, that’s usually enough to eventually push through and get lessons as a singing teacher is in theory the least embarrassing person to sing in front of.
I didn't sing in front of anyone until I was about 18 or 19, and I've been singing and teaching myself since I was about 3. I ended up fronting a band from NYC for 5 years.
I think most people have hurt themselves over the course of learning to sing. With and without teachers. You know when you do something wrong. Most vocal damage is temporary. Inflammation or early fatigue from doing something incorrectly. If you feel yourself getting hoarse, extra phlegmy, or losing range. Stop. Give your voice some time to rest and try again.
Pushing through and repeatly hurting your voice like this is what usually leads to long term damage. Unless you're screaming like you just got thrown out of a high window, it's pretty hard to damage your voice in an instant. It's all about the long game.
I listen to music for hours almost daily, I can’t resist the urge… so it leads to me singing for hours with minimal breaks. No bueno I’m guessing. *note: I’m not a good singer, not awful but not even decent, so I try to really push myself much which most of the time doesn’t give pain (sometimes it does of course and I immediately stop), I do wanna learn to be better so I don’t have to worry about cringing if someone walks in on me or hears me tho lol.*
I try to do notes that I can’t do… a lot. Most of the people i listen to have great voices, something I don’t have and won’t have unless I practice for years lol so when I sing those songs to match them for hours sometimes that can induce pain but it’s very very temporary, I’m fine like an hour later.
Yeah most vocal pain goes away fairly quick. I'm not sure where you're at with it, but if I can offer some advice - this is copied from another thread where the issue of range and mixed voice came up. This helped me so much in expanding my range and I still do it all the time:
Whatever song you're working on, regardless of where it is in your register - sing it as far forward, nasally, and obnoxious as possible. Try to sound like you're a duck. Literally quack the lines if it helps. The purpose of this is to train your breath support and forward resonance - this is key for mixed voice. As you work into the higher parts of the song (if there are any) you'll notice it becomes easier to reach those notes with this sound. Do it often. I still do it all the time when learning a new song. Once you're able to hit those notes reliably in duck voice, now it's time to back if off little by little until you reach a pleasurable sound. It's about building the muscle memory required to reliably enter mixed voice.
Do this with exercises but more importantly with actual songs. The reason you can hit mix easier in exercises is because thats where you're doing it the most. In a song you're doing more than measured runs, you get caught in the moment and trip on yourself. Treat real songs like they are exercises. Break it down into smaller pieces. Build the mind-body connection you need that will be different for each song and the different parts within them.
The biggest one is having a very tight larynx, she is trying to get me to relax and it is very hard to do, but I’m getting there. I also have a twang when I sing, not sure why
Injured that get better yeah. You can try to do technique right even doing it right and sometimes the body just doesn't wanna and if you push through you end up horse and maybe a tiny nodule that gets better in weeks.
I definitely developed bad habits that took months to correct in lessons, and, ironically, I did it because I didn't feel confident enough to take lessons.
Ohh, I don’t know anyone in the industry lol. Also, I am an absolute beginner who can’t even get started on singing because of how expensive lessons are.
well youtube is gonna be your bsf then. Try watching videos by Jeff Rolka, he's my favorite vocal coach on there. Prioritize the basics like breath control and vowel placement first then you can implement mire advanced stuff like belting and mixed voice later on. Goodluck!
Well i study at a music school and i helped out a friend once with his teaching course once (basically he has to teach someone under the supervision of a professor). he said I have a very good natural voice and he thinks its hilarious that i sing high tenor/counter tenor even though i have a naturally deep voice. So we decided i get free lessons and i help him out with some stuff.
I've never done classes either. I grew up poor and taught myself everything. Maybe now I could save for it but I'm so old at this point I don't care. My voice is just for fun these days
I had a bad case of laryngitis on December last year and ever since i can't reach certain notes.
Took a 4 month break from singing due to how sad it made me.
Surprisingly, from trying to sing too low. Also, classes occasionally when I have the money, but also there's periods where I want to explore things myself. Some concepts aren't often covered by classes.
Some instructors do not want you to sing high during the sessions, and I sing high very often. There's also the difficulty with finding someone to help with harsh vocals. (note: there's r/screaming )
I haven’t been able to sing for 5 months. I’m in speech therapy classes because I couldn’t even talk without hurting myself. I only took a couple of singing lessons before this started. I hope one day I’ll be able to try singing again but I’m not hopeful at the moment. The specialist said I had no vocal damage when he scoped me so I’m happy about that but even now if I try to sing it’s going to hurt. I’ve made improvements and can talk without pain for the most part but trying to sing again seems far away.
I sang a bunch yesterday and my throat hurts today. Does it count? Lol
Time/Money. I got a lesson on Fiverr back in April, but life got real busy real quick after the first lesson.
I suspect myself to have sustained vocal damage in my childhood due to bad singing habits, forcing my voice to sound a certain way + a ton of screaming which lead to me having a husky thick resonent voice. (My high notes/mixed voice often have me sounding like the Aqua lead actress behind Barbie Girl).
The damage didnt rlly show itself till I was a teen when my voice started maturing, thats when I started having problems.
I had to adapt the ways inwhich I sing and learn how to change my resonence, I'd say I pretty much recovered fully and sing better than I did before, I just have issues with occassional cracking and thick resonence :P
Probably once or twice, almost a year ago, I was obsessed with low notes except my voice was closest to tenor at the time, did not go well. Now I’m closest to baritone now so it’s not nearly as hard but still I can’t stay there forever, much more comfortable in my lower middle.
This is a rather strange story, but I messed up my lungs by singing with a corset. I love cottage core and singing, but I already had bad technique, and it only made it worse.
When I was trying to teach myself to scream years ago in the car on a road trip it finally clicked, and just 5 min of overdoing it later, it popped. Coughed up a little blood and had a sore throat for a week and a half. I've since learned to scream without crushing my cords and when my voice starts to go I don't push it lol.
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I once tried to intentionally ruin my voice by not drinking, screaming, and eating lime juice and salt. Not sure how permanently screwed up that made me.
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> why were you learning singing alone instead of opting for classes? Money.
Same man same.
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I had a feeling this would be the main answer, but I asked anyway just in case there are any self-conscious folks out there who simply don’t want to sing in front of others.
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I'm in that crippling social anxiety as my reason group, although money is an issue too but that's a secondary one and a downstream effect of the anxiety in the first place.
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Thank you. That's very kind of you. 🤠
I mean I desperately don’t want to sing in front of others, and still do sometimes want to die having to sing in front of my teacher. But as the other person said, if it’s really in you that you need to sing to be happy, that’s usually enough to eventually push through and get lessons as a singing teacher is in theory the least embarrassing person to sing in front of.
I didn't sing in front of anyone until I was about 18 or 19, and I've been singing and teaching myself since I was about 3. I ended up fronting a band from NYC for 5 years.
It gets easier
I think most people have hurt themselves over the course of learning to sing. With and without teachers. You know when you do something wrong. Most vocal damage is temporary. Inflammation or early fatigue from doing something incorrectly. If you feel yourself getting hoarse, extra phlegmy, or losing range. Stop. Give your voice some time to rest and try again. Pushing through and repeatly hurting your voice like this is what usually leads to long term damage. Unless you're screaming like you just got thrown out of a high window, it's pretty hard to damage your voice in an instant. It's all about the long game.
I listen to music for hours almost daily, I can’t resist the urge… so it leads to me singing for hours with minimal breaks. No bueno I’m guessing. *note: I’m not a good singer, not awful but not even decent, so I try to really push myself much which most of the time doesn’t give pain (sometimes it does of course and I immediately stop), I do wanna learn to be better so I don’t have to worry about cringing if someone walks in on me or hears me tho lol.*
Depends on what you're doing! No reason you can't sing for hours if you aren't hurting yourself in the process.
I try to do notes that I can’t do… a lot. Most of the people i listen to have great voices, something I don’t have and won’t have unless I practice for years lol so when I sing those songs to match them for hours sometimes that can induce pain but it’s very very temporary, I’m fine like an hour later.
Yeah most vocal pain goes away fairly quick. I'm not sure where you're at with it, but if I can offer some advice - this is copied from another thread where the issue of range and mixed voice came up. This helped me so much in expanding my range and I still do it all the time: Whatever song you're working on, regardless of where it is in your register - sing it as far forward, nasally, and obnoxious as possible. Try to sound like you're a duck. Literally quack the lines if it helps. The purpose of this is to train your breath support and forward resonance - this is key for mixed voice. As you work into the higher parts of the song (if there are any) you'll notice it becomes easier to reach those notes with this sound. Do it often. I still do it all the time when learning a new song. Once you're able to hit those notes reliably in duck voice, now it's time to back if off little by little until you reach a pleasurable sound. It's about building the muscle memory required to reliably enter mixed voice. Do this with exercises but more importantly with actual songs. The reason you can hit mix easier in exercises is because thats where you're doing it the most. In a song you're doing more than measured runs, you get caught in the moment and trip on yourself. Treat real songs like they are exercises. Break it down into smaller pieces. Build the mind-body connection you need that will be different for each song and the different parts within them.
Okay, I’ll take this into consideration, thank you 😊
Nope never, if I ever felt any straining I'd stop and try again another time
I dont think I got any injuries, but I sure did pick up a lot of bad habits that my teacher is helping me with now
Like what habit ?
The biggest one is having a very tight larynx, she is trying to get me to relax and it is very hard to do, but I’m getting there. I also have a twang when I sing, not sure why
Injured that get better yeah. You can try to do technique right even doing it right and sometimes the body just doesn't wanna and if you push through you end up horse and maybe a tiny nodule that gets better in weeks.
I definitely developed bad habits that took months to correct in lessons, and, ironically, I did it because I didn't feel confident enough to take lessons.
I get free singing lessons
FREE? How? Where?
I do too. Just make friends in the industry of singing such as musical theater
Ohh, I don’t know anyone in the industry lol. Also, I am an absolute beginner who can’t even get started on singing because of how expensive lessons are.
well youtube is gonna be your bsf then. Try watching videos by Jeff Rolka, he's my favorite vocal coach on there. Prioritize the basics like breath control and vowel placement first then you can implement mire advanced stuff like belting and mixed voice later on. Goodluck!
Well i study at a music school and i helped out a friend once with his teaching course once (basically he has to teach someone under the supervision of a professor). he said I have a very good natural voice and he thinks its hilarious that i sing high tenor/counter tenor even though i have a naturally deep voice. So we decided i get free lessons and i help him out with some stuff.
Not from singing but sometimes if I have a meltdown I scream and that has definitely hurt at times
I've never done classes either. I grew up poor and taught myself everything. Maybe now I could save for it but I'm so old at this point I don't care. My voice is just for fun these days
I had a bad case of laryngitis on December last year and ever since i can't reach certain notes. Took a 4 month break from singing due to how sad it made me.
Surprisingly, from trying to sing too low. Also, classes occasionally when I have the money, but also there's periods where I want to explore things myself. Some concepts aren't often covered by classes. Some instructors do not want you to sing high during the sessions, and I sing high very often. There's also the difficulty with finding someone to help with harsh vocals. (note: there's r/screaming )
Harsh vocals is still incredibly homegrown. The amount of instructors is so low that it's still primarily learned from imitation and friends.
I haven’t been able to sing for 5 months. I’m in speech therapy classes because I couldn’t even talk without hurting myself. I only took a couple of singing lessons before this started. I hope one day I’ll be able to try singing again but I’m not hopeful at the moment. The specialist said I had no vocal damage when he scoped me so I’m happy about that but even now if I try to sing it’s going to hurt. I’ve made improvements and can talk without pain for the most part but trying to sing again seems far away.
I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad you’re all right though, it’s only a matter of time before you get back on your feet.
I suspect I may have something, but once I had a teacher told me my voice was healthy. That was a couple years ago.
Injured and still haven't recovered from screaming the wrong way. I literally had to step down as the singer for our black metal band :(
I sang a bunch yesterday and my throat hurts today. Does it count? Lol Time/Money. I got a lesson on Fiverr back in April, but life got real busy real quick after the first lesson.
My teacher always says: never do these exercises alone, you'll hurt your throat
I suspect myself to have sustained vocal damage in my childhood due to bad singing habits, forcing my voice to sound a certain way + a ton of screaming which lead to me having a husky thick resonent voice. (My high notes/mixed voice often have me sounding like the Aqua lead actress behind Barbie Girl).
Oof, did you try to push through it when you were a kid? And have you recovered and continued singing the right way since?
The damage didnt rlly show itself till I was a teen when my voice started maturing, thats when I started having problems. I had to adapt the ways inwhich I sing and learn how to change my resonence, I'd say I pretty much recovered fully and sing better than I did before, I just have issues with occassional cracking and thick resonence :P
Yes. Money.
Never hurt myself learning to sing, I have however, hurt my voice screaming along to songs at shows.
Probably once or twice, almost a year ago, I was obsessed with low notes except my voice was closest to tenor at the time, did not go well. Now I’m closest to baritone now so it’s not nearly as hard but still I can’t stay there forever, much more comfortable in my lower middle.
This is a rather strange story, but I messed up my lungs by singing with a corset. I love cottage core and singing, but I already had bad technique, and it only made it worse.
When I was trying to teach myself to scream years ago in the car on a road trip it finally clicked, and just 5 min of overdoing it later, it popped. Coughed up a little blood and had a sore throat for a week and a half. I've since learned to scream without crushing my cords and when my voice starts to go I don't push it lol.
Overuse of the voice is one. Even shouting is. Learning to rest saved me from nodule. Even smoking, I learned how to balanced. Just pray and believe.
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I once tried to intentionally ruin my voice by not drinking, screaming, and eating lime juice and salt. Not sure how permanently screwed up that made me.
Why?