Mar
21
Written by:
Kevin Owens
3/21/2012 11:50 AM
Since this is my first blog, I suppose I will start at a beginning of sorts. When I was a little kid, I somehow got the notion that great singers were just born. All they had to do was open their mouths, and magically, this wondrous sound came from within to thrill us mere mortals who were born, alas, with no gift. I have no idea where this idea came from exactly, but I think you will agree that most singers do little to dispel the grand illusion that they possess a ‘gift.’
A gift. This is an interesting way of looking at a person’s ability to sing. On the one hand, it anoints that person with mythological power. Cue the Spinal Tap scene: “I am a Golden God!” on the balcony of the Riot Hyatt on Sunset. We all know where that attitude leads….
But on the other hand, it diminishes how hard that person worked to develop this so-called ‘gift.’ As a result, the emphasis is on the greatness itself. Forget about the hours of vocal work, the voice lessons, the trial and error, the terror of not being able to trust yourself to repeat what you do on your good nights. So the process of achieving that greatness becomes overshadowed by the greatness itself. This makes a compelling story arc for VH1’s Behind the Music, but in the end, it allows for too little credit to the artist’s involvement in the process. Oh yeah, and this is usually where the tragic fall of our lead singer occurs due to drugs, booze and scrapes with the law...
So how do you feel when you worked your ass off for something you wanted very badly, and no one notices your hard work? Worse yet, no one even believes you did the work. It is completely dismissed. That would really stink, no? Sure it would.
Furthermore, this ‘gift’ myth also suggests that no matter how hard any of the rest of us tries, we can never be in possession of such a wondrous and holy thing as a great voice. So the gifted ones don’t work, yet they are rewarded. The hard workers are doomed to be lesser, always, because it is not work, but some holy blessing of DNA that allows for a voice like [fill in the blank].
Are ya with me? OK. Let’s call BS on that line of thought
and figure this out another way, shall we? When you learn to play an
instrument, a sport, or anything physical, someone usually teaches you at least
the basics, right? We call them the fundamentals. These develop muscle memory
and an understanding of the larger picture. They teach you to be consistent, or
repeatable, so you learn to trust your growing skills.
For example, a kid may be a really good natural pitcher, but his coaches will help him refine his pitching motion for accuracy, power and the all-important consistency.
Well, singing is the same kind of thing. At its core, you have muscle memory, fundamental skills, and repeatability. On top of that is your artistry. It’s not a gift. It’s not something that some people are born with and some are not. If you tell yourself the ‘gift’ story, then that becomes your truth, and you will prove it to yourself over and over again by failing. If you turn that story off, and understand that singing is in so many ways exactly like pitching, then you can give yourself that gift.
Here’s the deal. The reason this whole ‘gift’ notion has held water for so long, in my opinion is this: The voice is fretless and invisible. Seriously. If we stopped here, the whole idea of singing may become even more intimidating, but let’s go back to our pitcher. How does he develop consistency in throwing if he can’t see himself while he’s on the mound? Or an example closer to home for you, how do you move from just playing scales to being able to improvise a solo?
It’s all about the brain. Our pitcher develops muscle memory and a detailed knowledge of his delivery. He has to know what to do without thinking about it, and at the same time, he has to be able to evaluate his performance and correct or adjust as he goes along.
As a guitar player, you have developed a complex connection between your brain, your ears and your hands. Your brain is able to ‘hear’ pitch without having actual sound waves hitting your ear. If you don’t believe me, think back to the last time you had an annoying song run through your head all day. So your ear and your brain are connected, and together, they are connected to your voice. Learning to sing is simply learning to refine this connection, and adding in the fundamentals – breath control, soft palate position, larynx position, forward placement, etc.
The more you work this brain-ear-voice connection, develop your muscle memory, and master the fundamentals, the better your voice will sound, and the more consistent you will be. In other words, you will have fewer bad nights and more good nights at the mic.
Is this somewhat oversimplified? Perhaps. But doesn’t it make a lot more sense to you than the ‘gift’ myth? I certainly hope so.
Now you just have to stop telling yourself the story of the ‘gift’ myth; instead, find a new story in which the hero is rewarded for working hard to master a mysterious, fretless instrument that cannot be seen. That sounds even cooler to me…
Karan Andrea’s CD Desolation Hero
received critical approval from Maverick Magazine in the UK, and she has been called "...arguably the smartest woman musician in all of upstate New York" by Elliott Randall, guitarist (Steely Dan, and many others), producer, and composer. Her current project -- the instructional DVD Guitar Player Wanted: Vocals a Plus
- grew out of a casual request to teach a couple of guitar players how to sing. Contact her at
Karan@soulhousesound.com;
www.soulhousesound.com.
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9 comment(s) so far...
Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
"I am a golden god!" is from "Almost Famous," not "This is Spinal Tap!"
A great post, but I do think there are those more gifted than others. The simple fact of the matter is that I could work as long and hard as I like; I will never ever ever be the equal of David Gilmour or Jeff Beck. I could take all the math and physics courses in the world and apply myself totally, and I will never match the accomplishments of the great mathmeticians and physicists. I can run and train and bike myself across the planet, yet I lack the basic gifts "bestowed" upon Lance Armstrong. If we were all equal in potential, then the same amount of work would be necessary for everybody, and there'd be no cream rising to the top.
By John Grunwell on
3/23/2012 12:40 PM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
I just take it as a compliment and get back to work.
By Michael Gordon on
3/24/2012 12:47 AM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
@John: Doh! Thanks for the correction on the film reference... shoulda fact-checked better! :) And yes, I agree that there are degrees of talent, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to be the best "you"... and that is what I am getting at. What would have happened if someone told Dylan, or Tom Waits that they didn't have the 'right' voice, so they abandoned music altogether?
By Karan on
3/26/2012 1:46 PM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
Hey Karen,
Read you blog on "the gift" this morning.
I have an excellent book by the late, great Sal Salvador, "Chordal Enrichment and Substitution". In the Introduction Sal Wrote:
"Practice and Perserverance account for 90% of what most people call 'Talent"."
Are you hip?
Regards,
By Fred Castellano on
3/27/2012 7:39 AM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
Hi,
this post has rattled me quite a bit. I am not exactly getting your point.
You have falsified the 'gift' theory, but in response to John Grunwell's post, you say that it does not mean that we stop trying and anyone who toils hard will reach the goal. Agreed. BUT that does not counter the theory that some people have that mojo. You are being diplomatic.
Do you still negate the 'gift'?
peace
By ashoke on
3/28/2012 7:39 AM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
I fully understand the point you want to make, but there ARE practical limitations. I can sing on key, but all too often, not in the key of the original recording, because I was "gifted" with a different range, and no matter what I do, I will never be a tenor.
By John Horvath on
3/28/2012 12:24 PM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
@Fred: YES! That is EXACTLY what I am saying.
@ashoke: see Fred's post. But let me elaborate... first, I'm glad my blog has rattled you. That is my intention :) And if you actually knew me, you would never accuse me of diplomacy. :)
OK, so to answer your question: I do not believe that what comes out of a singer's mouth is 100% gift. Some people have more innate instincts in the brain-ear-voice connection, just like some pitchers have a great talent for throwing breaking stuff and others don't. But that doesn't mean that those skills can't be learned. I'm not going to debate degree of talent because that is not what I am talking about.
The whole point of my blog is to make you start thinking about what might be attainable for you vocally if you think about the entire process in a different way. Don't think of singers as magically gifted people who have never had to work at it. Think of them as people with incredible instruments who have probably worked harder than they will ever let anyone know to get where they are vocally and artistically.
@John H: The practical limitations that you mention ARE A PART OF the point I am making. Of course you aren't ever going to be a tenor if you are naturally a bass or baritone. So what? You find your own strengths and forget about what you can't do. Focus on what you CAN do.
By Karan Andrea on
3/29/2012 7:27 AM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
The "gift" is no myth, no illusion at all. Some people just have a very pronounced natural talent in a certain area that most others simply don't - it's a plain fact to anyone who has observed the phenomenon.
For example: I probably taught 1,000 private guitar students, and a few of the beginners were gifted - they had an unusual natural talent - from moment one. Most others fit somewhere into the more average category, and a few were the opposite of gifted.
Yep, us "non-gifted" types can play some real catch up with determination and hard work. In my own case I was the fastest to learn blues rock guitar improv in my immediate circle of friends, possibly a bit of natural talent there, but I was dismally inept at funk guitar and jazz guitar improv at first. Tons of practice made me competent, perhaps even good at it (that part is subjective!).
One of my most extremely not-gifted students loved rock guitar so much and worked so hard and long at it that he actually learned to play (!!) - a significant accomplishment that I really admired.
I think we should take this work on for the love of it and not try to deny the reality of the very real gifts of others just because we want ticker tape parades in our honors for having worked hard.
We've all seen the the autistic geniuses who are incredible at math. They didn't get there just through hard work! Clearly they have a physiological thing going on where a certain part of their brain is super developed, possibly at the expense of other parts. It's the same thing with an innate musical talent. It's an unusually well developed part of a brain and is an absolute gift indeed.
By Matt Ragan on
3/30/2012 2:58 PM
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Re: Karan Andrea: The "Gift" Myth
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