These are questions I get more often than I expected to as a voice teacher. Perhaps it's because people walk into my studio thinking, "I'm pretty good at this already so I'll only need a couple of lessons." Or it could also be due to the fact that people don't realize how incredibly complex becoming a singer can be.
Sometimes the struggles are physical.
There is a student of mine who is constantly bombarded with asthma, congestion, and other health problems that make it hard for her to get to her lesson every week.
Sometimes the struggles are mental.
I have had students with talent that didn't do well in my studio because they either couldn't get past their fear (I'll come back to that later) or they just couldn't figure out how to translate what we were doing into a real life setting.
Sometimes, the struggles are emotional.
In order to be free to sing, you have to be in control of your emotions. Your emotions dictate how you breath, how you stand and how you use for facial muscles. There have been times where I have found myself acting as a therapist rather than as a vocal coach because my student was far too distraught to actually be productive at singing that given day.
So to the questions posted at the top here are my answers. Learning how to sing is a process of discovering who you are and translating that into a song. I teach people how to do things as simple as match a pitch and be able to sing a melody all the way to showing someone how to manipulate a phrase by adding dynamics, changing tonal focus, adjusting the articulation or even by putting a smile on their face. Being a voice student means a different thing to everyone who walks through my door, but to me I have the same goal for each of them.
1) To love their voice and not be afraid to use it.
2) Learn what it means to be a musician and not just a pretty voice.
So, how long will it take to become a great singer? Well, you can learn how to do some things very quickly. And the best answer I can give to that question is it depends on how hard you work at it. I have one student who in particular has progressed faster than anyone I have worked with, and I really believe that the reason for his growth is how hard he works at it and the fact that he's an active participant in his lessons. You will only reap what you sow. So if you want to learn faster, practice more so that when you come to your lesson you have questions! We teachers LOVE questions!!!
The final question is a hard one. I've been a singer for my entire life. There have been times where I felt like a rock star and other times in recent weeks where I really felt like I needed to work on my voice more because my range isn't what it used to be. Some of this is my fault, plain and simple, but some of it isn't. Humidity, climate change, and allergies can reek havoc on a singer's voice, not to mention stress, hormones and changes we go through physiologically. But don't despair, you aren't doomed. Mastering any art will have its ups and downs. Be patient, work through it and with time you'll surpass what you'd ever expected to be.
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