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Is there such a thing as a natural singing voice?

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TheHopefulBaritone

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I recently watched a youtube vocal coach who claimed that if you sing with your "natural voice", correct pitch rhythm etc of course, then people will like your voice, even more so than when you attempt to  alter your voice to fit into what you think is something that sounds good.

Being that language and accents are artificial constructs, and your vocals are definitely coloured by the way that you pronounce vowels and consonants is this at all true? Personally I think it's nonsense - there are any number of British/English singers who sound nothing like their spoken voice and are massively successful.  I think some people are lucky - their pronunciation and voice colours lend themselves to singing. In my own case I have found that I'm having to work very hard to alter some of my vowels and consonants to get the sound l like while at the same time trying to maintain a relaxed open throat. The way I speak has a definite negative impact on my singing voice. Funnily enough I actually like my voice best in the range of f#4 to c#5 (my absolute highest note) because I'm having to sing with minimal consonants and maximum vowels. It's in the area below that when my horrible speaking voice starts to emerge  :)

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Are you talking Classical or Contemporary? You mentioned "open throat", which is a more classical technique, so I wanted to clarify.

Either way, singing vowels resonate in a different location than speech vowels. In both techniques, they're lifted up to the palates. Contemporary is further forward, edging towards the hard palate. And Classical is deeper in the soft palate, focused on a more open throat and the pharynx. There is Speech Level Singing as well, but that's basically just speaking in pitch, severely limits the voice, and doesn't use the proper support for solid, resonant or powerful singing.

Have you ever seen the "One guy 43 voices" on YouTube? I often use it as an example of how you can choose your voice. Sure, you have a natural vocal tract shape that's unique to you. In the video, you can still his some of his unique timbre coming through with each voice. However, all 43 voices are different shapes he's choosing to make. Different sound colors, different places to anchor his vowels along his palates, different muscle groups constricting, different levels of raising the soft palate or dampening the larynx, and the list goes on. Granted, he doesn't quite pull off Opera vocal mode, but that is known to take many years of training to do correctly.

To refer to what you said, it's choosing different language accents. Singing vowels are already placed differently than speech, so you're already singing in a different accent from the start. From there, it's your choice.

 

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Just to be clear I meant contemporary - I use open throat in more a general way ie not to constrict when moving up through the registers rather than specifically a genre like classical or bel canto(?)

Here's the video - 

We learn so many things by using mimicry like art, playing musical instruments or even sport ... why would singing be any different? If I was Russian I might have a totally different vocal sound despite having the same physical vocal tract. I've had at least one singing teacher and one choir leader talk about this magic natural sound - shouldn't get so worked up about it but it's bugging me quite a lot lately :lol:

I have seen that 43 voices video - he does nail some singers but others less so but it is really interesting as to what you can do with your voice. You'll never actually sound like your heroes unless you have the exact same physical dimensions of skull, cranial spaces etc. If Mark Martel is probably the best Mercury impersonator around. If he grew a mustache could actually pass for Freddie Mercury I reckon

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That video is less about finding your "natural singing voice", technically speaking, and more about being confident in yourself. You definitely choose and shape your singing voice. But at what point do you stop trying to please everyone, and settle into a voice that you feel best allows you to express the emotion and message you want to express? You can train for a huge variety of sound colors, placements, range, etc. That's still a different thing than settling into a brand for your voice that captures what you would like to capture.

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 I don't understand the purist thing about trying to encourage people not to be influenced by other singers. I guess there is a certain configuration where a lot of things happen easily, but what's wrong with wanting to sound like somebody else, if that's what pleases you, rather than trying to please somebody else. You don't need to sound exactly like somebody, down to every last detail, for it to be clear that you sound somewhat like them.

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I think u can easily get into 'chasing your tail' with some of the many manipulations that can be made. In a way, the more you know, the more crazy you can get lol. IMO, once u really start messing with vowel mods u start flirting with disaster. I guess its like the old commercial "a little dab will do ya"

When I hear "natural" voice I think of someone like Paul Rogers. Paul has always sounded about the same. The other side of the coin is a Prince, who likes to see how many different sounds he can get. Im way closer to the Prince approach...always searching and trying things

 

 

there are many people who can sing and never dreamed of having a lesson. How many young kids come up in church where everyone sings and its no big deal. They sing just as natural as they ride a bike

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One odd thing is that your natural speaking voice is far from natural. We all have habits and tensions caused by environment that effect how we speak and sound. One big one is accent but also our emotions and how we handle. suppress or express stress and even good emotions effect how we "Naturally" use our voices. I could mention a few stereotypes as example but would surely be challenged by others for just mentioning them even though it would only be to show an example.

A lot of people will start speaking at a higher pitch when excited or angry, My voice gets lower and deeper. Some people will speak on the edge of Falsetto with a real light and easy tone, others will use a heavy gravely voice. This depends on how you were treated and what you learned to do when coping with other people at an early age. But it is all still manipulation and adjustments for reasons, even if you do not know what those reasons are.

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4 minutes ago, JonJon said:

14 years old

 

Good example. Her Father was a preacher and her mother a pianist and singer.  She had a childhood where singing was a daily activity and was encouraged. 

I am not so sure she would have the same voice if she was constantly being told to keep quiet,made fun of or chided for her singing.  I grew up in a time and place where singing was for wimps and sissies. Kind of odd for me because 3 years earlier for my brother it was a badge of honor with the classmates(we were never at the same school at the same time). Environment makes a difference in how we speak and sing(barring training of course).

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I don't think it is possible to not be influenced and inspired by other singers. Therefore, we all will be to some extent or another.

It is true that speech phonetics will influence a singer's voice, especially beginners, but once you begin to get some motor skills and strength going for yourself, it begins to be less and less of an issue, until at some point, it is not a influencing factor at all. For most people, that actually practice... it doesn't take long to get past that stage. If all your doing is watching YouTube videos looking for "free secret tips" and not training, you will never get anywhere regardless of what you are wanting to achieve. 

I believe there is merit to the notion that everyone has a unique sound color to their voice and if we learn to amplify the unique colorization of our voices, that in itself, is arguably enough to sound great. You don't have to lean toward character voicing to sound great or become a great singer, and I would advise avoiding that. DO find YOUR voice and be careful not to get side-tracked with "how to sing ..." like someone else videos. In small doses, its inspiring and fun to see, but as a more serious endeavor, you are way off track by doing this. 

 

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55 minutes ago, MDEW said:

One odd thing is that your natural speaking voice is far from natural. We all have habits and tensions caused by environment that effect how we speak and sound. One big one is accent but also our emotions and how we handle. suppress or express stress and even good emotions effect how we "Naturally" use our voices. I could mention a few stereotypes as example but would surely be challenged by others for just mentioning them even though it would only be to show an example.

A lot of people will start speaking at a higher pitch when excited or angry, My voice gets lower and deeper. Some people will speak on the edge of Falsetto with a real light and easy tone, others will use a heavy gravely voice. This depends on how you were treated and what you learned to do when coping with other people at an early age. But it is all still manipulation and adjustments for reasons, even if you do not know what those reasons are.

That's absolutely true, and it's also my story.

Until I was 21 (just before I started singing), my shy and bullied self had made my speaking voice soft/fragile (more high than low) like a Chinese vase.

I had no idea I had an insanely low/powerful/resonant/ baritone voice hidden inside.

When I started to sing, it was an incredible discovery. I was sure I was "going to be a tenor". It just didn't make any sense.

So, the question that still bugs me is: which voice is the natural one? My fragile speaking voice that I used throughout most of my life? Or the low baritone voice that comes out when I sing? Or maybe none of the previous answers?

I think that this "natural voice" thing, as you said, is very complex and hard to get.

 

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2 minutes ago, r00dris said:

That's absolutely true, and it's also my story.

Until I was 21 (just before I started singing), my shy and bullied self had made my speaking voice soft/fragile (more high than low) like a Chinese vase.

I had no idea I had an insanely low/powerful/resonant/ baritone voice hidden inside.

When I started to sing, it was an incredible discovery. I was sure I was "going to be a tenor". It just didn't make any sense.

So, the question that still bugs me is: which voice is the natural one? My fragile speaking voice that I used throughout most of my life? Or the low baritone voice that comes out when I sing? Or maybe none of the previous answers?

I think that this "natural voice" thing, as you said, is very complex and hard to get.

 

This is a good point. The answer is that ALL OF THEM is your natural voice. Use what is called for or what makes the best effect at the time. HOW to do that comes from the training and experimentation and use. Your soft fragile voice which is great for high notes was developed in your younger years. The beefy powerful voice can be developed also. Will this ultimately change your"Natural" fragile voice? Probably. But it will still be YOUR NATURAL VOICE.

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Edit to my last post. Yes you can go overboard with manipulation and SOUND like you are faking a low or high voice. But you can still have it sound natural once you become comfortable with using it. You won't be making your voice SOUND lower you will learn how to speak and sing lower/higher. 

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4 hours ago, r00dris said:

I think that this "natural voice" thing, as you said, is very complex and hard to get.

I did not mean to make it sound complex or hard, it is not. Different situations will have us use our voices differently yet natural.   In relatively calm conversations we may slip into the voice that we have developed to cope with our personal life style and "personality"  we want to represent(or the personality that was developed in us through no fault of our own), but there are times when we have unconscious reactions and maybe Bark orders, cry out, sigh, moan, try to speak through uncontrollable laughter, grumble, speak through frustration........All of these things will make your voice sound different but all completely NATURAL....You are not TRYING to make your voice sound different it just does. 

When we are young we tend to get stuck in whatever emotion or temperament that did us the most good or helped us deal with home situations. Some people found that being loud and obnoxious helped them get what they wanted or needed, others found it more useful to be quiet and unassuming to avoid problems, many other situations to explain how we got stuck or developed our voices. Long story short is that all those voices are still in there they just haven't been used as much as your soft fragile voice at this point but they are still natural when accessed. 

My own situation is that I learned to talk soft and low so I would just be heard by the person I was talking to. Most people say I mumble. The sound is in the back of my throat and does not carry. I had no desire to be heard by everybody in the room because it would be used against me(this came from hearing people relate things that were supposed to in confidence but were over heard by other people in the room). This may be fine for singing songs in the low range but to sing higher you must use a brighter sound that carries to the back of a room.  I have cousins who ended up with loud shrill voices because they grew up in a home where they needed to be loud all the time because they lived next to a saw mill. They have no trouble with the CALL of the voice that is related to yelling but have trouble when it comes to being soft and gentle.

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the first thought that comes to mind if you dont like your overall voice or u feel u were disadvantaged voice wise. Find ONE voice that you like. In other words, find ONE vocal setup, one style, one range etc etc. Either a strong belty chest voice, or a something that feels more like a low head voice all the time etc. get that one style really solid and let that be your base. When I think of a guy like Huey Lewis I just think of that one voice. Pretty much the same all the time

and im no speech therapist but if u hate the way u talk or whatever......change it. No different than a fat kid from a fat family who wants to get in shape. If u talk too high, slow down and bring it down some. If u talk to low and grind on your cords all day, then make a point of moving the voice up higher out of your low throat

Me personally im probably on the opposite path. I dont necessarily HATE my voice so I experiment all over the place. (I hate parts of it like the low chest voice when it gets too close to speaking voice, ugggh,lol). So I dont have that ONE voice that I go to on all my songs etc. Im all over the map and I sort of train that way, trying to at least touch on all aspects of the sounds that can be made. When I think of guys like David Bowie and Mick Jagger, I dont really think of any ONE particular voice. Chris Cornell also comes to mind....very hard to typecast him because he liked to do a little of everything

So far my "natural" tendency has been to be slightly "back" towards the back of my throat and also when I go higher I have started really favoring really closed sounds. Its nice for what it is but one of the sounds I really want is that chesty David Lee Roth type of belt so now I am starting to work on getting more forward and way more open

Its no different than golf. if you are struggling and spray the ball all over the place, develop ONE "go to" shot and make it the basis of your game

 

Peace, JJ

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5 hours ago, JonJon said:

the first thought that comes to mind if you dont like your overall voice or u feel u were disadvantaged voice wise. Find ONE voice that you like. In other words, find ONE vocal setup, one style, one range etc etc. Either a strong belty chest voice, or a something that feels more like a low head voice all the time etc. get that one style really solid and let that be your base. When I think of a guy like Huey Lewis I just think of that one voice. Pretty much the same all the time

and im no speech therapist but if u hate the way u talk or whatever......change it. No different than a fat kid from a fat family who wants to get in shape. If u talk too high, slow down and bring it down some. If u talk to low and grind on your cords all day, then make a point of moving the voice up higher out of your low throat

Me personally im probably on the opposite path. I dont necessarily HATE my voice so I experiment all over the place. (I hate parts of it like the low chest voice when it gets too close to speaking voice, ugggh,lol). So I dont have that ONE voice that I go to on all my songs etc. Im all over the map and I sort of train that way, trying to at least touch on all aspects of the sounds that can be made. When I think of guys like David Bowie and Mick Jagger, I dont really think of any ONE particular voice. Chris Cornell also comes to mind....very hard to typecast him because he liked to do a little of everything

So far my "natural" tendency has been to be slightly "back" towards the back of my throat and also when I go higher I have started really favoring really closed sounds. Its nice for what it is but one of the sounds I really want is that chesty David Lee Roth type of belt so now I am starting to work on getting more forward and way more open

Its no different than golf. if you are struggling and spray the ball all over the place, develop ONE "go to" shot and make it the basis of your game

 

Peace, JJ

Great advice JonJon,

 For those who(at this point in the game) do not believe they have a good sounding Natural voice, i was letting people know that all those expressions of emotion and the different sounds that go with them, are a way to find the good sounding natural voice. Some people think they have no choice but sound the way they do and it is really just a matter of changing an attitude.

If you are sitting in your room silently singing to yourself trying to get better, you will not make much progress because being loud and moving air with enough pressure to move the vocal cords is the first step. And yes, I would advise imitating other singers, This natural voice thing is not about not singing like other singers but not SOUNDING like other singers. If you are singing LIKE Adele you will not sound like Adele but imitating her will allow you to find different qualities to your voice. When you are imitating for the purpose of Training or practicing......really imitate meaning say the words the way the other artist says them. For instance if the words are " I want you" and the singer sounds like she/he is saying " A Won't yo"  Sing " a Won't yo". There is a reason for it.

Use your emotions to find other voices or qualities to your voice. If you are pissed off at your boss or brother/sister whatever.....find a nice place to VENT and let them have it...But pay attention to how your voice sounds and what your body is doing to create that sound. Use frustration or wining in the same way.....Pay attention to the difference in sound qualities while doing this. But be loud also. If you are the type with a quiet high voice try this on low notes......you will be surprised at how you CAN sound. 

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On 11/14/2017 at 3:59 AM, JonJon said:

 

and im no speech therapist but if u hate the way u talk or whatever......change it. No different than a fat kid from a fat family who wants to get in shape. If u talk too high, slow down and bring it down some. If u talk to low and grind on your cords all day, then make a point of moving the voice up higher out of your low throat

 

The funny thing about that is I used to have a huge speech impediment. I went to a speech pathologist and it didn't get any better. My friend told me I could learn to sing and when I started doing lessons, after 2 years, it was just gone. Wicked.

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1 hour ago, Gsoul82 said:

The funny thing about that is I used to have a huge speech impediment. I went to a speech pathologist and it didn't get any better. My friend told me I could learn to sing and when I started doing lessons, after 2 years, it was just gone. Wicked.

yeah, motor skills etc...more control and freedom. (freedom being the opposite of impediment)

 

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There is such a thing. Its why people can identify you from how you speak.

Similar to handwriting, a life-time of use develops gestures and traces that are unique to you and that you express without trying, they become "natural" for you. Its not like you were born with it, but you can not avoid it either.

There are many things we can learn, but training voices is not like painting on a blank canvas. You don't just go "humm I would like to train myself to sound like James Brown". 

Its a very good idea to work with it, rather than against it (or worse, ignoring it).

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40 minutes ago, Felipe Carvalho said:

There is such a thing. Its why people can identify you from how you speak.

Similar to handwriting, a life-time of use develops gestures and traces that are unique to you and that you express without trying, they become "natural" for you. Its not like you were born with it, but you can not avoid it either.

There are many things we can learn, but training voices is not like paiting on a blank canvas. You don't just go "humm I would like to train myself to sound like James Brown". 

Its a very good idea to work with it, rather than against it (or worse, ignoring it).

Its exactly like a golf swing. if you start from scratch playing golf and you go to the driving range and hit some balls for a couple of weeks, you will have natural tendencies in your swing that will be with you until you die lol. You can take a million lessons but there will still be remnants of whatever you started with

 

I think thats why we struggle with certain things in our singing. No matter how much we train etc we still hear those negative tendencies we dont like (even if no one else hears them lol). With me it is usually trying to "grip" too tight with the throat and then when I try to go higher in a phrase its like "oops, im stuck" lol

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