Okay, so I have come to a point where I start to doubt whehter I could ever have a voice like a normal classical singer. I know many people may have asked this question already, but is it possible that some people are just not made to become singers? Is it possible that my voice is just hopeless? I've been singing for five years and I've been taking lessons. I have almost everything except a good voice--I can sight-read very well, stay in tune, learn new music quickly, and I have even overcome a great deal of my stage fright and can do better in actual performances than in practicing. Most importantly, I LOVE singing and I know I will keep singing, and I cannot imagine a life without experiencing music and making music.
That said, however, reality has to be faced. My voice is just hopeless. It is thin and plain, and it pretty much consists of my speaking voice and a few high notes (up to a B, but not the soprano C unless I'm screaming). I cannot blend my voice in the middle--I've tried, for FIVE YEARS, under two different voice teachers, and still cannot do it well. I sing alto in all my choirs, not because I am truly an alto, but because I cannot sing the soprano notes well enough. In truth, my alto notes are not much better, because I sound like a pop singer or simply a speaker among all my fellow altos, whose rich and beautiful voices are at least twice as loud. As much as I love my choirs, it is usually a terrible vocal experience for me, because I can barely go up to an octave above middle C after singing low notes for a while. I know exactly how the music and my voice should sound like, but that's not what comes out of my mouth.
If you hear me sing, you would not know that I have been taking lessons and training my voice classically, and you would not believe how much effort & time I have put into it. I practice almost every single day, or at least I sing every day, and I have a BURNING desire to sing like a soprano and sail up there. I would probably make a fine pop or rock singer, but too bad I love classical music and operas, and I want to have a voice with which I can set myself free and "sing my heart out", so to speak. Now some people think I'm taking this too seriously, but really, if I don't have such an overwhelming desire to improve my voice so I can sing whatever I want to sing, why on earth would I have kept going for five years without seeing a hint of success? I'm not a professional musician and I have to sacrifice many things to keep singing, but I don't regret that. The only thing that frustrates me is the fact that I'm not improving and it looks like I never will.
This has become a rather long post...but I'm really desperate. I just want to know if I'm completely hopeless, and should probably give up my opera fantasies and try other styles of music instead. I've heard that it takes some great singers more than ten years to get to where they are. That may be true, but they may have talents I don't have, and maybe five more years would still not make a difference for me. I know many people, my fellow voice students,for example, who have beautiful voices since childhood, and who could do what I've been trying to do without any effort or training. Should I just accept what life has given me, should I move on, or am I just crazy?