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Do I Really Have A Crap Voice?

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Hi,

I sing as an amateur.  I joined a choir a little while back and one of the choir's more important members, their voice expert apparently, told me that I have a crap voice.  It's just a community choir - and they are OK, but not fabulous - in fact their first priority is, apparently, just to have fun.  Some people don't even hold key well.  So when I was told that my voice was crap there, well...I was pretty upset, considering the other people in the choir.  I thought she just meant the top half, but when I questioned her, she told me that the bottom half was crap too - so I guess that, according to her, my whole voice is crap.

This really, really upset me!  I know it shouldn't, but it does.  Singing is really important to me - I had a horrid childhood and singing was what kept me from giving up on life.  I also have a cleft palate, so I'm obviously not really supposed to be able to sing at all (I was told by Doctors that I couldn't be a model, actor or singer, but I should be able to do any 'normal' type of job), so of course, acting and singing in musical theatre is my favourite hobby.  I'm a little too contrary and determined for my own good!

I've put some home recordings (just on iPhone recorder - sorry - I don't have recording equipment), here.

Could you please tell me if I really have a crap voice, and if so, why?  I know it's not star material, but really don't hear it as crap.  I'm not Julie Andrews, nor am I expecting to be, but I do get cast in amateur music theatre roles, and I want to be good at singing.  I know I have a some nasality (that's the cleft palate, I'm afraid), I have a lot of very old tension that I'm working on getting rid of with a teacher, I have no resonance.  I presume I have a lot of other bad stuff, if my voice is really totally crap.  If you have to tell me bad news, that I really do have a crap voice, could you possibly be somewhat gentle about it??  I'm not particularly after polite lies, but I'm feeling miserable, so please just explain what is so wrong that my voice is crap, even compared to people who can't even hold a tune!

These are all works in progress, not performance standard.  My teacher tells me that I'm a lyric soprano.  Oh, and apparently, I'm rather exceptionally LOUD, which you can't tell from the recording - could be to do with the cleft palate, the metal plate that covers the front part of my hard palate or perhaps I'm naturally loud because my hearing is not 100% (my speech is on the loud side too - I never have difficulty with audiences hearing me :-) ).

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bbi4pa2agaybt03/20160122%20134614.m4a?dl=0

(set by my teacher - music theatre - working through my break)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2yeklqh2e09fxwy/20160119%20125338.m4a?dl=0

(not set by my teacher - my own experiment - apparently my voice does not have a pretty enough sound, so I'm trying to use this to emulate)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/epl28er0jd0ukwb/20160118%20140626.m4a?dl=0

(set by my teacher - to work on belt - only the last 60 seconds)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bt4a6x471rhlnrr/20160118%20134400.m4a?dl=0

(a belt mix - worked on for an amateur audition)

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No you dony have a crappy voice, sounds good. But i would guess you should work abit on your confidence, why? cause there wioll always be people who dislike your voice regardless of how good you get! Heck i i sometimes get to hear i dont sound good and im bloody amazing ;) so chill and have fun

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I've only listened to the first because I had to download it to hear it. I disagree with your second comment: I think your voice has a pretty sound. And if everything in singing is subjective, the sound of a voice is even much more! I truly do like yours.

 

I am also in a choir, in the lowest voice for female, and trying to be able to sing because the notes in the score are too high for me. :D

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Took a listen to the last sample (mix) and in my opinion you sound really good... The only part you were a bit more nasal to me sounded more like an intentional part of your interpretation, am I wrong in that regard?

Anyways, lets be rational, you sing well, maybe someone can say that its not their cup of tea because of their personal taste, but you sing well and this is undeniable. If someone within a group of singers, someone  that is supposed to be an expert, went out of his/her way to say this rather useless piece of information to you while the other folks can't sing in key (and therefore for all practical purposes don't yet know how to sing), I would say its most likely that the problem is really not you.

Keep working with your current teacher, and congrats for the work done so far btw. Send more songs when you can :)

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As it says at the top of the page, you need to link to a streaming player or player page. Box dot com gives you the player page link.

Many people here, such as myself, as well as the owner of the forum and others don't want to have to download a file to hear it. So, please, re-post them as player pages and if you have not paid the premium, there is a premium charge to have singing reviewed here. A single song fee and a yearly fee. The yearly fee is less than the price of one lesson. It averages out to the cost of 1 beer a month.

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@ronws:  sorry about that.  I thought it would stream from dropbox.  It does for me, but perhaps that because I own the box?  I don't have accounts at any of the listed sites.

Thank you all so much!  I guess I just wanted to hear from people who were unbiased.  My friends, of course, tell me I sound wonderful and fabulous (as friends are wont to do).  I know their opinion is considerably higher than the truth, but I didn't think I was that bad either.  I have worked very hard and determinedly for a very long time (I had a bad teacher to start with - my teacher now is very good).  It's difficult to ignore someone when they present as an expert, and she is rather nice to everyone else in the choir...so obviously it's just me she dislikes for some reason - I'll just try to avoid and ignore her - she sings in the alto section anyway.

The thing is, I would NEVER tell someone they suck at singing.  When people mention it to me, I just tell them I've been at it for a long time.  The guy I sit next to apologised for singing off-key, lol.  I just told him it doesn't matter because I just mentally put it in-key inside my head, which is basically true - I know what notes he's trying to sing, lol!  And I just don't tune to him - I kind of automatically tune to the backing and those in tune with that - it's no skin off my nose at all - I actually prefer to sit next to someone who is singing something different - I enjoy the harmony (even if it is off-key, lol!)  Other than that, he's a nice guy - I enjoy sitting next to him!!

Thank you again!  I'll try to ignore her, expert or not!!

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   Any teacher who tells you that you have a crap voice and does NOT give instructions to make it better is a bad teacher. Period.

   I trust the assessment of Jens and Felipe. They have no problems with telling someone that they sound bad. First hand experience. And they were correct.

   I did not hear you sing because of the download issue but any voice can improve. Confidence is the main sticking point for most people. Because of the lack of confidence they sing too low of a volume or do not give enough energy to the voice for it to work as it should.

   If your teacher is helping you and you can see progress(if this is the same teacher who said you have a crap voice) perhaps she was giving tough love and kicking you into working harder. Sometimes that approach works and sometimes not.

   As Jens said, even the best of singers are disliked by someone. I cannot listen to Celine Dion and I have been told she is fabulous. I just can't handle her for some reason.

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  • Administrator
2 hours ago, MDEW said:

Any teacher who tells you that you have a crap voice and does NOT give instructions to make it better is a bad teacher. Period.

Teachers that tell their students that they don't sing well, or "can't do it" are uninformed cowards that hide their own inability to meet their student's needs, by taking advantage of their authority so their students will buy off on their bullshit.

It is a way of not accepting accountability for what you don't know about the voice and how to train it, and pointing the finger back at your student, with a lie... it is shameful.

If any voice "teacher" ever tells you that you can't do it, or you will never be able to sing high notes because your a baritone, or you are just not cut out for this or for that... tell them to FO and ask for your money back.

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But it's not a teacher who is telling her that. It is a member of the choir, who is an "expert". We just don't know what kind of an expert she is. Some people think that by correcting others they automatically become experts, and then can sometimes do it just to keep on looking like experts. I think Felipe understood the situation very well, that the one who has issues in a casual choir like this, giving you such nasty comment, is that "expert". She probably would like to be singing alone. :D

Anyhow, I think the best for you is to just forget about this all, since that expert is fortunately very far away from you in the choir, and keep enjoying the experience.

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  • Administrator

I just wanted you to all know that Aucka has not paid for the review service. There is something wrong with the system, which is being worked on. Certain individuals have been able to bypass the premium "wall" and post in here without paying. So until further notice when we have the issue fixed, please contact me personally before you provide review feedback to insure that someone has paid.

In the meantime, I have asked Aucka to pay for the service and have given him a 50% off discount code, which would make it $25/year or $4/mth. Now that I have informed him of the situation and politely asked him to pay for the service, we'll see.

Thanks Team.

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  • Administrator
3 hours ago, Robert Lunte said:

I just wanted you to all know that Aucka has not paid for the review service. There is something wrong with the system, which is being worked on. Certain individuals have been able to bypass the premium "wall" and post in here without paying. So until further notice when we have the issue fixed, please contact me personally before you provide review feedback to insure that someone has paid.

In the meantime, I have asked Aucka to pay for the service and have given him a 50% off discount code, which would make it $25/year or $4/mth. Now that I have informed him of the situation and politely asked him to pay for the service, we'll see.

Thanks Team.

I wrote Aucka as well and offered the 50% discount. I also added some other kind words and am awaiting a reply...... (?)

@Aucka 

I did the conversion from U.S. Dollars to Australian currency for you and here's the cost(s) of a membership :

1 month - $ 5.64 Australian currency
1 year - $35.25 Australian currency


Not a bad deal :4:

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Everybody isn't going to like your voice, no matter who you are. If you go on to become a millionaire off of this stuff, there will still be people you haven't won over. Some will be negative and it won't even be because your technique is off, but because you're not doing what they like to hear. Either way, you can always improve your voice.

I'm wondering what kind of voice expert can't get any more descriptive with their feedback than telling you something like "the top and bottom halves of your voice are crap "...

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7 hours ago, Adolph Namlik said:

I wrote Aucka as well and offered the 50% discount. I also added some other kind words and am awaiting a reply...... (?)

@Aucka 

I did the conversion from U.S. Dollars to Australian currency for you and here's the cost(s) of a membership :

1 month - $ 5.64 Australian currency
1 year - $35.25 Australian currency


Not a bad deal :4:

Less than the price of one lesson. Less than the price of one beer per month.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/28/2016 at 0:07 PM, Adolph Namlik said:

I wrote Aucka as well and offered the 50% discount. I also added some other kind words and am awaiting a reply...... (?)

@Aucka 

I did the conversion from U.S. Dollars to Australian currency for you and here's the cost(s) of a membership :

1 month - $ 5.64 Australian currency
1 year - $35.25 Australian currency


Not a bad deal :4:

The one year deal, that is about half to less than half the price of one lesson in the US. A year worth of input and review for less than one lesson.

You can't even get guitar lessons that cheap.

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