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Time it takes to sing a song decently?

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Doozywu

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Hi guys, few questions here D:

1) When I first sang this one song, I sounded awful, is it normal to sound really bad at singing a song on your first try?

2) It took me awhile to actually sing the one song until it didn't sound awful, I started singing this one song back in January time. However, I only sang like once or twice a month (if lucky a few times) on average for an hour/half hour, or sometimes never because I only sing when no one is in my house due to shyness. Is it normal to have to spend that long on a song?

3)What is the average amount of time it takes to sing a song decently? I kind of think that because it took me that long to actually sing the song to the level it is now, it's like cheating/doesn't count/ not my actual singing voice if that makes sense

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1) yes if the song is difficult for you.

2) it depends on the song. i have a very hard original song i've been working on for years and there are other songs i can sing well the first time through because they are well within my range and style, and everything in between.

3) hard to pinpoint an average because it's entirely dependent on difficulty. i would say weeks for someone who practices very frequently, and then for you since you practice a lot less, months.

But taking a long time to sing a song well, even years of daily practice - is still not cheating. It's just working on a song that is difficult you which is actually a very good thing for your vocal development. By the time you can sing it well, you will find that you can learn songs of similar difficulty in a way shorter time than that.

Generally your voice will benefit the most out of songs that sound promising when you first sing them but are still too rough to perform. Then about the second or third practice they sound "decent" then after about 5-10 sessions of practice they will be polished up and ready for performance and they will sound great. So for you we're looking at about a half a year, but you can work on several songs in one practice session so that could help speed up your progress.

But if you are more interested in gathering a large repertoire of songs you are able to sing, find ones that are easier for you to sing on the first try, that way you can learn many in a shorter time, for you, probably a few songs per month. The technical ability of your voice will not develop as much by working only on easy songs, but it will leave you with more material you are able to perform with quality, even if they aren't vocally impressive. So it just depends on what your goals are.

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like everyone has said........it all depends on the song and your current level of development......

i've learned songs in a half hour, and others remain challenging, never really getting to comfortable....you reach competence, but each performance is a test of your vocal ability.

some songs have some built in wiggle room and others leave little room for error.

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I would encourage you to find more time to practice. Practicing only a few times a month will yield for you very little (if any) improvement in your ability. You may get better at a song because you are becoming more familiar with it, but you're not really going to be doing much for your vocal ability. Singing would get more frustrating over time because any amount of improvement that you made in your last practice session would be lost if too much time lapses in between sessions. Practicing at least 3 or 4 times a week at 30 minutes each will yield better results for you. But I would also advise that you not try to cram those 3 or 4 sessions into one session. 3 or 4 times per week at 30 minutes is not the same as one 90-120 minute session. The results are not going to be as effective if you cram, and you would just end up hurting your voice.

The goal is not just to be familiar with the notes and rhythms and how well you sing them. The goal is for the song to be comfortable on YOUR voice. You need to sing the song with the nuances and individual style that only you can bring to the song. The only way to do that is to get to know it - intimately. The only way to get to know the song intimately is to spend some time with it. Lots of time.

Hope that helps! :)

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Thanks, Bob. And I was just thinking, even though my aim is to make my singing "easier," that word might give people the wrong image. Getting the alignments right leads to a consisistency of performance, easy or not.

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