Anyone Can Sing: True or False?

What if the real reason people don’t sing isn’t lack of ability—but permission?

Today, we’re diving into a question that touches identity, education, and culture: Can anyone learn to sing? And why have so many been told they can’t?

Hey, it’s Josh—and welcome back to The Voice Science Podcast, where we cut through the noise and dig into what actually helps singers grow.

Today’s episode is something special. I’ll be reading a piece written by Timothy Wilds, one of the incredible teachers here at VoSci. Timothy’s perspective on who gets to be a singer—and why so many people get shut out—is powerful, personal, and timely.

And speaking of timely—VoSci Academy launches this Friday.

If you’ve ever doubted your ability to sing—or just never had the structure to improve—this is your moment. We’ve built VoSci Academy to give singers of all backgrounds the tools, guidance, and support to grow.

Founding Membership opens Friday and runs for just 10 days. You can learn more at voicescience.org, or hit the link in the show notes.

 

Here at VoSci, we love to delve deep into the hows and whys of singing because we believe knowledge can be liberating.

But on today’s episode, we’re gonna take a break from nuts and bolts and wrestle with the big, BIG questions: What is a singer? Are singers born or made? How is it that some folks believe they either can’t sing, or shouldn’t sing?

Before tackling these questions, let’s get back to basics with a few factual observations:

Singing is a basic form of human communication. It’s the cousin of our other phonatory activity, speech. The same anatomy is in play for both and they share characteristic similarities. For example, the speaking voice modulates pitch levels when expressing emotions and for dramatic emphasis. Singing does likewise but involves attention to specific pitch designations plus we sustain the pitches longer than we do in speech. Those pitch designations often require travel outside one’s general speech range.

Singing was once a part of people’s everyday life. This was particularly true before the advent of recorded sound. If you wanted music in your life, you made it yourself. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention,” or in this case “the mother of phonation.” People sang to enrich their lives. They sang when they worked, sang at school, sang in public houses, sang at military and political events, sang at religious meetings. Singing was a significant part of most communal activities.

Now that access to recorded music is effortless, it’s easier to be a music consumer than a music maker. I can’t help but wonder if more people listen to singers than sing themselves. Listening to a great performer is fun and inspiring and I am not suggesting we stop doing so. I’m just concerned that too many let others, namely the professionals, do their singing for them. Why? Because if you define what it means to be a singer by professional standards, no wonder so many people say, “I don’t sing.”

What is a singer, anyway? A singer is someone who can create musical sounds with their voice. Notice that the definition says “someone,” not just a professional; “musical sounds,” not Grammy-winning vocals. When we reconnect with the basics, it’s not too much to say that anyone can learn to sing.

Now you may be saying, “That’s too big a promise. Do you really believe anyone can learn?” My honest response has to be a qualified “yes.” There are those, quite a small number of people, who can’t due to a physiological or neurological issue. Congenital amusia, commonly known as tone deafness or the inability to perceive and reproduce pitch, affects an estimated 1.5-4% of the population and severity varies. Aphonia, an inability to phonate, is a rare condition found in 0.4% of the population. These are serious and unfortunate conditions for which there is little to no treatment. Short of these or similar diagnoses, I believe it is possible for anyone to achieve a level of proficiency in the basics of singing.

Let’s talk about the idea of reaching a level of proficiency. Truth be told, no one finds the word “proficiency” particularly exciting or motivating. The problem isn’t the word. We’ve forgotten what it actually means. The word proficient is built from two Latin words, the prefix “pro,” meaning “forward,” and the verb “facere,” meaning “to make.” Becoming proficient at anything requires “making forward progress.” Reaching a level of proficiency means gradually acquiring a skill.

So this brings us to the skill versus talent question. What is talent anyway and where does it come from? Determining the exact source of talent has preoccupied thinkers for ages. There are those who think it is a pure myth. Others believe it is an inexplicable genetic predisposition unearthed through early childhood experiences. But that’s not enough. The most critical step in the process is deliberate, consistent, and focused practice, in other words, becoming proficient.

Clearly, from everything I’ve said so far, I remain convinced that basic singing–something that should be done and enjoyed by all–has become an elusive activity for some.

So, how did we arrive at the place where some folks think they can’t or shouldn’t sing? What evidence do I have to make such a claim?  I currently have the pleasure of helping several older adult students return to singing after years of exile. As children or teens they were told by someone older that “You can’t sing,” and they closed the door for decades. Now they are returning to take back what should never have been denied them. What basis did they have for silencing them?

Before taking on that question, I want to add another layer of perspective by sharing a quote from an anonymous author: “[It’s frustrating] how baseline human activities like singing, dancing and making art got turned into skills instead of being seen as behaviors. So now it’s like ‘the point of doing them is to get good at them’ and not ‘this is a thing humans do, the way birds sing and bees make hives.” As a voice trainer, I squirmed a bit over the author’s take on ‘skills’ and ‘doing them to get good at them,’ but get the point of their argument. How did singing, a “baseline human activity,” get exclusive?

Anyone excluded from singing was probably a victim of the fallacy that only those with vocal talent should sing. This is simply not the case. Having some natural musical ability may make the journey easier but talent is not a prerequisite for learning to sing. Singing is a learned skill.

I hope my argument so far has intrigued you to at least consider that everyone desires the right to learn to sing. But what does learning to sing entail? It’s training in two worlds: musicianship and vocal production. The skills you acquire there are used in the singing of songs.

I am an active voice trainer and here’s the unvarnished truth: I have students who are not interested in what I just described. They are not looking for a level of proficiency in singing. They arrive wanting to sing a specific song like a specific artist. Now and then, resulting from hours of trial and error, a student comes along who can reach the goal. However, they are the exception, not the rule. Most students don’t realize the extraordinary demands of the song or the years of training that allow the recording artist to meet them. In essence, they arrive thinking they are ready for training at the elite level but they are not proficient in the basics of singing, which used to be a rather common skill among people.

I use the word common, not in the disparaging British sense, but as ‘something familiar, or shared by many.’ For centuries, there was an understanding of the common vocal range of everyday people. The average vocal range of most communal songs (ex., pub songs and folksongs of the British isles, work songs, spirituals, traditional Christian hymns, and American popular and protest songs before 1970) is one octave or as much as an octave and a perfect fourth. Some of the most unforgettable songs reside within this common vocal range, for example: Happy Birthday, Knees Up Mother Brown, Scarborough Fair, The Erie Canal, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Amazing Grace, Over the Rainbow, What a Wonderful World, Blowin’ in the Wind.

When learning to sing, use sensible songs to start. Get good at these before getting carried away in your dream repertoire. These songs sit comfortably in the middle of a two-octave range, a completely accessible vocal range provided the singer is working cooperatively with the vocal mechanism—not against it—when moving from low to high.

When singing songs within this middle ground of the overall vocal range, singing is relatively easy. This is why students undertaking voice training should be open to learning and performing songs that live in the common vocal range. It is an excellent training ground before taking the steps to build skills for those songs that were built for next-level singing.

Just keep reminding yourself: voice training is a progression. Concepts build on each other. Likewise, the songs you are singing today should be preparing you for the next songs. It is unwise, and potentially confidence-crippling, to attempt to sing a middle-to-top tier song before having mastered those that live in the common vocal range. When a singer feels successful at the beginner level, they will be motivated for the long journey towards the songs they dream to sing.

Until then, it is vital for everyone to reclaim the right to sing. Sing at home. Sing in the car. Join a communal singing group. It doesn’t matter what you sing. But consider singing songs that are in the middle of your voice for maximum ease and fun. When the mood hits, go ahead and try your hand at “Living on a Prayer,” or “Defying Gravity” or “Nessun Dorma.” But remember: Those are songs written for artists at the highest level. The vocal range lives far outside the common vocal range. With the training, you too might climb those mountains, but there’s a lot of great singing to do, now, down in the valley.

 

If today’s episode hit home, don’t forget—VoSci Academy launches this Friday.

Founding Membership is only open for 10 days, so if you’ve been waiting for the right moment to start or restart your vocal training, this is it.

Learn more at voicescience.org—and as always, keep singing smart.