VOCALS
MUSIC LESSONS | Sheri Gould
So, you (or your child) want to be a better
singer? Well, one obvious way to develop
your skills is to get some sort of voice training.
These could be in a group, online, in a choir,
a community group, private voice lessons, etc.
While those are all great things to do, I want
to also recommend something you might not
have thought of: instrumental lessons of some
kind. “But I want to be a singer!” you (or your
child) protest. Yes, but you should also become
a musician.
CONFIDENCE
One of the things I find as I work with singers
all over the country, is that most of them have
zero musical training of any kind. This leaves
them at several disadvantages. The first one is
a lack of confidence. When someone becomes
a part of a musical team, such as we often find
in churches, there are typically lots of musicians
playing instruments and a few singers. Most of
the time the instrumentalists have at least some
training on their instruments. Most of them
can read music or at least understand a chord
chart. This is not true with the singers. Roughly
90% of the singers not only have no training
in singing, they know little to nothing about
reading music, arrangements, why and how
harmony works, etc. Because of this, they feel
insecure about what they can contribute. They
know they can sing, at least to some degree,
but beyond that, they feel they have to step
back and let the “real” musicians take the lead
on everything else.
For those of us who have studied music, we
know that a singer can be a musician. I would
even go a step further to say they should be
a musician if they want to be the best singer
they can be. I always maintain that we should
continue to grow as people, as Christians
and as musicians. Therefore, training should
never stop! Most folks who are singing on their
church’s team are doing so as volunteers and
are likely employed full time elsewhere. The idea
of going to school (or back to school) to start
studying music is not just an overwhelming
idea - it’s most likely an impossibility. However,
taking private lessons can often work to help
build skill and confidence.
OVERALL MUSIC SKILLS
Learning to play an instrument does many things
for an individual. The benefits are innumerable.
We know this to be true for children, but is it
also true for adults? Yes! Although children’s
minds are like pliable little sponges and can
very easily soak up the language of music,
adults can still benefit greatly. Learning to
read music, understand chord structure and
how to form harmonies can help adults to not
only exercise their minds but fill in many of the
gaps left by simply singing without truly having
a musical background. Many singers I know
wish they knew how to sing harmony, in fact
one of my best-selling DVDs is called “Harmony
and Improv”. Although it’s an effective hour of
teaching people how to develop the skill of
singing and finding harmony, it’s still only an
hour’s worth of training. If this were coupled
with weekly lessons on an instrument, the
singer’s growth would be greatly multiplied.
If you want to broaden your ability to sing
and create effective and beautiful harmonies,
you would need to study an instrument that
is capable of playing more than one note at
a time. This would include many stringed
instruments or keyboard. Wind instruments
are beautiful and can help to teach breath
support, intonation as well sight-reading and
sight singing. These are invaluable skills for
any singer. Learning any instrument can involve
sight-reading but learning to play a keyboard
or piano will also give you the experience of
getting to know both a bass and treble staff. So
learning any instrument can help!
I’d like to say a word about children. If you
have a son or daughter who shows a strong
interest in singing and perhaps has asked for
singing lessons, I would recommend that you
either have the child take an instrument first or
at least simultaneously. This will be a great way
to ensure that they become adept at music
overall - not just vocal technique. If they choose
to study music in the future it will only help
them. Even as a vocal performance major they
will have to minor in some type of instrument (or
exempt out of it by proficiency). I recommend
piano as the perfect starting point.
God Bless you as you sing for Him!
Sheri Gould
Sheri is an internationally acclaimed vocal coach.
She’s been helping artists and worshipers find their
voice for over 40 years. For help and resources visit
her site.
www.SheriGould.com
50 July 2020
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