Every vocal student that passes through the door of my studio needs to understand that this quote by James Allen is ultimately what will assist them in their journey to becoming the kind of singer they are aspiring to be.  In order to become an amazing singer, you have to change the way you think about yourself.

“I can’t sing.”

“I will never be able to stand on stage and sing a song in front of an audience.”

“I will never be able to sing like a professional singer.”

Let’s deal with all three statements at once. 

Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”  Your attitude will determine what direction you journey in to obtain success or failure.  All three statements are based in the way the individual is thinking.  They are setting themselves up for failure.  They are determining, from the start, that they will not be able to successfully navigate their way through any solutions handed to them.  They have decided from the start that they will fail.

But this is not true. Anyone can learn to sing.  I remember going to a seminar and the speaker told us that he had never learned how to play an instrument when he was young.  That he only started learning about music in university.  That when he started singing, he could not even hit the correct notes, but there he was singing and playing the piano, wonderfully. How was this possible?  He believed he could learn if someone showed him how.

Maya Angelou said, “do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.”  Maya Angelou was an extremely talented woman but she would have been the first one to tell you that there were other amazing singers out there.  She did not allow that fact to stop her in 1957 from performing and creating her own album, Miss Calypso, and in 1954-1955 be part of the Porgy and Bess off Broadway production.  

Earl Nightingale said, “Whenever we’re afraid, it’s because we don’t know enough.  If we understood enough we would never be afraid.”  Fear will always keep us from going in the direction we want to go in if we allow it.  We can come up with thousands of reasons why we cannot do something.  But this will not change the fact that if we apply ourselves to learn more, we can accomplish the task at hand.  We can do the things we want to do no matter how ridiculous, outlandish or seemingly impossible it may be.  We just have to learn how.

I have watched vocal students finally let go of the fear and allow themselves to whole heartedly go for it and I have witnessed the unique, beautiful, strong and influential voice emerge.                      

Yes you need to practice the vocal techniques diligently 

Yes you need to push past the nerves and sing anyways

Yes you need to give yourself permission to feel the songs you want to sing

Yes you need to work on song selection 

Yes you need to allow yourself to sing in front of people even before you think you sing well 

Yes you need to deal with the fact that people may not like your style of singing or even your voice (so what) 

Yes you need to give yourself permission to make mistakes

Yes you need to remember that no one else on this earth has a voice like yours

Anyone endeavoring to become a singer needs courage, persistence, heart and grace. You need to remember that the way you think about yourself as a singer, will influence the outcome. You are always in control whether you are positive or negative.  You are directing traffic. You are the gardener.  

 If you are willing to not allow fear to guide your decisions, and commit to learning more about how to sing, you WILL be able to sing, by relaxing just enough to allow your body to effortlessly release the beautiful sound that can only come from the depth of YOUR soul.

Take care,

Roxanne Goodman

The Confidence Booster