Learning to Sing - Do the Idols Just Do It?

Many want to learn to sing, so do most Singers use Music Theory or do they just get up on American Idol and make it happen?

Without asking each one individually we can't find out there level of music knowledge. But you have to guess that they either intuitively know some of the theory such as rhythm and pitch or they have an awareness of the underlying music elements that contribute to their being signers and performers.

I was never taught how to use my voice. Sure there were the early years when you didn't know any better and you just joined in. For many of us, more than I care to mention, we were just never shown or encouraged enough to sing or to get any good at it.

An American Idol Example

On the 2009 American Idol show both Paula and Simon made comments about one of the performances as being "karaoke like" or a mimic of a what the original performer had created. In other words they did not own the performance.

This is a problem that all want to be singers have to face. We have to ask, just how do I own my performances and give the audience my personality and vision of a song.

Finding a way for the rest of us to work on our aspirations of singing is all about becoming aware of how we relate music theory concepts with singing. It can be one of the first steps in accomplishing a goal towards making ourselves better singers.

Not Necessary, But what if?

The technical music elements are not a necessity when it comes to singing, but my guess is that natural talent will only take you so far before you plateau and become just another mediocre singer.

Now people really do have natural talent and they get along ways in their careers. Most often relying on others that know theory to compose and arrange for them. However it's the signers that compose and create their own music that you have the most admiration.

I always wonder if they applied music theory to their craft just how much better they could become. I can think of many examples of those that know and understand theory to craft a variety of styles of songs.

Both Elton John and James Taylor are prime examples of the musicians that know the craft and music theory. Just take a look at any great artists discography and you'll quickly realize that they have a grasp of music theory as either composer or player.

Thoughts on Music Theory and Singing

One of the first things that comes to mind is that if you want to learn or compose a song for a singer you better be able to read music. You need to know note values, note symbols, timing, rhythm, tempo and a host of other music elements to be effective at it.

Even in the typical start to singing notes with 'do ray me, etc' the singing lesson it is a major scale you are singing. It would be nice to know the difference between a major and minor scale as well as the key for which you are singing the notes for songs.

If your into studying singing, don't let the opportunity of learning music theory pass you by it will help improve your skills and knowledge. It can and will serve you well in your endeavor.

Find out more perspectives on learning to sing and lessons on music theory at http://mlblog.musiclearningworkshop.com/36/learning-to-sing and explore further working with music theory.

Brad Chidester develops resources at the Music Learning Workshop where you can find several workbooks designed to accelerate your music theory study at http://www.MusicLearningWorkshop.com/getting-it-down-cold-workbooks.html to support accelerated learning of music.