Why Can't Everyone Be A Good Singer?

While some are gifted with superb singing power, everyone can try his or her voice from humming to high-pitch singing.

- G.V.Joshi

What is singing? It is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, by the use of sustained tones, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques.

A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music with or without accompaniment of musical instruments like tabla and harmonium or violin or both. Singing is often performed by a group of musicians, or singers with or without a group of instrument players called orchestra. Singers may perform as soloists, or accompanied by anything from a single instrument or an orchestra or a band.

Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised. It may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, guidance, and regular practice and practice followed by more practice called ‘Riaz’ in musician’s jargon.

Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific musical genre or field, such as classical or light classical, although there are singers with success in more than one genre. They typically take voice training provided by voice teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers.

But we all have a voice so, why can’t we all sing? Yes, everybody can sing, to a degree, except perhaps mutes. Everyone has a sense of rhythm, to a degree, but we can’t all be tabla players like Alla Rakha or Suresh Talwalkar or Zakir Hussain. Can anyone sing if properly trained?