Vocal Buffet: All You Can Sing? Maybe... But Ever So Carefully…

To my knowledge, at least 90 percent of the population loves to sing.

Some of them are doing it for recreational purposes; others say that they do it for recreational purposes, but secretly hope that one day, someday, they will become singing stars. And lastly, the other category simply consider themselves to be already professional singers, as they occasionally perform in different venues and sometimes, they even get some remuneration.

In this blog, I will refrain from talking about the real professionals with names and reputations, however, even they could stand some extra mentoring and instruction and not only vocal instruction per se.

However, out of 90% of singing lovers, only 3 to maximum, 5% would make it to the big stage.

Why is that, you may ask?

There is a bouquet of reasons, which pertain to that occurrence.

First of all, before reaching any heights at all, the majority of those wannabe singers end up with a variety of vocal problems.

Some of them are trying to become Opera singers, while having no prerequisite for it whatsoever.

Why only do we have a handful of Opera singers known to the world?

Because, in my opinion, you have to be born with more than an extra-large vocal box, long, thick and strong vocal cords, healthy larynx, highly arched upper pallet and a big mouth (inner and outer) opening, to say the least.

It’s like a classic style Ballerina requires to have their arms and legs at a certain length and very ‘good feet’ i.e. with a very high instep (arch), so they could hold their weight on their toes.

Usually, in both fields, those components are given with birth, and then, combined with the proper training. That is how the star is born.

It is simply a combination of naturally given talent and excellent training. The lack of either of those prerequisites (especially the above described) may, for instance, finish one’s singing career even before it actually takes off.

So, evidently, not everybody could become an Opera Singer or a Rock Star, and if they are trying to do so without the given components from birth and with no training, the vocal injury will most likely take place.

Any given singer should have a check with reality before they start singing “escapades”. They need to assess their abilities and not jump right away to the very hard tunes with the very high notes.

The size and proportions of one’s body, the size of the mouth opening (inside and out), the facial structure, the size of the lips – all have to do with the proper, full and sufficiently toned sound.

The voice is the muscle and it has to be trained correctly.

If the size of the vocal box is not adequate, the wannabe opera, pop or rock singer most likely cannot be trained to reach a highly professional level.

However, some pop styles and country styles could be achievable with even (not exactly) perfect vocal anatomy.

It is like a classic ballet dancer (due to not suitable body type) can still dance pretty much in any genre, but not the classical Ballet, where there are special parameters of the body required, but not always can be met. This is either because of the "bad feet", low arch and low instep, the proportions of the upper and lower body, lengths of the arms and legs and/or the body flexibility. 

So know your limits and work on their expansion, but ever so carefully and not without professional supervision, as otherwise, you may be asking for trouble i.e. voice loss or vocal injury which could easily produce voice damage to the point of no return.