It is true that belting with poor technique can be damaging, but healthy belting exists. Learning to belt without constriction, by using great breath control and retracting what’s called your false vocal folds, is both healthy and widely used by artists with long careers. First and foremost, it’s important to listen to your body when you sing in any style. Singing should feel comfortable, and you should back off and regroup when you start to feel tension.

While children should not work rigorously to extend their range before puberty, kids should absolutely start voice lessons early. Think of it this way: if your child shows interest in singing, she or he will sing, regardless of whether signed up for lessons. Wouldn’t it be better to form good habits and healthy technique early? The Pennsylvania Academy of Otolaryngology has this to say about childhood voice lessons:

“Voice abuse during childhood may lead to problems that persist throughout a lifetime. It is extremely important for children to learn good vocal habits, and for them to avoid voice abuse. This is especially true among children who choose to participate in vocally taxing activities such as singing, acting and cheerleading. Many promising careers and vocal avocations have been ruined by enthusiastic but untrained voice use. For children with vocal interests, age-appropriate training should be started early.”

There is nothing physical or mental standing in the way of your learning. Adults can make astounding improvements just like kids if they practice diligently and regularly.

Yes! We love working with adults and offer a number of programs geared toward more mature students, including our Teen-Adult Showcases.

You name it! We tailor our music lessons to individual interest. That means if you’re passionate about pop singing, we’ll focus on commercial music. If you’ve always dreamed of going to Julliard and gracing the opera and symphony stages, we’ll give you a great classical education. If you’re Broadway-bound, we’ll teach you musical theatre. We don’t favor one style over another but rest assured, whatever you work on will be done with an emphasis on health, technique, and musicianship.

Only a tiny fraction of the population is actually tone-deaf. There’s a lot of coordination and muscle memory that goes into singing. A lack of visual and auditory feedback makes it even harder to develop this coordination. There’s nothing magical about learning to sing. It’s all about diligence and practice, and almost everyone can learn.

Well, your school choir director may have put you with the altos, but it’s waaaay more likely that you’re a soprano who hasn’t learned to access your high notes yet. Being able to hit high notes has much more to do with breath control and learned coordination than it does with voice type.