I’ve got an analogy I use a lot in lessons, and I want to share it with you.
Building your singing voice and establishing your style takes time. It involves capitalising on the things you like about your voice, fixing things you don’t like whilst accepting the things that aren’t fixable. In turn we have to spend time finding songs that work for us, and that show off the best of what we’ve got.
This whole process is very very similar to trying to find a clothing approach and fashion style that suits you. Not everyone suits every type of clothing, sometimes we can’t even fit in certain types of clothing, and there’s many more comparisons I could make.
Let me give you five comparisons that illustrate my point. Hopefully by the end, you’ll understand why I think this analogy is helpful for determining what you should/shouldn’t be trying to do when singing songs.
1. Most obvious: Don’t force yourself into clothing that really doesn’t suit you
We’ve all been sat in a coffee shop on the high street, and someone walks by the window, and they’ve crammed themselves into their outfit. They’ve poured themselves into something that they really had no business trying to fit into. Sometimes this is something that’s too small, sometimes it’s just plain garish, sometimes it’s just someone trying too hard. You might even be able to tell what kind of clothing would suit them, but they’ve selected something else that… quite frankly offends the eye and boggles the mind.
Now that’s an extreme example, and these things vary by degree. Sometimes it’s not that the clothing is bad, but a slightly different shade, or a different cut would be even more flattering. It’s about constant refinement to nail down what works for you and what doesn’t. Picking songs for your voice is much the same. We need to recognise what works, and what doesn’t.
2. What suits you will change over time
I went to buy a waxed jacket a few years ago, and I went to try on a classic Barbour for the country gent. Whilst I didn’t look bad, the sales assistant suggested I try on a newer model aimed more at the younger man than the older country-dweller. Much to my chagrin, he was quite right. I looked MUCH better in that different cut.
Why? Because I’m not the age that the country-focused model was aimed at, and something else suited me better now… but in a few years, something else will suit me again. It’s a gradual, glacial evolution based on age, preference and personality.
Picking songs and what you like to do stylistically is much the same thing. Many younger singers like being more frenetic, explosive, maybe even bombastic, with their range and style. But often these singers mellow as they get older. Many singers find a more relaxed and simpler way of approaching their songs, often lowering keys and excising riffs or runs that were once slathered all over the original.
3. You can make concerted effort to change shape
We all change weight from time to time, up or down, season to season, year to year. But with focused exercise (or focused food consumption!) we can radically change shape and alter our frames and builds, sometimes to remarkable degrees. The voice is no different.
Just like changing physique to fit a new intended wardrobe, we can build the voice in much the same way to take it from NOT giving us what we want, to making songs that were once difficult, move to feeling easy. It just takes focused concentrated effort and practice, just like the body equivalent of diet and exercise.
4. Accept there are some shapes you will never be
The hardest lesson of all. No matter how much we change shape, for better or worse, there are some shapes that each of us can NEVER be. Even with dramatic body changes, we must all recognise which shapes are out of our reach, lest we become the vocal equivalent of the first example – the person who forces themselves into the song they had no business trying to fit into.
This is particularly tough not just for the pride/ego reasons, but also a tricky one for those who have not trained their voices. With an untrained voice, it is far too easy to dismiss a song as “not the right fit for me” when it is really just a question of building the voice right and identifying what works from there. But after some time training, it generally becomes more obvious what needs to happen to achieve certain material.
5. You’re not the same personality one hour/day/week/month/year to the next
I have different clothes that fit my mood. I have different songs that fit my mood. It’s OK to not have songs that are the vocal equivalent of having the same t-shirt/jeans combo for every day of the year. Diversity and variation is fun, and allows you to reflect your current mood and state of mind with the songs in your portfolio. But simultaneously, trying to force yourself into radically different clothing “just because” is not going to make you look your best. Song choice is no different.
Remember: your song choice and the key choice you sing things in should be making you look and sound good. There’s no prizes for singing a difficult or popular song in the original key and sounding bad or even mediocre. The only prize is for sounding your best.
Learn More: Related Articles
If you want to learn more about vocal style, you may enjoy these related articles:
Style vs Hyper-style: An analysis of Modern Vocal Style
Developing Style: Expansion and Contraction
Learn to riff: why it’s easier than you think
Double check your musical diet
Styling songs: 3 versions of the same song
Why do singers resort to gimmicks to get noticed?