7 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Vocal Lessons

My musical singing journey started in 2012. My amateur musician of a partner surprised me with vocal lessons for my birthday! He read reviews, interviewed the vocal teacher — then surprise — before I knew it was I off to the racetracks.

Coming from a very pragmatic, Asian family - singing was not something one took lessons for. Completely unnecessary (a pipe dream, really); not pragmatic enough. One cannot make money off of singing, and it was not the piano or a violin - so they had no idea where it fit in the curriculum of life.

So taking lessons was a long-delayed dream and I was excited to start sounding better. Coming from a non-musical background - it was a LONG journey to be an acceptable singer.

If I had known how long and arduous my vocal journey would be - I don’t know I would have started.

Now, nine years later (how time flies) I can honestly look back and say - I’ve learned a few things! Thus, I am sharing my learnings to encourage you because if you’re like 90% of the population - you’re probably not a natural born talent and will have to work at it! Here’s hoping it helps you on your musical journey.

1. Your voice is an actual instrument, and it’s not so easy to master

To sing well, master you voice and fully grasp the structure of music. 

The structure means - the rhythm (timing) and the notes (e.g. G note, C note, etc). When you understand and imprint the structure onto your muscle memory - then you can re-create it within the confines of Western music (master your voice).

The techniques, are practices, skills, and tried and true best practices to set you up for success (so you aren’t re-inventing the wheel). For example, the Do-Ra-Me-Fa-So-La-Ti song - is a tool I used over and over again, challenged myself in various scenarios to make sure I understood the distance between notes, and could stay on key. I imprinted these scales into my brain, so I could hear the note in my head then recreate it under various scenarios. Repetition!

Another set of techniques focused on breath-work and airflow. I learned more about how my vocal cords, airflow, and mouth worked together, thus I can intuitively learn to control muscles that are not visible to the human eye. The mouth, lips, tongue are visible but the diaphragm, lungs and vocal cords are hidden from view. It was about leaning more on the organs and muscles that I couldn’t see. All while trying to make it sound easy!

Learning to sing is not as simple as opening your mouth and belting out words.

You have to understand the structure of music and master your own muscles and voice to re-create it. My theory is that singing is not easier than learning any other instrument other than you were born with your voice. So if you were deeply exposed to music at a young age, you could pick it up very quickly and excel!

My parents were not musical. I did not grow up surrounded by music. I played no instruments, had no formal trainings. I was off-key from the start and spent year 1 of vocal lessons learning to be on key (brutal!). Looking back, I theorize my progress was slow because I was not really listening to music and the notes all these years. So if you have any musical background (like singing in choir) you will be heads and shoulders ahead of me so go forth and keep up the progress.

But,, if you’re starting from ground 0, stay on it (persistence and grit, baby)!

It may be a very long, and (sometimes tedious) road to become a singer that you are proud of.

I started taking vocal lessons very flippantly. I did not realize I had to internalize scales, practice repetitive techniques and exercises again and again, and then be asked to identify sounds with my ear then recreate it to an exacting pitch - which was, at the time, beyond my comprehension. It’s like learning to spot an imaginary castle! How do you find something when you cannot see it? I’ll tell you it is impossible; thus you must first start by hearing — really hearing the differences, internalizing it (hearing it in your head), then re-creating it. It took a good year for me to start being on key.

Thus, be prepared for the long haul and zero-ing on your weaknesses.

2. Get good fast by focusing on the basics

I wish I had known this earlier: focusing on the (at times) tedious basics - will get you further than if you practice whatever you feel like. Probably not the answer you were hoping for, but that’s what I’ve observed to be true.

I define the basics as follows:

• Notes (being on key)

• Rhythm / Timing

• Hearing / Listening (hearing the notes, music, and yourself)

• Breath work (technique)

• Muscle memory (able to do it seamlessly, easily, even when you’re nervous)

• Vowel and word formation (this one can come later, so I don’t get into this here)

How do you know if it’s going well?

It should to be intuitive, easy and instinctive.

Once you think you’ve achieved “done” status, I recommend try performing in front of a small group, like a family gathering. For my first performance, I froze and forgot all the words to my song! I think this is actually quite common.

My learning: when you think you know the song — test yourself. You have to know it 10x better than where you think you need to be. It’s stressful performing live - so you have to bring it at 120% to even be mediocre live!

3. Clarify your singing goals

Define what success looks like for you

• What are you goals?

• What do you want to accomplish, vocally, musically?

• What are you good at? What do you want to improve at?

• Who do you aspire to sound like, be like? What kind of music do you want to do?

Defining your goals will help you get there sooner! In Los Angeles, vocal coaches are not cheap and are in-demand! Don’t waste your money, be clear on what you want to accomplish - and what is important to you. Be clear on what you want your vocal teacher to excel at so they are set up to help you.

When I first started, I made the mistake of not clearly defining my goals. My vague goal was, “Be a better singer to eventually perform in a band.” This is good starting goal, but I should have refined it after a year! If I had, I would have picked different songs to perform, and tried to develop my phrasing differently - as my teacher was too classical compared to the singer I wanted to become.

Another plus - if you clearly define your goals and start telling those around you — I guarantee that some people will come out of the woodwork to support you, help you, and cheer you on! But when you’re too vague - it becomes hard to help.

Keep reading below to see my number one application of defining your goals (#4) :)

4. Find the best-fit vocal coach for you

My goal was to be a singer in a pop cover band - one that might perform Taylor Swift, Katy Perry covers! However, my first vocal coach did classical operas, and performed in a glittering gown with a pianist, in a dramatically lit room with velvet seating. Did these two match? NO!

However, I didn’t know any better, and stayed with my first vocal coach Claire for four-long-years!

Don’t get me wrong; Claire helped me grow my wings. But, the kind of coaching you need to be an operatic performer versus a stage performer for a seedy bar are completely different!

As soon as I switched to my new vocal coach Brenda, I saw fast progress towards my goal! Claire did help me master the basics, but once I was over that hump, the speed of my progress rapidly declined. I was in a funk. I would come to lessons crying :Why don’t I sound the way I wanted to sound? Why aren’t I getting better, even after practicing for so long?

Trust your instincts. If you think you’ve stalled, you’ve probably stalled! Do something different.

I mistakenly believed they knew best. Find a vocal teacher who believes in you, understands your vision, and has (hopefully) been there, done that and can help you get to where you want to go.

Pick the right people on your team, and swap them out when you’ve outgrown them, or if it’s not a good fit.

If it’s time to move on, move on! Learning to sing is an evolution, so one teacher may be good for a phase - preparing for a performance, preparing to record an album, etc; and once you’ve achieved that goal it may be time to update your team. Keep moving forward and revising your teams as needed!

5. Music is very structured

This may sound obvious but bears repeating (esp for non-musical peeps like me) . Everyone must play their part. And for everything to play well together - every musician (singer included) must have an in-depth knowledge of the musical structure, as it pertains to their instrument, and some basic understanding of everyone else’s role and contributions.

This means, if you’re even a little off in timing, tone - then you will sound off. When you play in a band - you need to carry your weight and get along. No one can play your role for you, thus if you are messing up real bad - there isn’t much the other band members can do. They can call you out on it, but if you’re seriously lacking the fundamentals, eventually you will be kicked out of the band. Tough but true.

Being “close enough” doesn’t cut it with music. You have to be as exact as possible.

There are times when less exact is not notice-able, but you don’t want to rely on those moments to get by. You want to practice at 120% because when things go wrong, at least you’ll perform at 80%.

6. The best accompanists and band members follow the singer

Eye roll, I know! Everyone’s thinking the singer is the diva. But it is and it is not true.

The singer has to memorize the most (the words and the notes, it’s a lot!). The audience is hanging on every words, if the singer messes up, then the band’s on the hook for making the singer (and by definition the band) look good by scrambling to figure it out! In other words, if the singer messes up, the best accompanists and band members know they need to follow the singer.

Think about it - how would it sound if the singer tried to follow [insert any other musician here]? It wouldn’t work! There’s no way in which a mess-up can be made graceful unless the band follows the singer.

Thus, the singer generally gets to decide which key the song will be in (as you don’t want to sing it in sub-optimal key). The singer gets a lot of the glory (since audience members rarely speak to the other musicians)!

I call this out, so that everyone knows what role they play. It is a big duty to a be a singer. It comes with a lot of responsibility, so it is not one to take lightly. Be the best you can be, carry your weight, and try your hardest to have everything buttoned up so the band doesn’t need to “cover” for your mistakes (as I assure you covering is not as good as excelling).

As a beginning singer, I felt very hesitant to find the right key and tell the band members. But really think about it - there’s no other way for it to work successfully! You have to speak up and be clear about what will make you sound the best. Because when you sound the best, the band will also shine!

7. Be in it for the long haul, to get the most reward

After 9+ years of singing, and 1 year of playing the ukulele, I’m slowly realizing that you’re never done when it comes to music. Just when you think you’ll get bored, you discover a deeper layer!

It’s incredible, one would think you run out of things to excel out; but it’s the opposite.

I constantly find new layers and depths that I never fully realized were there all along.

You don’t know what you don’t know. I used to hate that phrase - what does it even mean!

But the more I live, the more I realize it’s true. It’s like only seeing the world in black and white. And one day, your eyeballs have the ability to see color — and you never knew it was possible to see the world in that much depth and beauty! You never knew there was more to learn until it was boop right in front of you!

The more I sing and increase my musicality by learning other instruments, the more I appreciate new musical depths.

I start to see subtle music nuances — like that pause before the chorus. I start to see patterns and intuitively grasp them! It’s been a joy playing another instrument - I never knew how limited I was just singing.

There were many times when I thought of quitting, because I didn’t sound like the people on the radio. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t quit - because I wouldn’t have known the depths that I see now. I would have missed out on the joys of playing and singing for myself.

On a good day, I’ll spend hours immersed in singing and playing my little ukulele (I’m my own karaoke machine, and think I’m super cool!). It’s especially been rewarding during stay-at-home covid times. It breaks my heart to think I almost stopped before I got to the good part!

Don’t stop - keep going. With a lot of hard work and patience, it gets better. Better than you can even imagine.

For when you’re ready to dive in and find that best-fit vocal coach:

I first started with in-person lessons for several years. However, I think online classes are more affordable and give you more flexibility to try different teachers/styles to find the right fit after you have a solid foundation. Thus, later I highly recommend online lessons. I used TakeLessons.com. Secondly, I recommend getting get an affordable $30 external microphone like mine so your vocal teacher can hear you without an echo (and give you more exact feedback!).

That concludes my primer on things I wish I had known before starting vocal lessons.

I’m still shocked I took my first lesson 9 years ago; time flies.

If you found this post helpful, please share, repost, and subscribe to my newsletter. I’d love to hear your experiences and learnings - feel free to drop me a line at linhdy@outlook.com. Happy singing!