I have been thinking this week on the concept of the voice being a “natural” instrument. Many of my first teachers used to toss around the world “natural” a lot. “Sweetie, it should feel natural… like when you speak.” Many of you will be familiar with the concept of speech level singing. The idea that singing is an extension of your speaking voice. It seems more popular with non classical vocalists than with classical singers. Well, like many vocal pedagogical idealogies, this approach can be detrimental when used in the wrong way with the wrong people.

Many singers I’ve met, sung with and worked with, were blessed to have “natural” instruments. What that really means to me is that they are relatively unencumbered. They naturally are well aligned, they breathe well for singing and have no undue tension on their jaw and tongue. I envy these people. I really do. My experience was the complete opposite.

I didn’t realize it for many, many years. But one of the reasons my voice was so slow to line up and come into its own, is that I spoke with a lock in the back of my tongue. I spoke that way all the time and didn’t think anything of it. For me, that was natural. In fact, it was so natural that even after years of working on tongue and jaw tension with a couple of rather good teachers, I still wasn’t really understanding that there was still more tension there. Because to me it felt completely natural. I really didn’t “get” that there was more undoing of tension left to be done.

So, what do you do when you encounter a habit that is so ingrained that is believed to be natural despite all other evidence to the contrary? You must then defer to someone you trust. (This is another thing that is difficult, but that’s an article for another day.) If you trust your teacher or a coach or a colleague… if that person you trust can say to you that you “almost” have the free sound you seek but there seems to still be some tension, then you haven’t finished freeing yourself from the constraints and limitations of your long standing tension. Even if you think it feels good enough or feels “natural” to you, perhaps you’re not quite done. This can be an emotionally difficult time because it causes us to doubt ourselves and our own perceptions.

However, the best person you should learn to trust is yourself. You must record yourself. Your lessons, your coachings. Video whenever you can. Even if you think it feels good to you, you will be able to detect tension in the sound when you listen back. Sometimes it will manifest as pitch problems, vibrato issues or muddy vowels. If you are hearing these things but still think everything feels free, then something is not entirely right. You might have a faulty perception of what is happening with your voice. And this is when you must find someone you can trust to help guide you to a healthier balance in your sound. You’ll be amazed at how much better you will sound and how much better it will feel… it will finally feel and sound truly… “natural.”