Singing Is Athletic

The physical aspect of singing is made up of many sets of muscles all working in complex but coordinated ways. Every vocal sound that is produced is the result of this coordinated muscular effort. For instance, if you sing “off-pitch," have limited control over your voice, possess an inadequate range, or lack flexibility and power, the problem is not necessarily a deficit in musical ability; often the causes of such limitations have a basis in weak and uncoordinated muscular actions.

Most of us know what we want to sing, and can hear—in our musical minds—the sounds and musical expressions that we want to sing. The problem is translating what we hear musically instantly into the physical actions of aesthetic singing. And this translation always involves a great deal of muscular activity. In this sense, singing is a high-level, athletic process.

Consider this idea: there is an excellent chance that those of us who sing poorly suffer from flabby, uncoordinated vocal muscles, and not from poor musical ability. Those who sing well, with big, strong, beautiful, and flexible voices, have sufficiently developed and coordinated voice muscles. Indeed, a singer is a kind of athlete who has the remarkable ability to flex her voice muscles in musical ways. That is a striking idea. If you view singing as an athletic activity, then you could understand how learning to sing well is, at least in part, like learning a sport.

I don't want to minimize the importance of natural ability (including natural muscular ability). Indeed, the greatest singers are profoundly musical and have above average what I call “ear-throat coordination.” Nonetheless, my extensive experience as a voice builder has convinced me time and time again that musical ability is innate, and that all of us could learn to sing, and, in many cases, very well, if we have sufficiently developed and coordinated vocal musculature. It is not the case that people who become good singers one day suddenly became musical or had a singing epiphany: they simply grew into fine singing athletes.

Image source: Dmitriy Shironosov/Shutterstock.com

Comments

[peter]

I never thought that singing is athletic. What a nice post. Thanks

[Gary Catona]

Thank you for reading, Peter! I'm glad this post brought up some new ideas for you.