Singing Is NOT About Pleasing Others

Growing up, I always sang in choir and theatre, but I never fully understood the concept of voice types. My journey to figuring that out didn’t start until middle school.

I was one of the original 8 members of the MSU Young Men’s Chorus in 2010-2011. The director at the time did some warm ups with us to test our voices and placed us based on our limits. Since she thought my voice was lower than the others, she put me in the bass section. But I never registered that it was because of my low voice. I always just did what the director asked of me.

When I got to high school, I was more involved with the musicals. The time I played Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys & Dolls is a perfect example of me not understanding voice types and vocal ranges. I always sang out in the areas I could and flipped into falsetto whenever I needed to. I was willing to do whatever I could to get the job done. The only time I felt that wasn’t working was during “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” In the original key, I would’ve had to sustain a high G, which was tricky because my voice cracked every time I tried to sing full and my falsetto was weak in that area. Instead, we transposed the key down a whole step, which made the high note a high F. Far more sustainable in full voice for a bass-baritone, which I didn’t know I was.

My senior year of high school, I joined the honors choir. The choir teacher asked me what voice part I normally sing. My response to her was, “I’ll sing wherever you need me!” This was actually the same response I gave to my friends at the time who wanted to start a quartet and they recruited me for high tenor. I just wanted to be a part of that quartet so badly, I was willing to do anything.

The common theme here is that I always sang where people placed me or needed me to please them and show them I’m easygoing. In certain areas of life, yes, it’s important to be that person. But when it comes to singing, that’s not how it works. Thinking back, I’m really glad I didn’t get any kind of vocal injury early on from trying to sing outside of my range. Studying voice in college helped me establish those boundaries and define what my voice type is. Thanks to that help, singing has never been easier.

Moral of the Story: Singing isn’t always about pleasing others. It’s about creating an easy experience for yourself to put on the best performance for everyone else. When singing is easy, everybody wins!