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The 3 Biggest Myths About Your Voice (#1)

September 6, 2019

You’re either born with a good voice or not. If not—forget it! 

Myth #1 is absolutely the biggest lie you’ll ever hear about your voice. If you can talk and hear your own voice, you were born with everything you need to have a powerful, passionate, confident voice. 

The truth is you can easily learn how to “Own Your Power” in both your speaking and singing voice. Everyone–yes, everyone can learn to control the power, tone and intensity of their voice.

One of the main reasons most people who don’t sing think they can’t sing is that we’re all shut down from an early age. What I mean by that is that we’re all encouraged to use our voice in a way that’s not natural. We receive messages like:

  • “Children should be seen and not heard”
  • “Use your indoor voice”
  • “Be quiet–this is the library (or classroom, church, synagogue, hospital, etc.)”
  • “It isn’t lady-like (whatever that is) to be so loud”
  • Or the ever-popular, “Shut up!”

I understand why we’re told these things–to live in a society we can’t go around shouting, yelling or being very loud in public (unless we want people to think we’re angry or mentally unbalanced.) This makes it difficult to use your voice with any amount of power because your body has learned that it’s not safe to be “heard”.

So, learning to sing is initially about learning to “Own Your Power”—to use the power of your voice safely and appropriately, without your body fighting you. This is mostly the process of discovering how your instrument (your body) is wired by nature to breathe and make sound. 

Virtually no one, including most nationally known singers, uses their vocal mechanism the way it was intended for singing and speaking. Once you understand the parts involved, their purpose and how you’ve been using them, you can become intentional when you sing, instead of “hoping for miracles.”
Everyone can do this. Folks who already sing a lot, sing a little, or have been told they’re tone deaf (no such thing) and shouldn’t ever sing. Don’t you think it’s time you let go of Myth #1 and became a confident singer? For more on this read Who Stole Your Confident Voice?

Mark Bosnian

Mark is an award-winning songwriter and professional voice coach with 30+ years of experience teaching people how to take center stage. He has toured nationally with the 80's hit band Nu Shooz and coached Grammy award nominees, American Idol semifinalists, and singers on The Tonight Show.