You may not see a monetary return, but you will get your happiness and your own personal enjoyment. . You may not see a monetary return, but you will get your happiness and your own personal enjoyment as a return for the rest of your life. Singing lessons are the way to improve for those who are serious about singing.
You're investing in your voice, not in classes or in a teacher. It's hard to learn to sing from videos, because it's something very personalized, different for each singer depending on so many variables. What an individual teacher will do is evaluate your voice, discover the parts that make you sound bad in your mind, and suggest some solutions. Is it tone, tone, are you accentuating the voice, does it sound weak?.
Even if you know these answers, it is difficult to self-diagnose and prescribe a practice routine. The only one I have experience with is the Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy. I have used it over the years intermittently and it has helped IMMENSELY. I didn't really start taking it seriously until about 3 months ago.
But it's the difference between night and day. I've only had one online lesson with him years ago, and it was fantastic, but I agree that in-person lessons are much more beneficial. However, this course helps in many ways. From breathing, correct posture, vocal modifications, etc.
He practically has a lot of his information on YouTube, but by purchasing the program, you have access to all of it and all the forums as well. I highly recommend to check it out. Especially as you develop your own ear and style, lessons don't have to be as common in my opinion (without reservation). I reduced my classes as I managed the techniques better and I could trust that I wouldn't get completely derailed if I didn't register weekly.
My only regret really is that I didn't go for better teachers before, saving too much money on the basis of hourly rate rather than frequency of classes. When something is out of my reach (which, I admit, is not particularly broad), I simply sing what is comfortable for me. So what are your goals for singing? Do they include having a full musical master's degree? Acting? Write? Collaborate with other musicians? Do you really know music? If yes to any of the above, you need lessons. Look, you only have ONE life, and if you've decided to prioritize singing there, you can also treat yourself with some resources to improve it on a deep level.
I knew it personally, I'm going to do everything I can and get serious as a singer, so investing in lessons is very smart. Singing is not like an instrument that you can watch and adjust from the outside, you need someone to guide you to understand and learn the feedback of your body, to develop healthy habits. It's in their best interest to take as many lessons as possible, which isn't necessarily the most efficient in terms of learning per dollar. I spent a lot of time in classes learning about proper support and diaphragm, and singing with the mask, and sometimes doing what now, in retrospect, seems like useless speech therapy, but personally I never got better because I spent all my brain power (and my practice time) thinking about whether or not I sang an exercise in arpeggio in particular with the exact amount of respiratory support it needed to be considered technically correct.
The songs you sang are very emotional, and emotion is the most important thing I hear that is missing from your voice. I was thinking more about the direction of “singing success” or “singer of 30 days”, that kind of course. This helped me learn the technique without the pressure of singing alone and it was totally free (I was in the church and municipality choirs). I've been told everything from keeping your larynx neutral to you having to sing with your larynx high when you're strapping, so sing for sure.
I had worked singing alone for years, I always got horrible comments, people told me to play the guitar. Singing requires strength and control of the whole body (face, lips, tongue, throat, soft palate, abdomen, diaphragm, intercostals, back muscles, pelvic floor, legs, arms). It may get worse before it gets better, but if the teacher is good and you have good chemistry with him, you should feel the difference from the first lesson. .
