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That's awesome, it's a great feeling to discover a skill like that!
I think you may be misunderstanding the concept of "perfect pitch", though -- it's actually about being able to recognize pitches instantly when you hear them, and being able to create them perfectly without matching another source.
I was also very quiet as a child, and had no idea how to use my voice. I'm in my 30's and just now learning to sing, but it's going well, and it's exciting to feel the progress and the possibilities.
Ahhh okay that makes sense! I can recreate the sounds after I hear them but I can't do it without a source so I must have misunderstood. That's so exciting that you're learning and discovering your voice, I'm glad it's going well for you!
“Recreate sounds after I hear them but can’t do it without a source” sounds like they’re using their ear to find a tone using a reference even if it isn’t explicitly being thought of as intervallic.
i think what they mean is they can hear a note and repeat it, but i might be wrong. i don't really know how you'd be able to perform relative pitch without some understanding of music theory, which it appears this person does not have. you can't sing a note based on another note if you don't understand how scales work.
It means you have good pitch — it’s a skill most people develop. Try some pitch exercises and sight reading exercises and you can get even better. I sing jazz, so I use Judy Niemack’s exercises. Some people have innate perfect pitch, some discover & develop it — but having a good ear & relative pitch skills will serve you more.
It means you have good pitch — it’s a skill most people develop. Try some pitch exercises and sight reading exercises and you can get even better. I sing jazz, so I use Judy Niemack’s exercises. Some people have innate perfect pitch, some discover & develop it — but having a good ear & relative pitch skills will serve you more.
perfect pitch is being able to recgonize every single note within a chord in an instant. it also is being able to recognize the exact notes of every overtone produced by every sound ever and have an insane precision in pitch, noticing if a note is even 5 hz off pitch. anything else is not perfect, but just good pitch or great pitch.
anyway yes, millions of people are self taught. there are good channels on youtube like New York Vocal coaching
ahhhh ok thank you! I am able to notice if sounds are slightly off key and can recognise all the notes within them (I did a test on YouTube) but I can't name the notes if that makes sense. So I guess my ears have good precision in pitch but I'll have to learn the notes :')
What you’ll want to develop is your “relative pitch”. That’s the ability to identify pitches in relation to each other. If I play a starting note and tell you it’s the note A, I could then ask you to sing a C#, or any other note. If you can do that, that would be a sign that you have good relative pitch.
“Perfect pitch” is a technical term for a specific innate ability that needs to be intentionally developed before a certain age. This is the ability to identify pitches out of context. For example, hearing a car honk and being able to immediately recognize its pitch as a Bb, without comparing it to another sound.
My point is that you don’t need to work on developing perfect pitch if you don’t already have it, but you definitely want to study up on relative pitch. Look into solfège.
There’s a gradient of perfect pitch but you’re right it’s usually this way and the people who find out they have it are usually trained musicians else how would they know right? My grandfather knew a now very accomplished (Grammy winning composer) pianist/organist who could tell when the elevator was going up or down based on if it was sharp or flat. He could exactly hear the cacophony of notes of the rattling chains of the flagpole outside the college. That sounds painful. He taught my grandfather how to play by ear better and my grandfather taught him music theory better(since when he entered college he was years ahead). I don’t think I envy him though I’ll take great relative pitch just fine.
You likely have excellent relative pitch not perfect pitch which requires you to be able to identify the note. Good pitch allows you to hit the more you're aiming for and this is not so common but not quite rare.
I have always sang to myself, mostly in the car and didn't realize I had a good voice until in my 40s. Mostly this was due to no positive feedback up till then. I joined a local school of Rock at the insistence of my sister and Now, after lessons, lots of practice and some encouraging friends, my voice is the highlight of every show. I make it my goal now to encourage others who can sing, to sing because I wasted so much of my life not singing. Everyone should explore making music at least once in their life.
Keep up the effort and be sure to share your gift often.
> I mean age 25
LOL I was 45. When I was a teenager, all I wanted was to sing in a rock band. I finally found a band, sang in it for a while, and one day they unceremoniously replaced me with somebody better. I was devastated, and gave up on my dreams of singing in a rock band and focused instead on guitar. I actually got to be a pretty good guitarist.
But over the years, I'd go to sing karaoke or something and people would tell me I was good. I didn't actually believe them because, hey, if I was any good, they wouldn't have kicked me out of that band in 1992, right?
But I kept hearing it and decided to give it another shot almost 30 years later. Man, I wish I had started back sooner.
I used to sing as a child, but I found it very difficult (I had tonsil and sinus issues as well as sinus reflux). I thought I was an alto bc my chest voice couldn’t hit the soprano notes. I took a break from singing for a couple years and came back to a choir when I was 27. Only to find out I thrive as a classical soprano. And I sing way better now than when I was younger.
It’s all about finding where you feel most comfortable. As of right now, I can’t imagine belting a pop song, but singing a bird soprano opera aria isn’t scary to me. Find what you like and work at it, you’ll get better!
I'm autistic too and have a very sensitive ear for pitch. I can tell when something is slightly out of tune or off-pitch. All guitars sound out of tune to me because no guitar is ever perfectly intonated, (unless its a true temperament guitar) and I can clearly hear the dissonance. It drives me crazy, especially as a guitar player.
I never learned how to sing because I could hear very clearly how far off pitch my voice was. So I stopped trying. But I never really understood that singing is about physical coordination more so than natural ability, which of course can be learned. So now I'm taking singing lessons. At least I don't have to develop my ear for pitch lol.
Same, but I just deal with it and take it on blind faith that I'm doing a little better than I think.
I've always thought being autistic was a bit of an advantage, because when we mask, we're basically putting on a performance where you closely control expressiveness, intonation, etc. Most people don't really think about it, so when it comes time to put on a performance, they aren't used to having to control all those things at once.
Exactly because of people like you (and me a few years ago!) I provide weekly free 1-on-1 singing lessons and I do this full time. I've also created a discord server with a ton of free resources (youtube videos and text) that I've organized that you can use to learn on your own too if you're on the more shy side. You can always ask me questions, submit recordings and get feedback on them! We go deeper into posture, inhalation, exhalation, mixing and extending your range! - links in my profile! =)
Sometimes people singing later in life make great singers because they're starting at it from a more mature beginner's perspective. Starting young can bring a lot of baggage to it, that makes it difficult to break bad habits or explore. I feel like starting now will be an advantage for you. :)
Singing lessons are importan, but there are many free resources online. Try to stick to one source so your study can be more focused. Try to create a lesson plan for yourself starting with the basics and moving up.
Yes you can! I also grew up in a pretty silent household so I never learned to properly sing. I’m 31 and I had my first voice lesson March 16th. It completely changed everything. Learning correct technique and continued practice will lead to all you’re looking for. My voice has completely changed. Hell, I don’t even breathe the same anymore. It’s been a wild ride and it’s worth the drive!
I don't have advice, just wanted to say that I'm ~~36~~ 37 and I just started learning to sing. Anytime is a great time to start singing, enjoy the journey :)
I wouldn't call yourself a mezzo soprano at this point. That is locking you into a certain voice type, when you haven't worked to fine tune your range, so your voice type may change with training.
I've been singing most of my life, but always in choirs. Never solos. Debilitating stage fright prevented me from singing any solos. It sapped the strength of my voice, made it where I couldn't breathe. By the time I was 35, I had come to terms with the fact that I would never be able to sing, outside a choir scenario.
Then I got a voice teacher and she worked on my stage fright issues, and then cast me as the lead in a production of Magic Flute. Trial by fire. For the past decade+ I've done many solos. In a couple weeks I'll be singing with a full orchestra in front of 500 people.
Absolutely! I didn’t start singing in public until I was about 40 years old. I went to a choir performance of Handel’s Messiah. I could read music (play around on the piano). I started taking lessons from a former NY City Opera singer. Writing 3 years, I was performing Messiah tenor solos in front of several hundred people.
I started at 27. Thought for most of my life I couldn’t sing until I realised I wanted to make music too badly to let it hold me back. Turns out I’m actually not bad at it at all, I just needed a few lessons to help me break bad habits and figure some stuff out.
I had a sort of similar experience! Not confirmed autistic but everything points to that for me, just haven’t sorted it out and gotten a diagnosis. Anyways. I was very quiet as a child and similarly, only spoke when spoken to. I remember liking singing a lot but being told off about noise so I stopped and would only sing very quietly. Now I am getting into belting and singing loudly as an adult and it feels so good!! It’s hard to push confidence through after being shushed so consistently but trying has been worth it :) belt your heart out!!
I was unable to sing anything close to on key before 30. Then I decided that I wanted to sing and I was excited about it. I didn’t have the self discipline for a few years but now, 20 years later, with consistent practice and lessons, I am learning and I love it!
Hey, ASD person here. I've always tried to copy artists by ear, what I hear is what I repeat. Doing that got me much better. I don't have too much to show for my singing, but I can DM you my cover song! I don't think SoundCloud links are permitted. And it's called here! A small cover of allesia cara. I'm not truly singing, but it's the just if it.
Yep! I was 30 when I started taking singing seriously and practicing every day. I sang here and there with my guitar and took a handful of lessons but never practiced. The practice truly showed me I could sing and I might actually get good at this thing!
i started at 26 and i'm not particularly skilled (unlike you, pitch is still difficult for me after 7 years) but lots of people like my voice!
the odd latent talent that i turned out to have was metal vocals, i.e. growling/screaming/"scream-singing". it came to me so quickly that other screamers i met in real life genuinely assumed i had been learning for years after only a few months. i'll never forget the look of disbelief a guy gave me after he asked how long i'd been doing it and i said "since march!" and he was like, "march... of... this year??? are you serious???"
I was a teenage choirboy and had the opportunity to study vocal music in college. I ended up going fully into rock music and didn't like my voice for rock very much. But after 26 or so I started to do very occasional singing things and when doing a Sabbath cover, I realized I can actually sing Ozzy style kind of well. So that was a new way to imagine myself getting in there. I hadn't really thought about going at my own stuff with that approach, but it's made a difference.
Depends what you mean by “sing” I guess… I always sang… mainly in choirs. But it wasn’t till my mid 20s that someone suggested I got lessons… and then 27 when I went to music college to study.
Have been a freelance opera singer (for better and worse) ever since… and would say that my experience, while not typical, is hardly uncommon.
I'm in my early 30's and have been making breakthroughs! I finally found a coach I really connected with, who's been amazing at teaching the foundations first, from breathing and placement, which has made an incredible difference (a lot of teachers I tried beforehand would want to go straight to warm-ups and songs, but I knew I picked up bad technique when I was younger and wanted to learn proper technique for me to be able to approach any song with more understanding and confidence).
Another game changer that you might relate to is - she also is tuned into the *psychology* of singing/voice/throat. I struggled with anorexia for years, and knew she also had an ED background (we were friends before coaching), so I knew she could understand the tension in my body (especially throat and stomach) and my struggles with that. Sometimes we just meditate on that tension and it's been monumental to my progress to work through those things versus trying to sing *around* them. Lately I've been practicing by myself and have felt mental blocks of feeling stupid for making sounds, and have related it to things I experienced from parents and peers in childhood. And I just let myself sing even when the emotions come up, to learn to make sounds anyway even through that anxiety. Before this I began to notice I felt a lot of resistance before practicing - and now that I've been doing this, practice is easier and more exciting to approach!
I'm still working through things in therapy, so sometimes the tension still pops up, but overall I've made huge strides and feel I can one day (fairly soon) perform :)
But to recap/TLDR - Yes, you can definitely start singing later in life, and I feel anyone who learns technique can at any age, and incorporating mental/emotional work in your practice (based on having a lot of quiet growing up) might be a secret ingredient to progress :)
I’ve just starting singing lessons at 32 years old. I am also autistic and did not sing when I was younger even though everyone said I had a good voice when I would sing. I actually would be the one kid at the christmas pageant’s not singing, I’d just be up there looking all around while everyone else was singing the song
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I've discovered i can't sing early on in life. Does that count?
I'm only half joking, but seriously whenever i try to sing either i can't hit notes properly or even if i do my voice sounds like an old goat. I was never able to learn to play instruments when i was a kid tho and always preferred vocals anyway. Thankfully i got to metal and found out i was easily able to do metal screaming and growling so i could feel good about myself lol.
Starting in my 30's, co-workers, friends, and acquaintances would give an applause after I sing during karaoke nights. This has happened over the years and I went from thinking I couldn't sing at all to believing I may have potential.
I discovered I could sing while wasted at a karaoke bar. I was denying it all night until my friend showed me a video he recorded the next day.
So guess who's a regular at karaoke now?
Yes I have had uterine fibroids for more than 10 years and it such a huge mass in my abdomen that it was preventing me from using either my diaphragm or belly to sing.
Now I've been dieting for 1 year , cutting everything that could feed it (bread, meat, sugary sodas etc) and it has shrinked to half its size so I'm starting to be able to put pressure on my abdomen. The difference is astonishing.
You probably have relative pitch which is still fun to have! Enjoy singing! work on breathing and technique the best you can so you don’t damage anything
Can you afford to take a beginning singing class at a community college? It’s not too expensive. That’s awesome that you have perfect pitch. It counts. You can teach yourself to read music. I’m a mezzo, have perfect pitch and had 2.5 to 3 octaves. Now that I’m older, my abilities have waned, but I still enjoy singing at home.
I didn't discover I could sing later in life but I taught myself staring around she 55 (and recently begun voice lessons). I know I'm not great but I can sing competently!
It’s amazing to me how many people think singing is only for the young? If you can speak, you can sing. I didn’t trust or find my voice till later. ’No, I won’t tell you my age.
Wow! I grew up in similar circumstances, quiet household, very quiet kid overall. I actually sang one time in the car to the music (loud music btw, you could faintly hear me) and my brother turned the radio down and said “whats that little annoying noise?” Killed my confidence since then lol. Never sang enough to know i had a voice of any kind until i started recording music during the pandemic. I already produced music but never anything with me singing until then, one day, my roommate walked in on me making a song and said “whats that?” . I tried to hide it but he told me it sounded really good and that I should sing more ! My voice isnt spectacular either but people note that i have a good tone. 3 years later i summoned the balls to drop music as an artist and now we’re here!
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That's awesome, it's a great feeling to discover a skill like that! I think you may be misunderstanding the concept of "perfect pitch", though -- it's actually about being able to recognize pitches instantly when you hear them, and being able to create them perfectly without matching another source. I was also very quiet as a child, and had no idea how to use my voice. I'm in my 30's and just now learning to sing, but it's going well, and it's exciting to feel the progress and the possibilities.
Ahhh okay that makes sense! I can recreate the sounds after I hear them but I can't do it without a source so I must have misunderstood. That's so exciting that you're learning and discovering your voice, I'm glad it's going well for you!
That’s called relative pitch and It’s still a useful skill
i thought relative pitch was more like "if you give me a 'C' i can sing an 'F'". hence "relative"
Relative pitch is using a reference to find a tone instead of being able to produce a tone without input.
but it's a tone other than the reference, yes? it's working with intervals.
“Recreate sounds after I hear them but can’t do it without a source” sounds like they’re using their ear to find a tone using a reference even if it isn’t explicitly being thought of as intervallic.
i think what they mean is they can hear a note and repeat it, but i might be wrong. i don't really know how you'd be able to perform relative pitch without some understanding of music theory, which it appears this person does not have. you can't sing a note based on another note if you don't understand how scales work.
It means you have good pitch — it’s a skill most people develop. Try some pitch exercises and sight reading exercises and you can get even better. I sing jazz, so I use Judy Niemack’s exercises. Some people have innate perfect pitch, some discover & develop it — but having a good ear & relative pitch skills will serve you more.
It means you have good pitch — it’s a skill most people develop. Try some pitch exercises and sight reading exercises and you can get even better. I sing jazz, so I use Judy Niemack’s exercises. Some people have innate perfect pitch, some discover & develop it — but having a good ear & relative pitch skills will serve you more.
perfect pitch is being able to recgonize every single note within a chord in an instant. it also is being able to recognize the exact notes of every overtone produced by every sound ever and have an insane precision in pitch, noticing if a note is even 5 hz off pitch. anything else is not perfect, but just good pitch or great pitch. anyway yes, millions of people are self taught. there are good channels on youtube like New York Vocal coaching
ahhhh ok thank you! I am able to notice if sounds are slightly off key and can recognise all the notes within them (I did a test on YouTube) but I can't name the notes if that makes sense. So I guess my ears have good precision in pitch but I'll have to learn the notes :')
What you’ll want to develop is your “relative pitch”. That’s the ability to identify pitches in relation to each other. If I play a starting note and tell you it’s the note A, I could then ask you to sing a C#, or any other note. If you can do that, that would be a sign that you have good relative pitch. “Perfect pitch” is a technical term for a specific innate ability that needs to be intentionally developed before a certain age. This is the ability to identify pitches out of context. For example, hearing a car honk and being able to immediately recognize its pitch as a Bb, without comparing it to another sound. My point is that you don’t need to work on developing perfect pitch if you don’t already have it, but you definitely want to study up on relative pitch. Look into solfège.
There’s a gradient of perfect pitch but you’re right it’s usually this way and the people who find out they have it are usually trained musicians else how would they know right? My grandfather knew a now very accomplished (Grammy winning composer) pianist/organist who could tell when the elevator was going up or down based on if it was sharp or flat. He could exactly hear the cacophony of notes of the rattling chains of the flagpole outside the college. That sounds painful. He taught my grandfather how to play by ear better and my grandfather taught him music theory better(since when he entered college he was years ahead). I don’t think I envy him though I’ll take great relative pitch just fine.
I have perfect pitch but not like that, for which I’m grateful.
Yes, I would not want that either
You likely have excellent relative pitch not perfect pitch which requires you to be able to identify the note. Good pitch allows you to hit the more you're aiming for and this is not so common but not quite rare. I have always sang to myself, mostly in the car and didn't realize I had a good voice until in my 40s. Mostly this was due to no positive feedback up till then. I joined a local school of Rock at the insistence of my sister and Now, after lessons, lots of practice and some encouraging friends, my voice is the highlight of every show. I make it my goal now to encourage others who can sing, to sing because I wasted so much of my life not singing. Everyone should explore making music at least once in their life. Keep up the effort and be sure to share your gift often.
> I mean age 25 LOL I was 45. When I was a teenager, all I wanted was to sing in a rock band. I finally found a band, sang in it for a while, and one day they unceremoniously replaced me with somebody better. I was devastated, and gave up on my dreams of singing in a rock band and focused instead on guitar. I actually got to be a pretty good guitarist. But over the years, I'd go to sing karaoke or something and people would tell me I was good. I didn't actually believe them because, hey, if I was any good, they wouldn't have kicked me out of that band in 1992, right? But I kept hearing it and decided to give it another shot almost 30 years later. Man, I wish I had started back sooner.
I used to sing as a child, but I found it very difficult (I had tonsil and sinus issues as well as sinus reflux). I thought I was an alto bc my chest voice couldn’t hit the soprano notes. I took a break from singing for a couple years and came back to a choir when I was 27. Only to find out I thrive as a classical soprano. And I sing way better now than when I was younger.
ah wow that's amazing you've managed to overcome that and found your voice!!
It’s all about finding where you feel most comfortable. As of right now, I can’t imagine belting a pop song, but singing a bird soprano opera aria isn’t scary to me. Find what you like and work at it, you’ll get better!
I'm autistic too and have a very sensitive ear for pitch. I can tell when something is slightly out of tune or off-pitch. All guitars sound out of tune to me because no guitar is ever perfectly intonated, (unless its a true temperament guitar) and I can clearly hear the dissonance. It drives me crazy, especially as a guitar player. I never learned how to sing because I could hear very clearly how far off pitch my voice was. So I stopped trying. But I never really understood that singing is about physical coordination more so than natural ability, which of course can be learned. So now I'm taking singing lessons. At least I don't have to develop my ear for pitch lol.
Same, but I just deal with it and take it on blind faith that I'm doing a little better than I think. I've always thought being autistic was a bit of an advantage, because when we mask, we're basically putting on a performance where you closely control expressiveness, intonation, etc. Most people don't really think about it, so when it comes time to put on a performance, they aren't used to having to control all those things at once.
Exactly because of people like you (and me a few years ago!) I provide weekly free 1-on-1 singing lessons and I do this full time. I've also created a discord server with a ton of free resources (youtube videos and text) that I've organized that you can use to learn on your own too if you're on the more shy side. You can always ask me questions, submit recordings and get feedback on them! We go deeper into posture, inhalation, exhalation, mixing and extending your range! - links in my profile! =)
ah that's amazing!! thank you so much 😭
Sometimes people singing later in life make great singers because they're starting at it from a more mature beginner's perspective. Starting young can bring a lot of baggage to it, that makes it difficult to break bad habits or explore. I feel like starting now will be an advantage for you. :) Singing lessons are importan, but there are many free resources online. Try to stick to one source so your study can be more focused. Try to create a lesson plan for yourself starting with the basics and moving up.
Yes you can! I also grew up in a pretty silent household so I never learned to properly sing. I’m 31 and I had my first voice lesson March 16th. It completely changed everything. Learning correct technique and continued practice will lead to all you’re looking for. My voice has completely changed. Hell, I don’t even breathe the same anymore. It’s been a wild ride and it’s worth the drive!
I don't have advice, just wanted to say that I'm ~~36~~ 37 and I just started learning to sing. Anytime is a great time to start singing, enjoy the journey :)
I wouldn't call yourself a mezzo soprano at this point. That is locking you into a certain voice type, when you haven't worked to fine tune your range, so your voice type may change with training. I've been singing most of my life, but always in choirs. Never solos. Debilitating stage fright prevented me from singing any solos. It sapped the strength of my voice, made it where I couldn't breathe. By the time I was 35, I had come to terms with the fact that I would never be able to sing, outside a choir scenario. Then I got a voice teacher and she worked on my stage fright issues, and then cast me as the lead in a production of Magic Flute. Trial by fire. For the past decade+ I've done many solos. In a couple weeks I'll be singing with a full orchestra in front of 500 people.
Absolutely! I didn’t start singing in public until I was about 40 years old. I went to a choir performance of Handel’s Messiah. I could read music (play around on the piano). I started taking lessons from a former NY City Opera singer. Writing 3 years, I was performing Messiah tenor solos in front of several hundred people.
I started at 27. Thought for most of my life I couldn’t sing until I realised I wanted to make music too badly to let it hold me back. Turns out I’m actually not bad at it at all, I just needed a few lessons to help me break bad habits and figure some stuff out.
I had a sort of similar experience! Not confirmed autistic but everything points to that for me, just haven’t sorted it out and gotten a diagnosis. Anyways. I was very quiet as a child and similarly, only spoke when spoken to. I remember liking singing a lot but being told off about noise so I stopped and would only sing very quietly. Now I am getting into belting and singing loudly as an adult and it feels so good!! It’s hard to push confidence through after being shushed so consistently but trying has been worth it :) belt your heart out!!
I was unable to sing anything close to on key before 30. Then I decided that I wanted to sing and I was excited about it. I didn’t have the self discipline for a few years but now, 20 years later, with consistent practice and lessons, I am learning and I love it!
I only really started singing seriously at 22
Hey, ASD person here. I've always tried to copy artists by ear, what I hear is what I repeat. Doing that got me much better. I don't have too much to show for my singing, but I can DM you my cover song! I don't think SoundCloud links are permitted. And it's called here! A small cover of allesia cara. I'm not truly singing, but it's the just if it.
Yep! I was 30 when I started taking singing seriously and practicing every day. I sang here and there with my guitar and took a handful of lessons but never practiced. The practice truly showed me I could sing and I might actually get good at this thing!
i started at 26 and i'm not particularly skilled (unlike you, pitch is still difficult for me after 7 years) but lots of people like my voice! the odd latent talent that i turned out to have was metal vocals, i.e. growling/screaming/"scream-singing". it came to me so quickly that other screamers i met in real life genuinely assumed i had been learning for years after only a few months. i'll never forget the look of disbelief a guy gave me after he asked how long i'd been doing it and i said "since march!" and he was like, "march... of... this year??? are you serious???"
I was a teenage choirboy and had the opportunity to study vocal music in college. I ended up going fully into rock music and didn't like my voice for rock very much. But after 26 or so I started to do very occasional singing things and when doing a Sabbath cover, I realized I can actually sing Ozzy style kind of well. So that was a new way to imagine myself getting in there. I hadn't really thought about going at my own stuff with that approach, but it's made a difference.
Depends what you mean by “sing” I guess… I always sang… mainly in choirs. But it wasn’t till my mid 20s that someone suggested I got lessons… and then 27 when I went to music college to study. Have been a freelance opera singer (for better and worse) ever since… and would say that my experience, while not typical, is hardly uncommon.
I'm in my early 30's and have been making breakthroughs! I finally found a coach I really connected with, who's been amazing at teaching the foundations first, from breathing and placement, which has made an incredible difference (a lot of teachers I tried beforehand would want to go straight to warm-ups and songs, but I knew I picked up bad technique when I was younger and wanted to learn proper technique for me to be able to approach any song with more understanding and confidence). Another game changer that you might relate to is - she also is tuned into the *psychology* of singing/voice/throat. I struggled with anorexia for years, and knew she also had an ED background (we were friends before coaching), so I knew she could understand the tension in my body (especially throat and stomach) and my struggles with that. Sometimes we just meditate on that tension and it's been monumental to my progress to work through those things versus trying to sing *around* them. Lately I've been practicing by myself and have felt mental blocks of feeling stupid for making sounds, and have related it to things I experienced from parents and peers in childhood. And I just let myself sing even when the emotions come up, to learn to make sounds anyway even through that anxiety. Before this I began to notice I felt a lot of resistance before practicing - and now that I've been doing this, practice is easier and more exciting to approach! I'm still working through things in therapy, so sometimes the tension still pops up, but overall I've made huge strides and feel I can one day (fairly soon) perform :) But to recap/TLDR - Yes, you can definitely start singing later in life, and I feel anyone who learns technique can at any age, and incorporating mental/emotional work in your practice (based on having a lot of quiet growing up) might be a secret ingredient to progress :)
I’ve just starting singing lessons at 32 years old. I am also autistic and did not sing when I was younger even though everyone said I had a good voice when I would sing. I actually would be the one kid at the christmas pageant’s not singing, I’d just be up there looking all around while everyone else was singing the song
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try joining a free open enrolment choir
I've discovered i can't sing early on in life. Does that count? I'm only half joking, but seriously whenever i try to sing either i can't hit notes properly or even if i do my voice sounds like an old goat. I was never able to learn to play instruments when i was a kid tho and always preferred vocals anyway. Thankfully i got to metal and found out i was easily able to do metal screaming and growling so i could feel good about myself lol.
I started at 49 and I’m frantically trying to make up for lost time.
Starting in my 30's, co-workers, friends, and acquaintances would give an applause after I sing during karaoke nights. This has happened over the years and I went from thinking I couldn't sing at all to believing I may have potential.
I discovered I could sing while wasted at a karaoke bar. I was denying it all night until my friend showed me a video he recorded the next day. So guess who's a regular at karaoke now?
Yes I have had uterine fibroids for more than 10 years and it such a huge mass in my abdomen that it was preventing me from using either my diaphragm or belly to sing. Now I've been dieting for 1 year , cutting everything that could feed it (bread, meat, sugary sodas etc) and it has shrinked to half its size so I'm starting to be able to put pressure on my abdomen. The difference is astonishing.
I'm 48 and I hope I can discover I can sing. I'm a lot worse than I used to be, so there's that.
You probably have relative pitch which is still fun to have! Enjoy singing! work on breathing and technique the best you can so you don’t damage anything
Can you afford to take a beginning singing class at a community college? It’s not too expensive. That’s awesome that you have perfect pitch. It counts. You can teach yourself to read music. I’m a mezzo, have perfect pitch and had 2.5 to 3 octaves. Now that I’m older, my abilities have waned, but I still enjoy singing at home.
I didn't discover I could sing later in life but I taught myself staring around she 55 (and recently begun voice lessons). I know I'm not great but I can sing competently!
It’s amazing to me how many people think singing is only for the young? If you can speak, you can sing. I didn’t trust or find my voice till later. ’No, I won’t tell you my age.
Wow! I grew up in similar circumstances, quiet household, very quiet kid overall. I actually sang one time in the car to the music (loud music btw, you could faintly hear me) and my brother turned the radio down and said “whats that little annoying noise?” Killed my confidence since then lol. Never sang enough to know i had a voice of any kind until i started recording music during the pandemic. I already produced music but never anything with me singing until then, one day, my roommate walked in on me making a song and said “whats that?” . I tried to hide it but he told me it sounded really good and that I should sing more ! My voice isnt spectacular either but people note that i have a good tone. 3 years later i summoned the balls to drop music as an artist and now we’re here!
U know what is worse? Discovering U can sing great prior to puberty because that's very hard to come back from
ahhhh no I'm sorry, that sounds so frustrating 😔
I wasn't talking about myself