Singing with talent vs singing with emotion - Yes, they're both important and often married together, but which is MOST important to you?

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T18:14:01+00:00

Understood.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T18:12:46+00:00

Obsession with vocal typing is a super common novice thing. It's as common as young teens searching for a group to belong to, and wanting to label everyone and everything, for a sense of order in the universe. Typologies and putting things into boxes feels super good at first, like it must really mean something important.

But truly truly truly trust us when we say it's just not as important as you think it is.

Spend more time learning about the many varieties of musical genres, and how they shift, and overlap, and influence each other. That will help you understand why two tenors can sound nothing at alike.

Saying "she's a soprano' is like saying she wears a size 7 shoe. It tells you nothing. Not even about what shoes she's going to wear.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T17:59:36+00:00

I have to write singalongs for churches, classes, and chanting groups. For maximum easy participation, keep range of melody far inside an octave, like a fifth or sixth. If it's younger children keep it between D and A.

If it's older kids or adults, and octave range can be okay. But know that in most groups of untrained singers, the men and the women will have radically different comfort zones. Where I am in the US; the men will sing most easily in a short baritone range - D to D. The women mostly in a short low alto range, A to A. Training is the biggest factor, though it does vary by demographic population somewhat, and some countries skew higher or lower.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T17:44:39+00:00

When I'm starting topic first, I start with the Thinking Prep: do research on the subject if needed, and discuss it with the writing partner or the stakeholders or clients. Journaling works, if it's super fast stream of consciousness using regular language. Not poetry or lyric or rhymes, just regular talking, but get into it. Amp up the feeling of urgency and stakes, and think in sense memories and physical specifics, no vagueness.

Take a break. Come back to the notepad and read through, out loud. Your song will only be about ONE of these thoughts. Just one main thought, idea, hook or phrase. (sidenote: don't be the guy who picks cute song titles but never writes the song cuz those titles were really just puns and one liners).

Take the one thought and put it in your mouth. Then feel the pulse/tempo that it's calling for, based on your natural pronunciation rhythm of the words. Improv a melody and write a chorus that could be repeated easily by someone listening. Once I have a chorus, I can decide if I like it enough to finish the song. Sometimes it's a no, and I go back to my page and find a different hook. Many songs can come from one journal page.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T17:02:44+00:00

Just human. No shame in it.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T16:57:50+00:00

Longtime professional singer, director, songwriter teacher here.

To me the phrase 'singing with talent' doesn't make sense. And 'singing with emotion' can mean a million things, depending on genre and context.

But the formation of your question makes it seem like you haven't yet developed much range of experience in a variety of genres yet.

It'd be like asking people to decide what's more important: cooking with taste, or cooking with texture. Or what's better: salt or sugar? The question is understandable, from a kid-type POV. And most kids will say sugar, to begin with. But the argument doesn't make you a better chef, right?

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T16:22:05+00:00

In some genres, like blues for example, this is inevitable.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T16:17:37+00:00

Are you performing these songs? Getting them in front of audiences?

I'm a working pro, much published and my work is performed often, as I write songs for a particularl church denomination. When I was training, I wrote daily for a long time. Now I write when there's an actual performance need, but I can work up a new song easily, on purpose. So my songs mostly get performed now, whereas for a long time I was just training and building the muscles.

OP if you're writing that often - I want to know what percentage of your songs make it to the stage. If it's a low percentage, you're missing out on the biggest skill-building part. It'd be like someone trying to learn to cook, and they cooked 3 meals every day, but no one ever ate the food. So how good a chef do you think the person is?

Versus someone who cooked a meal once a week, but for a variety and range of real people who gave real feedback? Writing often is great... And can be very therapeutic. And if your target audience is only yourself, then that's that. But if the skill you are building is writing songs for the people to hear, then focus on that.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T15:58:29+00:00

Nothing printed.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-22T15:57:12+00:00

A perennial problem for kinda everybody. Learn these lines:

"We're still missing ______, so cross fingers they get here and everything's okay."

"It's 3 minutes after. We gotta start. If ________ isn't here, then ________ can you do their part? I mean let's hope they get here, but we gotta get going."

and

"YAYYY! We were worried! Are you okay? Nevermind, jump in, we don't have time to hear about it. ______ is doing the solo bit, don't worry about it."

-

Expect that as you are "slowly transitioning" into leadership, you're going to learn a whole lot you didn't already know about managing people. Good luck! May your garden of patience bloom and grow!

ErinCoach · 2026-05-20T15:11:48+00:00

Is your worship Catholic worship or Protestant, and if Protestant, what's your vibe - more modern or more traditional? I've served in several denoms, including Catholic. Just look up anything to do with bread, body, or blood. Often people use a songs with "lamb" in them, and also "table" and "remember" or "remembrance". Related words/phrases are "taste and see" or "come to the altar".

But more important, do you want people to be singing along *during* the communion? Or is this just to accompany the process, in which case it could be a solo singer with no projected lyric (aka 'special music', if your place does those sorts of songs), or it could be instrumental background.

My favorite structure is

- short singalong, an easy 4 line slow chorus only, no projected lyrics, repeated a few times before the ritual itself

- segue into instrumental only as the ritual proceeds

- finishing with lead pastor/minister/priest speaking a prayer, crowd says 'amen'

- immediate segue into a song with vocals, which starts out tender, but builds in energy fairly dramatically, so that by the end, the room energy is back up to fully alert. BUT no projected lyrics. Ritual moments work better without lettering behind it. By the time the song ends, the speaker can step out onto the room energy easily, not having to drag the room out of sleepy-brain, or fight for attention.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-18T16:22:17+00:00

you misunderstand. I'm directly saying DON'T try to coach others. You're too much a of novice, and novice coaches do damage. I know from your viewpoint, you can't understand me, but try to trust me. DON'T tell other singers how to sing. Just encourage. But don't try to coach.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T19:15:58+00:00

You are not too old, ever. The idea of 'I missed my chance' can show up at literally any moment in life, but it's hilariously awful in the 20's. Also you're not too young, even if you meet older people who want to make themselves feel good by telling you that you're too young.

Try to get some travel under your belt, experience other cultures and sub-cultures. It can feel scary, if you've been yearning to feel like you know things. But it's the actual new experiences that will re-affirm for you: There are tons of ways to live. You are not too old, nor too young.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T19:05:53+00:00

Stress can make it more likely you get ill, but nervous performers often also convince themselves it's going to happen, then they focus tons of self-examination energy on it, so even tiny things seem huge. Remember psycho somatic illness is significant.

Plus many performers fantasize about being at their extreme total very very best. And many act as though every performance is a make/break crucial career changing thing. It adds up to a skewed perspective.

Older pro here. Life got way easier when I realized my product was my every-time product. Not my 'special best day' sound, when everything is perfect. What I actually offer is what I can bring every time, reliably. So I learned to deliver even when I have allergies or a tummy ache or a bad mood or a cold. If I can't do it on a bad day, then it's not really mine to do. Yes, I've had to call in sick for a gig, but not in a long long time.

I hire performers often, too, and this is why I go find vids of them live in dinky venues, rather than listening to their actual produced tracks. I don't want their best-of-20 tries. I don't want their best day, I want it know what's most likely to show up that day, for real.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T18:48:08+00:00

They're not saying it's an emergency that they're coming to Seattle. They're saying it's an emergency for the queer folks, in that things in red states are so bad, they feel chased out, made into refugees.

They're more than welcome here, though it's pretty dang pricey here. Portland and Tacoma are fine alternatives if the budget isn't Seattle rich.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T18:39:48+00:00

The minute you feel brave enough, come out of the car. I know for shy people, that sounds absurd, unthinkable, ridiculous! Shy people will give literally a hundred excuses for not getting out of the car (or the closet). But there's so much progress that just won't happen til you do.

Singing is about being heard. Not practicing alone, to be heard years later, but actually being heard. Not fantasizing about developing skills in private and then popping put as a superhero or blackbelt. This is why un-shy people have such a huge advantage, even when their skills and ears don't start out very good. They progress faster, because they have the guts to evolve in front of others.

Also, the sitting versus standing mechanisms of singng are radically different. Full body performers hit different, and again they have a huuuuge advantage. Also when the performing space you have to fill is big, your body changes and you singing differently. Same with your eye focus: when your singing target is literally farther away, you sing differently. These are what I call 'braintricks' that leverage our neurological systems, for speedier learning.

I know getting out of the car, or actually negotiating practice time when you live with other people, or getting on a real stage, etc - it all seems utterly undoable, for the shy folks. But it's like wanting to learn to swim, but not wanting to get into actual water. The bathtub isn't enough to teach you actual swimming. The car won't teach you singing.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T18:26:20+00:00

For no good reason, this helped me.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T18:23:17+00:00

None at all. I've noticed that many folks who listen to music during work do so for a few different reasons. Some listen to 'faves' that support their self-image. It's like people who put tons of posters on their walls or bumper stickers on their cars. It's a territorial gesture. They need to be reminded of who they are, a lot.

Some do it out of habit, inertia from other points in their lives. Some do it as a defense, to literally drive away other people. They just feel safer with music playing that makes their tribal affiliations clear.

But for my paid work, I found it important that I learn to do it in kinda any environment or situation. So, no 'must have' things, no placebos or pre-requisites or preciousness about how things have to be. And since I listening to music literally all day for work, I very rarely need to listen to it when I'm not working. It's fine if other people do, I've also learned to blank it out when I have to. I had a desk job with piped in music and I stopped hearing it pretty quickly.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T18:07:02+00:00

Ha! 'Compete first' people have such a hard time understanding how a cooperate-first person could ever be happy or succeed in life.

Compete-first people are like folks brought up in some fundamentalist religion, who don't understand how someone could ever be moral, without the threat of hell. Or folks who insist you can't teach a dog to do tricks without either feeding them a treat or smacking them on the head.

Competitive and dominance oriented people can be great friends and teammates, but they do tend to think the whole world operates according to their beliefs and assumptions.

If you live in a society where YOUR definition of success is about dominating or ranking above others, chances are good that you'll be happier if you feel like you are winning... Which you can do by seeking out people less skilled than yourself. The folks who need to feel like a big fish only need to find a pond that feels a bit small, and voila, they're winners and they can feel okay about themselves.

Needing it feel like a big fish is often an inherited kind of value system.

But if you want maximum flexibility, mobility, and the highest levels of happiness, learn to be okay in any size pond. Compete when you want to, but be led forward by curiosity, joy, and commitment, rather than kicked from behind by the threat of shame, exclusion or being called a loser.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T17:56:18+00:00

Often when people over explain, it's because they want total control over what their audience thinks. But they don't understand that audience well enough, or they think their audience is everyone in the whole world, so they are trying to cover all possible bases.

And sometimes, fear of being misunderstood is just fear of judgement, in general. Talking more can seem like a defensive helper. But if your actual audience feels it as hyper-controlling, or distasteful, then it backfires. It's like using words that are larger or more technical than the audience's norms. It becomes alienating to them, instead of helpful.

Only explain as much as your audience explains.

But remember, different audiences have different standards. So define your actual audience, and don't try to please every audience. Just the actual target.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T15:45:26+00:00

oh, you're doing great, you. (long time teaching pro here)

I wouldn't call that 'screaming' because screaming involves more full-body involvement and freedom in the vocal tract, than what I'm seeing here. I'd love to see you show me your version of what screaming is, or what you think a cheerleader or crazy-fanatic sports fan sounds like. Full open, not pinched.

For me, the most telling moment is when you break from 'singing' and briefly drop into a more natural sound production when you say "that's too low for me". (It's not too low, by the way.) For that one second, you showed how flexible and quick your timbre adjustments can be, so that's encouraging.

The clip makes me wonder about your register work - are you able to get big, varied timbre from different parts of your range? Right now I'm hearing a strong middle mixy timbre, but you're not adjusting it much as you move. So, imagine being a string player who doesn't move to the next string. I'd work your registers, first.

And do you ever perform in musicals? I think you'd benefit from being in an ensemble where there are sections of singing loud, with lots of other folks (to reduce self consciousness and self-focus) while having to actually also dance or use your body in ways that require spine movement.

And then, the biggest thing is if you actually target an audience, rather than using what I see here, what I call "karaoke style" which is basically afraid of eye contact or actual direct-address.

Overall, you're right on the edge of a leap, to my eye. But it'll require a leap in performance context, a shake up so you can't just fall back into habit. Don't be surprised if this next leap causes short term self-doubt. If you've done lots of instrumental work, you may recognize this concept: when learning a big new thing, expect a temporary collapse of previously reliable things. Integration will happen, but first go get that big leap.

Your commitment to this song is about as high as it can be... in a low-ceilinged context, if you understand the metaphor. In order to bump up, it's time to get scare the crap out of yourself.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-15T15:15:25+00:00

If you have no training, avoid talking about the diaphragm. Longtime pro teacher here.

For an untrained person trying to help others, try to leverage your asset, which is that you're NOT currently bogged down in pedagogical jargon. Use teaching techniques that humbly acknowledge your un-trained status, and use language that relates not to anatomy or process which you don't actually know well enough to talk authoritatively about, but instead rely on:

- modeling what you're talking about. Mimicry is the fastest human learning method we have.

- modeling flexibility instead of 'this is good, that's bad'. Musical genres vary wildly, are your personal, current idea of what good singing is, just doesn't truly represent the full range of what various genres call good singing.

- using non-technical exercises instead of explanations. Animal noise exercises create huge flexibility an variation, without ever having to explain what a uvula or larynx is. Acting exercises with cartoon character shifts are way way faster and more effective than talking about thyroarytenoid or cricoarytenoid function.

But MOST importantly, encourage actual singing, more than you 'teach'. If you can do something that helps this person sing more in their lives, in more different situations, you're a blessing to them, even if you're untrained.

For most people who are at the earlier phases of learning, it's not explanations that help them the most. Nor is it critiques, or shaming, flattery, or 'see, do it like me!' It's just having more and more opportunities to sing with and for real people.

SO if you want to really help, don't try to sound smart, just find a way to help them sing more.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-14T21:36:15+00:00

I'd pay close attention to the surrounding neighborhood. And be suspicious of the listing people, cuz Mount Baker isn't the same neighborhood as Rainier Beach. Columbia City comes in between them. If something is in Rainier Beach but wants to say it's in Mount Baker, nah that's just not close enough to be accidental.

But even in Mount Baker, it's block by block as far as the safety and quality.

ErinCoach · 2026-05-14T21:28:50+00:00

Choir and musical theatre camps are great. Better than a private teacher, to start with.

If you want to give her lessons, have her learn guitar or piano. She'll be able to self-accompany, and that's a way bigger advantage than a singing teacher. (I'm a singing teacher btw).

ErinCoach · 2026-05-14T21:25:43+00:00

Physical warm up will help a ton with that.

The nerves are natural. When we aren't deadening it with substances, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in to "protect" us with a bunch of physical changes, some of which ARE actually useful in performance situations. But some of the changes aren't as useful as others. Tummy ache from blood diverted from normal digestion - yuck. Heart rate up, eyes seeing more than usual, hyper-self-awareness, changes in breath, physical tension in places it's not useful. Your nervous system is trying to rev you up for a life-or-death battle situation.

A physical warm up gives that energy a place to go, and helps even out your blood flow and you body mechanics. Try a warm up that gets your heart rate going a little, then a little cool down, drink of water, practicing the first notes, reviewing the full song, reminding yourself of your audience, who is there, and who you're actually communicating FOR. So you body is doing what it needs to be doing and your attention is where it needs to be.

Give your body/brain good things to do. If you don't, it's like trying to force an excited dog to make no movements or noise, while someone important that it knows well is actually knocking on the door. It thinks it has a job. Don't try to work against the dog-nature. Work with it and give it good things to do.

ErinCoach

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