You Should Sing, and It Doesn't Matter If You're Good

When people find out I'm a singer, a lot of them tell me they're embarrassed to sing around me. That makes me really sad, because I love singing more or less as a concept.

Somewhere along the way, we decided a voice has to be good enough to justify using it, as though it needs to be capitalistically productive to be worth anything. So people hold themselves up against Lady Gaga or Chappell Roan, who do this all day, with the best vocal coaches around and healthcare most of us don't have access to, and then they decide they shouldn't sing along in the car.

I think everyone should sing. You don't have to release anything. You don't have to go to karaoke. There's a time and a place, and the top of your lungs at the supermarket probably isn't it. But if you're in the car with friends and a song you like comes on, you have no reason to be afraid. If they clown on you for it, they're not being great friends.

How I actually learned

I sang all the time. I sang with the radio, and I sang Christmas carols with my brother. I still sing in public without noticing, because there's always a song playing in my head. I did have lessons and choir later, and they helped, but I think a lot of it came from the sheer amount of singing.

That's the thing I think people miss. You stop yourself from singing so often that you never get the practice.

You might be wrong about your voice

For years I told people I was a bass-baritone. I was uncomfortable in my high range and scared of vocal cracks, and I didn't know how to control that part of my voice, so I just avoided it.

Then I auditioned for On the Rocks in college, and the music director said, "Nope, you're definitely not a baritone. You're a tenor." He worked with me, and I went on to be the highest tenor in the group for years. Finding what felt comfortable for my voice got me there more than doing what was technically right.

So go sing something. Nobody's grading it.

If you'd like some company, I teach voice lessons, and if you're nervous, we can start with sirens and be silly about it.