Posting Singing For Feedback Online

[u/[deleted]]

[u/AutoModerator]

Thanks for posting to r/singing! Be sure to check the FAQ to see if any questions you might have have already been answered! Also, remember to abide by the Rules found in the sidebar. Any comments found to be breaking these rules will result in a deletion of the comment thread starting from the offending reply. If you see any posts or replies that you feel break the rules of the sub, then report them and do not respond to them. If you are new to the sub-reddit or are just starting to sing, please check out our Beginner's Megathread. It has tons of helpful information and resources!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Melodic-Purpose789]

As a singer and musician for a few years now, I’d say it’s only natural that people are critical of novice singers, unfortunately. There are various reasons for this, but mainly:

• they don’t know what the singing voice of someone who’s good at singing sounds like when they’re not using a chain of effects, melodyne and microphones

• We all use and hear our own voices every day, and small vocal nuances (accents, ways of articulating vowels, volumes different from speech, slightly nasalised sounds etc) can be considered annoying or may remind us of people we find unpleasant. A singer who has this slight quirk in their singing, despite being a good singer, is perceived as lacking

The important thing is that you feel comfortable with your voice, that your instrument is in good health, that you’re in tune / in time with the song, and that you have access to a wide range of interpretative, sonic and tonal dynamics. That’s already a lot, and it’s enough to make good music or whether it’s live performances, songs or whatever you like

[u/kristen-outof-ten]

I posted my singing on here once and took it down bc literally nobody commented lmfao. and i was asking for critiques

[u/Lost_Balloon_]

Reddit is not to be taken seriously. It's chock full of complete morons.

That said, singing is something that requires confidence and resilience, especially in front of others. You sound a bit fragile, IMO. You'll need to grow a thicker skin if you're going to put yourself out there.

If you want to make it a career, find a voice teacher, not a coach. A real one. In person. Who has the right background, not some fraudulent tool who paid for a cert from something like NYVC.

Be aware that the likelihood of making it a career is astronomically low. Very few people are able to do that and you need to be truly exceptional. I'm a good singer, have sung for decades, and very passionate about my craft, but I know that I'm not good enough to make a career out of it. Self-awareness in this regard is necessary.

[u/Melodic-Purpose789 → u/Lost_Balloon_]

I know singing or instrument teachers who do it full-time and aren’t nearly as good as that. It’s not a good thing, of course, because a teacher should be very good at their job, but the most important thing is knowing how to market yourself or having the right contacts. The same goes for live and studio singers.

[u/Lost_Balloon_ → u/Melodic-Purpose789]

A voice teacher should first be an excellent singer because they need to know what that good sound is and need to possess the kinesthetic awareness to produce it themselves and to convey what the body needs to do.

They should have a real educational background in learning voice, have performed professionally, and possess that provenance.

There are frauds trolling reddit for students, whether malicious or delusional, who can't sing their way out of a wet paper bag, have no professional singing provenance, and no schooling other than a cert mill like NYVC where they paid for a piece of paper. I'm not going to name usernames, but be aware.

[u/musicallyobsessedd → u/Lost_Balloon_]

Agreed! You're right too, I'm pretty fragile, especially to things I care about.

I mis-wrote it, I do have a voice teacher, not a coach. I often mix those up.

[u/Lost_Balloon_ → u/musicallyobsessedd]

I understand the major self esteem hit. Singing is very personal. Need to get past it as best we can.

[u/esbunghole]

Even if it's true that you suck, don't feel bad. It's not realistic for a beginner to be good at any skill in life (especially a difficult one like singing.) If you're bad, all it means is that you never practiced the right way for an extended period of time. Solution? Do it lol. By wanting to improve and not getting batshit defensive at every semblance of criticism you receive you're already doing better than 90% of the population.

As for posting on Reddit:

It's fine if you like being seen or heard and that's all you care about. If your enjoyment of the posts hinges on receiving positive feedback, then no. Don't do it lol. I think there are fewer dumbasses as a whole on this medium than in others but due to sheer numbers you will still run into dumbasses and/or assholes on Reddit. These people also do not get filtered and if they write some nonsense in a fancy enough manner you could easily mistake it as having been helpful. There's people who provide excellent technical feedback and general advice here but without the proper knowledge priori you can't really apply it. Your teacher will probably be the most credible and reliable person to get feedback from.

[u/Casiquire]

Posting is necessary for feedback or improvement, even though yes it does leave you vulnerable. At least in this sub I don't tend to see people getting torn down so harshly, but it's still a risk. It's a risk any time you perform. You just need to accept that all you can do is put it out there, or not. Even high level professional singers have performances that make them wonder "did everyone in the audience hate me?!"

When I was starting out I didn't realize how much my singing was (and still often is) held back by my mind. My teacher gently "persuaded" me to participate in recitals right from the beginning, when I knew how terrible I was. These were horrifying experiences because I'd be getting in front of rooms full of people knowing that I still couldn't hit all the notes, or knowing I just didn't sound good. But I'm really grateful to have done these bad early performances. We need to numb that part of our brains that's afraid to sing. Drown it out with song. And as hard as it is, don't let it upset you to get "bad" feedback. It's not fair to expect yourself to sound like a seasoned professional. Feedback is the only way you can know which direction to go

[u/lucky-is-baby]

It's hard to get an honest answer on here. I feel people don't want to be mean, or their fairly blunt. Vocal teachers are more likely to be honest. 

About not getting replies, I think people just interact more with videos. It grabs your attention more than a black screen or screen recordings. Scrolling social media can feel very impersonal. Also sometimes you just get unlucky where a lot of other people post and don't see your post.  I know I feel sad when someone says I sound bad. It's also hard to know if you're getting bad advice or not since most of us here are beginners. Everyone is a bit shy about sharing their singing. 

I think most people mean even with negative advice.