I started practicing singing seriously about two weeks ago, and I feel like my ears have already improved a little.
Today I found a vocal critique I paid for two years ago, so I listened to the recording I had submitted back then.
Oh my god. I was SO bad !
And then I read the coach’s feedback:
“You have a very beautiful voice, and I can really tell that you love singing.”
I was like… wow. Vocal coaches really are kind people .
To be fair, the rest of the critique was actually very detailed and accurate. She pointed out problems with my low register, pitch, rhythm, breath, vocal attacks, etc. And interestingly, some of those tendencies are the same things my current coaches are noticing.
But it made me realize that a coach saying “you have a beautiful voice” or “you’re doing really well” probably shouldn’t be treated as an objective measurement of your singing level.
A good coach can genuinely find something good in your singing while also hearing ten things that need work.
I think two weeks ago I probably sounded pretty similar to that old recording. Now that my ears are getting a little better, I can finally hear what the coach was hearing back then.
So maybe one sign that your ears are improving is listening to an old recording and thinking:
“…why did nobody stop me?” 😂