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Learning to sing. Advice, please?

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Is it cold in here?:
I am starting from a level of musical ignorance that would horrify many people here.

My goal is to sing a duet of "Save the Best for Last" with my wife on our 20th anniversary in October. She is a trained singer and in a choir.

I am taking three hour-long lessons a week from a long-time professional singing teacher found via recommendation.

Problems so far include poor posture, an intermittent ability to match pitches, and self-consciousness. There is a humiliating inability to concentrate on more than one thing at once -- if I get one thing right, something else falls apart. If there is such a thing as a music brain, I don't have one.

Meanwhile, I've got a supercomputer in my pocket with a microphone. Every singing instructor I've talked to draws a blank when I ask what apps could supplement my training. They simply don't think in those terms. Online reviews only take me so far.

What should I do to maximize the likelihood of succeeding?

jwhouk:
Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do!

Case:
Hmmmh, regarding pitches and musical brain-ing, I might have an idea (though I'd recommend you discuss anything you do with your teacher):

I had a self-styled "solfege"-exercise ("Gehörbildung" - lit. "Hearing-development") I trained way back before I tried out for academy (bass, though): Singing intervals - i.e. two notes after another - and trying to recognize the interval, the "tonal distance", between them. I'd make myself 'Interval-Mnemonics' out of the first two notes of melodies of songs I knew well, for example:

Octave - Somewhere over the Rainbow (Some-where - that's the octave)
Fifth- Star Wars Theme
Tritonus - Maria, West Side Story (In the chorus, the "Ma-ri" in "Maria" is the tritonus)
Fourth - Police Siren (That's German patrol cars, though)
Major third - Oh when the Saints ... (C-E-F-G If you leave out the third note, you have all the notes of a major chord)
Minor third - 'Georgia on my mind' or 'Save the best for last'!  :mrgreen:
    (Both start with a minor third, but "Georgia" is in a minor key, while "Save ..." is in a major key. If the key of "Save ..."was "C" (cf. spoiler), you'd start with E (major third), then G   (fifth). Choose what you find more convenient)
Major Second - do-re! (Can you sing a major scale?)
...

Once you're comfortable with singing the interval 'upward', sing it 'downward'. Then let your wife sing you an interval & try naming it. Stuff like that - make a game out of it.

Keep it playful - Fear is the mindkiller!


--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 26 Apr 2017, 09:02 ---Problems so far include poor posture, an intermittent ability to match pitches, and self-consciousness. There is a humiliating inability to concentrate on more than one thing at once -- if I get one thing right, something else falls apart. If there is such a thing as a music brain, I don't have one.

--- End quote ---

Self-consciousness: Well, ask Meryll Streep how she feels just before her part starts (Hint: She still gets nervous). Maybe you have more music in your brain than you think? Methinks you wouldn't be so frustrated otherwise - the really 'music-blind' people smile at you while singing a half-note off-key (*shudder*)

EDIT: Here's the "Saving the best for last" written out:
(click to show/hide)You don't have to read it - just note that there's no # or b's. Meaning: You could play the entire song using only the white keys on a piano. The song is in a 'major scale'. Now, you might think that's news for your ear, but it isn't. The entire 'western' musical system, back to the ancient Greeks, is based on those seven notes, the so-called 'ionic/major scale'. You've heard this a bazillion times - so you 'know' the notes without knowing. It's what you'd instinctively use if you just started humming "random (ballad) stuff that sounds good to me".

EDIT II: Maybe https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/se/ID_No/23776/Product.aspx helps - you can change the key (the "base note") with the button "transposition" (Ask your wife what key you're supposed to sing it in). Advantage: You can let it play the notes for you, in the key you'll actually use, at a tempo of your choosing.

Welu:
I don't have any advice but I identify a lot with having a non-music brain. I've tried looking for similar apps in the past with little joy.

Good luck on your goal!

pwhodges:
Your teacher's main expertise will be in helping you sing efficiently and beautifully.  Posture, tension and relaxation in the right muscles, are things that help with this.  But can you sing along in a not-so-beautiful manner?  This:

--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 26 Apr 2017, 09:02 ---an intermittent ability to match pitches,
--- End quote ---
suggests that perhaps you can't, or not reliably.  The ability to hear music is like hearing and using speech - the basis of it is laid down in infancy, and past childhood it is very hard indeed to develop from scratch.  However, if you are aware when you are failing, then you have something to work with - the problem is more controlling your voice to produce the intended notes, and developing the feedback loop between hearing the error and correcting it.  I suspect that this is down to practice, practice and more practice.  Just trying to sing what you want, and forcing yourself to try to correct every error you notice.  I doubt that any app would significantly help with this, as it is the link between your body's own perception and your muscle control that you have to build up.

Good luck - you'll need determination, but you've shown in other parts of this forum that you've plenty of that!

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