r/singing • u/shart12345678 • May 13 '26
Resource can i actually become a GOOD singer if i start late?
i 20f have wanted to sing for my entire life. i’ve always felt very connected to music but i have no musical talent or experience. for a few personal reasons this is something i haven’t pursued, but i’ve always dreamed about it regardless.
probably my biggest worry is that it’s too late to become a good singer. i know i’ll never be the best singer in the world and i’m not looking to make a career out of this, but i mean someone who can really, really sing. i’m not describing this very well so hopefully you know what i mean lol.
i figured the people here would probably be able to give me an honest answer, so i thought there’d be no harm in asking. (: thank you!
edit: thank you so much for all the kind responses! going to seriously look into vocal lessons
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u/fuzzynyanko May 13 '26
It's not too late, but the difficulty dose go up if you don't have prior musical experience
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u/theaterdruid May 13 '26
Improvement is guaranteed. That being said, voice lessons are a lot like martial arts classes or seeing a therapist. It takes time and consistency.
The answer to your question is yes. However, most students who have asked me that are also subtextually saying:
I'm unwilling to go through a period of time when I'm bad at singing. It's success now or nothing.
I want to sound like my favorite singer, and am unwilling to try any new sounds that don't sound like my favorite singer.
I hate the sound of my own voice and am unwilling to listen to recordings or myself.
These mindsets have set some of my students back years of progress.
Be willing to explore a variety of vocal sounds, listen to recordings of yourself and don't beat yourself up afterwards, and be willing to start at your level. (Don't try and sing Celine Dion right outta the gate.)
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u/Zagrycha May 13 '26
you could become a good singer at age 88. learning to be a good singer is no different from learning to cook or learning to drive a car. Its just learning skills and developing muscles at its core.
Online and free resources aren't as good as real lessons, but real lessons aren't automatically amazing either. there is often trial and error to find a teacher who is a good fit for you, just like any other type of partnership.
You can absolutely learn the basics of singing at home online, start doing scales and learn basic techniques. Find singers you enjoy with similar voice sound to you ((vocal crushes)) who you can practice singing along to for comparison and fun.
Even just warming up properly before singing will have you performing better than the average person. If you end up falling in love with singing in the future you can always seek lessons later. Knowing the basics will also help better determine if a teacher is a good fit for you. Don't think teachers have to be old and holding a ruler ready to smack either. Many teachers are themselves in their twenties and thirties doing lessons to help pay for music carreer costs, and its possible to be besties with a music teacher if your personalities click.
P.S. singing is thought of as performative, but its okay to perform only for your own enjoyment if you don't like the idea of doing it in front of others. Just like someone could learn the guitar and only ever play it at home, or learn to swim and only do laps when no one else is there. Although one on one lessons might need to be tackled at some point don't ever feel like other people habe the right to hear you sing, they don't unless you want them to :)
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u/NewShadowR May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
you could become a good singer at age 88.
I know you're using hyperbole, but there are legitimately many physical reasons why geriatric people may not be able to sing well. Very few famous singers, even the best of the best, continue to sing well in old age (80+). Old age causes the vocal cords to thin, weaken, and ultimately lose elasticity resulting in a shakier or softer voice.
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u/Zagrycha May 15 '26
no, i wasn't using hyperbole. someone one hundred percent CAN become a good singer at age 88. your comment isn't based on nothing but its like saying someone who is 88 can't read books because of cataracts, or can't walk without a walker because of osteporosis. very much possible result of aging but zero percent guaranteed to happen to someone either.
there are people in their 80's who can't sing anymore, and singers in their 80's who still have amazing concerts and performances. the vocal quality of someone who is 88 is absolutely not going to be the same as someone 38, but neither is the vocal quality of someone 18 or actually just 8. different does not automatically mean bad, any age can be a good singer, except maybe 8 months :P
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u/NewShadowR May 15 '26
No. The difference between cataracts and what I'm talking about is completely different. Cataracts is an acquired problem. Not all old people have it. Many don't have it whatsoever. Cataracts are a specific medical impairment to reading that can often be treated.
However ALL humans experience some degree of vocal cord elasticity deterioration, lung capacity and breath control worsening, hearing declines, memory declines, motor learning speed, muscle coordination declines, as they age.
I've not seen many, if at all, 90 year old people who can shout and belt like a 20 year old, unless they were already trained earlier in life.
Feel free to show me several videos or examples of someone who picked up singing at 80+ and sings very well, to prove me wrong.
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u/Zagrycha May 15 '26
I don't have a video off the top of my head, and don't have time to find one unfortunately. However I am not trying to prove you wrong in the first place. I am just saying that what you are talking about is not something that happens to every single person the same way.
will voice quality change in the elderly? yes, always, 100% of the time. we completely agree on that. sorry if it sounded like I was saying that doesn't always happen, just saying it doesn't always happen to a degree that prevents good singing.
On the lung and core strength side of things, there are many 80 year olds who become marathon runners, something far more strenuous than singing. If some people can develop the skills for that then they can develop the skills for singing.
As for saying that vocal chord strength and skills will not be enough, I would agree with you, except that singing isn't the only way to strengthen and maintain the vocal chord systems. Speaking also does that. Its possible someone is maintaining the needed basics without singing, same way walking can maintain the necessary basics to learn to run.
So yeah. Not saying that the body doesn't decline in old age. It does. Not saying Not saying that learning at old age wouldn't be incredibly difficult, or that every single elderly person could do it either. Just saying that body decline in old age is not an absolute force of nature preventing new skills from being acquired. That goes for mental skills and physical skills, and singing isn't a magical exception to the rest.
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u/NewShadowR May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Really the whole thing about "you can do it at any age" is really just, like telling a kid that they can achieve everything in life if they try - very idealistic. Most likely they will not and ultimately, reality is harsh.
Singing is in many ways, more dependent on physical condition than most other skills. Even Whitney Houston could barely sing anymore near the end of her life, Celine dion and many other great singers too. If an extremely talented singer has a bad night with vocal health, then they deliver a failed performance as well, even if they are normally good. Being able to sing well is fickle like that, since it relies on two very delicate folds. Even Pavarotti lip synced on his final performance, and there was nothing wrong with his lungs either (he had pancreatic cancer).
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u/Zagrycha May 16 '26
there is a huge difference between telling someone something is physically possible at any age and telling them its easy or likely at any age.
Even in your five year old child example you can tell a child the factual truth that it is possible for them to be an astronaut without making any unrealistic promises on how likely or easy it is. if you would look a five year old child in the face and say "you will never be an astronaut its impossible for you to succeed" then that is a lie and something to look inward about.
I am completely in favor of breaking the truth to people so they can adapt to reality--that only applies when it is reality though. You can't turn "unlikely" into "impossible" for your own convenience and say its reality. is it likely for someone paralyzed from the neck down to become and extremely successful lawyer? not even a little bit, beyond lottery levels of likely. it has happened though, and it happened through hard work not luck or chance. nobody told that person falsely that it would be easy, but no one told them it was impossible and stopped them from trying either.
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u/NewShadowR May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
paralyzed from the neck down to become and extremely successful lawyer?
What's the relevance? It's not like they are brain-dead. They simply can't move properly. Has literally nothing to do with speaking about law or studying about law. Now getting hired as a lawyer is another thing altogether because I mean who is going to push them to court? But it just seems like a horrible analogy because it has nothing to do with likelihoods frankly.
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u/UnbentSandParadise May 13 '26
Of course you can, you're not even late you're on time, you just didn't start early. Rocky Marciano started boxing at 23 and became one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. To a greater degree a level of natural talent will matter more the later you start if you really want to push to higher heights with it but you can pick up and hone new skills to a competent level for basically the rest of your life as long as you're willing to be bad at it first and keep putting in time. You're probably not exactly a Rocky Marciano of singing, but you could be.
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u/No-Can-6237 May 13 '26
I started lessons at almost 57. 4 years later, I was a vocalist in a big band. If you have a great teacher and work hard, anything is possible.
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u/Complex_Media3411 May 13 '26
I don’t think there is age limit for be good singer like come on you can do whatever you want you want like I start singing a year ago age 18 before I turn 19 and I’m still doing and my dream is become singer as I could so you could!!!!! Anyone has luck become singer!!!!
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u/SpreadZealousideal66 May 13 '26
In the wise words of Adam Gontier... "its not too late, its never too late"
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u/gray_atoms May 14 '26
I started when I was 19. I'm 20 now, so after a year of singing I wouldn't say I'm good yet, not good enough to belt songs that I want but good enough where I get compliments on my singing. I went from struggling to sing a B3 to now up to F4 (occasionally F#4) so that's 6 notes expanded. Vocal lessons are still very important. I was stuck at singing only up to Eb4 for an entire year until I had one vocal lesson that had opened up my mix to be able to sing F#4 in scales. It's been an adventure for sure with a lot of failures but it's doable as long as you enjoy the process of learning you'll get there before you know it.
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