I went to meet a guy who is going to teach me voice, and I sang for him and he said that I shift from key to key and pitch to picth. He also said that to start out I'll be doing basic stuff like learning to stay in key, because he doens't know if I can do it. What does he mean? and does that mean I can't become a well trained vocalist? And what can I expect to do and learn from lessons, I a little nervous about it because I've never done anything close to this before. Thanks!
Hello there! I'm a fellow musician (senior in college). What he means is you have trouble hearing the actual note you should be singing. Think of a staircase. He wants you to stay on one certain step, but you have trouble finding which one it is so you go to several other steps. He should have handled it a bit differently. Was he an actual professional instructor? If you really want to pursue a vocal career then you will have to do some hard work. He is right when he said you have to start from the basics. It's like trying to do professional weight-lifting when you've never seen a dumbell in your life. If you have no musical experience whatsoever then it will be rather difficult. I won't lie to you. You have to work on ear training. Which is listening to distinguish certain pitches, rhythms, and etc. Training is easier for people when they are very young children (due to brain development). For adults (anyone aprox. 13-15 and up) training is a bit harder. It's not that you can't do it it will just take longer. I know plenty of musicians that didn't start their musical careers until college and they are doing just fine. If you really want it YOU CAN do it! Listen to all the music you can like sarah brightman, professional opera singers, sign up for a choral group this will help even more. I don't know anything about this person your taking lessons from, but he'll probably teach you how listen, hone, and then sing our pitch. He'll probably have you sing some scales, arpeggios, etc… You'll have to do some breathing excercises. Remeber to keep your throat muscles nice and relaxed.