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I see a lot of people in here posting success stories from lessons, which is great. But I tried lessons for about 2 months and go absolutely nowhere haha. It was just repeatedly practicing some song that I wasn't super into and I never even felt like I was "singing" just talking kind of louder / longer and felt very forced and odd. Terrible experience tbh, but I do love singing and still want to some day. (I generally just sing in falsetto to songs in my car because I'm too timid to really project my actual voice)
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It sounds like you didn't have a very good coach. My first coach wasn't very helpful, my second was amazing. Keep looking!

Open mic nights at your local bar are a great source of data. Approach people after their performance, compliment them, and ask them if they have a coach they'd be willing recommend.

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Because it is so easy to get lost in the muck, do you have any particular recommendations on some “decent” YouTube videos/channels to get at least some practice before taking lessons with a vocal coach?
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Oh and I forgot: I can play some instruments, but the voice is the cruelest one to learn. You can‘t „see“ what you are actually doing (wrong). And most of the time you can‘t even feel it very well. This why vocal training is full of analogies and imagery.
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I wish it weren't. I would have gotten a lot more mileage out of "force a yawn, see what your mouth does, and do that" rather than "more space, more space, open up!".
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Have a look at Complete Vocal Technique.

https://completevocalinstitute.com/complete-vocal-technique/

Their work includes pedagogical research to develop a consistent terminology which abandons lots of outdated and confusing terms such as you mention. No more ambiguous words like "project" or "space" or "support".

Their research also includes using endosciopic cameras to directly observe the vocal tracts of professional singers.

I've not actually trained with them, I just like their research and approach.

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I'm danish. CVI is the source of my inspiration
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That looks really useful, thanks!
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Seconding both points. I'm not one of those cases, as I could already sing decently, but I've seen people go from "terrible" to singing professionally.

I also agree that the linked page isn't useful, it's more of a glossary than anything, but then again, I'm not convinced that a distinction between head voice and chest voice actually exists. I've never been able to tell any qualitative difference, as opposed to, for example, falsetto, and the community can't really agree on whether they actually are a thing or not.

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