Is singing a gift or a skill?

Both. Some people naturally have a nice quality voice, and in that case it’s a gift. But good singers know the training required to use their voice to the fullest potential, and then it’s a skill.

I’m a singer, always have been, but not because I have a good voice. I do have a good voice, but without training, it wouldn’t be near to the skill level it’s at right now. My belt has improved, my range has widened, my breathing is a whole lot more supportive. True singers can’t just have the pretty voice, but they need to know how to properly work it, as well as have an ear for music..

I’ll give you a couple of examples:

A friend of mine is currently trying to learn to sing properly. She has a great natural voice, but no training, and no ear for music. She can’t hear the rhythm when she goes to sing a song, she randomly changes keys and has no idea. It’s frustrating for her, because hearing music is a natural thing, so in this case, a gift, one that she doesn’t have. There’s nothing she can do about it. This is why I think that EVERYONE can sing, the only way you can’t is if you’re tone deaf, which is about 2% of the population.

Then I have another friend, who has a naturally small, squeaky, and quite nasally voice. Singing is her passion, and she didn’t used to sound too great when she tried to sing. Then she took voice lessons from my teacher, and she learned how to control her breathing and her resonators so that she’s not quite as nasally, and now has a beautiful lyric soprano voice.

It’s always a mixture, but I believe technique is what makes ANY good singer, great.

It’s a skill.

What determines if you catch on is the connection you make in your brain between what you hear and what sound you produce. Other than that… it’s all skill.

xox Sika

it can often be a gift [one I dont have]

but you can get a singing coach, and if you learn to sing better, it can become a skill.

-//kate

true singers have it as a gift

I think people like leona lewis, mariah carey and whitney houston has an absolute gift. I mean really, the ability to belt out some of those notes! but I think it doesn’t mean all those without the ‘gift’ can’t sing, just means that they might need some training to make what they have the best it can be.

but then you get people, like my hubby, who can’t hold a note in tune to save his life lol!

I think it is a gift

I think its both.

I think it can go both ways. I can sing but im not that good to use it as a skill

I would say gift but people can use it as a skill if they want it.

Gift.

I’d say gift mostly =]

a gift sweetie

a gift

Both..

I say it is a gift

BOTH