Pete Seeger Quotes

I used to audition for musicals when I was in New York before I moved to L.A., but I couldn't quite hit a certain note, so I saw a teacher in L. A. who helped me get better at it. She showed me how to use a different part of my voice. You are never too old.

It was right after I did Piaf, 'La Vie en Rose'. I started to take singing lessons and finding where I could go.

When I got back from London, I started with a new voice teacher in the experimental wing, who trained me to have my own artistry as opposed to forcing a technique upon me.

I thought everybody had falsetto. And since I wasn't a schooled singer who studied with anybody, I just thought anybody who had a voice could do anything they wanted with their voice.

I wanted to be Whitney Houston at first, and when I started taking voice lessons, my voice teacher kind of geared me more towards opera.

If you ask me about vocal technique, I don't know anything. I could never be a teacher. I just know what my teacher told me: 'Always sing with a full voice. When they tell you, less sound, more piano - no.'

When I was about forty-three years of age, I had a private secretary with a beautiful baritone voice. I told him I would give anything in the world if I could only carry a tune. He laughed and said, 'Anybody who has a voice and perseverance can sing.'

That's right, I take vocal lessons - done it for years. There's nothing wrong with it.

For me, bel canto is medicine for the voice.

I've never gone for having a great voice, for cultivating one. I'm still not doing it now.

Singing lessons are like body building for your larynx.

I went through voice coaching. I was absolutely terrified. I thought my knees were going to buckle, and the first couple of takes I sounded like a pubescent boy. I didn't realise I was going to have to do it live.

Some of my first teachers were incredibly tough. You could never sing more than three words without being stopped and having to do it over 20 times. I loved that - that sort of process of dissecting and trying to figure out and master this incredibly mysterious instrument.

By that point, I had started taking singing lessons. And after the first session, I mean, I was surprised that the windows didn't shatter. And after the third session, I really didn't know where this voice had come from.

I had classical training but I don't consider myself an opera singer though.

When the student has her voice under complete control, it is safe to take up the lyric repertoire of Mendelssohn, Old English Songs, etc. How simple and charming they are!

It was clear to my parents that I had the gift of voice, and they encouraged me to pursue it.

As for my voice, it cannot be categorised - and I like it that way, because I sing things that would be considered in the dramatic, mezzo or spinto range.

Because her voice is, it's like the muscles and it develops all the time. That was the fantastic thing for us.

I wanted to emulate Bob Flanagan, the high voice in the 'Four Freshmen.' I wanted to sing high like he did.

I've studied voice from a few different people for years.

I was taking singing lessons, and they'd say, 'Your voice is too hoarse. You have to do more exercises.'

I never breathe through the nose, not when I'm singing. In the opera, you don't have so much time. That's fine at the beginning of an opera or after somebody else has been doing an aria, and you want to get a good fresh start.

I would never put any growl on my voice in concert - it's not the kind of music I sing.

Maybe I was just born with a little bit of vocals or natural talent, but I feel like I taught myself. I just started taking vocal lessons to just work on my breathing, my vowels and stuff.