Question: why can some people sing better than others?

Angela Stokes answered on 16 Nov 2014:

Hi chels

Some people can neither produce (sing) nor perceive (hear) musical notes, even though they are perfectly capable of speaking and distinguishing verbal sounds. The very few who have this condition are said to have congenital amusia.

Most “tone-deaf” people can in fact hear music perfectly well… they just can’t sing. The inability of this group to sing is due to the physical makeup of their vocal system and it all begins with how we produce a sound.

Sound is simply waves of pressure travelling through the air. Whether we’re speaking or singing, we generate sound the same way: by the vibration of vocal folds (vocal chords) located in the larynx of the throat. Vocal chords, are like a pair of lips in the larynx that open and shut as we breathe. When a singer exhales (breathes out), a burst of air rushes over the vocal folds causing the pressure behind them to decrease. As a result, the vocal folds close. Then pressure builds up behind the folds and they open up again.

Sound waves produced by the vibrating vocal chords have two key characteristics:
1) a frequency – the distance between 2 consecutive waves which influences the pitch (highness or lowness) of sound;
2)an amplitude – the height of the waves which affects the loudness of a voice.

So the difference between a good singer and a bad one is how well they can simultaneously adjust the pitch and volume of sound into a melodious song. To a large extent, this involves having skillful control of muscles in the abdomen, chest, throat and face… which takes lots of practice.