[dans]

I have been a piano/keys player since I was 4 and I can play a little guitar, bass and drums as well. But I just started singing about a year ago. I have learned that the voice is the hardest instrument of them all. My solution was to take private lessons. And it has worked wonders (although I still cringe when I hear myself).

I think that a few months with a good teacher may make an enormous difference in your singing. There are certain techniques you just can't figure out on your own. The voice has many counter-intuitive aspects. For example, singing soft can be as hard on the vocal chords as screaming. I spent the first two months with my NYC coach doing NOTHING but humming. It worked wonders for my pitch. I do crazy octave jumps, scales and such, all in a hum. It's like lifting weights for the voice. A key aspect to my improvement has been an emphasis on building the strength of the voice with carefully tailored exercises; the pitch improvements necessarily follow.

I live in NYC, but before that I lived in Boston. I have great vocal coaches in both cities. If anyone wants to know who they are, just ask.

Good luck.