Do I Need Talent to Sing or Play Music?
Most of us have some sort of musical talent. If it wasn't identified as children, we need to let it unfold as adults.
Many people are hesitant to begin or return to music, because they fear that they lack musical talent. Talent is a natural ability to do something well.
This natural ability is often demonstrated sometime between childhood and young adulthood. But if it was not identified, used, recognized or nurtured during those years, how can you know, at this stage in life, if you have musical talent? The short answer is: You can’t.
If you want to sing or play music, focus on the types of music that speak to you. If you have a unique talent (and most people have something unique to share), it will reveal itself over time.
In cultures where music is part of everyday life, the concept of talent is largely irrelevant. Singing, dancing and music-making are forms of everday communication and self-expression. For example:
- Mariachi music, which has its roots in Mexico, is played to move people emotionally, not impress audiences with the musicians’ technical expertise. Watch and listen to musician Nati Cano talk about why singing with feeling is the most important part of mariachi.
- The country blues is often called “the music of day to day life.” Many lyrics deal with the African American experience in the American South in the early part of the 20th century. Work, love, jealously, travel and loneliness are common themes. Anyone who’s lived can sing the blues! Many songs rely more on the expressive power of the voice than on technical proficiency in an instrument. Listen to the late bluesman Sam Chatmon sing the “St. Louis Blues.”
- Music has been an integral part of the everyday lives of Ghanians for centuries. It is so central to the culture that groups – not ordinarily associated with music – often play music together. One unique band is made up of truck drivers that use truck horns, tire pumps and other everyday objects as instruments! Click on the first two videos on this page to see the unique “honk horn” music of truck drivers in the La Drivers Union Por Por Group.
Some people have a talent for singing expressively; others for keeping a steady beat. Your talent may not be clear to you until you identify and pursue a musical direction that sparks your interest.
There is a good chance that if an instrument excites or intrigues you – say, you love to look at and touch pianos even though you can’t play one – you may well have a talent for some aspect of piano playing.
Read more about talent:
