Can Adults Really Learn to Sing? The Honest Answer

I know the answer because one of my dearest students started voice lessons with me when she was in her 70s.

We worked together for almost two decades.

And somewhere along the way, we became real friends.

She loved to sing.

When she had a solo coming up with her assisted living choir, we worked on it together. I went to her concerts and cheered her on.

Every Christmas, my voice studio would go to her residence and sing for the residents.

When her husband died during COVID, I sang at his funeral.

Later, when she moved to a higher level of care, I kept going to see her. We sang duets together every weekend.

Those visits became some of my favorite times with her.

Eventually, her voice and her body gave out.

When she died, my entire studio sang at her funeral.

It was practically a concert.

And I know she would have loved that.

I think about her whenever an adult tells me, “Am I too old to learn to sing?”

No.

You are not too old.

And you don't have to be working toward a professional singing career for voice lessons to matter.

Unless that's your goal.

I work with professional singers, too. I also work with adults who are returning to music after years away.

Some haven't sung since they were young. Others have always loved music but never had the opportunity to study voice.

And sometimes there is another reason they stopped.

After almost 30 years of teaching, I've heard some heartbreaking stories.

A middle school teacher told someone to lip-sync instead of singing.

A sibling told someone they shouldn't sing.

I've worked with adults whose experience with someone they trusted made music painful for a very long time.

Sometimes decades.

Then they walk into my studio.

They may think they're coming for singing lessons.

Sometimes they're really coming to find out whether what someone told them about their voice was ever true.

That's a question I love answering.

Yes.

Adults can learn to sing.

Your voice changes as you get older. Of course it does. But changed does not mean finished.

There is a lot you can still learn about your voice.

Maybe your upper range has always felt difficult. Maybe pitch has been a struggle. Maybe nobody ever taught you what your voice was actually doing.

Those things can change.

Sometimes you discover that the thing you thought you simply couldn't do was something you had never been taught how to do.

That can be a pretty wonderful realization.

I've watched adult singers come into a lesson very cautiously.

Then they sing.

And nobody laughs.

Nobody tells them to mouth the words.

Nobody tells them to stop.

We listen.

Then we work.

And sometimes you can almost see the singer realizing, Oh. Maybe this is different.

Because learning to sing as an adult isn't about turning back the clock.

It's about finding out what your voice can do now.

That's what my dear student did.

She didn't start lessons because she needed a professional singing career.

She wanted to sing.

And she kept singing.

Her voice lessons became part of her life. So did the music we made together.

That's what I love about teaching adults.

Sometimes someone comes to me because they want to improve their singing. Sometimes they are returning to music after a very long time away.

And sometimes they just want to have fun.

I love that.

Music doesn't have to become a career to matter.

It can simply be something you love.

My student taught me that.

So if you've been wondering whether you're too old to learn to sing, I'd ask you a different question:

What could your voice do if you actually gave it the chance to learn?

You don't have to know the answer before you begin.

You just have to be curious enough to find out.

And if we discover that I'm not the right teacher for you, I'll tell you that, too. I can refer you to another voice teacher or coach who may be a better fit.

You don't have to prove that you can sing before you take a voice lesson.

You can simply come in and sing.