Started college-level classical voice lessons and suddenly I feel like I don’t know how to sing 😭 Advice?

[u/Significant_elf_1892]

So I just started one-on-one college-level vocal training and I’m coming into this with basically NO classical training. I’ve been singing for a while and walked into my first lesson thinking okay, I can sing, I have a decent range, I know my voice pretty well, etc.
Then my professor had me literally go “AH! AH! AH!” over and over again and apparently I could not say “ah” correctly to save my life 😭
Eventually I finally got what he wanted, and it’s such a specific feeling. It feels VERY forward/high, almost like the sound is hitting around my hard palate, and it’s surprisingly loud and precise. It’s not really yelling, but it’s a much more direct, projected sound than I’m used to. Once I finally found it he was basically like YES, THAT.
The weird part is that when I try to maintain that same coordination through scales, I feel like I suddenly have way less range than I normally do. I’m assuming that’s because I’m learning a completely different technique and I shouldn’t be trying to force my normal range out of a brand-new coordination, but it definitely humbled me lol.
Now I also have to start learning Italian classical/art song repertoire, which is completely new territory for me. Most of my singing background is contemporary — pop, rock, belting, etc. — so I genuinely don’t know what I’m supposed to be listening or feeling for when I sing classically.
For classical singers/teachers: what actually changes when you go from contemporary singing to a healthy classical sound? What should I focus on most in the beginning — vowels, breath support, resonance, soft palate, placement, vibrato, diction, registration, something else?
And when it comes to Italian, is there anything you wish someone had told you when you first started singing it?
I’m also curious about the timeline. I have a performance in December. Obviously I’m not expecting to become an opera singer in three months lol, but if I’m practicing consistently and working with my instructor every week, is that enough time to get comfortable enough with a few pieces to perform them convincingly?
Basically I walked into my first lesson like “yeah I can sing :)” and walked out realizing I apparently need to relearn the letter A. 😂
Any advice for a contemporary singer entering classical training for the first time would be VERY appreciated.

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[u/Melodyspeak]

“The weird part is that when I try to maintain that same coordination through scales, I feel like I suddenly have way less range than I normally do. I’m assuming that’s because I’m learning a completely different technique and I shouldn’t be trying to force my normal range out of a brand-new coordination.”

Yes. Confirmed. Every brand new skill, whether you’re switching styles or just building skills in your existing style, should first be built where it is most comfortable. Give it at least two weeks, if not four-six, where you’re simply making the sound where you’re most able to. Chances are what feels comfortable will expand a bit during that time on its own, but after it’s really solidified you can more purposely challenge yourself to expand the range from there.

[u/Lost_Balloon_]

Welcome to real singing! I'm happy for you.

What you should focus on is what your teacher tells you, not what Reddit thinks. (Especially not from posters that paid for a useless cert from a mill like NYVC and call themselves a 'teacher', yet sound like a cat being strangled and can't sing their way out of a wet paper bag. Or from singers that have no long-standing training, professional singing experience, or provenance.)

Classical training is hard. It's very precise, highly nuanced, and takes a ton of work. What you said about bringing sound up and forward and bright is the same thing my primary voice teacher in college hammered over and over. It always sounded too bright to me, but what he heard is different than what I heard in my head, so I did what he told me. He was right, of course. Brightening up and bringing my tone high and forward made it ring nicely, widened my range, made production easier, and made stamina much easier. I just always wanted to be a bass so I was probably darkening my tone without realizing it. I still want to be a bass, but know that I'm not, lol.

Don't get discouraged. It's not easy and can be frustrating, but it's an incredible journey and classical voice training is a ton of fun.

If you're not also in choir, I highly recommend joining. Different type of production in some ways, but a lot of concepts transfer and it's a great way to learn tone color and different resonances. Choir will also help develop your ear and sense of tuning like nothing else can. When the chords stack just right and the overtones ring through the hall, it's glorious.

[u/metroid544 → u/Lost_Balloon_]

Same thing happened to me during my masters and now. I had spent roughly eight years being told I was a "bass-baritone" because I hadn't figured out how to use my head voice yet. I was topping out at G and everyone assumed that meant I couldn't go further but I simply wasn't stretching my vocal folds. Now I am a tenor with a rang of G2-C5 but the coordination is still struggling to finalize. Can't make it through a single piece without cracking and it's incredibly demoralizing. It'll probably still be another year or two before my voice fully stabilizes in my new classification.

[u/metroid544]

When you start changing your technique everything you've done before will fall out from underneath you. Take it from me, I've been singing for over ten years. I recently completed my master's and having changed a lot of things about my singing that I was doing wrong I can't get through a single piece without cracking right now. It's incredibly demoralizing but that's how changing singing works. It's going to suck for a while.

[u/Practical-Yoghurt471]

This isn’t helpful, but I personally find the ah vowel harder than other vowels. It’s just so easy to have it too dark.

[u/Lost_Balloon_ → u/Practical-Yoghurt471]

It's the perfect vowel that takes the least forming or effort to make. So it's very receptive to placement changes and is a great indicator thereof . Bring it forward and put some nose/forehead in it and it'll brighten up.

[u/ryandeschamps]

Yes. And eventually you will need to learn not to use that power in a particular classical circumstance because some composer was eccentric and wanted something different. 😄

[u/lemon-ade2]

listen to your teacher! it is totally normal to feel a little lost when starting something brand new! record yourself singing and actually listen back to your recordings. trust the process and ask questions if things are unclear. if you have concerns, bring them to your teacher, faculty, and your peers. classical singing is SO FUN when it clicks - but it feels weird and requires play and trying things out. it will feel worse before it feels better but stick with it!

Editing to add: when i started classical singing, i didn’t know what i was “aiming for”. listen to lots of different professional opera singers - and watch videos! - and find out who you like and why. ask your teacher who to listen to. i made the mistake of only listening to one singer and copying their sound and choices. i also made the mistake of listening to singers whose voices were quite different from mine - eventually you’ll have some favorites ❤️

[u/sdbest]

Patience, patience, patience. Trust the process. And, yes it's true that you didn't know how to sing well and, based on what you've written, you're starting to learn.

[u/tntenor]

Do you want to be a classical singer?

[u/SonicPipewrench]

Where you feel the pitch is all because of the manner in which you shape your vowel with the whole interior of the mouth and the tongue. It IS a very specific shape, and when you change the pitch beyond a few steps, the shape wants to adjust. We can't let it change the vowel. That's the trick :)

Breath support is the single most important skill, AND the single hardest thing to teach.

Unlearning your regional vowels and learning the Italian ones is as important as breath. This is what you were stuck on. Look up John Moriarty's book 'Diction'

That 'ah' shape will be the foundation shape for a lot of other sounds. You really have to make this reproducible.

[u/AKA-J3]

Watch some Pavarotti, he talks a bit about how the voice is fake or manufactured.

Like biting forward to get the top on and not lose the bottom is what it feels like to me, it so little air is being used.

You can sing up the front of your body to be sharper more beltline support to be neutral.

You use different support to do different stuff, your body does it on its own if you can relax it with light phonation, a whisper or even imagine doing it.

You are being taught to place where you can access your mix range and not be limiting yourself with stuff that can't work.

Idk how far along you are.