Most of us have given up years ago thinking we could ever sing, it not being a part of our everyday lives.
One of the main reasons we avoid singing is that we believe we have to be 'good' to be convincing, and that who we simply are simply isn't good enough.
But an audience isn't necessarily looking for 'good'.
It helps, obviously, but an honest human story told from the heart is what we're all looking for deep down.
Put two singers on a stage, one a perfectly trained singer with a pure voice and tone and no soul, and a punk singer who's all soul and can't really sing a note, and who are the audience going to like? The singer who is truthful and authentic.
'Authentic' means authentic to you, what you truly feel and want to say.
And the way in, of course, is to listen to our instinct.
This can be tricky.
Sometimes we feel so cut off from our feelings we don't know if we even have instinct.
You do, though, if this is you.
And you are musical, and can connect with your 'inner musician'.
And finding and then expressing that is a learnt response, as with learning anything.
There's no safety net when singing and so it can be extremely terrifying, and the mind's response to this threat is usually to try and control the experience so we're 'safe'.
This is the last thing we need to do when singing since it's all about letting go and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in front of others (another thing the mind abhors) with the attitude of 'let's see what happens', rather than holding on.
When we hold on so tightly our cup is too full and there's no room for anything else.
Try this exercise: take a deep breath in, imagining the feeling of having a hot potato in your mouth as you do so.
Relax your lips in a gentle smile and let that smile be reflected at the back of your mouth.
Soft palate high (the soft bit at the back of the mouth), tongue relaxed and on the bottom of the mouth, gently pulled back and lightly curled (on a line with the teeth), everything in balance.
Think 'poised for flight', nothing too tense.
Feel the air going in to your mouth and past the back of your throat, past the top of the larynx (the larynx houses the vocal cords which lie horizontally behind the Adams Apple in the throat) and from there to the heart and from the heart to the diaphragm.
When the air connects with the heart think 'joy' (the feeling of someone you love walking into the room, for example), which then automatically opens the diaphragm, since it's difficult to hold on when you're feeling joy.
When the air connects with the diaphragm think 'surrender'.
By doing this you're in your body with the attitude of 'let's see what happens' and by that very fact, you're open to your instinct, which is housed in the sacral point (about two inches above the pubic bone), the creative center of the body.
To test this out, laugh and feel it in the diaphragm.
As you do so, give the diaphragm the creative car keys, so to speak, with the attitude of 'let's see what happens'.
That free feeling you get from doing this is you starting to sing, and as you feel that, on the next in breath let a mid-range note resonate from the sacral point and see if you can hear the difference.
We think we're performing for an audience when we're really doing it for ourselves, because it's fun, and because showing our true selves in front of others is something we don't get to do much of the time, usually.
And, also, because the diaphragm spends so much time holding on as a rule, when we open up and take it out for a spin it's a freeing feeling.
And when we're feeling that we're in the moment and being our true selves, and that can be heard in the voice.