5Ws+1H: What It's About: Piano lessons can help further singing

Jul. 30—TAHLEQUAH — Learning to sing can be difficult, but taking certain music lessons simultaneously can help make the process easier.

Lynette Wiens, a Zomac School of Music piano and voice teacher, said those wanting to improve their voices should also take piano lessons simultaneously or before they start singing lessons.

"When you start cold turkey into voice or instrument and you have had no piano, there are so many things you don't know that [makes] it a really, really slow start when you start into your voice or instrument," Wiens said.

Wiens said people often start on instruments of their choosing, such as drums, before taking piano — and the person may then stop learning to play the instrument. Playing the piano allows the student to learn various notes — a skill that can be beneficial in all musical activities, since all notes are the same for each instrument.

Wiens said when people sing in the wrong way, it can cause damage through the development of nodules. According to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, vocal cord nodules — also known as vocal fold nodules — are growths on one's vocal cords that can be seen as being like calluses on a person's hands. The most common symptom is a voice sounding raspy or hoarse, as well as straining and pitch breaks in a voice trying to sing.

Getting enough rest and learning to sing properly or taking certain precautions — like drinking plenty of water or avoiding yelling and screaming — can help ensure nodules don't appear.

For those who have trouble carrying a tune, Wiens said they can still sing; they just have to be patient and want to learn.

"If you can take a child and you play a note and they sing a totally different note, that doesn't mean they can't sing," Wiens said. "That means they haven't been taught to sing."

If a student fails to match a note played on the piano, Wiens said the teacher should ask the singer if the note sang was too high or low. Wiens said this technique teaches the student how make the tone go up and down. After each lesson, Wiens said, the student will get closer to guessing where the note is, and by around the fifth lesson, will hit the note.

"You will always return to music. It's never something where you say, 'I'll never use that again.' So whatever you invest in it, it's something you will never ever be sorry [about]," Wiens said.