For those who feel they can't sing, there is hope. Practice and feedback from others can help to improve a voice. I was the only one of my siblings who could not carry a tune. But I loved to sing, I kept on singing, and somewhere down the road, I went through a sea change that turned me into a singer who regularly receives compliments for his voice. Of course, some say I sound like Leon Redbone, but I take that as a compliment.

We all have different abilities. The muscles that Alice talks about developing are definitely different for different people and there will be limits on development.

Some say they can teach you perfect pitch (another singing skill), so perhaps that can be learned as well. Ask guitar players and many will say they couldn't tune their instrument well in the beginning, but they can do so now.

Finally, there is the interpretive part. This is what makes voices like Willie Nelson and Louis Armstrong distinctive and pleasureable voices. Some of this can be developed. Much of it must be innate.

I know there are people whose voices "grate" on my ears. Usually it is both poor pitch and tone quality. With many of these, I cannot even recognize the tune which they are trying to sing. Could they get better? I would guess they could, but it might take a large amount of vocal training and many will not do that

Roger in Baltimore