My wife has a lovely voice, and an often instinctive grasp of harmony. Too bad no one gets to hear her - even I only get to hear her when she's about the house and has more or less forgotten that I'm there. Someone told her when she was in her teens that she had a bad voice, and that was it. No amount of compliments and encouragement on my part can change her mind.

I think singing is a gift - what else, at ANY price, can bring the joy, contentment and release that singing can bring. I can't think of a punishment sufficiently cruel for someone who tells a child that they "can't sing".

FWIW...

- Al