There are people (I am not saying you are one of them) who rationally understand that instrumentalists need to practise their instruments to sound good, and that this practice must continue on a daily basis even for very skilled performers, but who believe that the same does not apply to singers, because that's just 'natural'. It therefore follows that if a singer ever makes a bad noise she's just a bad singer, and that if a good singer does scales, she's just wasting time and being annoying and noisy.
I had to share a college with people who believed this, and who were perfectly understanding of the French horn and flute-playing music students who needed to practise, but who were very irritated when I needed to do the same.
Also, there's another rant buried in there about how yes, many music schools do accept singers at a lower level of accomplishment than they require of their instrumental applicants. No, this is not unfair. It is for two reasons. One: voices take time to reach physical maturity and recover from the hormonal changes of puberty. Yes, all voices, not just the tenors, baritones, and basses. Two, it is physically impossible for a singer to practise for five or more hours a day, the way pianists or violinists do. For a singer, the maximum recommended would be about two hours, and that's not for uni students. Of course they can put in more practice time doing other things, like memorising music, playing piano, studying languages. But that is all the time they can spend singing. It is a lot easier to get an overuse injury from singing than it is from piano.
Total digression
You just inadvertently pushed my rant button.
There are people (I am not saying you are one of them) who rationally understand that instrumentalists need to practise their instruments to sound good, and that this practice must continue on a daily basis even for very skilled performers, but who believe that the same does not apply to singers, because that's just 'natural'. It therefore follows that if a singer ever makes a bad noise she's just a bad singer, and that if a good singer does scales, she's just wasting time and being annoying and noisy.
I had to share a college with people who believed this, and who were perfectly understanding of the French horn and flute-playing music students who needed to practise, but who were very irritated when I needed to do the same.
Also, there's another rant buried in there about how yes, many music schools do accept singers at a lower level of accomplishment than they require of their instrumental applicants. No, this is not unfair. It is for two reasons. One: voices take time to reach physical maturity and recover from the hormonal changes of puberty. Yes, all voices, not just the tenors, baritones, and basses. Two, it is physically impossible for a singer to practise for five or more hours a day, the way pianists or violinists do. For a singer, the maximum recommended would be about two hours, and that's not for uni students. Of course they can put in more practice time doing other things, like memorising music, playing piano, studying languages. But that is all the time they can spend singing. It is a lot easier to get an overuse injury from singing than it is from piano.