How can I improve my singing at home?

I love singing, but I hate singing for people?

• I LOVE to sing, it's pretty much my favorite thing in the world. :D But... I suck. Badly. I started taking voice lessons just last week, but during the lesson I find myself feeling like such a failure. I'm not trying to brag about this or anything, but I'm one of those people who is naturally good at almost everything. Show me how to do something, and I can pick it up in an instant, and be great at it. So when I sing completely off key, and can't hit any high notes, I just feel awful... the teacher is probably really frustrated with me already. So first question is... how do I cope with that? I also have issues practicing.... I can't sing in front of anyone from my family. Ever. My dad is one of those brutally honest people, so when I sing, he'll come over and tell me all the things I'm doing wrong and lecture on how I need to improve. (Even when I ask him not to, he said I was being "overly sensitive.") My mom treats me like I'm 5 (I'm actually 15) - "I heard you singing up stairs! You sound great, sweetie!" "It wasn't that good..." "It was excellent! You tried your best, and that's what counts!" And my sister is just obnoxiously insulting "Shut up! You sound awful! God, are you deaf?! Can you PLEASE be quiet so I don't have to listen to your horrible singing?" When I ask her to cut it out, she goes "I'm just telling the truth! I thought I was supposed to be honest." Then my mom comes and goes "Don't be silly, your sister is an amazing singer!" and she says "Yeah, an amazingly BAD singer. What? I'm just stating a fact." I can't take it, but I'm almost never home alone. The worst one to deal with is my sister, she always bullies me like that, but she's home 24/7! What should I do?

• Answer:

  Look Please please don’t put your self down!!!!!!!!! your remind me of me, I too am 15 and well there are song songs that I sound amazing at and there are others that sound like I’m attempting to kill a duck=/ Ok so first things first!, find your pitch once you find that your basically set to go sky high! (ask you voice instructor to help you find your pitch!) next the singing in front of people once you find your pitch its easy as pie to sing any song! but if you have the same issue I do, then I can sing any song I wont but when I’m listening to the song I try to sing with the singer (so I end up sounding really bad!!) so its hard to sing in front of people but once you control your voice to only sing your pitch then it really don’t matter how high the song is you'll be able to sing it perfect! another thing you can do is listen really closely to peoples (friends and families) conversations, when you hear a line from a song that you know at least one more line to don’t hesitate to sing it out loud!!!!! EX: (when I hear someone say): "so what" (the first thing I do is say): "soo so so so what I am a rock star I got my rock moves and I don’t need you!" see its so easy to turn around and just start singing XD so try that out! Now for your sis encore her!!!!! if you find your pitch and sing randomly in public you'll soon have to make fun of her because she cant sing as good as you!!!!! so I think your set!!