Franklin never enrolled at the famed school, but she did manage to take private lessons with a Juilliard-trained instructor.

Was Aretha Franklin a good piano player?

More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged". She had often been described as a great singer and musician due to "vocal flexibility, interpretive intelligence, skillful piano-playing, her ear, her experience". Franklin's voice was described as being a "powerful mezzo-soprano voice".

How did Aretha Franklin learn to sing?

Largely self-taught, she was regarded as a child prodigy. A gifted pianist with a powerful voice, Franklin got her start singing in front of her father's congregation. By the age of 14, she had recorded some of her earliest tracks at his church, which were released by a small label as the album Songs of Faith in 1956.