The return of Young Talent Time

Posted on | January 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

OK. I admit it. Whilst I know it was cooler to watch Countdown, and I did (mostly because my older sister did, and we only had one TV back in the dark ages) I always loved Young Talent Time. I always wanted to be on the show, whilst secretly scared I would never be good enough! So I am so happy that it is back on TV. I watched the first episode this morning and I loved it. Mostly because Tina Arena was there and sang “Chains” … wow! She gets better and better (and isn’t that good news for us “older” singers!) She is a judge on the new show, and the inspiration and encouragement that she gave to the new team was gorgeous to watch. I loved the fabulous singing in “Price Tag”, seeing the amazing dancing of the other judge, Chucky, and the pure joy on the kids faces when they talked about their talent, passion and commitment, and the love and support of their families.

My favourite quote was from the young lady who exclaimed that she couldn’t live without her singing lessons, of course. I like the show. It may be idealised and not hard nosed or gritty, but it is entertaining, and the kids are talented, and part of a team. I like the encouraging atmosphere and excitement around developing young talented performers. YTT has a pretty astounding track record, and I hope that kids, who have been brought up on Australian Idol and the competitiveness of talent shows,enjoy just sitting back, watching kids who are good at what they do get better and better as they grow through those teenage years and develop into even stronger performers.

Time to start singing

Posted on | January 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

I have been enjoying my holidays but the time nears to teach again. I am taking appointments from Monday 10th January and my normal teaching schedule begins from January 23rd.

I have spent time thinking over what an amazing instrument the voice is, and how all the parts need to work together to make a good voice (whoever decides what is and isn’t a good voice – it is a fairly subjective judgement!) To have the breath flow efficient, not too much, not too little, the body open and optimally supporting your voice, the voice registration sorted and well mixed, the muscle co-ordination of everything which determines the sound you make, then the shaping of the sound through the pharyngeal space, the tongue, the lips, and the articulators – making sense of the sound. Then on top of that, we have text, and the need to communicate with authenticity and integrity. To have our minds not busy and racing, but in the moment of the song. This is complex, yet we all do this! Some are more successful at one area than others, and those who can sing very well can do all of the muscle co-ordination without conscious thought because it is trained into the muscles over years of practice, and then their focus can be the song, the expression, the communication of emotion.

I listened to a podcast recently about training the voice, and the teacher discussed how the impulse to make sound comes from very deep within ourselves. The impulse is not necessarily a conscious muscle movement, but based on expressing the emotion behind a word, the need to communicate. I do think that sometimes as singers we can get way too focused on being perfect at breathing, or alignment, or getting that C in the right registration, instead of allowing our voice to freely express what is inside. It is a dilemma as a teacher. Where to start? However, over time I seem to come back to a little bit of good technique learnt over an extended period gives the singer stability in the voice which they can trust, and therefore sing with more emotional truth, not worrying that their voice will be inconsistent.

All of these things work together, and whatever stage as a singer you are at, that is where you perform. I know that sounds obvious, but I think many singers perform wanting to be in a different vocal “place” to where they are and lose the moment. If the C isn’t where you want it to be, you can change the key, or allow your C to be where it is for now. Train the voice to get it to where it needs to be for next year, and enjoy the journey.

We singers are complex, but beautiful!