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!

2012 – Happy New Year

Posted on | December 31, 2011 | Leave a comment

Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and I am contemplating what I might like to do with 2012. Continue my gym attendance. Talk with more singing teachers – iron sharpens iron! Cook new recipes. Sing more.

Teaching all day means that I warm up, and then teach, occasionally singing to demonstrate but mostly listening and teaching.  I find I lack the time to focus on my voice for extended periods, yet spend my days encouraging my students to work on their voices. So in 2012 I am encouraging myself to sing. One thing I changed this year was to say yes when singing opportunities arose, and I sang at four performances between September and December, after a break from performing of over a year and a half. I love performing, and this is my vocal resolution for 2012. More singing. There is nothing like having a performance coming up to motivate you to “find the time”.

Take your singing somewhere new this year. What is your vocal goal for 2012? To join your lower and upper registers? Create a mixed sound? Learn how to belt (safely)? Create your own unique sound?  Learn stronger performance skills or work through performance anxiety? Maybe it is just to get your body around breathing and alignment support once and for all? Whatever your desire is for your voice, it is my passion to assist you to make it happen.

Vacancies exist for 2012, so contact me and enquire about a timeslot. Happy New Year!