A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGJun 25, 20211 minTHE LONG AND WINDING ROADWell, that's certainly what it's felt like over the past year and a half! I think that part of me went down a rabbit hole there for a...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGJun 18, 202119 minARTICLE FROM THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER 10 AUGUST 2017Well, what I can say except that I was so pleased to read this article and feel vindicated for refusing to teach singing in the way I was...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGJun 18, 20213 minSHOUTING AND SCREAMING ETC.Years ago, I had an email from a prospective student asking me if I could help with the “shouting side of singing”. I replied saying that...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGJun 18, 20213 min"LIP-SYNCINGWhy are we disguising the fact that singers mime by instead calling it “lip-syncing” (which suggests it’s a skill of some sort) and...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGJun 18, 20212 minVOCAL CORDSI was watching the news today and there was an item which mentioned that Adele has had to cancel her concerts this weekend because of...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGJun 18, 20213 minCHOOSING WHAT TO SING (REPERTOIRE)It’s a dilemma, isn’t it? The fact that what you like singing isn’t always what you should be singing. By that I mean that what you...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20215 minPITCH (SINGING IN TUNE)People are always coming into singing lessons asking if I can teach them to sing in tune. In singing, we call this having “pitch”. I...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20211 minVERY TOUCHED!A lovely bunch of flowers and this wonderful picture that my student Issy gave me today as it was her last lesson (she's been coming for...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20211 min...AND IF YOU WANT TO HEAR GOOD EXPRESSION, LISTEN TO THE AMAZING JEFF BUCKLEY....so....one of my (and many musicians') musical heroes, following on from my post on expression, if you want to hear expression that hits...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20212 minTHE DIAPHRAGMWhen I ask new students about their breathing, they often say something like “Well, I think you’re supposed to breathe from here”...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20213 minLOVE YOUR VOICE!I know I’ve talked around this before, but so many people who come to me for singing lessons don’t understand some basic things about...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20211 minWAIT FOR THE REALLY HIGH NOTES!I just had to share this video! Eleanore, my daughter had posted it on her page and is now thinking about learning it herself (and I...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20214 minEXPRESSION, EXPRESSION, EXPRESSIONMost students come to me to learn vocal technique, but I always have to point out the importance of expression (which is, after all,...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20212 minHABITS UNRELATED TO SINGING!Over the years, I’ve noticed that during the time students are learning how to sing, they usually develop unwanted habits along the way...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 10, 20212 minTHE MALE TENOR VOICE(for those new to my blog, it’s probably helpful to read this post in conjunction with Blog post no. 2 on voice types) The tenor voice is...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 1, 20212 minBREATHINESSI’ve probably seen all of the unconscious avoidance “techniques” that students apply when singing (I probably did them myself before I...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 1, 20213 minCHILDREN'S AND ADOLESCENTS' VOICESLots of children love singing and some of them are really keen to have singing lessons. The desire for actual lessons has probably been...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 1, 20211 minSINGERS OR STYLISTS?Well, it’s a bit of a dilemma, isn’t it? Today, more than at any other time over the past century, we celebrate people who aren’t singing...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 1, 20213 minPHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL BENEFITS OF SINGINGA study published in Australia in 2008 identified that generally, choral singers felt happier with their lives than the rest of the...
A SINGING TEACHER'S BLOGMay 1, 20214 minDICTION (or singing so that people can actually understand you!)Where do I start? One artist today epitomises bad diction and that is Sia. Now don’t get me wrong, I like some of her songs,...