Forget “fair”. Most of life is not fair. Everyone does not get the same opportunities, have the same talent, or have the same luck. Most singers will eventually find a…
Tag: practice
I love to sing, and I do it all sorts of places and times. But sometimes, I don’t feel like it when I’m supposed to. It is unfortunate when those…
Everyone has their own way of warming up to sing. Because I’m an analytical teacher with a tendency to overthink, I need to direct myself toward more primal, spontaneous sounds…
Singing involves the whole singer – the physical and nonphysical. It is common advice that we should do the thinking and analysis in the practice room and studio, then on…
I enjoy taking a voice lesson with an excellent teacher. It is a wonderful experience to switch back to the other side of the teacher-student equation, and I can often…
The way to get to free, un-self-conscious, non-manufactured singing is to elicit spontaneous responses that move toward easier ability. In functional teaching, it is my goal to get a spontaneous…
The messa di voce is the act of beginning a single pitch softly, making a crescendo, then a diminuendo. It was considered important both as an expressive device and as…
In training we often get the spontaneity trained out of us. We end up with an over-cultured, manufactured, formed, packaged, and delivered vocal product. It might be an attractive sound,…
There are a lot of people on the internet with a “method” for singing that they claim will teach you to sing like a professional quickly and easily. I was…
In his book “Music and the Flute” Thomas Nyfenger quoted another master flutist, Julius Baker, who said this about slow, deliberate practice: “If you never make a mistake, you’ll never…
What should I practice? When should I practice? How much should I practice? WHEN AND HOW MUCH I often use sports skills as an analogy to singing. To improve, you…
Many of my students are very busy people. They have demanding jobs, family responsibilities, or school homework that make time management complicated. I myself have days when there is so…
