Jeanie’s Blog

A medical doctor who is an ear, nose and throat specialist, may also specialize in laryngology or the care and treatment of the larynx and of the voice. This is a small category within the profession at large. Many of the laryngologists (but not all of them) deal with professional speakers or singers. Some laryngologists are ...

Educate: from the Latin Educere: to lead out. To bring up. One who educates leads the way by shedding some light on the path. We bring others up by extending our hand. Hopefully. If you have a teacher who does not help you see the route, or help you walk upon it, question why you would ...

An injured professional vocalist. What an awful combination of words. What does it mean to someone whose life rests on singing to have that singing become impaired? When an athlete or performer gets injured, much more is involved than just a loss of skills.  When you are the product and your body is responsible for being ...

If you are truly full of gratitude – for life, for your health, for your spouse or partner, for your pet, for anything at all — that gratitude will flow into a sense of wonder at life itself. It will also become spontaneous generosity if it isn’t stopped from being so. Generosity. What’s generous? If you ...

In your world, your word is law. In your world, your word is law. What you tell yourself, what you say in your mind, is so. No one can say that you do not tell yourself what you tell yourself. No one can get inside your head and make you stop saying or thinking something ...

Ever wonder what would happen if there was an “Olympics of Singing”? Don’t worry, sooner or later someone will think of that and make it happen. What would it entail? Let’s see: How many melismas can you fit into one word or on one note? How high can you belt? How loud can you sing? How long can you hold ...

There is so much in the world to lament. Suffering of all kinds, unnecessary selfishness, unbridled greed, poverty and disease. Artists with sensitive souls often watch all this and feel a strong pull to “do something”. What can we do? There are many great causes. Artists of all kinds have devoted their time, money and energy ...

Music today is not simple anymore. It’s overdone, hyped, electrically altered, arranged, and hardly ever just plain left alone. I wonder if any of the pop divas, on their own without any equipment, could hold an audience in someone’s living room. I wonder if they have ever sung at a wedding, in a small church, ...

We all know the planet is three-quarters water. The body is just about the same. Water represents the emotions. A calm smooth mirror lake is very different from a hurricane fueled onslaught of huge waves crashing ashore. So, too, can we be calm and serene or raging with fury. Water molecules like each other and stick to each ...

What do you do with a voice that is just not doing what the vocalist wants it to do? This can happen. Do you tell the singer that he can’t sing the music he wants to sing? Do you tell him he can’t sing it the way he wants to sing it because “he just ...

Attention teachers and students: Are you a singer age 10-17 or do you know a young singer who sings jazz and blues who wants to pursue singing at a high level? Here’s a chance to meet other serious young singers in a supportive and professional environment with leaders in the field of jazz and voice instruction.In ...

How do we learn? Educational experts are investigating this topic and discovering new things every day. The science of neurology is examining brain plasticity and discovering that our brains can grow, change and improve all through life, and that we can learn new things as we go. The idea that the brain stops at about ...

One of the things that medical students do is learn to “argue” or discourse about cases and patients. Doctors learn that verbal discussion and disagreement (point/counterpoint) is not only important but useful. A closed system in which argument is forbidden is always deadly. We see this in countries where freedoms are curtailed, and in our ...

On a recent “American Idol” Harry Connick, Jr. lectured Jennifer Lopez about pentatonic scales. Lopez apparently did not know what one of those was. Are you surprised? Do you care? Mr. Connick does. This argument reflects some of the things I have written about here over the years. You do not need to be (a) educated, ...

It seems that being traditional requires that all “old” traditions be upheld without question. Traditionalists stick to the rules as they are and have been and hold up the ideas of the past as being “tried and true” and worthy of continuity. A traditional person wants to keep things within the bounds of the accepted ...