- Becoming Your Diagnosis August 2, 2013
One of the most deadly things a teacher can say to a student starts with the words “You are…….” This pronouncement is deadly unless what follows is positive and helpful. The labels given to students by teachers are serious and sometimes stick for life. If they are judgemental (as they typically are) the person can carry ...
- Confusion Reigns July 26, 2013
It’s tough when people in high places think they know something. It’s tough when what they know is outdated or wrong. It’s tough when you can’t easily tell them that their information went by the wayside a couple of decades ago. I encounter this frequently. It seems like these people, in particular, ought to keep up ...
- Hiding In Plain Sight July 8, 2013
F. M. Alexander developed a method of working with the body, through spinal alignment, that was once regarded as being “unorthodox” but over the years, because the approach helped so many people, that opinion changed. Now, Alexander Technique is taught, with great enthusiasm, at many colleges and conservatories in the USA and perhaps also abroad. ...
- “Popular” Music July 7, 2013
Back in the mid-80s, when we were searching for something to call the first Symposium done by the New York Singing Teachers’ Association at Donnell Library, we tried Music Theater and Popular Music Styles. That was the alternative of choice then to “non-classical”. A lot of people didn’t like it. Jazz artists don’t think of themselves ...
- Against Certification July 5, 2013
The teachers’ organization is against certifying people. Why? Why should they care? In point of fact, if any one individual decides that their training, and theirs alone, qualifies a teacher to work with individual voices as an expert, or says that their method precludes any other method, or that their trainees are restricted in what they ...
- A Little Knowledge Is A ………. July 1, 2013
If you are savvy, you know the rest of that title is….a dangerous thing. If you only know a little bit, is that better or worse than when you know nothing? I heard recently that someone was asking on a forum about how to work with a singer recovering from polyp surgery. One response was something like, ...
- Training, Talent and The Bridge Between July 1, 2013
Anyone can take piano lessons or tennis lessons. Not everyone is going to be a Horowitz or a Venus Williams. Anyone can learn to do a sport or take lessons on an instrument. Not everyone is going to be a professional or even reach professional calibre. Does it mean then that only the very talented should ...
- Kinda Sorta Tight June 28, 2013
How many times have I encountered a student who has been told something that isn’t harmful, and isn’t even really wrong, it’s just useless? “Leave your voice alone and it will take care of itself” (except when you do and it doesn’t). “You are grabbing onto your high notes. Don’t do that.” (OK, how do ...
- No Method Makes Sense If It Violates The Body June 24, 2013
There are a lot of “methods” out there. There are lots of people who teach singing using a method. (I have one). If the method asks the vocalist to do something that throats do not do, if it teaches a vocalist to attempt to make a sound by doing something that we don’t need to do ...
- “Natural” Singing June 22, 2013
What is natural singing? Think you know? Ask any two singing teachers and you will absolutely get two different answers. Ask 100 singing teachers and you will get 100 answers. Ask 1000, the same. Natural singing depends on what you consider to be natural vocal behavior. If you want to measure what is natural, do you ...
- What Good Are Vocal Exercises? June 20, 2013
Many times in a lesson I ask a singer to describe something. In fact, generally, I ask a lot of questions in lessons. I want to know what the singer knows, what they understand, how they use what they have taken from singing and from lessons with other people. Sometimes people come in an tell me they ...
- The Extremes of Knowledge June 16, 2013
The further you delve into something the more you understand it broadly and in detail. It’s as if everything has a counterpart to the universe which runs (as far as we now know) from sub-atomic particles to multi-verses of billions of galaxies. It is truly so that the very tiny and the very vast can ...
- Multi-disciplinary Interchange II June 14, 2013
The other side of multi-disciplinary interchange is that speech language pathologists (who don’t sing), medical doctors, and voice researchers need to be willing to learn from teachers of singing. Many in the community I have been in for nearly four decades do, but not all, and, sadly, many who are not in that community at ...
- Change June 8, 2013
We all know that change is very difficult. Most people don’t like it and getting a group of people to agree to make changes can be very challenging. Nevertheless, once in a while that does happen. A group, sometimes a large group, decides to stop the old and begin the new. It can be a ...
- Somatic Voicework™ and Classical Singing June 8, 2013
For a very long time I stayed away from talking about classical singing using my method, Somatic Voicework™, because I had had so much trouble in that community over the years. I decided it was easier if I just stuck to talking about CCM styles and stayed away from all things classical. It’s time now to ...