- Know Thy Body June 4, 2014
Many people work on “physical fitness”. In that world, feeling the pain isn’t uncommon. Pushing the body to go past its natural limits comes with the territory. If you do that enough, you deaden yourself to pain and learn to ignore your body’s natural wisdom, and then you run a greater risk of becoming seriously injured. Cultivating ...
- Work With What Works June 4, 2014
Most of us are taught that when something isn’t working it’s because something is wrong and it needs to be fixed. That’s not a good attitude to have when you are working with students of singing. A much better attitude is to find out what works. Look for what a student can do not for what they ...
- Frightening Instruction June 2, 2014
It’s frightening to listen to instruction that has no basis in reality and that rests entirely on ideas that are not grounded in any rational codified system that is broadly accepted and widely acknowledged as being valid. This, of course, happens every day if you are dealing with vocal instruction. When it happens in a master class ...
- Huge Egos May 30, 2014
When you are born with a lot of talent and life circumstances are such that you can enhance that talent through training, and you are lucky enough to get recognized by those who can put you forth into the world with that talent; you can end up with a career, sometimes a very big career. ...
- “I Don’t Need To Learn Anything Else” May 26, 2014
When does learning stop? When do you get to have “all the information you will ever need?” When is your education complete? I think a lot of folks would say when you finish school. Many people learn what they have to and stop there. Singers, however, should NEVER have that idea. You absolutely cannot afford to ...
- Dysfunctional Training May 24, 2014
“Spin the tone more from the top”. “Release the back as you ascend”. “Engage the respiratory muscles before you begin the tone”. “Aim the tone high into the mask so you can generate the singer’s formant”. “Support from the lower chamber to find the inverted triangle used in belting”. “Sing as if you have no jaw”. “Sing as if your head ...
- Why Study Vocal Function? May 23, 2014
What’s vocal function and why study it? In fact, isn’t all singing training functional? Aren’t all singing teachers the same? Maybe not. Depends on what you think you functional training is. Most people don’t know but think they do. If you think all you need to know in order to sing better is “resonance” and “breath support” or versions ...
- “I Am The Greatest” May 16, 2014
“I Am The Greatest” worked as a slogan for Mohammed Ali. He actually delivered the goods to back up his claims. There are a few singing teachers here in New York who boldly announce that they have “THE” voice studio. They are “The best”, “The most famous”, “The most important”, etc., etc. Generally speaking, the people who ...
- Music Ed Blues May 15, 2014
We live in a society which doesn’t really value artists until and unless they become very very famous. Then they turn into demigods which is lamentable for the artists. Some survive that condition and some don’t. It can’t be an easy life. What happens to those who are really fine artists but who never make it ...
- Very Good, OK, Not So Good, Bad May 13, 2014
I attended a benefit performance at Joe’s Pub last evening. The cause was breast cancer research (a very good cause), the producing group was Broadway World and the honored artist was composer Jule Styne. The performers were drawn largely from the Broadway community. Unfortunately, the evening was very uneven. It was generous of all the performers to ...
- Lasting Value May 12, 2014
That which is of lasting value cannot be measured in brief moments. Characteristics of the soul take time to develop. Honesty, integrity, loyalty, perseverance, dedication, persistence, humility, compassion, generosity…..all these and more take time to emerge in life. Facing something once is very different than dealing with it every day for months, years, or decades. When ...
- The Unnameable May 9, 2014
Sometimes music is made that is too beautiful to absorb. It borders on being a painful experience to try to take it in, as the expansion necessary to encompass it challenges the far edges of personal awareness. Music such as this lives in the gossamer world between the hard and fast of mountain and skyscraper and luminous timeless light. ...
- Entering The Sublime May 9, 2014
When I was a child, I sang with an open heart to the angels in the sky. I sang as the music pulled me off the ground into the air and lifted my little body into heights of heavenly bliss. I did not think at all about the songs as they found their way out of my child’s ...
- Trusting the Body May 9, 2014
If you trust your body, you know that it will go towards health and wholeness if it is allowed to do so. If you eat well, exercise every day, get 8 hours sleep and drink 8 glasses of water every day, if you eat fresh, healthy food and maintain your optimum weight, you increase your ...
- If You Would Repudiate Certification April 27, 2014
I have heard again that there are many who are “against” certifying teachers of singing. I find this very interesting. Why should they care? Shouldn’t they care that teachers of singing are NOT certified and that anyone, regardless of who they are or what they know, can teach singing and not be stopped? Shouldn’t they have ...