My husband is somewhat hard of hearing. It comes from spending his 20s in rock bands and his 30s doing woodworking projects, both without benefit of hearing protection. So when I said to him last week, “Online lessons are going so much better than I expected. Yesterday I had three people who had breakthroughs!” HeContinue reading “Did you have a grapefruit this week?”
Category Archives: Function
We breathe to live – we breathe to sing – but can we do it together? (Part 1 of 2)
This the hardest and probably the most important (at least to me) blogpost I’ve ever written. About a year ago, when I cleaned up my website, I changed my mission statement a bit and put the original in a blogpost so that I wouldn’t lose it because it was some important information. The part thatContinue reading “We breathe to live – we breathe to sing – but can we do it together? (Part 1 of 2)”
What the Actual…
The word fach sounds like a bad word. It is a German word meaning “compartment” and is used in opera to describe particular voice types, often in incredibly specific detail. There’s: soubrette lyric soprano light lyric soprano full lyric soprano lyric coloratura soprano lyrico-spinto soprano dramatic soprano drammatico-spinto soprano helden soprano heldensoubrette (okay, that one wasContinue reading “What the Actual…”
/æn Intrə’dʌkʃən tu ði Intər’næʃənəl fən’ɛtIk ‘ælfabɛt bai krI’stin ‘tɑməs o’mili/
(An introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet by Christine Thomas-O’Meally) I love IPA (aka /ai pi ei/)! It appeals to my inner geek and my wanna-be linguist. But I understand that not everyone does. Why bother using it? Why not just write down something the way you hear it? That might work just fine forContinue reading “/æn Intrə’dʌkʃən tu ði Intər’næʃənəl fən’ɛtIk ‘ælfabɛt bai krI’stin ‘tɑməs o’mili/”
Online Lessons – Choices Abound!
In the last few weeks, as I’ve made the transition to online lessons, about 1/3 of my students have come along with me and scheduled lessons. They’ve either downloaded an accompaniment app or have a prerecorded track on their end. They’ve downloaded Zoom, made sure their audio set up is in place, and made appointmentsContinue reading “Online Lessons – Choices Abound!”
Appcompanist for Android is AVAILABLE!
From my friend, fellow voice teacher and music director/studio pianist Michael Tan, on the studio FB page this morning: FYI: The free prerelease version of Appcompanist for Android is now live on the Google Play Store! (Just search Appcompanist) [The rest is Appcompanist’s blurb] The free prerelease version includes access to all 550+ Vocal Exercises andContinue reading “Appcompanist for Android is AVAILABLE!”
Online lessons – can this work?
YES. But there are some things we have to know first (well, first of all, that’s a screenshot below, so don’t try to click play on it because it won’t play).You need to have a few things on your end: We’re using Zoom as the platform. Not only is it really trendy in this weirdContinue reading “Online lessons – can this work?”
Creating a Cabaret FAQ
From last night’s Curiously Stronger Performing workshop (in case you weren’t there): “What is a cabaret? How is it different than a recital? Or a musical?” “Cabaret is personal musical theater” (Amanda McBroom). Cabaret Traditional Recital Musical VENUE Place where people are seated at tables, eating or drinking (or both) Performance hall or church; audience is seatedContinue reading “Creating a Cabaret FAQ”
No Autotune Necessary
Going back looking at some old posts. Short but sweet.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”
The phrase that is the title of this blogpost is attributed to Oscar Wilde. Actually, it was first written by a British writer named Charles Caleb Colton. Wilde’s version of it, written nearly 100 years later, added the phrase: “that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Well, that’s quite different. We have heard tons of amateurContinue reading ““Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery””