I was reviewing my blog notes for inspiration, and came across some things that I had written up for the Singer’s Journey course I took in 2021. I’ve drawn from these before, most recently in What’s on Your Life Playlist?, in which I looked at music that influenced my life. Today I want to talkContinue reading “Personal Victories”
Tag Archives: curiously strong singing
Professionalism: Standing Out Vs. Sticking Out
Whether you are singing in a school or community theater production, going to audition for a college program, or singing in a church or community choir, the thing that will set you apart is an attitude of professionalism. I’ve written before about being a good colleague, and that’s a large part of it. Show respectContinue reading “Professionalism: Standing Out Vs. Sticking Out”
You are NOT the weakest link!
There was a TV show on about 20 years ago called The Weakest Link. It was a winner-take-all game show that was a cross between Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Survivor. The host back then was a British woman, Anne Robinson, who insulted the contestants by sneering at their wrong answers and questioning theirContinue reading “You are NOT the weakest link!”
Hitting the Right Chord: How Music Programs Boost STEM
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Technology) Education has become a major focus for schools, often to the detriment of a school’s music program (although somehow the athletic department always manages to keep their funding). As I’ve written recently, March is Music in Our Schools Month. But what if your school doesn’t have a solid musicContinue reading “Hitting the Right Chord: How Music Programs Boost STEM”
I invite you to …
In the last year or so, I have noticed that a lot of teachers of various disciplines use the phrase, “I invite you to,” rather than “do this.” The first time I noticed this was when I took Peter Jacobson’s Total Vocal Freedom Alexander Technique course last year. The faculty would invite us to beContinue reading “I invite you to …”
Be a GOAT
Several years ago, videos of goats screaming like people hit the internet and became an obsession. People shared the videos of the goats just plain screaming, or cross-cut them into videos of people singing opera or missing a high note in “Let it go” in Times Square on New Year’s Eve (you know who you are,Continue reading “Be a GOAT”
Music in Our Schools Month
The celebration of Black History Month is over, although Black history continues to flourish and enhance society (check out my studio FB page for the 28 artists to whom I paid tribute during February). Now it is March, and it is Music in Our Schools Month! (AKA MIOSM) Not everyone knows this, but my undergrad degreeContinue reading “Music in Our Schools Month”
The Alchemy of Singing
Today’s blogpost is inspired by the great Annie Lennox, one of my favorite performers of all times. She wrote an article for The Guardian entitled, “Why Everyone Should Sing.” And since this blogpost is titled Why I Sing (and you can go back and check out my very first post explaining that right here), –Continue reading “The Alchemy of Singing”
Holding vs. Sustaining
There are two words used in singing (especially choral singing) that I think should be stricken from the face of the earth: HOLD CUTOFF We’ll deal with cutoffs another time, but right now I’m going to focus on the word “hold.” Often, I find that my students have trouble “holding” a note. They run outContinue reading “Holding vs. Sustaining”
Blaze a Trail
How do we blaze a trail as performers? As students? As teachers? What is that next step that will set us apart? As performers and students, we need to focus on things other than learning the skills needed to pass a test, win a competition, and get into college. As teachers, we need to beContinue reading “Blaze a Trail”