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On Performers, Performance & Singing
Auld Lang Syne: Know this version?
I’ve just discovered a different version of Auld Lang Syne that I’m going to learn for this New Year’s Eve. Much nicer than the standard one. Like a mix of Robert Burns's Red, Red Rose and something else I can't quite place. I’ll sing a bit of it for you tomorrow… I...
Just because someone can’t sing in tune…
Just because someone can’t sing in tune does NOT mean that they are tone deaf. There’s a difference between not being able to perceive pitch and not being able to reproduce pitch accurately. A world of difference, in fact. There are so many things we can do to get in...
Waiting for Permission?
Are you waiting for permission? Is there something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t started for fear of being presumptuous? Is there something you wish you could do but are too scared to find out whether you can or can’t? I spent most of my childhood...
What are performance skills? More than preparation
Aren't PERFORMANCE SKILLS just "GOOD PREPARATION"? Someone recently answered a question of mine about what performance is: “I believe it’s all about preparation,” he said. Well, that depends on what you mean by preparation. Of course, a successful performance requires...
Why study performance? (Part II)What’s posture got to do with it?
What have posture and performance got to do with each other? I recently watched a concert at my daughter’s school. I was impressed with the children’s enthusiasm and willingness to go on stage and perform the pieces they were preparing for an upcoming eisteddfod. The...
Why study performance? What is it and why should I care?
PART ONE: What IS performance? Why do musicians and teachers dismiss it as something to think about “later”? Or dismiss it as an irrelevant word, or a word they don’t even understand? When I started studying performance, my singing teacher was puzzled and asked...
Roger Federer for Singers
Is Federer relaxed, as Jim Courier says, and what can we, as singers, learn from watching him? One of my singing teachers used to tell me to RELAX as I was rushing off from my lesson back to the conservatorium for a class. It always had the opposite effect from what...
Singing: On Beauty and Consistency
Most of us were not born knowing how to sing beautifully or consistently. Or.,. were we? Our environment (things like climate, air quality, size of family, listening ability of family, education, speech and singing habits of our role models and peers, etc) taught us...
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