Sunday, January 29, 2012

How to sing a song in a foreign language

“Great, a new song to learn.”

Chinese song

Photo by Michael Wu

“Oh, no, it’s in ‘foreign’. Help!”

Sunday, January 22, 2012

We’re all equal here: singing together is the great leveller

Singing together or being in a choir is one of the most egalitarian experiences we can have.

lego people

Photo by wynlok

It doesn’t matter how much you earn, what your job is, where you went to school or who you know. Just add your voice to the overall sound.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sometimes old is best – finding the balance between new and familiar

I have a low boredom threshold. There are 100s of gorgeous new songs I want to teach and it’s hard to cram them all in.

old sheet music

Photo by Leo Reynolds

But more often than not, singers want to sing the old, familiar songs they already know well. How to strike the right balance?

Sunday, January 08, 2012

How to improve your singing voice

This post is part of a series of occasional Questions and Answers.
Just contact Chris if you want to submit a question.

Question

 

Tim wrote in to ask:

“I have been trying to sing for a very long time but I feel I always get tight in the throat when I lose confidence, when I hear myself sound bad, or even if some people are around.

“I was in a chorus for a year and I could hit every note, I just can't exactly ‘sing’, do you know what I mean?  I can’t hear myself out of a group.”

 

Well, Tim, there are quite a few things going on here! And I’m sure there are plenty of other singers out there who can relate to what you’ve written.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Setting your goals for the coming year (guaranteed to work!)

It’s the time of year when many people make resolutions, set goals and devise plans for the coming year.

seedlings
Photo by --Tico--

But is this a useful thing to do, and if you do it, how likely are you to achieve what you set out to do?