Silence: the other half of singing

At the end of a recent residential singing weekend I was acutely aware of absence when everyone had left. The silence was almost painful.

It got me thinking about the different kinds of silence in singing.

It's a hobby, right? — The hidden work of a choir leader

I’m officially on my summer break. My last singing workshop was just over two weeks ago.

But that doesn’t mean I’m taking it easy or lazing by the pool. Here’s what I’ve been up to.

What else can your singers do without you?

Often, when leading a singing workshop, singers will start putting chairs out or standing in a circle.

It’s maybe not the way I’d planned, but I’ll usually go with it. It turns out my singers are often more capable than they realise.

The day I thought I'd finally arrive as a song leader

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell refers to the “10,000 hour rule”, claiming that the key to achieving expertise in any skill is to practise for around 10,000 hours.

I reckon I’ve done my 10,000 hours over the last 30 years of teaching songs and leading choirs. Yet I still can’t pull it out of the hat without preparation.

Why I rarely teach the same songs twice

I know you can’t please everyone, but when I plan a singing workshop I try to make sure I won’t be teaching anything that any of the singers already know.

An impossible task, but I have a low boredom threshold and feel I need to keep singers interested.

The curse of the second verse

When teaching new songs, especially those with foreign lyrics, I often end up teaching using only the words of the first verse.

But when it comes to the other verses, things get a bit wobbly! Why is that, and what can we do to stop it?

Missed your starting note? Don’t just sing anyway

I’m amazed at the number of singers who miss the starting note of a song, but then carry on regardless.

You have several options if you miss the start note, but one of them definitely isn’t: “sing anyway”!