How to warm up your voice on the bus (or any other public space)

Sometimes we don’t get the chance to do a full warm up in private before a performance.

photo by Justin Morgan

Here are some ideas for warming up your voice in public without drawing attention to yourself.

How to know which harmony part to sing – a guide for new singers

Many people who attend my choirs and singing workshops have either not sung since school or have never tried singing in harmony before.



I am often asked “Which part should I sing?” Here are a few ideas which might help new singers.

How to put on a successful concert 2: songs and concert structure

Last week we looked at planning and asked a series of questions like why? what for? when? who’s coming?



This week we’ll look at the how: how you actually put a concert of songs together.

How to put on a successful concert 1: planning

It seems such a straightforward idea: learn a bunch of songs then find some people to sing them to.

photo by Nick Youngson

But planning a successful concert involves a lot of planning. Here’s a guide to how you might approach it.

Why altos are often timid and nervous

Over the years I have noticed that the least confident part of my community choirs is often the alto section.

photo by simpleinsomnia

I can only speak from my own experience, but I’ve heard others tell similar stories. Why might this be?

How to keep your warm ups and singing sessions fresh and engaging

I teach singing workshops across the UK. I’m lucky to get a lot of the same singers turning up each time.



Which means that I can’t keep on using the same old jokes or worn out warm up routines. Here’s how I keep things fresh.

Learning songs by ear: what should you do while other parts are being taught?

When a harmony song is being taught by ear, you can find yourself not singing whilst other parts are being taught.



Rather then zoning out or getting bored, there are plenty of things you can do which can help your learning. Here are some of them.