How I teach harmony songs

An interesting question popped up on a Facebook group: How do you teach harmony parts to your singers?

There were several different approaches, some of them using recordings or keyboards. Here is how I do it.

How your performance can be a disaster, but the concert a huge success

We had a concert recently where pretty much every song went wrong in some way.

Yet we ended up having a fantastic evening and the audience enjoyed it enormously. How is that possible?

Companion Voices: singing for the end of life

There are several singing groups in the US, UK and beyond which specialise in bringing songs of comfort to the dying.

Watford Companion Voices

You may have heard of the Threshold Choir network in the US. Here in the UK we have Companion Voices founded by Judith Silver in 2014. I asked Judith to write this guest post to tell us more about her work in this area.

Singers’ big mistakes in performance usually go unnoticed by the audience

A choir concert is never 100% perfect. There are usually one or two minor errors, or even big mistakes.

photo by Alex Proimos

But what might feel like a huge disaster on stage is often not noticed by your audience.

Why you shouldn’t rely on another singer in your section to know the songs

I wrote last week about what to do when important singers are missing and a concert is due.

photo by Ben W

I mentioned the drawbacks of singers relying on others in their section to know their part. I’d like to go into that in a bit more detail.

A concert has arrived and some important singers are missing – what to do?

It’s the final rehearsal on the day of your big concert. You realise that several important singers are missing.

What can you do? Here are a few ideas.

Own your identity as a singer (or composer or arranger or choir leader)

Are you a singer? Or are you “learning to be a singer”, or “wanting to be a singer”, or “trying to be a singer”, or “starting out as a singer”? 

Maybe it’s time to step up and claim your identity.