It’s the day after Christmas Day and, however well or badly it went, there can be a sense of a let-down.
After any big event like Christmas or an important choir concert, there needs to be a transition back to ‘normal’. This is not always easy! Here are some ideas of how to deal with the come down.
Rehearsals can become somewhat fraught when a concert is coming up.
It’s easy to become fixated on the work and to lose sight of the bigger picture. It’s only a concert after all. Here’s how to keep a sense of perspective.
It’s that time of year when choirs get asked to sing at all manner of Christmas events.
Some of those will be outdoors. How best to deal with the challenges?
Many choirs are gearing up for their annual Christmas concert.
Do you repeat the same songs each year or add new ones to your repertoire? Let’s look at the pros and cons.
There are choir leaders who are disappointed that their singers aren’t doing enough homework in the run-up to a big concert.
There are singers who try in vain to reach the high notes of the melody and who constantly complain about the songs in their choir’s repertoire. But this is what is on offer and fighting against it will always lead to unhappiness.
We’ve all been there: a big concert is coming up, but the singers just aren’t ready.
What can you do?
When people ask me how much I charge to lead a singing workshop they are often surprised by how high my fee is.
It works out as an enormous hourly rate. Here’s why it’s not as expensive as it seems.
I was honoured to be invited for a video interview/chat recently with New Zealand singer, musician and composer Tony Backhouse.
One of the things we discussed was how we like music to be honest, gutsy, muscular and authentic. But how to describe exactly what we mean?
No matter how flexible and self-aware we think we are, inevitably we all end up becoming a bit set in our ways.
This can particularly apply to any choir or singing group who’ve been together for a long time. What happens when a new leader comes along and tries to change this?
We’re often told of the many benefits to our physical and mental health of singing together.
What is not often mentioned is the benefit of the many small social interactions that occur.
I don’t know about you, but when I get home late after a singing rehearsal I find it hard to sleep.
I don’t feel particularly over-excited, but something inside me must be! What can we do about this?
Often, when I’m teaching a song, a man might ask to sing the tune, or a woman might ask to sing the bass.
I usually say no, as I don’t like mixing men’s and women’s voices in the same part. Why is that?
You don’t have to be the best, or famous, or sing to a professional standard.
Singing is reward enough in itself.
In a recent blog post, Robert Sussuma urges singers to “stop warming up, doing exercises, and practising.”
He is being a little provocative, but it has prompted me to reflect on whether singers need to warm up or not before singing.
As a member of the Natural Voice Network (NVN), I share a belief that our voices are rooted in our bodies.
But it’s not just the NVN, most professional singers believe this too.
We live in a fast, short-attention span world. People expect instant gratification.
But becoming competent at something takes time.
We all strive for perfection in our singing. At the same time, we realise that being 100% perfect is impossible.
By aiming for perfection we can become blind to our achievements and how good we actually are.
I often record the songs I teach in workshops and the concerts that my groups do.
But when I listen back a few days later, I’m often disappointed. Why is that?
Many people feel that they need permission before they can sing.
Somebody needs to tell them it’s OK before they can even open their mouths. What’s going on here?
There is an old Zimbabwean proverb that says, “if you can walk, then you can dance; if you can talk, then you can sing.”
But I believe that you need to be able to dance in order to sing well. It should be: “if you can dance, then you can sing.”
Sometimes when we’re learning a new song, a singer might ask a question because they’re having difficulty.
I will then offer what I believe to be a helpful explanation. But sometimes this won’t help every singer.
Many choir leaders over-conduct in concerts.
But if you’ve done the work in rehearsal, you should hardly need to conduct at all.
Most singers starting out are terrified of getting it ‘wrong’. They hold back in all sorts of ways and approach singing hesitantly.
But if you’re not ‘failing’ and getting it ‘wrong’, then you’ll never progress.
When you have a salaried job and get sick, you can usually claim sick pay for a day off.
But if you’re running a choir and are self-employed, what happens then? Do your singers still need to pay?
I thought I’d share a few vocal exercises that I use to help singers tune in to a cappella harmony.
I often integrate these into the warm up sessions to get people listening more closely before we move on to learning harmony songs.
We’ve all been there: we’re feeling a bit rough, but we soldier on any way.
A big concert is coming up so we can’t let people down. But is that the right way to think?
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.
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?
There are several singing groups in the US, UK and beyond which specialise in bringing songs of comfort to the dying.
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.
A choir concert is never 100% perfect. There are usually one or two minor errors, or even big mistakes.
But what might feel like a huge disaster on stage is often not noticed by your audience.
I wrote last week about what to do when important singers are missing and a concert is due.
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.
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.
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.
If you regularly attend singing workshops or have ever been in more than one choir, it’s inevitable that you will encounter a song you already know.
Apart from zoning out, what’s the best thing to do when someone wants to teach you a song you already know?
I believe that proper preparation for singing is vital.
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But sometimes I forget to explain why to singers who come to my one-off sessions. This is what I should remember to tell them.
Many singers in community choirs choose for themselves which part they sing. They are not allocated a part by having a vocal range test.
This might work for a while, but what if you’ve chosen the wrong part? Also, voices change over time. Maybe it’s time to change parts?
Being in a choir and singing with others is very controlled. There are other voices to blend and balance with, and fixed harmonies to follow.
But from time to time I believe it’s important to really let your voice soar.
It might be your singer’s water bottle or conductor’s baton. We all have something important that enables us to do our singing.
What happens if you lose it or it breaks?
Choirs are often on the lookout for new singers. Some even offer free trials before singers commit.
But what happens if that influx of new people doesn’t stay? What has gone wrong? Let’s look at some possibilities.
I am due to lead a singing weekend in a few weeks. My first in over two years.
The other night I had an anxiety dream about it. Here’s what I learnt.
Since the Russian invasion began a few weeks ago, many choirs have been showing their support for Ukraine by singing Ukrainian songs.
However, many have been sung in English translation, rather than the Ukrainian original. Why might that be?
I’m often asked how to get singers “off book” for their next concert.
The assumption is that it’s best for a singer not to have lyrics or sheet music in their hands when performing. But is this necessarily a bad thing?
When Russia recently invaded Ukraine there was an outpouring of support and solidarity. From money and arms, to thoughts and prayers.
Many choirs have chosen to sing Ukrainian songs as a demonstration of their support. How does this help?
I teach songs from many different cultures, most of which aren’t in English.
Before I teach a song, I need to find out as much as I can about it: who wrote it, what language it’s in, its cultural context, translation into English and so on. Here’s how I go about it.
We often think of traditional songs from other cultures as just “out there” for the taking, to be used freely.
But every song was written by somebody, and every song is rooted in a particular culture and context. This hasn’t always been understood or acknowledged by those who have carried the songs into different contexts.
When does a song have ‘popular’ appeal? When is it entertainment?
Does ‘popular’ simply mean ‘well known’?
There are many different way of offering lyrics to singers, more so if your choir doesn’t use sheet music.
None of the options are perfect. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each.
What is the minimum you need to get a group of people singing together?
A piano? Sheet music? A baton? Backing tracks? The less you rely on ‘stuff’, the freer and more resilient you become.
There is much talk these days of how singing is good for you, especially singing as part of a group.
But that’s always from the singers’ perspective. We don’t often consider those who lead the singing.
Once you’ve discovered the joys of singing with others, it’s sometimes hard to know when to stop.
Here is a cautionary tale from someone who got rather carried away.
