Sometimes I come across a beautiful song and start searching online for a choral arrangement.
All too often, though, what I find is weighed down with so many bells and whistles that the original melody—the very thing that drew me to the song in the first place—ends up buried under the layers.
The thing about creative inspiration is that you can’t conjure it at will.
It pops up when you least expect it. Rather than tackling lack of inspiration head on, simply wait and something will appear, often right in front of you.
Over the years, countless singers have told me how much choir has supported their mental wellbeing.
There’s no doubt: singing together has real therapeutic benefits. But we need to be clear — it isn’t the same as therapy.
I assume that we’d all like to become better at what we do. That could be teaching songs, singing, or leading a choir.
Inevitably, to improve, we will need to develop new habits or change existing ones. But that can feel awkward and unfamiliar, even painful at times.
For thousands of years, cultures across the globe have passed songs on orally to the next generation. This requires much repetition as well as active listening.
However, this is no longer a dominant part of many cultures today. What is the best way to learn a song by ear?
Silence is not just the absence of sound.
When singing as a group, there are several kinds of silence, each with its own quality.
Inevitably, some singers will wait around doing nothing while the choir leader focuses on one of the other harmony parts.
Whether you teach by ear (as I do) or use sheet music, this will happen. However, there are ways of minimising this waiting time.
We all spend a lot of time crafting and honing the publicity blurb for our choirs and singing workshops.
But are we sure we have explained exactly what singers can expect when they attend?
I tend to teach songs quickly (see How many songs can you teach in an hour?). I can easily get through 6-8 songs in a one-day workshop.
A singer recently said to me that quality might be better than quantity. Yes, she’d learnt a lot of different songs, but didn’t feel that she’d really nailed any of them.
It’s very easy for singers to stay in the same voice part in choir, even though it may not be the best place for them.
Lovemusic Community Choir by Patrick_Down is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Rather than assume you can’t sing that high (or low), why not put it to the test? You might be surprised.
Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing. There, I’ve admitted it.
We usually keep quiet when we’re unsure, but I believe it’s much better to own up in public. Here’s why.
Sometimes we encounter a challenging part of a song and need to work on it separately.
But if we try to keep this in mind when singing the first part of the song, it will affect the other notes. Here’s what I think is happening.
This is one of a series of summary posts around a specific topic, bringing together five relevant posts from the past.
This summary is all about vocal range: how it’s relevant to being in a choir and how you might go about finding where you fit. I’ve already referred to five older posts in the first part of this series.
One of the many reasons why people say that they can’t sing is that it takes them ages to learn a song.
But that’s OK. Even professionals take time to get a song under their belt.
Last week I wrote about song leaders and singers in rehearsal and at workshops feeling that they’ve made a big mistake. Yet nobody noticed: Think it's all going wrong? Spoiler: nobody's noticing!
This week I want to consider live performance, both from the perspective of choir leaders and singers.
I had a bad workshop experience the other day. I felt that the whole day had gone wrong and I wasn’t up to snuff.
Yet loads of people came up to me afterwards to tell me how much they’d enjoyed it. What’s going on here?
We’re all very good at sabotaging ourselves. You know the kind of thing: “I can’t do that” or “That was a disaster.”
However, there are some simple and powerful phrases that can help us overcome these self-doubts.
I led a Beatles a cappella singing day last week. As usual, it attracted people who love to sing pop songs.
Everyone enjoyed it, but many pointed out afterwards how hard it had been to learn the songs.
A guest video from Michaela Bartoskova reminding us all of why we sing.
“We sing to taste the freedom that music brings.”
As singers, we’re encouraged to keep hydrated by bringing a water bottle to rehearsals and workshops.
But did you know that harmful bacteria can easily build up on reusable water bottles? It’s important to clean them often, especially as warmer weather arrives. Here’s how.
This is one of a series of summary posts around a specific topic, bringing together five relevant posts from the past.
This summary is all about vocal range: how it’s relevant to being in a choir and how you might go about finding where you fit.
As mentioned, I recently started going to line dancing classes.
What I hadn’t expected is that I’m learning so much about becoming a better singing workshop leader.
I mentioned briefly in last week’s post the implicit contract between performers and audience.
I’d like to look at the idea in a little more detail.
I was on holiday in Portugal recently when I heard a group of young people coming towards me singing. It seemed like it was some kind of street protest and made me feel a little uncomfortable.
Then there was the guy on the train next to me singing quite loudly to himself, which was quite irritating. It made me wonder: are there only certain situations when it’s OK to sing in public?
Many of us want things to be other than they are. Perhaps you dream of being an amazing singer, rather than the struggling beginner that you actually are.
Or maybe you wish for more singers in your choir, rather than the handful that turn up each week. In all cases, accepting the reality is the first step to getting what you want.
Occasionally singers want to sing a song on their own. It might be for a local folk club, a choir solo, or to surprise someone on their birthday.
But how do you go about choosing a suitable song? Here are some pointers.
I’m learning a lot about teaching from the new line dancing class I’ve started!
The teacher has an awareness that there is only so much new information that we can take in, but it doesn’t stop her from overloading us.
Somebody recently bought my arrangement of the Welsh national anthem, but wanted the lyrics in English.
I put a call out to see if anybody had an English translation which would fit the music and got quite a lot of flak!
I often take it for granted that people approach choir leading in a similar way to me.
Then I realised that there are many different methods and I should outline what my own philosophy is.
I occasionally get emails from people with specific questions about choirs and singing.
These are often good starting points for writing a blog post with more general appeal.
People often ask me if I can give them an individual singing lesson because they have a big event coming up.
They’re worried that their singing voice won’t be up to the job. I usually dissuade them and here is why.
I came across an interesting article the other day: Quiet, please! The remarkable power of silence – for our bodies and our minds.
It got me thinking about how vital silence is for singers, singing and choir leading.
… and their lame jokes and teaching style and clothes choice?
Does it matter if they’re really not your kind of person?
We all know the many health benefits of singing together.
But did you know it’s also an excellent way of bonding a group of people together, even if you don’t know them?
Choirs need to promote themselves in order to recruit singers, get people to come to concerts, buy CDs and so on.
But does your public face truly reflect your choir as it wants to be?
Every choir has a reputation to maintain. Your choir and its name are essentially your 'brand' and, as such, need protecting.
When anyone shares an unauthorised photo, video or audio recording in public, it has the potential to damage your brand.
Many of us resolve to try new things when the new year starts.
It might be to join the gym or to learn to cook. Why not try singing?