Ask me anything! (about singing and choirs)

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.

Why I write my blog “From the front of the choir”

I started this blog way back in December 2006. That’s 17 years of weekly blog posts!

I thought I’d make a little video to let you know why and how I got started.

How to find specific topics on this blog

I’ve written over 900 articles on this blog since I started in December 2006.

photo by Bram Cymet

That’s a lot of information to wade through! Here’s a short guide to help you find what you’re looking for.

What to write about when there are no choirs or singing together?

I’m finding it hard to come up with an idea to write about today.

Writing about choirs, harmony singing, vocal technique, etc. seems a little like adding salt to a wound when choirs aren’t able to meet. What shall I write about for the next few months?

What singing subjects would you like me to write about?

I’ve been writing this blog since December 2006 and have written over 600 posts. I keep thinking I’ll run out of things to write about, but I’ve not done so yet!


However, there may well be subjects that I’ve not considered or haven’t got around to yet. Which is where you come in.

Best posts of 2012: did you miss these?

2012 is drawing to a close so I thought it would be a good time to look back at my most popular posts for the year in case you missed any of them.

photo by CCPiXel.net

Is this blog for singers or choir leaders – you decide!

It’s been just over four years since I started writing this blog. My aim was to share thoughts and ideas that arise from my work as a community choir leader and to try to generate discussion on those topics. It’s not for me to say how successful I’ve been!

Over the years I have written some posts which are directed at singers, and other posts which are directed at choir leaders. Am I trying to write for two completely separate groups of people? Should I focus the subject of this blog on just one group? I need your advice.

If a singer checks in to find out how to sing better, or how to improve their breath support, they might be put off by a post about how to start a community choir.

If a choir leader reads my blog to find out more about how to lead a choir or how to choose repertoire for a concert, they might not be interested in how a beginning singer learns to match pitch.

So over to you! My question is, should I focus the blog and be clearer who it’s for?

I could:

• alternate weekly between posts for singers and posts for choir leaders
• write a blog just for choir leaders (or just for singers)
• divide the blog into two: one for singers and one for choir leaders (rebranding I think they call it!).

There are pros and cons for each of these options (losing readers, more work for me, alienating everyone), so I’d like to hear what you, the readers, have to say.

Are you happy to read all the random things I throw at you, or is it a little confusing? Maybe choir members enjoy getting an insight into the world of their choir leader, and maybe choir leaders like to be reminded of the basics of singing technique every now and then.

What would you like this blog to be about? Do you have other ideas on how I might develop and improve the blog?

Do, please, drop by and leave a comment. After all, this blog is for you and I couldn’t do it without you!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Looking forward/ looking back 1

It’s that time of year when I take the opportunity to look back over the past year, and to look forward to things I might want to achieve in the coming year.

I believe it’s a good to do, whether it’s at the start of a new year, on your birthday, or in the summer break: a time to reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re going.

I thought I’d share a few of my own highlights together with some general questions that you might help get you started on your own process of taking stock. First off: looking back.

I wrote a post in January about 10 things I wanted to achieve in 2010. I guess it’s time to see if I actually achieved any of them! I also posed some questions which may have given you some food for thought for the year ahead. You might like to dig out your responses (or come up with new ones for 2011) and see how things panned out.

These are the ten things that I came up with.

1. More ‘theatrical’ concerts

   QUESTION: have you ever performed in or attended a choral concert which was out of the ordinary in some way?
   
   I wanted to present concerts that were not just a choir standing still. I wanted to play with entrances and exits and different groupings of singers.
   
   I had two opportunities this year, both with Woven Chords, both in proper theatre spaces. We did manage to spice up the performances a little, but I was frustrated because there was simply not enough time in the spaces to practice different groupings, etc. and to do a decent lighting plan.
   
   What I’ve learnt from this is that the theatricality of a performance takes at least as long to put in place as does learning the songs in the first place! It would be a good idea to incorporate moving in space into our weekly rehearsals rather than adding it on at the last moment. Also, a good solid one-day rehearsal in the actual performing space would work wonders. 
   

2. Professional development

   QUESTION: what are you going to do next year to develop your own practice as a singer or choir leader?
   
   I really wanted to attend more workshops this year, but it just didn’t work out. I even had the opportunity to apply for funding for professional development, but I either couldn’t make the time or couldn’t find a suitable workshop.
   
   I tend to get booked up at least six months in advance, but I often get to hear about great workshops only a few weeks before they happen. Also, I’m more and more interested in unusual workshops which are few and far between. 
   

3. Engage more with readers

   QUESTION: what is stopping you from leaving a comment on this blog?
   
   I still haven’t figured out why some posts attract loads of comments and others none. Nor why some people are happy to leave comments whilst others just sit back and read or email me personally. It does get a little frustrating and I often feel like I’m sending messages out into deep space which just never arrive! 
   

4. Develop more social networks

   QUESTION: do you have any experience using social networks that you can pass on? If you’re already in one of these networks, how about connecting with me there?
   
   Well, it looks like Digg, Delic.io.us, Stumbleupon, etc. seem to be falling by the wayside and Facebook is taking over. I’ve spent more time on LinkedIn, but am finding it difficult to find my particular ‘tribe’. My ‘official’ Facebook page garnered a further 70 likes this year which is great, but still a drop in the ocean. You can also connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn. 
   

5. Get more guest blog posts

   QUESTION: what are you passionate about that you could write a short article on?
   
   Still rather underwhelmed by the amount of guest posts I have! This year I had posts from Janet Shell (How do you keep your natural sound yet develop real tone quality?) and Jocelyn Lavin (It’s all arranged).
    
   If you fancy writing a post on something dear to your heart (and believe me: if I can do it, anyone can!), then drop me a line and let me know that you’d like to write a guest post. 
   

6. Re-evaluate exactly what I do

   QUESTION: what is the most important reason that you either attend or lead a choir?
   
   I asked: “Am I simply a teacher of songs or a community builder or a singing enabler?” And I still don’t have an answer! I suppose the very fact that I keep asking the question keeps my practice alive. 
   

7. Run less pop song workshops

   QUESTION: have you ever been labelled in a way that became restrictive? How did you change the situation?
   
   Well, I managed to succeed in this one! I’ve taken all the pop song workshops off my website and only offer them as an ‘under-the-counter’ option.
   
   I realised some time ago that not only do I not like choirs singing pop songs, but pop song workshops are actually very advanced and should be advertised as master classes (It’s hard to teach songs that people already know)! 
   

8. Re-design the blog

   QUESTION: do you have any hints on how I might best re-design this blog to make it easier to use and nicer to look at?
   
   As you can see, the blog didn’t get re-designed in 2010! But it’s still very much on my ‘to do’ list. The point I made about freelancers still stands: how do we fit in all the admin (publicity, web design, accounts, etc.) and leave time for our actual job? 
   

9. Attract more audiences for choral music

   QUESTION: how do you publicise your own concerts and do you have any tips on how to widen your audience base?
   
   I wrote about this again during the year as Finding an audience, breaking it down into Identifying what your choir does, Describing what we do, Letting people know, and finishing off with 20 ways to increase your concert audience.
   
   I’m not sure that I managed to attract more audience to our concerts, and we still get people saying that it wasn’t what they expected, but they really enjoyed it.
   

10. Regularly reflect on and evaluate my own working methods

    QUESTION: are there any assumptions you make about singing in a choir that maybe you’re not aware of?
    
    It’s not enough to reflect on our practice just once a year, it’s something that should be done on a regular basis.

Next week I’ll be looking forward to the coming year and raising some questions which might help you reflect on what you hope to achieve in 2011.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

New comments feature

Just a short post today as I will be in France when you read this!

Comments book by thath

I recently added a new comments feature to the blog which I hope will improve your experience, make it easier to leave comments, and increase the interaction between you, me and other readers of the blog.

The comments system is run by Disqus and allows you to choose your identity with Facebook Connect, OpenID, Yahoo or Twitter Sign-in, when you leave a comment. You can, of course, continue to remain anonymous if you want to!

It also allows comments to be ‘threaded’. That is, you can respond to a particular thread of conversation directly without simply having your comment appear at the bottom of the stack.

You can also easily share your comments with others in your social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

You can easily subscribe to the comments to any particular post and you will be notified of any new comments that come later.

If you’d like to have a thumbnail photo of yourself whenever you leave a comment, then you can upload one to Gravatar. Your photo will then appear automatically anywhere on the web where you use your email address to leave a comment. It’s always nice to see what people look like when you’re writing a reply to them!

If you choose to, you can register (free) with Disqus and create a profile (including a photo). This allows you to keep track of any comments you leave anywhere on the web which runs the Disqus comment feature.

I do hope you find this new system easy to use. I was finding that there were quite a few problems trying to use the old Blogger comments.

Do drop by and leave a comment to see how the system works, and to let me know if you find it clear and easy to use.

For those of you who receive these posts by RSS reader or email, then just click on comments below and you should be taken to the comments section of the blog (doesn’t work with Opera for some reason – you’ll have to scroll down to the comments section). Good luck!

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Revisiting the archives

I’ve been writing this blog now for three years. During that time I hope I’ve developed my writing skills and expertise!

There are many topics that I think are interesting, but which are now buried deep down in the archives. I thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of these old posts, to update them (and perhaps write them a bit better!) and to bring them out into the light again.

Every Wednesday from next week (13 January 2010) I’m going to revisit an old post and try to breathe some new life into it.

I hope you find these updates interesting. Do let me know if there are any specific old posts that you’d like to see revised and updated and I’ll do my best.

You can find old posts by going to the Blog Archive in the sidebar, or you can use the Search This Blog box to look for a particular topic.

The 10 most popular posts of 2009

I reckon most of you will be too busy with Christmas to read my blog this week! Full to overflowing with turkey and all the trimmings, it’s hard to get off the sofa to switch on the computer. Besides which, computers might remind you too much of work!

photo by IngaMun

Rather than a normal post, I thought I’d list the most popular reads from 2009 in case you missed them first time around.

So . . . a very merry Christmas and happy New Year to one and all and thanks for reading. I couldn’t do it without you!

1. Preparing to sing: physical and vocal warm-up ideas for choirs
   After considering why you should bother with warm ups at all, and what kinds of things you might include in a warm up, this post lists some specific physical and vocal exercises that I use with choirs.
   
   
2. How to teach (and learn) a song by ear
   Some techniques and tips for teaching and learning songs without written music.
   
   
3. Preparing to sing: what should a warm-up consist of?
   Having decided that warm ups are a good idea (see next post), this post considers the elements that need to be covered in any good singing warm up: body, voice and mind.
   
   
4. Preparing to sing: why bother?
   Why bother with warm ups any way? 10 good reasons why it makes sense.
   
   
5. But I can’t sing that high!
   How to find a comfortable place in the choir for your particular voice.
   
   
6. How to be a good choir member
   What makes a good choir member? Things like punctuality, commitment, self-awareness, trust, sense of humour, etc.
   
   
7. Learn how to sing in tune – matching pitch 1
   Once you’ve figured out whether you’re singing in tune or not, here are some basic tips on how to go about improving your tuning.
   
   
8. Singing in harmony 1 – how do they do that?
   Singing in harmony with others needs a whole set of skills which are different from singing solo or with a backing band. Here are some hints on how to sing harmony effectively as part of a choir.
   
   
9. Singing the same note – differently!
   The thorny question of matching male and female voices! The introduction of the tricky concept of ‘octave’.
   
   
10. How do I know if I’m singing in tune?
    It’s all very well for your choir leader to tell you you’re out of tune, but what does it actually mean to ‘sing in tune’?

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Don’t blog when you’re feeling low

Not feeling well, so no blog post this week. Sorry. Like many teachers, I seem to always get sick in the holidays!

Points to remember:

• always keep a blog post in hand for situations like this
• don’t blog when you’re feeling low – you might regret what you say!
• you’re not invincible – look after yourself (Taking care of ourselves as choir and workshop leaders)
  
• writing a good blog post takes time and energy
• you’re not indispensable
• this too shall pass

 

See you next week.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Writing what you want to read

It’s often hard for bloggers to come up with ideas for the next blog post, especially if you’ve been doing it for some time. When you first start, you write about what you know and hope that somebody out there will be interested. At least, that’s what I’ve been doing!

But how do you know that what you write is interesting your readers? How can you find out what makes for an interesting blog post?

As time goes by

• you get more and more readers (I hope!);
• people begin to leave comments (but never enough!);
• you might have a star rating for each post (if people can be bothered!);
• your analytics package tells you which are your most popular posts (but only if it’s a clever package!) and
• some of your readers even begin to suggest ideas for posts (hint, hint!).

Now it becomes a little trickier to decide on blog topics. Is it enough to continue to write about what you know, essentially pleasing yourself, or should you begin to take into account what your readers want? And if you do that, how best to go about it? How do you find out what your readers want if they don’t tell you directly?

Some of my posts get a 5-star rating. That makes me very happy! But often the rating comes from just two or three people. Not a very good reflection of my overall readership!

Some people leave comments on my posts. Not as often as I’d like, but often enough for me to believe (rashly?) that someone is actually reading the thing! But I notice that it’s often the same four or five people who comment. Again, not a very good reflection of my overall readership.

Then very, very occasionally (even though I ask people often), someone might offer a suggestion for a post. But is that just something that will interest them, a single reader, or will it be of wider interest?

What if I just go ploughing on and writing what I want to write? After all, that’s what I started out doing and it seems to have attracted some readers. Never enough, of course, but there are some people out there who seem to like what I’m writing.

But I’m not the same person as I was when I started and maybe I’m writing differently or on different topics. Perhaps I’ve lost loads of readers because I’m not delivering what they want. Even though I look at my stats and RSS subscriber figures, my readership is too small to notice any significant trends. Maybe I should take more notice of the readers and adapt my style and content?

Hang on a minute!! Now I remember why I first started writing. Not only did I want to share my thoughts, but the discipline of writing every week helps me to formulate what I really think about a subject. More importantly I wanted to start a dialogue and debate with other people. What do you think about these subjects? Have you come across the same issues? Do you have different or better solutions and ideas?

So I’m going to stick to my first principles. I will gladly take note of my most popular posts and possibly write something along similar lines in the future. I will take on board any suggestions or comments that my readers make. But the bottom line is, that I need to be true to myself and the intentions of my blog. If I don’t write what I am interested in and passionate about, then there’s not much point in writing, and the posts won’t be much good any way.

So I won’t ignore you lovely readers out there, but I will try to stay true to myself.

I’d be really interested to hear from all you imaginary friends out there, especially those of you who read regularly but never comment. Come on – it’s easy and not at all frightening! I’d be happy to if you just drop by and say “hello”. It doesn’t have to be anything profound. I’d also be extremely happy if you could let me know what you like and dislike about my blog, what subjects you’d like me to tackle in the future, what topics you’d like me to revisit.

I really, really want to make this blog more of a dialogue. I learn an enormous amount from you singers and choir leaders out there. I’d love to hear some personal stories about how you stumbled into singing or choir leading, what your high (and low) points have been, if you have any tricks or tips you’d like to share, and, of course, if you fancy using this opportunity to write a guest post of your own!

Just to let you know, here are some topics I’ve got planned for the next few weeks when the ‘holiday’s are over:

• Where does our audience come from – is it just friends and family?
• It’s festival season but they all seem to want loud, danceable music – where do we fit in?
• How can you tell if a singing workshop leader is good or bad – is it just personal taste?
• How do you know if you’re singing in tune?

I hope those of you in the northern hemisphere continue to have a good summer! I’m off down to the south coast for a week of fun and frolics. See you next week.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Read more!

I’ve made a slight tweak to my blog this week. From now on, there will only be a summary of each post on the ‘home’ page of the blog. If you want to read the rest, simply click on the ‘Continue reading ...’ link and you will be taken to the full post.

I hope this will allow people to scan more posts on the home page to see what interests them. Let me know what you think!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Pausing for breath – over to you

It’s that time of year again when the leaves begin to turn gold, the nights get chillier and those long, hot, sunny days of summer seem such a long way off. If only!!

Basically, it’s nearly back to school time and I’m frantically planning next term’s work with the choir. I need to choose repertoire, do some song arrangements, record parts CDs, make CD copies of our last concert, select songs for our new live CD and much, much more. It’s all come as a bit of a shock after a few relaxing weeks holiday!

So what I’m really trying to say here is that I’ve not really got the time to make a ‘proper’ substantial post this week. Consider this an opportunity to pause and take a breath before we all get back to work with a vengeance!

In the meantime, there was an interesting article in The Guardian about the health benefits of singing that you might like to read.

The Last Choir Standing results are now in. Did they choose the right choir? I will definitely start looking at the questions posed on their Great Choir Debate page in a future post.

But what would you like to read? I’ve covered a lot of topics over the past couple of years, and still have a list of things I’d like to talk about, but are there any specific issues or areas that you’d like to read about? Or perhaps you would like to write a guest post on a particular subject. Just leave a comment and we’ll take it from there.

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7 Reasons Why I Hate Blog Posts Which Are Just Lists

1. The number always seems arbitrary. Why are there only seven interesting things to say about one subject, but 10 about another?
2. If something is sufficiently interesting and complex, it’s very rare that it can be reduced to simple bullet points. Reading a list is a bit like eating a Chinese meal: two minutes later and you're ready for something more substantial.
   
3. By reducing something to a simple list, readers are given the impression that there is an easy fix to everything. That is just not true. A bit like self-help books.
   
4. List headlines are lazy and often done just to get more readers. I wonder how many more readers I'll get with this post?
   
5. We generally have a much shorter attention span than in the past, by producing short, punchy lists we are simply reinforcing that. (are you still reading?)
   
6. Some posts that use lists are of the ‘Top Ten’ variety. Often, the most interesting entries are way down at number 34. Or at number 58.
   
7. One of the easiest ways to write a post is to make a list. This encourages lazy writing and doesn’t allow for richer, more textured arguments and discussions.
8. Oh yes, by the way: sometimes there are more points than neatly fit into the list.

go to Chris Rowbury's website