I was trying to come up with an idea for this week’s blog post, but everything I thought of I’d already written about!
For a moment, I started to worry that I’d run out of things to say about choirs and singing. Surely that can’t be true — can it?
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.
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 saw an interview with George Clooney the other day and he pointed out that “You learn nothing from success. You learn everything from failure.”
Fear of failing is what holds people back. Yet failure is how we grow and learn.
I wrote recently about Why your throat might be sore after singing. One of the reasons can be overuse. You’re just doing too much.
But how can you spot when you’re in danger of doing too much so you can stop in time? Here are three ideas that might help.
My partner is always sending me videos with ideas for singing warm ups, usually involving complex clapping or stepping.
I tell her that they will be too difficult for the singers I work with. But am I being too safe and under-estimating the singers’ abilities?
We went to the theatre the other day and we were the only people in the audience wearing masks.
But in all other ways, we were exactly the same as any other audience member. The same, but different.
Lots of people often tell me a similar story: someone they know is planning to go professional, but they can’t sing in tune.
Should they be told, or be allowed to make a fool of themselves in public?
Many people use the New Year as a trigger to set themselves goals for the future. And many people fail by being unrealistic.
Whether that’s you or not, it is vital to take stock from time to time, even if it’s not at New Year.
We’ve all been there: a big concert is coming up and we feel under-prepared.
Should we just duck out, or soldier on and busk it? Here’s what I think.
Often a singer will come up to me in a session and tell me their throat is hurting. I usually tell them to stop singing.
In this post want to look at what might cause pain or discomfort when singing and what you can do about it.
Very occasionally there comes a time when you will have to ask a singer to leave your choir.
What’s the best (and kindest) way to do this?
Familiarity breeds contempt. If you do the same thing over and over again it can become boring.
However, constantly introducing new things can be hard work and it can feel like you never arrive. How do we maintain a balance between these two extremes?
It’s that clichéd time of year again when people make New Year resolutions.
Whether you do or not, it can be a good time for reflection and to prepare for the year ahead. Here are some ideas that might help.
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.
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.
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.
If you want to be a real success, it’s not enough to just do the job at hand. You need to deliver more than is expected.
What does that mean for singers and choir leaders?
