Achieving your singing goals for the year: 7 fool-proof steps

This is a guest post by Nina Grunfeld the founder of Life Clubs, weekly self-development workshops. She looks at the importance of setting goals and how to set goals that inspire.

 

Nina Grunfeld of Life Clubs
 

You can now read this blog on your Kindle

I reckon quite a lot of you will have got a Kindle for Christmas and maybe don’t have many books on it yet.

photo by C. Frank Starmer

Did you know you can take out a monthly subscription to this blog on your Kindle? And it only costs 99p (UK) or 99c (US) a month. How convenient is that??!!

If you go the blog homepage: blog.chrisrowbury.com you will find an icon in the right hand sidebar across from the title of each post. Just click on the relevant one depending on whether you’re from the UK or the US.

Or just click on these links:

• add to Kindle (UK)
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If you’re from some other English-speaking country (Australia for example) and would like to subscribe this way, then please let me know and I’ll set it up for you.

Happy reading!

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

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

Get your family singing this Christmas – turn off the TV!

Fed up with the family slumped in front of the TV every Christmas and not communicating?



Then turn off the TV and start singing!

Singing is for life, not just for Christmas

“Hark the herald angels sing”. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. Slade’s “Merry Christmas everybody”. “White Christmas” on TV. Midnight mass at the local church.

photo of Piepowder (A Musical, Victorian Family Christmas) by Richard Croft

For many people Christmas is the only time of year that they sing or go to see a choir perform. But singing is not just for Christmas, it’s for life!

How to keep the old songs in your repertoire from going stale

It’s that time of year again. Out come all the Christmas songs that everyone loves – songs that you’ve sung hundreds of times before.

photo by John Bencina

But how can you stop them from going stale and keep them fresh for performance?

Why choir leaders aren’t millionaires (even though we charge a lot)

Sometimes I get paid over £100 per hour. That makes me a millionaire right?

Photo by Ian Britton from FreeFoto.com

Wrong! I don’t get paid that every hour I work. In fact, I would say I spend over 80% of my time in the office not being paid, and only a few hours each week actually doing any paid singing work.

Polished songs or deeper learning experience – which is better in a singing workshop?

At the end of each workshop I now record the group singing through all the songs I’ve taught. I then make the recording available to the participants.

Photo by Dennis AB

But I’ve been getting comments about the quality of the recordings. People are asking me to record the songs as soon as we’ve learnt them rather than at the end of the day when people are tired.

Do you have to be a good singer to lead a choir?

I read an article in the latest Sounding Board (the journal of community music from SoundSense) about the University of Sunderland’s new BA in Community Music at The Sage Gateshead. Part of the course involves students “performing in an event which showcases them as musicians”.

Photo by Phil Strahl

This lead me to wonder: do I have to be a good performing musician (i.e. singer) in order to be able to lead a singing workshop or to run a choir?

How to build a choir from scratch in under an hour

I was recently asked by BBC Radio Suffolk to create a choir from scratch to perform in a concert in aid of Children in Need: The Big Night Out Community Choir.



60 strangers gathered in a church hall and after just three hours we had a choir with three songs in four-part harmony (plus dance moves!) ready for public performance. How did we achieve that so quickly?

The secret to great singing that teachers don’t tell you

There is one vital ingredient to being a good singer.

Photo by Peter Smile

It’s not innate talent or vocal range or ability to read music or quality of voice. And it’s something that most singing teachers won’t tell you about.

Why do I end up singing the tune when I should be singing a harmony?

You’re learning a song in four-part harmony and you think you’ve nailed your harmony part.

© Copyright Basher Eyre and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

But when all the other parts come in, you end up singing the tune instead. What’s going on?

Energy conservation for singing leaders: how not to get carried away

Last week I wrote about how, as a singer, you can pace yourself in choir rehearsals and singing workshops.



This week I want to consider those of us who lead choirs and singing workshops. How can you avoid using all your energy up too quickly?

How to pace yourself in choir rehearsals and singing workshops

Have you ever been swept along by the enthusiasm of a singing session only to feel drained at the end or with a sore throat and aching legs?

Really, really tired by Evers' Project 365 Blog

Have you tried a full singing day only to duck out at lunch time due to exhaustion?
How can we – as singers or choir leaders – pace ourselves better?

What do words add to music?

I caught a scene from the movie Spartacus the other day. The character played by Tony Curtis was asked to perform a song. He then proceeded to speak a poem. What exactly is a ‘song’ then?



You can have music without words, but can you have a song without music? When music is wedded to lyrics, is it greater than the sum of its parts? What do words add to music (and vice versa)?

How will your choir cope if you don’t turn up?

Everyone likes to think that they’re indispensable.



The truth is though, when you’re not there your choir will manage fine without you.

Planning for a new choir season

It’s that time of year again. Summer is over and choir starts back very soon. We choir leaders will be thinking about which songs to teach for the next season.



How do we go about planning each term? What guidelines are there for choosing songs?

How close should a vocal arrangement be to the original song?

I’m in the middle of doing some voice-only arrangements of Queen songs for a weekend workshop I’ll be running at Farncombe Courses in the Cotswolds this September (I want to break free: the songs of Queen). So I’ve been listening to a lot of Queen recordings lately!



It’s made me wonder: how close do I need to stick to the original recordings when doing voice-only arrangements?

Corsican polyphonic singing

While you read this I will be in sunny Corsica on holiday!



For years I’ve been meaning to attend the annual Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi (literally: Meetings of polyphonic songs) organised by the Corsican singing group A filetta. This year I’ve managed it!

Easy songs for your choir 2: rounds, chants, call & response

Last week I wrote about what makes a song ‘easy’.



This week I’ll look at specific types of easy songs: rounds, chants and call & response songs.