Handy hints for hesitant singers – 10 tips for singers new to choirs

It can be tough joining a new choir, especially if you’re an under-confident singer.

Painting ("Little little girl 29") by susie mendelsson

Here are ten tips to help you make the most of being in a choir.

1. everyone is in the same boat – looking around, you might assume that everyone else is comfortable, confident and knows what they’re doing, but you’re wrong! You’d be surprised how many other people feel the same as you: they can’t sing, they don’t know what they’re doing, everyone else is better than them, it’s hard, etc. etc. (see also, Everybody has a place in the choir)
    
2. be patient – if you’re new to singing you might think that ‘proper’ singers can pick up a song by hearing it just once. They don’t. Even for a professional singer, it might take up to six months for a new song to really settle in. So after the first stab at learning a new song and when you get home you can’t remember a single word or even how the main tune goes, don’t panic. Slowly, slowly over the coming weeks and months that part of your brain where songs live will absorb the song until it feels like you’ve known it forever. (see also, The importance of being confused)
    
3. you are vitally important – lots of new singers, especially those in large choirs, don’t think they count. “They won’t miss me if I don’t turn up”, “I’ll just stand at the back and mime, nobody will notice.” Wrong! If everyone thought that, there would be no choir at all. Everyone is a vital part of the greater whole. Everyone is equally responsible for creating that amazing sound. (see also, How to be a good choir member)
    
4. sing loud and proud – and don’t care what anybody else thinks. If you’re going to make a mistake, make a BIG mistake then you can fix it later. If you always sing hesitantly, you will never know if you’re singing your part correctly or not. And if you don’t like your voice at this stage, you still need to sing out loud and proud so it will develop over the coming weeks. If you sing quietly every week, you’ll never get any better.
    
5. stand at the front – it’s natural, as a beginner, to want to hide at the back. You’re nervous, don’t think much of your voice, and you’re not sure you’ve got the part right yet. But if you’re at the back you can’t hear the others in your part very well, won’t hear what your director is saying and maybe not even be able to see their hand gestures. Scary as it is, if you stand at the front, you have the whole of your section backing you up and reinforcing your part by singing into your ear. The director will also be able to see if you’re struggling with anything and be able to help you. (see also Hey, you at the back!)
    
6. behave as if you know what you’re doing – it’s amazing, but if you just behave AS IF you are a wonderful singer and know your part inside out, then it WILL HAPPEN! Just go for it.
    
7. smile! – to help even more with looking like you know what you’re doing. It will improve the resonance of your voice and your diction; even if you’re feeling miserable it will cheer you up; and it will cheer up those around you and inspire them to sing better.
    
8. mind the gap! – there are two main gaps to avoid. One is the gap between you and the other people in your part. Stick close to them and work as a team. You’ll be amazed at how supportive that will feel.
   
   The other gap is the one between different parts. If you’re not comfortable (yet) with harmony singing, then standing right next to another part may well put you off at this stage. Make sure you’re embedded well in the middle of your own part until you feel confident enough to enjoy the way harmonies work. Then you can head for the gaps between parts and enjoy the singing even more!
    
9. if it’s not working, change something – anything: where you stand within your part; how you stand (are you in a balanced, easy position or do you slump to one side with your hands in your pockets?); change parts – the one you’re in may be too high or low for you (although maybe just for this one song); your attitude – if at first hearing you don’t ‘like’ a song, imagine it will become your favourite and give it even more attention than normal; become someone else (pretend you’re Italian/ African/ a diva/ famous) as it helps to liberate you. The ultimate change is to change choirs if this one is not working for you.
    
10. don’t switch off – when the focus has moved on from your own part and others are learning theirs, it’s all too easy to switch off and start daydreaming or (worse!) chatting. But this is a wonderful opportunity to stay focused (it’s less tiring than switching off) and hear the words one more time, check that you’ve got the rhythm right, sing your part in your head at the same time (to feel how the harmonies work), and if you’re getting pretty good at this choir lark, you can even learn another part.
     

So stick with it and you’ll soon find the joys of singing in a group. Check out The pleasures of being a choir member to see what other singers get out of being in a choir.

And please do drop by to leave a comment and let us know of any other handy hints that can help new choir members.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

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

 

10 things to consider before choosing or planning a singing workshop

Instead of writing this, I should be planning a one-off two-hour singing workshop for this Saturday. I’m also starting to think of what I’ll do with my new singing group when it starts next week.

 

Of course, these are very different beasts. The kind of work I’ll do in my one-off two hour workshop will be very different from what I do in ten weeks of two-hour evening sessions.

The content and outcomes of a singing workshop depend on lots of different elements. This is important both for those who plan workshops and for those who attend them.

I reckon there are ten things (at least) to consider before you start planning your next singing workshop or before you decide whether to attend one that you’ve seen advertised. After all, you want to make sure that the experience is what you and everybody else expects!

Here are ten questions to consider and some brief notes on how the answers might affect the workshop planning and those who attend the workshop.

1. one-off or ongoing?
   If a workshop is a one-off then it needs to be self-contained, but if it’s part of an ongoing series then you are able to develop and grow over the weeks. You can begin learning a song in one session knowing that you have plenty of time to go over it and learn other verses later. Vocal training is easy to incorporate as you can see people’s voices develop over time. Ongoing workshops also give a group of singers time to gel as an ensemble.
    
2. short or long
   One hour? Two days? A whole week? Obviously you’re not going to get through many songs in a one- or two-hour workshop, and they’ll have to be easy ones too. An extended workshop gives you more scope to tackle complex songs and to really bed a song in. More singing, less learning!
    
3. taster or self-contained?
   Is this a taster to try and hook you in to a bigger project? Then the workshop leader will be on their best behaviour and try to dazzle you with their skills and fascinating repertoire! Things can be left hanging as a device to tempt you back.
    
4. themed or general?
   Is the workshop around a specific theme or targeted at a specific audience, or is it just a general singing workshop? If it does have a theme or specific audience in mind, then you know what to expect and things should stay within the advertised guidelines. But if it’s a general workshop, then anything goes – certainly as far as types of songs go.
    
5. open-access or prior knowledge needed?
   Can anyone attend, or do you need to know how to read music for example? If the publicity states that a workshop is open-access then you wouldn’t expect there to be any musical jargon used or assumptions of previous experience. Anybody should be able to attend, but this doesn’t mean that it’s a beginner’s workshop. If prior knowledge is needed, then it should be stated very clearly on any publicity.
    
6. small or large group?
   Will there only be six singers or 100? This will affect the repertoire of songs, but also the style of teaching and intensity of the work. With a large group the work will not be focused on individuals, and a big sound can be made. With a small group there is a chance to focus on individual skills, fine-tune harmonies, and maybe even do some solo work. Small groups mean that you are more likely to feel exposed, whereas you can hide more in a large group.
    
7. mixed or homogeneous?
   This can apply to gender (men-only), age (under 16s), experience (musically-trained), vocal range (sopranos only), and more. This obviously affects the kind of songs being tackled and the possible arrangements (equal voices, SATB, etc.).
    
8. freely chosen or imposed?
   It could be that the workshop is part of some corporate team building exercise that is compulsory to attend, or it may be that you have chosen it from a whole range of other workshop options. If it’s imposed, then you can’t assume that everybody wants to sing or is even comfortable singing. It may also be that the group will be composed of a very wide range of abilities. If people have chosen to come, then you can assume they are up for whatever you throw at them.
    
9. familiar faces or strangers?
   Does the workshop leader know the singers and vice versa? Familiarity with the way a workshop leader works and familiarity with the capabilities of a particular group mean that you start from a common base of knowledge and experience. Things might not have to be explained in as much detail, jargon can be used, conducting gestures won’t need to be explained, etc.
    
10. existing group or random people?
    Are the people attending the workshop already part of a group or choir? If you attend a workshop that is predominantly people from an existing group, it can be all to easy to feel like an outsider. If you’re trying to lead an existing group that you haven’t worked with before, you might find them resistant to ‘new’ ways.
     
11. free, cheap or expensive/ one-off payment or term in advance?
    People’s attitudes to a workshop change depending on how much they’ve paid to attend. Certainly their expectations will be higher the more expensive it is. And if it is a series of ongoing workshops, asking people to pay for a number of sessions in advance can improve attendance and commitment. If people pay one session at a time, then the first cold rainy night that comes along can easily persuade them to stay at home!

OK, I lied, there aren’t ten things here, but 11! In fact there are almost certainly many more factors that you should consider before planning or choosing to attend a singing workshop.

I’d love to hear other suggestions. Do please drop by and leave a comment.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

How to enjoy singing and not worry what others think

This post is part of a series of occasional Questions and Answers. Just use the contact form if you want to submit a question.

Here is a very familiar story.

Fred writes:

“I started singing at a very young age, maybe four or five and sang mostly rock stuff like Elvis my mother was listening to in the mid-to late 50's.  I thought I was good and sang my heart out but one day my mother listened and told me how bad I was.

“Then in about the fifth grade I had a music teacher telling me to lip-synch when my class sang a song at Christmas. Wow, did those two things curb my enthusiasm and give me a complex about even trying to sing!

“So ... I've sung to and for myself in my car, in the shower.

“The funny thing is that I think I know when I'm on or off pitch.  I had a good speaking voice as a kid did a lot of that in HS, like radio plays and morning announcing.  And I've taken some basic ear training online to know that I can tell when one note is higher or lower than another very accurately, which surprised me.  I also play guitar and jam with some friends.  Most of them don't sing very well and I can tell (!).

“But I will not try to sing in front of others.  Seems I have a bit of a complex about this.  If only that music teacher had been able to teach instead of just criticize!  Now at 61, I really want so bad to feel confident enough to sing with my guitar.  Please give me some advice, thanks.”

Pretty much all the people who come to my workshops or join my choirs have stories like Fred’s about lip-synching at school or being told to stop singing by someone close to them. Yet there is a need within them to sing and they come back to it 30 or 40 years later. I blame the teachers. How dare they crush a youngster's enthusiasm!

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience. It’s so very common.

Singing for yourself, in the car, in the shower ... why not??!! There's no need to sing for anyone else. And if you’re just singing to your guitar, the guitar won’t mind at all.

Knowing when you’re on or off pitch is an excellent start. As Fred says, LISTENING and ear training are the keys, not the PRODUCTION of the sound. Playing guitar (or any other instrument) is a good start and means that Fred obviously has a good musical sense.

If you’re not even sure whether one note is higher than another, then there is plenty you can do to train your ear on your own. You might want to start off finding out how you know if you’re singing in tune or not. Then check out my series of posts Learn how to sing in tune.

Do you judge your friends when they're a little bit out of tune? Does it bother you that much or are you all just having fun? If it's not a problem for you, why not throw your own voice in the mix, sing out loud, and all have a laugh about it if anyone goes a little 'off'? After all, singing out of tune isn’t always a bad thing.

It’s very easy to get a complex about singing out of tune, especially when (like Fred and many others) important people in your life have told you that you’re a ‘bad’ singer.

But the solution lies within you. You need to get to a point where you just don't care whether you're perfectly accurate or not. Isn't the point to enjoy your voice? You're not in an exam!

I don't feel that you need any outside input. Anything online is a waste of time. Singing teachers are expensive (especially the top ones). You have everything within you to succeed, you just need to build up your confidence.

If not now, when are you going to let rip? Why not join a local community choir (i.e. non-auditioned) who sing just for fun? You can hide in the back for a while as you slowly get more confident. Even when you’re feeling comfortable you'll have a whole bunch of other singers to support you. It's just a matter of time. Be patient!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Looking forward/ looking back 2

Time to look forward to the coming year.

With thanks to my lovely assistant susie mendelsson

Look back first to realise all the big mistakes you made, make a note of all those missed opportunities and unrealised dreams, then forward ho!

you can ask yourself ...

What am I expecting this year? What do I hope to achieve? What goals can I set myself? What resolutions shall I make? How can I be a better person/ singer/ choir leader? How can I lose weight and influence people?

But that all seems a little boring and old hat.

maybe you could ask ...

How can I have fun in 2011? How can I revitalise my singing world? How can I make a difference? How can I help more people laugh/ sing/ dance? What’s the highest note I can reach without my eyes watering?

two ways forward?

You saw last week how I failed quite miserably at quite a few of the goals I’d set myself for 2010. I feel bad about that. I had all good intentions, but somehow real life intervened.

If we don’t want to fail miserably, I reckon we have two choices:

1. set more realistic, achievable goals; or
2. make sure we definitely achieve the goals we set

The first option is a bit of a cop out I feel. We’re simply setting the bar deliberately low so we know we’ll reach it. Even though we might realise our goals, it won’t give us much satisfaction or stretch us or help us to grow and develop.

The second option seems a bit harsh. It might mean being hard on ourselves and focusing too much on our goals rather than getting on with life. Most people fail to keep up with their New Year resolutions any way so it’s pretty hard to insist that we stick to them when others can’t.

what are goals for any way?

OK, setting goals at this time of year is a bit of a cliché. However, I do believe that it’s good occasionally to take stock of where we’re heading and how we’re going to get there, whether it’s at the turn of the year or otherwise. So maybe you might want to come back to this post when the time is right for you.

• Goals give us something to aim for and work towards. Which is why lots of choirs end up performing. Sometimes it’s not enough to just do something, we need to show what we’ve done or have some kind of result or outcome.
   
• Goals (whether we achieve them or not) give us a yardstick to measure our own development and improvement over the years (otherwise we might not notice how good we’ve become).
   
• Goals are an indication to other people that we’re taking what we do seriously. And letting other people know that we have an objective in mind helps us to achieve it (we don’t like letting people down now that we’ve made our goal public).
   
• Goals are a bit like shining a bright light off into the future. We might not end up exactly where we’d intended, but the light illuminates the path for us and helps us on our way.
   
• Goals focus the mind and help to remind us why we’re doing what we’re doing, and where we were headed in the first place.

maybe there’s a third way (apologies to Tony Blair)

Instead of watering down our aspirations (option 1) or giving ourselves a hard time (option 2), there might be an alternative approach.

Dream away. Fantasise about your perfect (singing) life (it is a singing blog after all). Imagine being famous/ successful/ top of your game/ number one/ internationally respected/ whatever. Picture yourself exactly where you want to be (which may or may not involve pool sides and lithe, scantily clad gorgeous people).

Now set some goals to achieve those dreams. Don’t worry how unrealistic/ crazy/ daft/ pointless/ arrogant/ scary they are.

Your job is then to go into 2011 open-minded and full of optimism with these goals at the back of your mind. They will inform your journey over the next 12 months.

You may not achieve all of them, but they will help you on your way.

Don’t give yourself a hard time if it looks like you’ll fall short; don’t ignore them entirely, but equally don’t focus on them too much or they’ll get in the way.

share your goals

Goals are there to help you. And if you feel like sharing them with us, we’ll certainly cheer you on and encourage you on your way.

Drop by and leave a comment with your aspirations for 2011 and you’ll hear our approval from way over here where we live.

Good luck!

(By the way, if you receive these posts by email, you’ll find a little ‘comment’ link right at the bottom. Just click on that and it will take you to the blog where you can leave a comment. That’s much better than just emailing me because everyone will be interested in what you have to say, not just me!)

 

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

 

The archives are now closed

On 6 January this year I began to revisit the archives. Every Wednesday throughout 2010 I dusted off an old post from 2007, updated it and gave it new life.

File cabinets by jono dot com

But now the time has come (*sound of heavy creaking door being closed*) to shut the archives once more (*large iron door clangs shut*), leave them to gather dust (*lights click off*) in the dark and turn to new topics (*sound of footsteps echoing into the distance*).

I hope you’ve enjoyed re-reading some of the old stuff or maybe coming across it for the first time.

So now I’m returning to posting just once a week on a Sunday morning (UK time). See you in 2011!

As always, if you have any burning questions or ideas for posts, do contact me, and please pop by to leave a comment even if it’s just to say “Hi”!

Happy New Year to all my readers (I couldn’t do it without you!) and I hope all your dreams and plans for 2011 come to fruition.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

The 10 most popular posts of 2010

Since most of you will be too busy with Christmas to read this Boxing Day post I thought I’d revive an old tradition that goes way, way back to December 2009.

The turkey carcass by Clevergrrl

Rather than a normal post, here is a list of the most popular posts from 2010 (and a few others that I think are worth a look) in case you missed them first time around.

the 10 most popular posts of 2010

1. Why choirs shouldn’t sing pop songs
   It’s not big, it’s not clever and it rarely works – just don’t do it!
   
2. Finding songs for your choir
   Tips and hints on finding song material for your choir.
   
3. Why men won’t sing: a discussion
   This was the beginning of a series of posts on why men don’t (or won’t) sing and how we can get more of them to do so. Loads of comments with lots of good ideas.
   
4. How to deal with unwanted talking during choir rehearsals without killing anybody
   Prompted by a (spoof) video of a conductor losing his cool and breaking someone’s violin, this looks at less drastic ways of trying to stop chatting during rehearsals.
   
5. Men and singing 3: seven ideas to get more men involved
   Seven ideas that might help to get more men into your choirs and singing workshops.
   
6. Men and singing 1: 15 myths debunked
   People come up with all kinds of reasons and excuses as to why men don’t sing. Here are 15 of them and I debunk them all!
   
7. Don’t stress about things you can’t control
   Being a choir leader or choir member can get stressful when you get upset with things like lateness, people not turning up, singers not knowing their part, etc. But you can’t control any of these, so find ways of letting them go.
   
8. Is all choral music religious?
   Prompted by a question from Bangladesh, the short answer is “No”, although a lot of choral music does originate from the Christian church.
   
9. Becoming a choir leader – it’s a long story!
   My personal story of how I became a choir and singing workshop leader.
   
10. What are rehearsals for exactly?
    A fresh look at why we rehearse and what we can expect from the process.

10 posts that generated lots of comments

1. Audiences at choral concerts: who are they?
   Are they all over 60 and predominantly women? If so, what can we do about it?
   
2. Tackling complex song structure without written music
   How complex can a song be and still teachable by ear? Plus some hints and techniques for teaching tricky songs.
   
3. I’m a control freak and that’s exactly how I like it!
   I much prefer to teach or lead a choir on my own. I think one person leading is better than two or more.
   
4. Over-rehearsed or under-prepared: which is better?
   I don’t like rehearsing, but some people love it. However, it’s possible to overdo it whichever way you think.
   
5. Songs and copyright
   Start of a series of seven posts on how copyright affects the teaching, performing, arranging and distribution of songs.
   
6. Why feedback is important when teaching and learning songs
   We all need feedback, both the teacher and the learner.
   
7. The pleasures of the untrained voice
   What ‘untrained’ might mean and why I prefer it.
   
8. It’s hard to teach songs that people already know
   People flock to my pop song workshops because they are familiar with the songs, but actually that makes it much harder to learn harmonies and other arrangements!
   
9. The pleasures of being a choir member
   Never having been in a choir before, I raised the question and received lots of interesting answers.
   
10. Know your place: singing AND moving!
    The difficulties of getting singers to line up. And stay in position!

the one post that I think got overlooked

One of my own favourite posts of the year arose because I realised that I’m often very ambitious both with my choirs and in my singing workshops.

I tend to teach lots of songs and often choose tricky ones with difficult harmonies. Yet everyone always seems to rise to the occasion.

I often get comments such as “I was amazed how much you made us achieve in such a short time; I enjoyed it way above my expectations” and “A wonderfully invigorating day. I’m amazed at what can be achieved in such a short time!” ... so I must be doing something right!

I realised that what I do is to never tell people how ambitious the programme is or how difficult the songs are and just get on with it. I wrote up my approach as:

How to get the best from your singers: don’t tell them it’s hard

I do believe this approach has many ramifications. If you behave as if everything is easy, under control and achievable, then you can achieve great things – whether you are a choir director or singer.

happy christmas!

Which only leaves me to say: 

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

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

The value of concert reviews

This is an updated version of a post which first appeared as Read all about it! in December 2007

I don’t know what it’s like in other parts of the world, but here in the UK it’s notoriously difficult to get any kind of review of a concert in the press — local or national.

Newspapers by Ian Britton from www.freefoto.com

When I approach the local papers, they tell me that they won’t review any concert that’s not on for at least five days. How are we to get reviews for our concerts?

I can see their point I guess if you think that the only point of a review is to attract more punters to come to shows. With that view, there’s no point in printing a review if, by the time it’s printed, the show has finished its run.

But aren’t reviews more than that? I enjoy reading reviews in my daily paper (The Guardian) which has national coverage. I regularly read reviews of theatre, pop concerts, opera, classical concerts, etc. in places far from where I live to which I am very unlikely to go. Or I’ve missed the show any way. It keeps me in touch with what’s going on, even if I never get to see the live show.

For the reader, a review can:

• stimulate new ideas;
• introduce me to new critical language;
• bring a new artist to my attention;
• make a connection with other things that I might otherwise not have made;
• by making comparisons, introduce me to a new book/ film/ piece of music/ artist that I otherwise wouldn’t have heard of;
• remind me of an act that I’ve not seen for some time (so I dig out their CD)
• bring a venue to my attention that puts on interesting work.

I’m sure there are 101 other things I get from reviews, but way, way down the list is an urge to go and see the show.

Most reviews these days (of any medium) are basically of the star-rating type: does the reviewer think it’s worth your while to go and see it? There doesn’t seem to be any space for more critical, analytical reviews of the arts if a show is on for one night only – except, of course, if the director/ conductor/ performer is suitably famous. And reviews in the local papers tend to be simple descriptions of what happened and what the costumes were like.

But I still would like a review!

For the performer(s), reviews can:

• be good publicity (even if they review is bad!);
• present an objective view of what you’re offering (sometimes you can be too close to the material);
• unearth some good quotes or descriptive language that can help describe your work;
• help to validate what you do (you hope the audience will enjoy the concert, but until the performance, you won’t know for sure);
• give feedback as to how you can improve and develop the work;
• build confidence (yes, you are that good!);
• remind you why you put up with all those really difficult rehearsals.

So reviews are a good thing, but how on earth do we get them??!!

In short, I have no idea.

I think a lot depends on your particular local newspaper and its circumstances, the status of your choir, the kind of music you perform, whether you have personal connections with journalists, and if you are on a prolonged tour.

I don’t think there are any easy answers, but I’d love to hear any hints that you might have.

What are your experiences with the local press where you are? Can you get your concerts reviewed easily? Do you find some kinds of concert get reviewed more easily than others? Do drop by and leave a comment, I’d love to hear your ideas.

This is my last post before Christmas, so I’d like to wish all you loyal readers a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

How to make a song your own

This post is part of a series of occasional Questions and Answers. Just use the contact form if you want to submit a question.

 

Blue Cat asks:

“How do you develop your own singing style or use your own voice when singing another artist’s song instead of copying that artist’s style and voice?”

 

 

This is what we call “making a song your own”. A difficult but very rewarding challenge.

cover versions

I don’t know about you, but when I come to sing (or arrange) a well-known song that I really like, I have the original going around in my head.

As I sing I can hear the gorgeous backing singers, the sumptuous string arrangement and the pulse of the rhythm section. I float along on this cushion of loveliness imagining I’m the best singer in the world. And usually I end up imitating the original singer.

How can you break out of this and truly make the song your own, as if it belongs to you and you alone?

The best cover versions of songs are when they manage to erase the original from your mind. They are so good that you can’t imagine anyone else ever doing the song. Often these versions become the best-known versions and people often don’t realise that there is an original lurking around somewhere. Good examples of this are:

• The first time ever I saw your face by folk singer Ewan MacColl which became a mainstream pop song when covered by Roberta Flack (and ripped off by Matt Cardle for 2010’s X-Factor).
• Mad world by UK band Tears for Fears covered by Gary Jules for the soundtrack to the movie Donnie Darko.
• Hallelujah by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, although most people know the version by Jeff Buckley (which 2009’s X-Factor versions ripped off).

Then there are the cover versions which are not a patch on the original. The younger generation come across a song by their favourite group and assume they must have written it, although it’s actually a cover version. There are loads of example of this, but one that springs to mind is:

• Father and son written by Cat Stevens in 1970, covered by Irish boy band Boyzone in 1995. No, Boyzone did NOT write this song!

Somehow the arrangers and singers of good cover versions have adapted the song in a way that makes it sound fresh and new and totally suited to their voices. How do they manage this?

for singers

Here are some hints on how you might make a song your own without trying to impersonate the original singer:

• be playful – try the song as a country and western standard, as an opera aria, in a reggae style, as a mournful ballad. Choose as many different and ‘inappropriate’ styles to sing the song in. Put on funny voices. Be playful. Wash your head of the original and you will feel more free. You may well stumble across a completely new, more relevant (to you) way of singing the song.
• discover (and enjoy!) your own voice – many singers start off by imitating their favourite singers. Trouble is, it can become a habit and you end up with a voice that is not really your own. So first you need to discover what your own unique, natural singing voice is and learn to love it. You might like to check out these posts: Your singing self vs. your everyday self, Learning to love the sound of your own voice, Why our singing voices have different accents, Does your singing voice reveal the real you?
• choose the right song – you need to be able to relate personally to a song before you can really make it your own. It might be the lyrics, the overall feeling, the quality, the melody, but there must be something that really moves you and attracts you to a song. If not, don’t do it.
• find an angle – rather than rushing in and impersonating your favourite singer’s version of a song, reflect on why you’ve chosen it. Try to relate it to something in your own life/ psyche/ philosophy/ history/ memories. Then sing it as if you had written the song for just that situation. They lyrics or feeling of the song will become far more relevant and there is a better chance that will sing it with your own natural voice.
• go back to basics – figure out exactly what it is that draws you to the song. If it’s the lyrics, spend some time with them reading them, reciting them out loud, declaiming them, making them your own. If it’s the melody, strip the words out and play with the melody (speed, volume, dynamics, etc.) until it really emphasises the mood that you’re trying to create. If it’s the backing/ production, try to isolate exactly which bits that are vital and then try to find a way of bringing the essence of this into your singing.
• try it out – perform your new version to a friend and get their feedback. Do they recognise the song? Do you still sound like the original singer? Get them to ask you questions about ‘your’ song: why did you write it? why have you chosen it? which is your favourite part? how can you perform it better?

for arrangers

A lot of the points aimed at singers above can equally well be applied to those who want to arrange a song to make it their own. In addition:

• strip out the production – figure out what are just production/ arrangement features in the original, and what is vital to make the song what it is. Often there is a particular riff or instrumental that really makes the song. If you were to just pick out the melody line, something will have been lost. Don’t just slavishly reproduce the original’s production.
• decide on your approach – is there a particular style that is suggested or that you’re interested in? You might be surprised at how readily a seemingly odd choice of style fits an existing song. For example, Sue Jorge giving Bowie songs a Brazilian tropicalia make-over in The Life Aquatic.
• seek out other versions – there may be lots of other arrangements of a song already out there. Not only do you not want to reinvent the wheel, but you also want to get an idea of what things are possible.
• listen to the original – and keep on listening until the song is really inside your head. Then stop. Walk around with the song like that for a LONG time until it ferments and gestates inside you and it will slowly begin to transform into your very own version. Your memory is fallible, so use that fact and don’t keep referring to the original recording. The things you remember will be just the things that are important to you.

other hints

Despite all that I’ve written above, I still find myself impersonating other singers and find it really hard to not simply reproduce a song exactly when I’m arranging it for voices. So please, do let me have some other ideas that I can use! Drop by and leave a comment if you have any other handy hints on how to make a song your own. I do really appreciate it.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Why are there always too many altos in a choir?

This is an updated version of a post which first appeared as Parts creep (or why there are always too many altos) in November 2007

At the start of term we have an equal number of singers in each part, but by the end of term, there are always too many altos (or sopranos or tenors – never basses)!

Smarties by gadl

Does anybody else have this problem with their choir? Please say you do, and please say you have a sensible solution – it’s driving me nuts!

moving around the choir

Partly because we’re a community choir, partly because of the kind of material we do, but mainly because I think it’s good for people to exercise the whole of their vocal range, I encourage people to swap parts for different songs.

We don’t stick to the normal soprano/ alto/ tenor/ bass categories (we're never that high, and never so low!) and I don’t allocate people to a fixed part or role. We don’t use seats so people are free to move around.

Some songs have three parts, some five or more, some the ‘standard’ four. Not everyone is present every week for a variety of reasons. This is the background to the problem.

start as you mean to carry on ...

When we first start learning a song I try to make sure each part is made up of roughly an equal number of people.

The weeks go by, people come and go, I fit people who missed the first week into a part that is a little thin on the ground. Then suddenly, out of the blue, one week (usually when a concert is looming) EVERYONE seems to be singing alto!

There are no tenors to speak of, the tops look pretty thin on the ground, and the basses are the usual suspects. This is parts creep.

When I turn around people sneak from their part to another part without telling me. They do it on purpose (I'm sure of this!). What was once a well-balanced and orderly choir is now entirely out of kilter. And they deny it!

“I thought you guys were all singing tops when we started?”

“Oh, no, we’ve always been altos for this song”.

And so it goes.

... until it all goes pear-shaped

Of course, some people are in the ‘wrong’ part, some people deny ever having learnt the song in the first place, and some are just doing it (I’m sure of this too!) to wind me up. What’s worse – yes, even worse – is that then half the tops tell me that they can’t even do the concert after all!!!!!

Apart from nailing people’s feet to the ground, labelling them with a barcode on their forehead, making them wear different coloured shirts to represent the different parts, compelling everyone to learn every part of every song equally well, forcing the excess altos at gun point to rejoin the tops, or even culling the spare voices, what does one do??

Suggestions on a postcard, or leave a comment. PLEASE!!!

possible solutions

When I wrote the first version of this post, several people posted suggestions.

1st mate: “Give people a ‘range test’ to see what they can actually handle as opposed to what they think they can.”

I have done this in the past. There are difficulties with this approach though (of course!). The range test may tell you that you have a choir 3/4 of which is made up of altos (damn!). The arrangements I use are designed for community choirs so they are usually within everyone’s range. Although someone may be able to sing very low, they might not want to sing the low parts (what can you do??!!).

M. Ryan Taylor: “I like the idea of having them switch around on a part for an exercise, but I would definitely assign them a permanent part and write it down in the choir's roster.”

Write it down? Roster??!! I think you mistake my choirs for ‘proper’ choirs! We are far more informal than that, and I would never like to impose upon the singers in that way. Besides which, I would lose the roster or the singers would swear blind I wrote them down wrong in the first place!

Karen: “Sometimes I target individuals by saying: ‘You’re so good at picking things up, could you move to this other part?"’ Yes, I do use subtle emotional manipulation with my singers, but hey, whatever works!!”

Great idea Karen, but ... (you knew there would be a ‘but’ didn’t you?) most of the altos are there because they are under-confident, go for the middle ground and safety in numbers, so are least likely to be swayed by flattery and encouragement.

Babs: “Most groups I know of have a surfeit of sopranos, because they get the melody. What I have noticed is that group members tend to follow the strongest voices, so on lines with unassigned voices, there is a drift towards singing whatever the strongest vocalists are singing.”

In my choirs I don’t often give the sopranos the melody line (nasty man!), besides which, they probably have never heard the song before so it won’t help them. And if the song is well-arranged, ALL the parts will sing like melody lines and nobody will think they have the harmony.

You’re right about following the strongest (or loudest or most confident) voices. I try to spread them about to confuse people!

no biscuit!

Great ideas all, but no biscuit I’m afraid. All the decent solutions seem to involve some kind of formal accountancy with books and pens and serial numbers. Not really my style. In any case, you get it all set up and an entirely different group of singers turn up the following week. AND they’re not in the book!

So, my plea once more: any other ideas out there? Please do pop by and leave a comment.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

How to recruit singers to truly reflect your local community

For the first time in over 13 years I will soon be starting a choir from scratch. And I’m asking for your help!

The Illuminated Crowd by Raymond Mason (photo by albany_tim)

I’ve written a whole series in the past about how to start your own community choir, and I will be taking a lot of my own advice on board (time to put my money where my mouth is!).

But the nut I’ve been unable to crack is to recruit a truly representative set of people from my local community: in age, gender, race, culture, background, education, disability, etc. In short, a real community choir.

The sad fact is that most choirs in the UK don’t reflect a true cross section of society.

They majority are made up of white women in their 50s and older and often don’t represent the racial, cultural or gender mix of the community they’re based in. How can we change this?

I’ve written on the subject of choir membership and recruitment before.

Why people don’t join choirs:

• I love to sing, but I’m not leaving the house!
• Avoiding the ‘C’ word: choir

The difficulties of an ageing choir:

• Singing across the age divide
• Choirs: is old age an issue?
• Why do kids stop singing when they grow up?

How to recruit new choir members:

• How to start your own community choir – getting the word out

The lack of men in choirs:

• The problem with men: getting them, handling them, keeping them
• Men and singing 1: 15 myths debunked
• Men and singing 2: your collective wisdom
• Men and singing 3: seven ideas to get more men involved

The experience of joining a choir for the first time:

• Everybody has a place in the choir

I’ve realised that there is no easy answer to recruiting a representative set of people from your local community! So I’m asking for your help.

Do you have any ideas or experience of recruiting successfully from right across your local community? Would you like to share your solutions with us? Please drop by and leave a comment.

It seems to me that we can break down the problem as follows.

describing what your community choir is about

First you need to be clear what your aims are and then find the right words to explain that clearly to prospective choir members. It may be that you have to use different language for the different groups that you’re trying to attract. Each group will use different language and have different shared points of reference.

getting the word out to the right people

Then you have to get this information in front of the relevant people. It’s probably no good putting an advert in the local press to attract 16-year-olds, and it’s no good handing leaflets out after a live pop concert if you’re looking for older singers. You’ll need to take the word to the people you want to attract. That may mean identifying places where groups gather. For example, colleges, adult education classes, churches, cultural clubs.

making the group look right

I’ve pointed out before that when a prospective new choir member walks into their first choir session, they want to see a lot of people like themselves. Otherwise they will feel that they don’t belong and wont’ come back.

If you have a single man or just one 21-year-old, that’s just not going to work. You’ll need to make sure there are large enough sub-groupings within your choir to attract more similar people.

divide and conquer?

It may not be possible to start from scratch with a truly representative group of singers. It may be that your description, publicity sources, venue, etc. may have to be tailored for each particular group. You can then combine them at a later stage.

For instance, you could start a regular choir (which will probably be older women), a men’s choir, a choir at the local Afro-Caribbean centre and a youth choir. Once these are up and running, you could have a joint concert (involving  a couple of joint songs where everyone needs to rehearse together), then gradually amalgamate all the different groups into one choir.

over to you

On the face of it, that seems like a lot of work! It may be that you simply don’t have the time or resources to go the whole hog (I know I don’t!), so please, please write in with your own solutions and let’s see if we can all crack this particular nut together.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Are ALL songs suitable for purely vocal arrangements?

This is a revised version of a post which first appeared as When is a song not a song? in October 2007

I’m always on the lookout for new songs to use with my singing workshops and choirs.

Sara Bareilles in concert by Anirudh Koul

There might be a stunning song that I’ve known and loved for years, but when I come to arrange it for unaccompanied harmony, it doesn’t work. How can we decide which songs will work for a choir and which won’t?

First off I need to ’fess up (you probably know this by now!). I don’t like:

• ‘dum dum’ bass lines
• choirs singing pop songs (see Why choirs shouldn’t sing pop songs)
• voices impersonating instruments
• beautifully enunciated traditional songs
• lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ under a single melody line

Many times a choir member will come up to me and suggest a song for me to use. Often the song is simply not appropriate for an acappella arrangement or just won’t work with a large group.

Many recorded songs these days have integral instrumental backing and if you take those familiar riffs away, there is often not much left of the song. Personally I am not a fan of those acappella arrangements where the voice impersonates an instrument or has too many “dum dums” in the backing.

I recently heard a version of a song from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. It was an amazing effort, using the voices to replicate instruments and almost sounded like the original.

My reaction was: “What’s the point? Why bother?” Apart from admiring the singers’ skills, I’m really not sure where the artistry and creativity is here. Why not just listen to the original? Or if there’s a trumpet needed, then simply use a trumpet. I just don’t get it.

I’m not a fan of showing off skills for skills’ sake. For me there needs to be some element of creativity or the adding of something extra to an existing song, or there’s no point in doing an arrangement for voices only. Where the voice is concerned I want to hear the humanity shine through, not be convinced that I’m not listening to a human voice at all, but really a keyboard!

Then there are wonderful, delicate ballads with many verses telling an extraordinary story. However, if arranged for a large choir the delicacy can be destroyed and the story and words completely lost in the mix. I was once told by an ethnomusicologist that in singing traditions which have lots of harmony, the words are always very simple, often repetitive, and not the most important element of the song. Whereas in cultures where the lyrics are important and tell complex stories, there is seldom a harmony tradition.

So the question is: when is a song suitable for a purely vocal arrangement and when is it not? I guess some of that is down to taste, but it’s not true that anything can be adapted for voices alone.

For me, I want voices that sound like voices, an arrangement that sound like it was only ever meant to be sung using voices only, and lush harmonies without too many tricks (or cheesy key changes!). If you can’t make the song your own, then leave the original alone.

My point also extends to cover versions generally. If you’re going to cover an existing song, then you have to add something to the original or else there’s no point. Just reproducing the original is a waste of time.

I’ll be writing more about how you can “make a song your own” in few weeks’ time.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Have voice, will travel

I love my job, I really do. I just need some space and a bunch of people and we will make beautiful music together.

Photo by Heather Jennings

No equipment, no special work-wear, no musical instruments, no particular room or building, no need to speak the language, no vetting the people – just me and you and our voices. Have voice, will travel!

People are often surprised when I say that I don’t need a piano – they can’t seem to imagine that we can make music with voices alone. Or pick a staring note out of the air.

People are often amazed when I say that I don’t use sheet music – they seem to believe that ‘proper’ music-making is somehow connected with pieces of paper.

People are often suspicious when I say that anyone can join in regardless of experience – they seem to think that it must be for beginners only and besides, nothing of quality will come of it.

People are often stunned when they hear the results after working with a bunch of strangers for just a few hours – they can’t believe the beautiful music we make after such a short time.

People often don’t believe me when I tell them I have no music training – they assume that I must have studied somewhere otherwise how on earth could I be doing this job.

People often stumble over some of the foreign words and find the physical warm ups a bit strange – but that means I can teach anywhere in the world. Who needs language when you’re making music?!

People often think that you need a decent room with proper acoustics and maybe a microphone or two – they can’t understand that singing can be done absolutely anywhere under any circumstances.

I feel rather smug sometimes when watching a so-called ‘acoustic’ band set up with all their leads and amps and microphones and mixing desks and sound-checks and stands and speakers and effects boxes.

I can just stand up and sing.

Or I can grab a bunch of people and we can sing in harmony. Anywhere, anyhow, anywhen with anybody.

That’s the beauty of my job and I love it!

So if you fancy having me over to run a singing workshop for you – anywhere in the world just to see how I do it, please feel free to contact me and I’ll see what I can do. Do call, it’ll be fun!

Or maybe we’ll bump into each other one day in an unfamiliar place and we’ll sing together, just for the hell of it, with no preparation or equipment. Just you and me and our voices.

Keep on singing!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Where is a culture’s music tradition to be found?

This is an updated version of a post which first appeared as Hidden culture in August 2007

A few years ago I spent two weeks travelling through the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. I was really looking forward to hearing lots of traditional singing since I had been told that all three countries have a rich and well-preserved history of song.

Women in Saare county, Estonia dancing in traditional costumes by Avjoska

But I didn’t see or hear a single singer in the whole of my trip! I did manage to track down a few traditional CDs, but there were hidden amongst the usual pop and heavy rock. Where had they hidden their traditional culture?

the Baltic tradition of song

The Lonely Planet Guide says: “Song is the soul of the Balts. And nowhere is this expressed more eloquently than in the national song festivals that unite Estonia, Latvia and Lithuanians worldwide in a spellbinding performance of song. The crescendo is a choir of up to 30,000 voices, singing its heart out to an audience of 100,000 or more, while scores of folk dancers in traditional dress throw a bewitching kaleidoscope of patterns across the vast, open-air stage”.

And the Rough Guide says: “The characteristic Baltic singing festivals – hugely popular events – played a major role in expressing the national identities of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during their move to independence.”

Unfortunately most of the big folk song festivals had already happened earlier in the year!

In the 19^th century, great collections of folk lyrics and tunes were made: over 1.4 million folk lyrics and 30,000 tunes have been written down in Latvia and the largest archive in Lithuanian folklore alone contains over 400,000 collected songs.

I also read in a local guide book that if you ask a Lithuanian about his country’s traditional culture, you would most likely hear about Lithuanian songs and love of singing. Apparently, only a few decades ago, most women of the Dzukija region still knew a hundred songs; the most accomplished singers remembered as many as four hundred. Often, people sang more than they spoke!

The choral folk and runo-song arrangements of Estonian composer Veljo Tormis are very popular, having influence as far away as the Estonian community in Australia! And it’s not just old, dyed-in-the-wool folk fans who follow the traditional songs, the annual Viljandi folk festival in Estonia each July attracts a young audience to see a variety of roots bands. And only the other day there was an article about how Estonians are keeping their singing traditions alive.

are today’s ‘traditions’ populist rubbish?

So how come in the restaurants and shops the music was Russian pop or Bob Marley or classical muzak, and the new Baltic MTV was full of Baltic rock of the bad 1970s kind? Where was this vibrant traditional culture that I’d been reading so much about?

I was also yearning to see some kind of authentic folk craft in the shops rather than the usual watered-down tourist rubbish (is that what people really want, or do we buy it because it’s the only thing on offer?).

It got me thinking about how visible so-called traditional culture is in any particular society.

There is clearly a rich and vibrant folk tradition in the Baltics in both music and applied arts, yet on an everyday level it is invisible. What happens to all those thousands of people who join in the song festivals the rest of the year? Do they simply stop singing?

What is a culture’s ‘folk tradition’ any way? I guess you could say that the derivative Baltic pop music on the radio, and the buying of cheap Russian clothes imports in the markets is an expression of today’s traditional culture.

invisible culture and tradition

Yet my background reading suggests that there is a lively, current interest in songs and music that has been handed down over generations – songs for every occasion: weddings, rye harvest, summer solstice, funerals. It is an integral part of Baltic society and runs deep. So why did I have to go hunting in modern record shops to try and find recordings of folk music hidden amongst the stacks of death metal and American pop?

What would a foreigner’s impression of our folk traditions be if she arrived at Heathrow, took the tube into London and wandered down Oxford Street? Sure we have many lively and well-attended folk clubs throughout the country, but they’re not that visible at first glance.

A country’s traditions and artistic culture is part of what gives it an identity. But if that culture is invisible, it seems at first glance that all cultures are merging into one: shopping malls, light entertainment on TV, pop music on iPods, street fashion and leisure-wear, fast food.

But scratch the surface and you will find a rich hidden culture that seems to survive the onslaught of globalisation and commercialisation. You just have to go and look for it. I guess if something comes too easy, then it’s not appreciated.

So when you visit a foreign country, don’t jump to conclusion. Wait a while and see past the Americanised trappings of the modern world and you will find cultural riches which will surprise you.

And to those of us who enjoy traditional music-making, culture and arts – keep on doing it or it will not survive!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Why our singing voices have different accents

Many English pop groups in the 60s started off by emulating their cousins from across the pond and sang with an American accent. Cliff Richard still does!

Then The Beatles arrived and we began to hear regional accents creeping in, then punk came along and we got used to hearing different English accents and dialects.

Beatles mural - Croxteth Avenue, Litherland by Gary Rogers

So nowadays it’s a bit of a shock when there is a big mismatch between how somebody speaks and the accent they choose to sing in.

where did her accent go?

A well-known example is Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent. Her speaking voice reveals a strong Scottish accent, but when she sang “I dreamed a dream” her accent magically vanished and she sounded like a posh woman from London.

It’s often the case that people imitate the accent of the original version of a song. It’s also true that choirs and opera singers can sound very ‘posh’ and English when they enunciate ‘correctly’.

Yet some singers, even when singing their own original material seem to put on an accent which is not their own (I’m sure you can think of lots of examples – I won’t name names!). It’s like they have a special ‘singing voice’.

Most common examples are an American accent when singing pop songs, or a one-size-fits-all West Country or Northern accent when singing folk songs. It’s as if this transformation is expected and the song wouldn’t sound ‘authentic’ otherwise.

singing in a ’merican style

The Americans have a lot to answer for (don’t get me started!). The fact is that a lot of popular music emanates from the US so it’s inevitable that people will try to imitate the accents of their favourite pop stars. But there’s an imbalance between what happens in the US and what happens in the rest of the world.

For example, when watching a strongly accented American movie set in the deep South, English audiences are expected to struggle and catch on as best they can. Yet whenever an English movie is shown in the States which contains regional accents, it is often subtitled. It’s as if the American language, with all its different regional accents and dialects, is somehow the norm for spoken or sung English.

Another mainly American import is musical theatre. Many of the productions that reach these shores are written by Americans, originate from the US, or are set in the States. So it makes sense that when English singers tackle these shows, they sing in an American accent. But there seems to be a trend these days for every musical to be sung in an American accent, regardless of whether it’s appropriate or not.

why people sing in different accents

When somebody’s speaking voice has a very different accent from their singing voice, which is the ‘real’ them? (see my earlier post Your singing self vs. your everyday self – which is the real you?)

Are they putting a voice on? If so, why would they do that?

• a singing accent can be learnt behaviour – something picked up when younger by listening to other people singing, then it becomes a habit.
• you might be imitating someone else because that’s what you think a ‘proper’ singer (or a rock singer or an opera singer ...) should sound like (see also Why can’t I sing?)
• using an accent can be a way of escaping your under-confident self – putting on a different voice allows you to hide and become a different character (see also Learning to love the sound of your own voice)
• it’s a way of fitting in – when it became popular for English bands to sing in an Essex accent, many posh singers faked it in order to blend in
• some accents are easier to sing in – e.g. Italian vowels
• you may think the song calls for a different accent – for example, it would sound pretty odd singing the blues sounding like you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth!
• you might have been trained that way – certain singing ‘methods’ or styles seem to dictate that the singers end up sounding the same, either accentless of highly enunciated

how do you sing?

Are you aware that you put on a different accent when singing? Do you have a special ‘singing’ voice? Can you think of other reasons why people might do this? Do drop by and leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

Learning to love the sound of your own voice

This is an updated version of a post which first appeared as Why people think they can’t sing in August 2008

Last week I wrote about some of the reasons why you might think you can’t sing.

Suessian megaphone by theparadigmshifter

One of those reasons is that you might not like the sound of your own voice, especially when it’s recorded and played back to you.

I don’t like my voice!

Some time ago I was lounging around the house watching daytime TV and came across an interesting little item.

The programme encouraged a diverse bunch of people to sing one line each of “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside” then stitched it all together into a complete song.

But one woman refused to sing.

First of all she said she couldn’t sing; then she said she had a horrible voice; then she said her voice was really gravelly and not nice to listen to. Finally she did sing a part of the line (beautifully I might add), but cut it short by saying: “That’s all you’re going to get”.

There was clearly a huge mismatch between what she thought she sounded like and what she actually sounded like.

We all get embarrassed by our own voices sometimes. We’ve all had that experience of hearing our recorded voice for the first time and realising that it sounds nothing like the voice we have in our head.

That’s understandable since we are hearing our voice from a very different perspective, projected across space rather than through bone and gristle. But I think it’s more than that. Somehow we have an internal perception of how our voice sounds to others and are shocked when it doesn’t match reality.

inside or outside – which is real?

It’s rather similar to when we catch sight of ourselves in a mirror and we don’t look as beautiful as we think we do! At the extreme, this is called body dysmorphia and is thought to be the basis of illnesses like bulimia and anorexia.

Of course most people don’t have such a drastic mismatch, but I wonder if there is something similar at work here with our voices?

Our brains maintain an internal map of our body, but sometimes there is a disparity between what we see externally and what our internal map is telling us. As well as the illnesses mentioned above, this is also the cause of the phantom limb sensation sometimes experienced by amputees. Although they can see that the limb is no longer there, their internal body map still gives them the internal sensation that it is. Hence the mismatch.

What if something similar goes on with sound? Maybe there’s an sound version of our internal body map which gives us the sensation of our own voice, but when we hear a recording of our voice, there is a mismatch.

I’m sure it is much more complicated than that since our voices are an integral part of ourselves and are also connected to our emotions and memories, not just our hearing.

So the woman who was reluctant to sing may have an internal sensation of her voice being unattractive or gravelly. Perhaps she has never heard a recording of her voice, or if she has she might have not believed what she heard.

learning to love our own voice

After we’ve heard recordings of our voices many times, the mismatch between what we hear in our head and what the recording device is telling us starts to become less. Eventually we might even get to like what we hear! Perhaps if this woman experienced hearing her own voice more often, she could grow to love it.

This is just one possibility, of course, and I’ve mentioned some others in my previous post Why can’t I sing? Maybe someone many years ago told her that they didn’t like her voice because it was too gravelly and that opinion stuck. Or maybe her own sense of a ‘singing’ voice is one that is high pitched and not low like hers.

But maybe, just maybe, if her voice was played back to her more often, then she would get used to it and be able to share her beautiful voice with the rest of the world.

So sing out, share your voice, listen to recordings and learn to love what you have to offer.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com