Recently, I went for an astrological reading because I’m in my “second Saturn return” (Please Google it if you are not an astrology buff). I was wondering what the planets had to say about where I am in life. The astrologer and I had a wonderful talk about how to tweak my work life for [...]
Recently one of my Marin County singing students was working on a song in her voice lessons that was very emotional for her. She loves the song and its message. And she sings it technically very well. However, something was missing in the delivery and the discussion that ensued opened up an interesting point about [...]
I admit it. I am a vocal technique nerd. Students who take voice lessons with me in my Marin County studio are often invited to explore some voice-related anatomical part, such as the ribs, the muscles of the torso (and the diaphragm), the larynx and the tongue. And it’s this last one that has been [...]
Many aspiring singers take voice lessons to improve their vocal technique. We learn about breathing, resonance and how the vocal folds work for the style of singing we want to do. But what exactly is vocal technique? It’s simply “a way” to do something. I like to think of it as taking off layers of [...]
It’s hard, on the last few days of the year, to avoid end-of-the-year self-assessments: How did I do musically this past year? What kind of projects did I work on? Did my singing improve? What am I avoiding that would be good for my art? Am I singing what I’d like to be singing? I [...]
It’s fun to hear kids sing – and I’ve heard quite a lot, both in my Marin County voice lessons studio and out in the schools. Most children have not taken singing lessons and they sing quite naturally. They breathe whenever they run out of breath – at a comma, between words, even in the [...]
Last week I double-checked everyone taking voice lessons with me in my Marin County studio on whether he or she understood what goes on in the body when we sing. I was generally relieved with the responses but there was one doozy. Do we really need to know anatomy to be good singers? I [...]
Recently at the beginning of a choral rehearsal I was music directing, one of the altos, when I said we were going to learn a new song, said: “Can we just sing through it! It’s so excruciating to pick everything apart so slowly. We’re not THAT bad!” I was slightly put off. When teaching music, [...]
Sometimes an adult who takes singing lessons with me in Marin says she hasn’t been practicing because she hasn’t felt like it. I must admit that there are many times when I have felt the same way. And, I believe this is normal. But I also believe that delving into why this inertia occurs, especially [...]
When I was taking singing lessons in college, I took a few lessons from a teacher who asked me to tuck my pelvis and lift my rib cage before singing. I remember thinking at the time: “I can’t breathe, let alone sing.” I tried but instinctually decided she was not for me, switched teachers and [...]
