Category Archives: blog

2023 – The year of live performances

After the last 3 years of the pandemic, performers are certainly making up for lost time and touring madly.  Just in the last month in Australia we have had Elton John, Billy Joel, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and the list goes on ……
This week in Melbourne Rod Stewart is performing and later in the month Pentatonix is here also.  We are certainly spoilt for choice.
Have you been to a  live performance recently? If not, make it a goal to go and see someone live in person. There is nothing like being in a crowd at a live performance. Go and check out what’s on in your local community. You might be surprised!

A blast from the past. 
Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go’s, the most successful all-female rock band of all time. Belinda will be performing in November in Australia and tickets are still available.  Have fun singing along to this classic song.

CLICK TO ENJOY!

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A new term

I started this week on Monday singing at 3 Anzac day services around Traralgon. I feel this is a real honour and privilege to be able to participate in the ceremonies in this capacity.  A big thank you to Sophie, one of my students, who sang at Tyers.  The crowds were very large this year, which was wonderful to see. Two years ago we were standing out the front of our neighbours house with the last post being played by a family member. I felt very proud to be able to sing the National anthem. Australia is a wonderful country, and we should be grateful for what we do have, in spite of all the turmoil going on in the world. We should also be extremely grateful to those who  have defended and continue to defend our country.

I have absolutely loved being back in the singing studio this week. Students were very enthusiastic to get back to singing, and it is so good to be pretty much back to normal. I love that I get to work on such a variety of songs with my students – whether it be Itty Bitty Kitty Unicorn with my very young students, to Titanium or All of Me, to Time to say Goodbye.  I have an extremely limited number of places available for lessons, so get in quick if you would like to have singing lessons. Whether it be just for fun, or you would like a serious career in music, get in touch with me and we can discuss how I might be able to help you.

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Here are the songs I mentioned in this blog post

Pretty Itty Bitty Kitty Unicorn can be found at the Full Voice Website

Sing like Adele: Easy on me

Today we are going to have a look at a very small section of Adele’s song Easy on me.

We are just going to do the very beginning of the chorus:  Go easy on me baby.

There are a couple of things to look at in this small section of the song.

It’s a great song, and if you haven’t listened to the whole song you can click on this link to listen to it on you tube.

The song is in F major, and this phrase begins with the tonic note, which is the beginning not of the scale -F and then you sing up a fifth, or leap up, which is the fifth note of the scale which is C.

You will find fifth intervals in lots of songs. Intervals are important to practice so that when we sing them, we land accurately on them.

Practice on the sound ng, which is the sound at the end of the word sing. The sound is closed (the tongue and soft palate are together) but you can open your mouth when you sing. This aims the sound into the front of the face.

You want to glissando (slide) up and down.  As you go up, think more like you are landing on the note rather than revving up a hill.

 

Onsets

When you are attacking a phrase, especially one that begins with a vowel, there are a number of different ways you can sing it.

  1. Clean onset: the vocal chords come together cleanly with the sound to make a smooth, light and clear sound. To do this, connect the two words go-easy, like one word to keep it smooth.
  2. Aspirate/breathy onset. Air is pushed through the vocal chords to make a breathy, airy sound. Adding a h also makes it even more breathy.
  3. Glottal onset. The vocal chords come together quite hard to make a very strong and hard sound.

 

 

A great book for beginning singers

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30DaySinger.com Online Singing Lessons

Newsletter 1 2016

Welcome back to another year of singing!

It has been wonderful greeting students for the new year, hearing about their holiday adventures and seeing their joy at returning to lessons.

For the adult students there has been less about holidays ( unfortunately) but there has certainly be the same enthusiasm as they arrive for lessons.

For students who have been studying with me for a while, it has been great to hear their voices again and realize the progress they have been making vocally. It has been so exciting to hear the way their voices have matured and developed.  For new students it has been exciting starting with them and helping them uncover the voice they have inside them.

A big welcome to all the new students who have started for 2016.  I look forward to working with you on your musical journey!

News from the Studio:

PRACTICE BLITZ!

Students have new repertoire to start working on for 2016.

To get you into a practice routine I am holding a practice blitz for the next two weeks.

The blitz will run from Monday 22nd February until Sunday 6th March .  All you need to do is practice consistently and record your practice times on the singing strong website.  (remember you have to log into your account to fill in the details. If you need help with this please let me know.) You can log in at the bottom of this post.

There will be prizes and surprises for the person who clocks up the most practice hours!

Take some time now to work out times during the week when you can dedicate 15 -20 minutes to practice.  Record this on your calendar and then stick to it!

Student achievements:

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Summer Pantomime “Aladdin”.  It was  a fun show and  I thoroughly enjoyed myself when I went to see it.

aladdin

Congratulations to Alicia Hooimeyer who played the title role and to Sophia Patikisa who was a gorgeous Jasmine.

 

 

 

 

aladdin2Hollie Gibson was terrific as the dog and there were other fantastic performances from the following students as well:

Ella Brent

Zahra Hanratty

Ella Hill

Paige Horn

Maddison Logue

Britney Nelthorpe

Sebastian Poole

 

aladdinall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are numerous students involved in the many productions that will be held during 2016. I will keep you informed as they come up.

Cafe Concert

I have tentatively booked our first term Cafe Concert for Wednesday 16th March from 6.30pm.  Please put this date in your diary.  I understand that some of you will have commitments on this evening, but it would be appreciated if you are able to come and sing, even if you are only able to pop in and out.

I will put out some more information about this event during the week.

 

So let’s get singing!  Have a great week.

Dream!