What should classical singers do between lessons?

Learning how to sing involves much more than the time we spend with a singing teacher. For adult classical singers, an important part of the learning process is discovering how to continue developing independently: how we practise, how we approach repertoire, what we listen for and how we make sense of our own discoveries between singing lessons. 

This is something I talk about a great deal with singers. There can be an assumption that the serious work, the real progress, happens when the teacher is there. Yet so much of our development as musicians depends upon what we learn to do for ourselves, with good guidance to help us recognise what matters and where our curiosity might take us.

What should I actually be doing between lessons?

It sounds such a straightforward question.

For many years the answer might simply have been, “Practise.”

Of course we need to practise. Singing is a practical discipline, and there is no substitute f...

If you're an adult classical singer looking for a way to stay connected with your singing over the summer, my August Intermezzo may be just the thing. It isn't an online course and there isn't a programme to work through. Instead, it's an invitation to spend August in the company of other curious singers, exploring vocal technique, musicianship and the simple pleasure of singing, wherever you happen to be.

When the summer term comes to an end, I know many singers enjoy having a little more space in their diary. But that doesn't mean our interest in singing disappears. Quite the opposite. Without the usual routine of lessons and workshops, there's often a little more time to listen, to reflect and to notice things that become lost in the busyness of term-time.

That's really what my August Intermezzo is about.

Each week during August I'll be sharing a different theme, built around one carefully chosen video from my teaching archive. Alongside it you'll find one of my weekly postcards....