“Teaching is more than imparting knowledge, it is inspiring change. Learning is more than absorbing facts, it is acquiring understanding.”
William Arthur Ward
When it arrives, this kind of synergy brings an exciting dynamic to the relationship between student and mentor. If present, the two elements generously combine to create an unwritten contract of possibility.
Where the mentor provides a thought-provoking, boundary-busting structure to learning practices, so the student is encouraged to open themselves up to new ideas and patterns of work.
Dartington Hall, near Totnes in South Devon, provides the perfect vibe for such exchanges to happen and with my next residential weekend in March just visible on the horizon, those of us who have already signed up to be there are beginning to feel the buzz of excitement.
For solo singers, the Love Your Voice weekend workshop promises...
Three working w...
It is Technique Tuesday. As a professional musician with a lifetime of technical vocal learning behind me and a trusty ongoing pursuit of future perfection in front of me, I regularly invest in telling my students to be at ease with where they are on their vocal journey. At ease, but not too comfy. To forgive their vocal imperfections BUT also be inquisitive, and questioning about the WHY. Be precise with how they invest their learning time when winkling out precious moments to focus on what they hope to achieve in their learning.
In 2013, I blogged a link to Joshua Foer’s wise words above and thereby also to a fabulous Brain Pickings post, by Maria Popova. It was called: The Psychology of Getting Unstuck: How to Overcome the “OK Plateau” of Performance & Personal Growth. In a nutshell, it seemed to set out everything so clearly and I at once recognised my own vocal-learning journey in there, one which I built over the years around ‘
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