A short video note dedicated to a few good singing souls out there: you know who you are!

(Confession: I found this blog post lurking in my unpublished folder. Too good to pass up! It's a year old, but honestly, the advice is timeless. Pertinent to the same degree, right now.)

I have witnessed frustration and even disappointment in students when I am teaching and it's important to give it the space it needs. Every singer is different. Learning how to sing well takes time, you can't rush it. Persistence is key, and it's my job to pave the way for experimentation and experience.

I like to create a working environment where everyone feels at ease - freedom to bring true voices to the fore. Mistakes will happen, odd sounds will be heard but always there must be a feeling of creation, happy trial and error, with true learning at its core. It's a journey and it takes persistence, as do most things of true worth.

American baritone, Thomas Hampson says it all here ... No more words...

I’ve been teaching online for some time now, and I really enjoy it. It started out of necessity, because I had moved away - relocated - just as a parent had reached out asking me to mentor his son. To avoid disappointment and to see if I could help despite the 165 miles distance between us, I began crafting my teaching business to include delivering lessons and mentoring more online. 

That was back in 2012. Technology has moved on a lot since then - of course. If you can handle the thought processes, be creatively curious about how to overcome problems, or embrace new tech solutions, then it’s an exciting way to deliver to students and groups who would normally be separated by geography.

Coronavirus brought a whole new meaning to separation and isolation, with many singers, necessarily cut off from their normal routine - lessons, rehearsals,  ensembles, choirs, and performances. All halted.

Technology and the internet, with all its variety and wonder, has been...

Postlude thoughts, given by the singers.

We’ve all just had a week of back-to-normal life routine after our wonderfully indulgent long-weekend ‘Shake Down 2020′, where we did nothing but sing, discuss, cook, eat, relax, listen and work for 4 days. It was idyllic - such good times, full of music, vocal vibration and lots of laughter.

But - how did this re-entry truly feel?