Can you believe it’s Labor Day weekend already?! Even here in Southern California, I already see subtle shifts in the seasons— the days are growing shorter, the quality of the sunlight is changing, and the hot summer is finally cooling off a bit. I even hear football fans cheering in the high school stadium near…
Need headache relief? Did you know that taking Aspirin or other NSAIDS (Ibuprofen, Motrin, or Naproxen) can be dangerous for singers? If you take any of these medications while you are singing, or even talking a lot, you run the risk of causing bleeding in the vocal cords! Yes, as wonderful as these medications can…
What picture comes to mind when you think of a vocal recital, piano recital, or even a dance recital? I’ll bet you see a charming little girl in an oh-so-adorable dress (with a bow in her hair, of course), singing a very sweet rendition of Mary Had A Little Lamb, or something similar. Or, you…
So— you’ve been hired to sing at a wedding, and the bride’s grandmother wants to hear her favorite love song from her native country. Or, you’ve joined a new choir, and you find out that they do all sort of songs in many languages besides English. Perhaps you just decided to be a voice major…
Would I recommend joining a choir to anyone, at any time, at any age? You bet! Singing in a group, whether it’s as small as a dynamic barbershop quartet or as large as the mighty Mormon Tabernacle Choir is one of the great joys in life, a unique and rewarding experience like none other! You…
Do you ever make plans to do something a certain way, and then turn around and do something completely different? I’m finding out that this is happening with this blog— although I have many ideas scheduled out on a master calendar for the next weeks and months, I often abandon my planned post for the…
Hello! If you’re just joining me with this current post, you may want to go back and read Part One of this series: https://singingvoicesuccess.com/2018/07/08/sing-your-cake-and-eat-it-too-part-one/. But if you’ve already read Part One, you have hopefully been “tasting” the first layer of our vocal technique cake: singing your song only on “Ah”, with two fingertips stacked one…
Ever wonder why your voice feels and sounds terrific when you’re singing your vocal exercises, but then the minute you jump into singing your song, you feel tight and the voice sounds strained? One of the biggest mistakes I see singers make is that before singing a song, they warm up a little bit (or…
Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows that I LOVE classic old movies— and one of the most entertaining and patriotic of them all is Yankee Doodle Dandy, a perfect viewing choice for The Fourth of July, our nation’s Independence Day! This 1942 film follows the life and times of legendary Broadway…
Can you believe that it’s almost July 4th?! Independence Day is just around the corner, and that makes it the perfect time to talk about our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”. Oh, Say, Can YOU sing the Star-Spangled Banner? Ask almost any singer about performing this song, and a look of fear, or…