I’ve been trying to write about this for some time, but it’s not easy. Firstly, it’s a fairly abstract topic. Secondly, so much of singing well is sensory as well as sonic. As such, trying to get less experienced singers to recognise descriptions of what higher registers should feel like without said singers having experienced […]
Here’s something interesting I’ve noticed over years of coaching. People put themselves in boxes. What do I mean by this? Well, in the main, people tend to classify themselves as one kind of singer (e.g. “I’m a soft singer-songwriter”, “I’m a hard rock shouty/screamy singer”, etc). And VERY often they are making this decision as an
Elton John Philadelphia Freedom In one of my practice sessions to further my piano playing, an obvious pitstop was to look at Elton John’s amazing piano work. I grew up listening to a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Elton John. It’s amazing listening to this material now how I can hear so much of
From Indian Lakes I came across this band – From Indian lakes – a few months back and I’m really impressed with them. I’d describe them as soft rock, but I’m useless when it comes to sub-genres! I really like the softer and lighter vocals scattered across the tracks, and I love the soundscape that
Those of you who are in for lessons regularly know about my love for a songwriting guru called Ralph Murphy, but I’m also a big fan of Brett Domino and his hilarious satire on hit songwriting. While this is not quite the same sort of intellectual level of that sort of songwriting advice, this video
U2? and a Gospel Choir? I was at a training event recently, and as part of this I did some testing. Some of those tests involve teaching people I’ve NEVER met or even heard sing before, and I have 20 minutes to make them sound better in that time. Pleased to say I passed! Another
Josh Groban was a drummer? So, believe it or not, I don’t get THAT much Josh Groban brought in to the teaching studio… quite surprising given how great Josh’s voice is and how popular he is. Nevertheless! Here is a great video someone posted on a forum I’m a member of. Turns out Josh studied
Write more songs, write better songs, and write songs faster As a singer, musician and songwriter, I want to write better songs. I also want to write more songs, and write songs faster. So much so that it pains me when I can’t finish a song… because I’m still not happy with the way the
