Had a lovely day on Monday with one of my crazy students. I don't think she will mind me calling her crazy. Merenia Gillies is a very talented Sydney based singer/songwriter who runs music classes for refugees and women affected by domestic violence out at Penrith.
I went along to conduct a voice workshop with a group of women on Monday.
Merenia had been working with this group to create an original composition, not an easy undertaking! But with her down to earth approach, Merenia had managed to unite this group of unlikely friends. She told me she had encouraged the women to all contribute lyrics and melody ideas and the result of a number of weeks work was surprising.
I really had no idea what to expect when I arrived at the community centre out in Penrith after driving for what seemed like ages down that monotonous highway. On meeting everyone however I quickly saw what my job was going to be. It was to get the women to really 'SING'.They had written this potentially amazing song with uplifting lyrics and now all they had to do was sing it without inhibition, with the energy and strength that the song spoke of.
Some of these women had had unthinkable life stories of hardship and abuse, yet were standing there ready to listen to a skinny white gal like me.
To my surprise it really didn't take long at all to get these women dancing and singing with true conviction.Frowns and crossed arms were replaced with open smiling faces. We had one principal soloist who led the group in a call and answer type chorus. She was a powerhouse of voice and emotion and the group began to respond with equal intensity which gave me goose bumps!
It made me think about how we can be such 'winge-ie pants' about things that really don't matter. It made me think about how the smallest things can sometimes get us down and how we easily allow these feelings to re-enforce negative self belief and a cynical view of the world.
Yet here I met this group of women who having suffered a great deal more than I can comprehend were not sitting around wallowing in self pity. They were standing up, fearlessly claiming their ground and singing out about their love for life.
I left Penrith, of all places, feeling almost hyperactive with optimism!
It was one of the most rewarding things I have done in ages!
L
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Love and the voice
So I was thinking...empathising with a student, contemplating what a huge effect your love life can have on your voice!
Has this really ever been discussed seriously? I mean it is pretty obvious that without love or loss there wouldn't be much playing on the radio? Not many people write songs about rising interest rates or asylum seekers (well some people do but they aren't usually playing on mainstream radio)! And it is not news that love has been the motivation for millions of compositions. But what what about the actual effect that love has on the voice?
Suddenly we have no high notes, suddenly our voices are hoarse and down in our boots. Or suddenly we can float through an aria effortlessly, our high C is mind blowing!
Could it be true that a bad love life or a tormented emotional state is bad for a singer and that a good relationship is highly recommended for vocal health?
But I do see it a lot. A student comes in, voice is in a mess, student has left boyfriend or vice versa. Student has shed so many tears that her/his sinuses are all clogged up and when she/he speaks I could have sworn they were doing a drag queen impersonation.
Now this is serious stuff!
I do recall myself meeting a fetching young fellow in Spain and flying to Kazakstan to pursue a love story that I believed had to be lived out...only to end up with my fragile heart in pieces.
And my voice? My high notes? My headspace? Out the window!
An unsettled emotional state unhitches the vocal wagon from the horse and the voice ends up cascading down the proverbial hill and landing in the creek! This is surely not a good thing before a concert or a competition.
Ok on a positive note, sometimes unhitching the wagon ( I'm still on about the wagon) can produce a raw type of abandon which can be amazing and relates back to the discussion we had in an earlier blog.
So what can we learn from this rather long winded contemplation on love and the voice?
DO NOT drop someone, get dropped or have an affair on the eve of a concert, performance or singing competition.
DO continue and pursue love that is nurturing, exciting and uplifting!
But as we singers all know very well...if that dark, mysterious, attractive someone turns up, concert or no concert, we will be in hot pursuit.
Because the moral of the story is that we are all passionate, impetuous beings despite our best intentions and strongest resolutions. Yes singers, we were born this way!
Has this really ever been discussed seriously? I mean it is pretty obvious that without love or loss there wouldn't be much playing on the radio? Not many people write songs about rising interest rates or asylum seekers (well some people do but they aren't usually playing on mainstream radio)! And it is not news that love has been the motivation for millions of compositions. But what what about the actual effect that love has on the voice?
Suddenly we have no high notes, suddenly our voices are hoarse and down in our boots. Or suddenly we can float through an aria effortlessly, our high C is mind blowing!
Could it be true that a bad love life or a tormented emotional state is bad for a singer and that a good relationship is highly recommended for vocal health?
But I do see it a lot. A student comes in, voice is in a mess, student has left boyfriend or vice versa. Student has shed so many tears that her/his sinuses are all clogged up and when she/he speaks I could have sworn they were doing a drag queen impersonation.
Now this is serious stuff!
I do recall myself meeting a fetching young fellow in Spain and flying to Kazakstan to pursue a love story that I believed had to be lived out...only to end up with my fragile heart in pieces.
And my voice? My high notes? My headspace? Out the window!
An unsettled emotional state unhitches the vocal wagon from the horse and the voice ends up cascading down the proverbial hill and landing in the creek! This is surely not a good thing before a concert or a competition.
Ok on a positive note, sometimes unhitching the wagon ( I'm still on about the wagon) can produce a raw type of abandon which can be amazing and relates back to the discussion we had in an earlier blog.
So what can we learn from this rather long winded contemplation on love and the voice?
DO NOT drop someone, get dropped or have an affair on the eve of a concert, performance or singing competition.
DO continue and pursue love that is nurturing, exciting and uplifting!
But as we singers all know very well...if that dark, mysterious, attractive someone turns up, concert or no concert, we will be in hot pursuit.
Because the moral of the story is that we are all passionate, impetuous beings despite our best intentions and strongest resolutions. Yes singers, we were born this way!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Eartha
I am not quite sure how I missed the news....but did everybody know, except for me, that Eartha Kitt had passed away? Apparently it happened last Dec 2008.
I heard a rendition of Santa Baby last week and thought that it really couldn't be sung by anyone else except for Eartha!
Even caught a glimpse of her myself many years ago in Monte Carlo in my show girl days!
But here's one of my special photos....my pop, Ron Roberts playing bass for that fabulous lady. What a lucky man!
And a very belated Bon Voyage!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Spontaneity
During one of my lessons the other day a student made me remember something about this artsy profession that perhaps we forget.
She was surprised I had not heard of the musical 'Spamelot' and proceeded to do a demonstration of one of the pieces from the show. She spontaneously began interpreting 4 characters all at once. She was singing and moving about the stage totally channeling the characters as they came into play. She was totally in the moment, not a seconds hesitation as she transitioned from one character voice to the next, only interrupted by a little giggle here and there. She was amazing!
I am sure she had absolutely no idea how great the performance was. She didn't care, she was having fun.
I began to question 'Could she perform like this in an audition, with exactly the same intention, intensity, abandon? 'Could she do this again in a performance with the pressure of an audience sitting there analysing her every move? '' Then I asked myself 'Could I perform with that kind of spontaneous, exuberance even if I wanted to?' Blimey!
She is 21, yes she is young and kinda has that irrepressible youthful energy thing that begins to make many of us question 'where did mine go'?
If she had been able to perform the piece exactly as she had done for me, alone in the auditorium at The Independent, if there had been an audience there to see it....they would have been enthralled. They would have said she was a star in the making! Perhaps she will be.....
But I wonder.....how do we keep that naive excitement for life which makes us able to throw ourselves completely and utterly into our craft, allows us to be there, totally present, without fear or self consciousness, delivering all that we are in that moment. Uncovering ourselves, letting go of the constant 'trying' and just sing with all the skills we have or haven't acquired up to that point?
I remember one of my voice teachers in Italy saying to me ' Just because it is spontaneous and expressive doesn't mean it is art'!
I have thought about this statement for a number of years and can certainly see her point on one hand but on the other hand it throws into question the issue of where 'our art' actually comes from in the first place, does it not?
To be continued....
She was surprised I had not heard of the musical 'Spamelot' and proceeded to do a demonstration of one of the pieces from the show. She spontaneously began interpreting 4 characters all at once. She was singing and moving about the stage totally channeling the characters as they came into play. She was totally in the moment, not a seconds hesitation as she transitioned from one character voice to the next, only interrupted by a little giggle here and there. She was amazing!
I am sure she had absolutely no idea how great the performance was. She didn't care, she was having fun.
I began to question 'Could she perform like this in an audition, with exactly the same intention, intensity, abandon? 'Could she do this again in a performance with the pressure of an audience sitting there analysing her every move? '' Then I asked myself 'Could I perform with that kind of spontaneous, exuberance even if I wanted to?' Blimey!
She is 21, yes she is young and kinda has that irrepressible youthful energy thing that begins to make many of us question 'where did mine go'?
If she had been able to perform the piece exactly as she had done for me, alone in the auditorium at The Independent, if there had been an audience there to see it....they would have been enthralled. They would have said she was a star in the making! Perhaps she will be.....
But I wonder.....how do we keep that naive excitement for life which makes us able to throw ourselves completely and utterly into our craft, allows us to be there, totally present, without fear or self consciousness, delivering all that we are in that moment. Uncovering ourselves, letting go of the constant 'trying' and just sing with all the skills we have or haven't acquired up to that point?
I remember one of my voice teachers in Italy saying to me ' Just because it is spontaneous and expressive doesn't mean it is art'!
I have thought about this statement for a number of years and can certainly see her point on one hand but on the other hand it throws into question the issue of where 'our art' actually comes from in the first place, does it not?
To be continued....
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Art of Singing
Hi singers
Check out this website. It makes for interesting reading!
Here is a table of contents for what you will find;
THE ART OF SINGING By Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini—Introductory Sketch
Breath Control—The Foundation of Singing
The Mastery of the Tongue
Tone Emission and Attack
Facial Expression and Mirror Practice
Appreciative Attitude and Critical Attitude
THE ART OF SINGING By Enrico Caruso
The Career of Enrico Caruso
From a Personal Viewpoint
The Voice and Tone Production
Faults to be Corrected
Good Diction a Requisite
Pet Superstitions of Great Singers
Check out this website. It makes for interesting reading!
Here is a table of contents for what you will find;
THE ART OF SINGING By Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini—Introductory Sketch
Breath Control—The Foundation of Singing
The Mastery of the Tongue
Tone Emission and Attack
Facial Expression and Mirror Practice
Appreciative Attitude and Critical Attitude
THE ART OF SINGING By Enrico Caruso
The Career of Enrico Caruso
From a Personal Viewpoint
The Voice and Tone Production
Faults to be Corrected
Good Diction a Requisite
Pet Superstitions of Great Singers
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Nan & Louis Armstrong
This is a great shot of nan with Louis Armstrong.
She met him a number of times and always spoke of the warmth of his huge smile.
My nan passed away only recently and was a huge musical influence on my life.
She and pop used to perform amazing renditions of 'Happy Birthday'! Nan singing away with beautiful velvety tones and pop bashing out a trad jazz version which was never ending!
Amazing memories.
L
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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