In the theme of New Years resolutions, we’re taking a look at what makes practice good practice. Many musicians resolve to practice more, but that often falls by the wayside because they don’t have good practice habits. This post will give you three key principles for practicing that will make Read more…
January is that time when we all look at our post-Christmas selves and consider the improvements we could make to our lives. Us musicians are no different. We’re all making resolutions to practice for two hours a day and watch more operas. If you’re one of us, here are five Read more…
Practicing is the most challenging part of every musician’s life. Whether we’ve been playing six months or sixty years, we all face days when we just don’t want to sit down and work, or if we do, we don’t want to do what we should be doing. We face many Read more…
One of the most important things you need to do when practicing singing is to warm up properly. Warming up is not quite the same as vocal exercises, although a good warm up routine will go from physical warm-ups to vocal exercises without feeling like the warm-up stops and the Read more…
For every musician, practice is a problem. No matter how we write about it, talk about it or think about it, the only solution to the problem is to do it. However, there are lots of useful things that can help you get over that barrier that tries to prevent Read more…
It’s amazing how often I come across comments like this, which I recently read on a forum: Singing doesn’t count, as it doesn’t … require the same kind of practice as instruments do. There’s a bit of a myth that exists that singing, especially at a beginner level, doesn’t need Read more…
This is the cry of many people I encounter, and on the surface it might very well seem true. Perhaps other people seem to be able to hear music better, or pick up how to play an instrument faster. Surely they must be more “musically talented” than others? Well, actually, Read more…
Singing is simple in one way – our voices are free and always with us, but that doesn’t make it easy to practice singing. Here’s a run down of the key things I use to help me get the most out of my singing practice time: Piano/Keyboard – Having a Read more…
It’s school holidays from this week, up in slightly sunny Scotland, and it won’t be long before the schools are off in England too. That means lots of music teachers are on holiday too. Some teachers take the whole summer off and most of us will take a couple of Read more…
NB: While reading this series, it can be helpful to keep a copy of the ABRSM Singing syllabus to hand. The syllabus can be downloaded here http://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/singing/ The process of learning songs for performance is the subject of hundreds of books, blog posts, websites and conversations among singers. Obviously, this Read more…