5 terrific tips for 2017

From the movie “Sing”

Hi there! Only a couple more days to 2017.

Eeeek! I cannot believe how fast this last month has flown and we are almost at the beginning of a new year.

I hope you have all had an absolutely fabulous 2016 and are excited about 2017. I have been doing a lot of thinking recently and am trying to get planned for next year. I am notorious for just floating along and when I have a great idea I just do it. However this can be a very dangerous way to live as there is always a great rush to get it done, I’m not planned and I often don’t do things as well as I would like. Being prepared and organized helps things to flow better and a lot more can be achieved.

So my first terrific tip is:

1. Plan ahead.

Start thinking ahead now. What would you like to achieve vocally in 2017? Analyze what it is (make sure you are specific) that you would like to improve/achieve next year. Write it down, plan it out. Do you need to work on your breathing? Would you like to extend your vocal range? By how much? When? What will you need to do to fulfill your dream?

2. Organize a practice time you can stick to every day.

Part of the reason we don’t have the success we would like is that we fail to practice. There is no getting around this, if you want to succeed you have to put in the work. Work out a time that you able to set aside each day to work on your skills. Then stick to it.

For some more tips and ideas on better singing practice, click on the link below.

click here for tips on singing practice

3. Have singing lessons.

This is important thing to do. There are many articles and videos on line about how to sing better, but none of these offer something very important. That is feedback. It is vital to have a mentor that can work with you to analyze and then work with you to improve your singing voice. I know when working with students that I am constantly asking questions and guiding them to hear what a good voice should sound like, tweaking and adjusting constantly. If you don’t have any feedback, how do you know if what you are doing is correct? To have lessons one on one with Mary at Singing Strong click here to register.

4. Listen to lots of music

Make sure you are always listening to good music. Think about the artists you like and listen to them. LOTS! There are plenty of ways to listen to music. You tube, Pandora and spotify are just a couple of examples of places you can listen to your favourite music. Take some time to analyze what your artists are doing that makes them a good singer.

This is my favourite song at the moment and a song I definitely want to learn.

Think about what styles of music you like and then:

5. Choose repertoire

Decide the songs you would like to learn in 2017. Think carefully about the style of music and level of difficulty. Aim to find at least 5 songs you could work on. Plan out the year as to which month each song will be learned by. Remember it takes time for the body to get used to how you sing a song. I always say allow 6 months for a song to feel right.

Do these 5 things and you are well on your way to singing success in 2017.

Want to get 2017 off to a great start?

Singing Strong is offering a Summer Singing Intensive from Monday 9th January to Friday 13th January 2017.

Five days one on one with Mary for an hour each day. You can do this with Mary in her Traralgon Studio or on line.

There are only a few places left.

Mary Mirtschin

Work on vocal technique, performance skills as well as learn a song in 5 days!

To book click here.

Newsletter Term 4 2016

Can you believe we have reached the last term for 2016?? surprised

Singing Strong studio had a huge Term 3.

Students continued working hard during lessons, working on technique and learning new repertoire. This was quite a challenge for some as there were so many activities on this term.

A large number of students were involved in various Eisteddfods achieving great success.

I held a workshop about preparing for Eisteddfods and performing. This was very well attended and the masterclass that was held was very worthwhile.

We ended the term with a dinner dance held at the Premier Function Centre. This was a terrific end to the term. It was fantastic to see student up on stage performing with a live band. The night was so much fun!

You can read all the details about these events and more by clicking here.

I have been adding some interesting articles on my BLOG. The latest is about organizing a practice space at home and getting into a practice routine. Good revision before starting a new term. You can read it here.

Term 4 will be fast and furious.

1) CD production

I had said last term we would be making a cd. This will be done in term 4.

Last year we made a Christmas cd but this year we will be making a cd of various songs. Students need to choose the song they love to sing and then we will make a recording of it. It can be any song, but would you please let me know what you would like to sing asap so that I can create a list.

2) AMEB Exams

There are a number of students completing AMEB exams at various levels this term and we wish them well with their studies.

3) End of Term Workshop

I will be holding a workshop day on Saturday 10th December. This will be broken up into 3 sessions, each for one hour.

10am: 1st session will be for all primary school students.

11.15am: 2nd session is for any secondary school students.

12.30pm: 3rd session will be for all adults.

This will be an opportunity for any students who have missed a lesson during the term to make up this time. For any students who have attended all lessons, this is a bonus session for you.

4) Performance Opportunity

Our major event for the year was held last term, however I would like to do something for the end of the year. I will be organizing some small concerts that will be held at various nursing homes in the community. I will send out dates and times soon. This will not be a huge commitment. You can choose which one you would like to be part of. It is not a compulsory activity, but I would like to see as many students participate as possible.

Please note that the last lesson for the year will be the week ending 9th December.

Why have a singing teacher?

I have been visiting various singing websites lately and have found many of them to have great ideas and ways to help singers.

One thing I have noticed on a couple of the websites is their claim that you don’t need to have face to face lessons to sing well, just watch my videos and you can become the greatest singer. For me this is a one way street.

My comment to this is if you don’t know what you are doing wrong, you can never know what you are doing right.

Feedback is integral to good progress. Feedback is the rocket fuel that propels the acquisition of knowledge and without it, no amount of practice or watching videos is going to get you there.

A singing teacher is not merely there to offer encouragement and assessing levels of concentration, they are also on the lookout for small technical glitches that may have escaped the attention of their student.

You can get the basics from reading material or watching videos, but I would highly recommend you seek out a singing teacher or at least a mentor who can give you appropriate feedback and guide you on your musical journey.

teaching singing

Can anyone sing?

boy singing with mic cartoon The answer is yes. If you are able to talk then it is possible to sing.

Singing is a skill that can be taught just like any other instrument or any skill actually.

I have worked with many students who wanted to sing but didn’t have the skills. Over time with study and practice these students became very good singers. These students wanted to be good singers and they put in the time and effort required to get good at it.

I am an ok dancer. I can move in time to the beat and when I take time to go over a dance routine I can learn it reasonably well. But I will never be a great dancer. That is because I like dancing, but not enough to want to do it all the time and take the classes to become really good at it. My daughter loves dancing, goes to classes, practices a lot at home and is becoming really good.

But I love to sing. I have had lots of lessons and performed quite a lot and I have developed skills I need to be a good singer.

I will never be great at violin because I don’t have an interest in playing it. I would like to learn cello though.

I love to teach but I would be pretty useless as a nurse as it is something I don’t want to do.

They say it takes around 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. I think that this is pretty close. If you were to ask anyone who is an expert at something, they would probably tell you these sorts of hours. They would be working on their craft every day over a long period of time.

Learning how to sing well is like any instrument. You can’t expect to become a concert pianist with a weeks worth of practice.

When you look at the lives of some of the famous singers who are really good at their craft – you would discover that most have been singing since they were young children. They sing all day every day, listening to music and singing along, they probably go to voice lessons and are involved in any performance opportunity they can.

If you would like to be able to sing reasonably well, in tune, yes you can learn. You probably don’t need to spend 10,000 hours. Maybe 100 hours would be a great start.

How good you get depends on how much you want it. How much is your desire? Are you willing to do what it takes to get really good?

Here is a video of Jessie J at 15. You can tell she has been working on her craft for many years already.

Another video of a young Jessie J

A more recent live acoustic performance.

Dream!

How to get back into a practice routine

It’s the beginning of 2016 and you haven’t practiced any singing since before Christmas. Does that sound like you? I am a little bit guilty of this too. The Christmas season was so busy for me I hardly had any time for anything else. It was a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends and I did sing heaps of Christmas carols, but most things like practice got put aside. Now with the new year we find ourselves back into more of a routine, but finding the motivation to get back into practice can be a bit challenging.

You might want to start by sitting down and writing out a couple of goals for your singing this next couple of months. My goal at the moment is to come up with a list of ten songs I would like to start learning as I need to build up my repertoire for performance and auditions.

However, it is important that I don’t start singing all these 10 songs straight away. Over this week all I am trying to do is get my voice back in shape. I need to do my vocal “push ups”. Just like the rest of our body, if we don’t exercise consistently, things get out of shape. My vocal chords and the surrounding muscles need to get a good work out.

I need to do this slowly, a bit to start with and then lengthen my sessions later on in the week.

So to start I will just do some light warm ups. Sirens, bubbling lips, humming etc.. through my vocal range. Then some exercises to extend my vocal range and work on my resonance and then get into learning songs.

Starting with 15 – 20 minutes and then gradually increase this time over the week.

Just like the rest of your body, if you go out and exercise full on straight away, you will most likely be very sore the next day or may even do some damage. Your voice is the same. Go slowly and gradually build up your strength and stamina.

Here are a couple of exercises to get you started:

Breathing:

5 note scale on ah:

practice makes perfect

Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year to everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful time of celebration at Christmas and New Year. For me it was a wonderful time with family and a chance to wind down a little after a very busy year. As we begin 2016 there are thoughts about new year resolutions and goals set for the coming year. I am sure that many of us have finished up with voice classes for the year and have not sung a note since the last Christmas carol at Christmas Eve. That’s almost two weeks ago!

Just like an athlete, as soon as we stop using our voice we start to lose condition. Singing is an every day activity if we want to be at our best. If you haven’t sung since Christmas, I suggest you get back into practice asap. Otherwise all the technique, strength and condition will begin to be lost.

I am offering a one week Summer Singing Intensive next week, Monday 11th Jan through to Friday 15th Jan. This is an opportunity to focus on getting your voice back into shape. With daily hour sessions, your voice will get the workout it needs to get back into shape.

Sessions are available one on one either in person or on line.
Please note that sessions are booked at the same time each day for the five days.

Normally this sort of tuition would cost $350 but I am offering this once off opportunity for $250. That’s $100 discount.

If you would like to take advantage of this special offer CLICK HERE to book your time.

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It’s Eisteddfod time

Eisteddfods are a great opportunity to use as motivation to learn repertoire, improve your skills and practice performing.

Eisteddfods date back to the 12th century in Wales.

Eisteddfods are competitions that involve testing individuals for singing, dancing, acting and musicianship. The Royal South Street Eisteddfod in Ballarat has been running since 1891. The Sydney Eisteddfod commenced in 1933 and offers some 400 events across all Performing Arts, catering to 30,000 performers annually. Modern equivalents in Australia are competitions reserved for schoolchildren, though many have open sections where anyone (including professionals) may participate and compete. Typically, a prize may be a scholarship to pursue a further career. Many young Australian actors and dancers participate regularly in the various competitions scheduled throughout the year.

The main Eisteddfods in our local community are:

The Sale Eisteddfod (entries have already closed)

The West Gippsland Eisteddfod (entries close 7th June)

The Latrobe Valley Eisteddfod (entries close 30th June

The Yarram Eisteddfod (entries close 1st June)

Please note there are costs involved such as entry fees, purchasing sheet music, paying for rehearsals with pianists. There are also rewards such as a sense of achievement, prizes that include cash, and feedback from the adjudicator (the person judging the performances)

If you would like to know more about entering an Eisteddfod or would like singing lessons to help you better when performing in things like Eisteddfods click here and send me a message. Would be happy to help.

For a list of Eisteddfods and festivals in Victoria click here.

I have a limited number of places available for in person or on line lessons. To enquire about singing lessons click here.

Musical Problem Solving in 10 easy steps

When practicing it is important to have specific things to focus on during practice sessions.

Quite often we go through a song, find challenging sections within the song, struggle through these, get to the end of the song and then go through it again. This doesn’t achieve much as you continue to struggle through these difficult sections.

What you need to do however is to “chunk” the song into parts, and then focus on the parts that are giving you difficulty. Once they are resolved, then go through the whole song.

Below are 10 steps you can follow to help you with your practice:

1. Listen

Listen to the performance of a piece or section of a piece.

2. Diagnose

Where are the problems?

3. Choose

What should I fix first?

4. Isolate

Find the problem “bite” to fix in five minutes

5. Simplify

What can you do to get more comfortable with the problem?

6. Repeat

How many times do I need to repeat this drill to get it right?

7. Connect

Place the corrected “bite” back into the section of music.

8. Generalize

Are there any similar problems in the piece to fix?

9. Retain

What do I need to remember to do in practice to fix this problem?

10. Set Goal

What will you accomplish with this song in the next week?

Congratulations! You are now a successful Problem Solver!