maybe mezzo

I often get asked what genre I teach in singing and I usually say classical and music theatre. I now think this is a limited and loaded question! People, naturally, make decisions on my response, yet what I teach is much more useful.  I teach how to make a voice function. I teach the mechanics of vocal operation so that the singer is empowered to make a choice as to which genre they wish to pursue. There is nothing more powerful than knowing how to make a sound that is stable and secure; knowing that when you open your mouth, that sound is available to you.  The setting up of a voice is the longest and most complex element in voicing.   Understanding the subtleties of muscular and cellular interchange to create the widest palate of sounds you can find. More importantly, gaining control so that the emerging sound is smooth and clear and at your command. That involves practising across the whole of the vocal range of which you are capable and understanding that this will al...

  Flippin' singing teachers There are some phenomenal singing teachers and singers out there and long may that continue. Therefore, I am very sad when students end up at my door who have been intimidated, have lost confidence and feel they can no longer sing at all. It’s one thing to reach the requirements of an exacting music course, but it is quite another to be undermined by somebody who has lost their integrity when it comes to teaching (if they ever had it). My first degree is in education, back in the day when that was a qualification fit for purpose. I have always retained much of what is the beating heart of excellent teaching: working with what you have in front of you; listening to your student; seeking endlessly different ways to explain something; steering a course through the multiple aspects of using your subject; reading around the subject; having empathy as a core skill; seeking knowledge but also acknowledging what your own strengths are that you bring; supporti...