From the front of the choir

“Singing workshop”: a building where songs are repaired?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I was at a business meeting recently and we were asked what we did. I explained as well as I could.

Photo © Copyright Anne Burgess and licensed for reuse
under this Creative Commons Licence

A guy came up to me in the break and asked: “Yes, but what actually happens in one of your sessions? And what is a ‘workshop’ any way?

How to plan and run a singing workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Planning a singing workshop is a lot like planning a regular choir session.

Photo by Pink Singers

The main differences are that a workshop is usually a one-off and the participants will usually be strangers.

How to sing a song in a foreign language

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

“Great, a new song to learn.”

Photo by Michael Wu

“Oh, no, it’s in ‘foreign’. Help!”

We’re all equal here: singing together is the great leveller

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Singing together or being in a choir is one of the most egalitarian experiences we can have.

Photo by wynlok

It doesn’t matter how much you earn, what your job is, where you went to school or who you know. Just add your voice to the overall sound.

Sometimes old is best – finding the balance between new and familiar

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I have a low boredom threshold. There are 100s of gorgeous new songs I want to teach and it’s hard to cram them all in.

Photo by Leo Reynolds

But more often than not, singers want to sing the old, familiar songs they already know well. How to strike the right balance?

How to improve your singing voice

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This post is part of a series of occasional Questions and Answers.
Just contact Chris if you want to submit a question.

Tim wrote in to ask:

“I have been trying to sing for a very long time but I feel I always get tight in the throat when I lose confidence, when I hear myself sound bad, or even if some people are around.

“I was in a chorus for a year and I could hit every note, I just can't exactly ‘sing’, do you know what I mean? I can’t hear myself out of a group.”

Well, Tim, there are quite a few things going on here! And I’m sure there are plenty of other singers out there who can relate to what you’ve written.

Setting your goals for 2012 (guaranteed to work!)

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

It’s the time of year when many people make resolutions, set goals and devise plans for the coming year.

Photo by --Tico--

But is this a useful thing to do, and if you do it, how likely are you to achieve what you set out to do?

The 10 most popular posts of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

First of all, if you’re reading this post on Christmas Day: shame on you! Can’t you leave the computer alone for just one day in the year??!!

Photo by Paul Wittal

But since you’re here, I thought I’d highlight the most popular posts of 2011 in case you missed any of them . . .

Focusing on the one frown in a sea of smiling faces

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Everything in the concert is going brilliantly. The choir is firing on all cylinders. The audience are lapping it up, even your lame banter between songs.

Photo by Suarez Leandro

Then you spot the one person frowning in amongst a thousand smiling faces and the doubts set in.

Keeping a choir happy – you can’t please everyone

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

There have been grumblings in my choir of late. Some people are not happy.

But is it possible to keep everyone in a choir happy?

How to stop singers using word sheets in concerts

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

“In our choir we’re not allowed to use words in concerts.”

Photo by Kaptain Kobold

Great idea. In principle. But how do you achieve it?

You are not alone – most people in your choir think they can’t sing well

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

This weekend I’m running a ‘voice clinic’ for members of my choir. I’ll be spending time working on basic vocal technique and confidence building.

Photo by asmythie

When I asked people what they want to work on almost everyone said they lack confidence in their singing voice.

10 ways to breathe new life into old songs

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Sometimes old choir repertoire becomes stale.

Photo by quinn.anya

Well-loved songs start to wear out and lose their sparkle. What can you do to overcome this?

Why it’s easier to sing to 1,000 strangers than friends and family

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Put me in front of a huge crowd of strangers and I’ll perform loud and proud.

Photo by Anirudh Koul

But in a room full of friends and family I get embarrassed and stumble. Why is this?

Stop me if you’ve sung this before: learning different versions of songs you know already

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

A while back I taught a song wrongly. Not for the first time!

Original photo by Brian Robert Marshall

Even though I corrected myself quickly, the original version stuck in people’s minds and now they can’t shift it.

Taking a song from source to performance – the many roles of a choir leader

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000

My main skill is as a teacher of songs to those who don’t read music.

Photo by elfsternberg

Other choir leaders have different skills – like polishing songs for performance.

We’ve come to sing, not to learn!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000

People come to my singing workshops because they love to sing.

Photo by Rex Pe

But first they have to spend time learning songs.

Are singing workshops just a middle-class pastime?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000

I run singing workshops all over the place (why not book me and try one?!).

Photo by C. Moses

At some places the workshops are full and there is a waiting list. At others it’s a struggle to muster a dozen singers. Why is this?

Breathing for singers: it’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000

As they say: size doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Measuring lung capacity with a spirometer The University of Iowa ca. 1920

The size of your lungs isn’t important in singing, it’s how you use the breath in them.

Sing like you speak – the ‘folk’ voice, or how to sing like a Bulgarian

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000

I’ve always known that I’m more interested in traditional songs, but I’ve only just realised that it’s the vocal quality that I’m most drawn to.

Bulgarian National Women's Choir by Bruce MacRae

There’s something thrilling and primal about the sound of traditional singers’ voices. How do they achieve that and how does it differ from, say, ‘classical’ singing?

Too many cooks – benign dictators rule!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000

This post is part of a series of occasional Questions and Answers. Just use the contact form if you want to submit a question.

A budding choir director writes:

“I had prepared and arranged four songs, but the other person who leads the choir kept on asking the choir what they would like to do and of course they come up with ‘pop songs’.

“Would you ask a choir what they would like to do? The work I do with the choir is voluntary so I don’t really want to spend hours of time arranging if then we are only going to do pop songs - although I’m happy to do the odd one.”

Starting over – going back to choir after a long break

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000

After the long summer break, I used to arrive really early at the first choir session, sit by the door, and worry that nobody would come back.

Photo by kabun

I worry less now, but there are still many things to consider after your choir has had a long break.

What songs do atheists sing?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000

I’ve been asked to create a choir specially for an inter-faith event.

Photo by Catholic Church

There will be contributors from Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and more. Plenty of songs to choose from. But what about atheists? Will they be represented, and what songs do they sing?

Name that tune! – earworms, musical memory and other strange phenomena

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I only have to hear two notes of a song and I know what it is.

Photo by bishib70

Often I join in with someone singing a song only to realise that I’m singing a completely different one. What’s going on here?

Putting the hours in – are singers born or made?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Rowbury) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:00:00 +0000

I had a girlfriend who believed that we are all capable of anything if we just put enough effort in.

Photo by _foam

She believed that if you fail at something or are not very good at it, then you just don’t want it that much.