In space, no one can hear you scream....the same goes for a closed mouth.

So, Fridays and Saturdays are my busiest teaching days of the week. I teach 10 private lessons on a Friday and 8 group classes on a Saturday and this past Friday and Saturday I found myself getting a little perturbed by the amount of students reluctant to open their mouths when they sing.

I personally find this odd but I do understand. There is something very personal about singing and expecting a beginner to just "go for it" right from the off is unlikely. It's far easier to learn to play the violin and to play with abandon in front of people than it is to produce a sound from inside yourself that you are happy for other people to hear.

I like to think I am the encouraging type of teacher. I never say anything is bad, unless it is an intermediate or advanced student I have worked with for a while and I know they want constructive criticism and that they can take it. With beginners and scaredy cats I find the softly, softly approach works far better than shooting them down the first opportunity I get. I find that even the most confident people in life can be riddled with fear if asked to sing on their own. This fear can also apply to group singing. The fear that you will come in at the wrong time or keep singing when everyone else has stopped singing can be, for some, a risk not worth taking causing the student to sing in nothing more than a whisper. Case in point:

One group I teach is made up of 10 highly exuberant teenagers. All have something to say, many of them are hilarious and they are all very chatty (sometimes to the point that I want to tear my hair out). However, the minute I ask them to sing the volume goes down to the level you would hear in a library. This annoys me for many reasons, the main one being, I know for a fact, that they can all sing in tune and all have pleasant voices (some have great voices) but ask them to sing together and the fear takes over. I have made headway with some of them and they have started singing out a little more and I am hoping this will encourage the rest of the class.  The main culprit for lack of noise, though, is the fact that they will not open their mouths.

I have to stop myself telling these and other children to stop being silly and just sing for goodness sake as I know it will have the opposite effect. It has to be coaxed out of them, but my advice to all beginner singers is just open your mouth and let the sound out. I promise you won't regret it.

Come sing with me!

Hello again all.

Good news, The Singing Stars is expanding!

Do you or your child have ambitions to take the LCM (London College of Music) Musical Theatre exams? These exams are great for confidence building and working on performance skills. Plus when you get to Grade 6 they get you UCAS points which helps when applying for universities etc...

I also prepare students to take ABRSM and Trinity exams too. So if you really want a challenge ask me about these too.

At the moment I have some availability after school during the week and a couple of slots on Saturdays or Sundays so use the contact form below to ask me any questions

Of course you don't have to take any exams if you don't want to. Perhaps you are thinking of joining a choir or the local amateur dramatics society and want to feel more confident about your singing before the first rehearsal. Perhaps you want to sing out more at church but don't have confidence in your voice. There are so many reasons to come for a singing lesson. I am pretty sure you will leave my lesson feeling great thanks to all the endorphins that will be released.


So what are you waiting for? Send me a message via the contact form below.

28 exams and 23 distinctions later....

You will find that this blog post is just an excuse for me to blow my own trumpet. A couple of  weekends ago was one of the most thrilling and stressful of my teaching career to date. I arranged for 29 students at one of the theatre schools I teach at to take LCM (London College of Music) Musical Theatre exams. I had 5 doing Grade 1, 16 doing Grade 2, 5 doing Grade 3, 1 doing Grade 5 and 2 doing Grade 6 (although one of my grade 6 students came down with a bug so couldn't do the exam in the end). Thankfully all my work and, more to the point, the work the children put in really paid off.

In the run up to the exams I was not convinced our results would be as good as they were. The children had to practice in their classes in front of their peers. That can be more terrifying than an actual exam in reality. For many people singing in front of strangers is much easier than singing in front of their friends. Therefore some of the students had not showed me what they were really capable of in the class but when they got in front of the examiner something made them go for it. I think you get to the point where you realise there is no turning back and you just have do you best and hope you remember everything you worked on.

Well these kids did just that. Everyone passed and as the title suggests 23 of the results were distinctions. These exams are not only good experience in performing but also in self discipline. The children would not have achieved the results they achieved unless they had put some work in at home on their own. I can help them learn the songs but I can't make them remember everything. That's where practice comes in. Plus all the nagging I did over the 6 weeks run up to the exams was obviously worth it. Onwards and upwards!

Ah, the curse of Christmas....and every other school holiday actually.

So, 'tis the season and all that. Everyone is happy, everyone is excited, everyone can't wait for a bit of time off work or school (I realise this is a huge sweeping statement and there may be many among you who hate the festive season but please, just go with me for a minute). Unfortunately for the self employed teachers out there it also means cancellations and a drop in income.

I set up as a singing teacher about 5 years ago and, at first, I had another job to supplement the little income I had coming in from teaching but now, three years on, all I do is teach singing. When I initially decided to go it alone I was extremely dependant on my private singing students turning up, and paying, for their lessons. One week I would do quite well and have 8 or 9 students turn up, the next it could be as little as two as everyone else dropped like flies, sometimes with an interesting array of excuses. The turning point for me was a a year and a half ago when I started working for my first regular theatre school. So now it isn't all private lessons - staying at home, drinking tea while people sing at me - I also teach at two theatre schools. This meant that I have became less reliant on the private students turning up as I know I can pay my rent at the end of the month regardless.

However, that is not the point. The majority of my students are respectful. They only cancel when they have to and try to give me as much notice as possible and I never object to them cancelling. I am not stupid, a singing lesson is only a singing lesson. Sometimes it is not a priority. Life gets in the way and you have to concentrate on other things. I get that. Although, having said that, sometimes the best thing you can do when life gets you down or you are a bit stressed is go and have a good sing. Unfortunately I will always have a few students who don't understand what I do and that I actually make my living doing it. They will think nothing of booking in for regular lessons at the same time every week and then cancelling 3, 4 even 5 in a row the evening before (or on the day) not realising that that means I don't get paid or that, had I had a bit more notice, I could have given that time slot to another student.

Many colleagues of mine tell me I should get people to pay in advance for lessons either singularly or in a block. I have been reluctant to do this up until now because I like people to feel they have some flexibility. I am thinking about it but have reached no decisions as yet. I don't want people who are genuinely ill coming to my house for a lesson because they have paid for it and think they will lose that money if they don't. Of course there would always be an element of discretion on my part but, for the most part, my present system works.

So as we enter the Christmas season, all I ask is that students think before they book and think before they cancel. That way I will be a very happy teacher, you will be a happy student and I will have no reason to vent again.