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Since my last article about my struggle with a Hiatus Hernia, and my two Nissen Fundoplication surgeries to resolve it, I have had so many questions from other people suffering from the same condition. Some were about to get the surgery and were fearful. Others had done the surgery, and had confusing post-surgical symptoms, or … Continue reading Surviving after the Hiatus Hernia Surgery as a Singer

It’s taken some years for me to write this. Admittedly, a depressing and long-winded period of time where I had little-to-no voice is not something I always like to reflect on. However, that part of my life is in the past and I am a far better singer and person because of these experiences. I … Continue reading A Singer’s Struggle with Acid Reflux and Hiatus Hernia: Surgery and lessons learned

You’re probably reading this because that internal voice is often telling you that you are “not good enough”, or that you will be “judged against other singers”. Maybe you are just scared of being scared. You know that when you sing, you freeze up and you are scared of the simple act of this happening! … Continue reading Getting rid of fear as a performer: Challenging our sympathetic nervous system to behave differently.

Hello everyone! It's hard to trawl through so many articles in the main blog page, so I have made a static page where all blog posts go in the Singing Technique page. Here it is! ---->  All our vocal blog articles Feel free to go back through the articles where needed and do not hesitate to contact me … Continue reading We now have a page for listing and categorizing all blog posts!

I have spent a lot more time lately looking into how the voice is completely and utterly affected by the performer's charisma and stage presence. I have wanting to write about this lately as there seems to be a cultural shift away from the 'charismatic' singer to the apologetic one. By apologetic, I'm referring to … Continue reading Stage presence and its effects on the singer

There are a lot of expensive 'how to sing' programs out there. I've tried many of them, including some well known ones that I'm sure you've heard of such as Singing Success by Brett Manning and The Superior singing method. Even as an opera singer, it's useful as a practitioner to play around with these kinds … Continue reading Good, quick, healthy warm-ups. Some of the best yet!

There are a number of 'schools' or 'methods' out there, Bel canto, Italian-Swedish, Richard Miller, Lamperti, Estill, Complete Vocal Technique. I consider myself to be a fairly loyal student of the Bel canto/Lamperti schools of thought. I do not, however, believe certain methods are necessarily superior to others. These are simply the methods that work … Continue reading The Singer’s bible – Part 1. The books that every singer, teacher and student should read.

One of the most common questions I get is "how do you sing from the diaphragm?" If there's one thing I do feel I can speak about with considerable confidence, it's about breathing. It's possibly one of the things that I just 'get' as a singer. Don't get me wrong, I've had other issues over … Continue reading What does ‘singing from the diaphragm’ feel like?

One of the greatest moments in film of late is from the Florence Foster Jenkins film. Jenkins is having a lesson from Maestro Carlo from the Metropolitan opera and he tells her to "raise the soft palate"! She immediately sings with what sounds like a much more hilarious 'quack' in the back of her throat. … Continue reading The soft palate and open throat – how open is too open?