Why I Love to Sing?

Maybe you don’t have time to practice for hours, but what about 2-3 minutes at a time?   Here are some ideas for “Mini” Practice Sessions.   It really is true that we MAKE time for the things that are most important to us.   For example, we figure out a way to grab a bite to eat, even if it’s catching fast food on the run, or watching the latest episode of “Game of Thrones” or whatever.   My point is, if you WANT to sing, you CAN find time to vocalize, whether in your car, in the shower, while you’re doing the dishes, or even while you’re getting dressed in the morning.   It takes time to build an activity into a routine or habit but IT CAN BE DONE!   SO, ideas for “Mini” Practice Sessions: ·       Lip Trill anything and everything – This is the all-time, absolutely BEST vocalise you can do anytime, anywhere. ·       Yawning Voluntarily to Lower the Larynx ·    ...

All of us like to THINK we are professionals, especially if we take voice lessons or dance lessons, or have performed in public in a play or recital or the like.   However, by definition, a professional is paid to perform his or her craft, and believe me, I’ve known some incredibly talented people who never got to call themselves professionals because they were never hired.   Sadly, it works the other way around, too.   I’ve also known a lot of “professionals” who took their jobs so for granted that they got sloppy and lazy, and lost that high privilege.   Below are some great pointers if you want to become a professional and for once you do: ·       Professionals are ALWAYS prepared!   You should be comfortably, appropriately, BUT RESPECTFULLY dressed.   This may mean simply loose-fitting clothes you are able to sing, dance, and move in; it may mean clothes you could “get dirty”, if help is needed to move a ...

First of all, why do I need to “mark the breaths” in a song?   Well, considering the fact that breath is the fuel for and the main power behind every song, it is optimally important that you build in as much control of your breathing as possible.   The more breaths you take, the more fuel you have at your disposal.   “Marking your breaths” gives you extra control, extra fuel, boosts your ability to convey emotion and power, and puts overall mastery of a song much closer within your grasp. “Marking Your Breaths” is a very easy procedure.   These days, finding free, printable lyrics for songs is just a click away OR you can do the marking right on your sheet music.   You want to mark the breaths wherever you will be studying the lyrics to learn them.   By this, I mean that you need to mark your breaths on a song BEFORE you memorize the lyrics.   This way, you can learn both the lyrics and the breaths at the same time. So, to mark the breaths...

This is the FINAL installment of Cathy's Music Dictionary for Singers.  I really hope you enjoy it, and that it's very helpful for you.  Please send me more suggestions or corrections, and check out my website at www.SingitForward.net Enjoy! Saltando This is another mood and tempo term.   It means to play or sing the piece fast, short, and with rather a lot of pep. sample This is a term for contemporary music and one all contemporary musicians should know and be familiar with.   A “sample” is short recording from a live performance, of a particular instrument, of a vocal sound, of a specific animal sound, really anything that can later be re-used in other recordings or performances to re-create that original sound and enhance the final product.   For example, Steven Spielberg used samples of various animals to create the custom roars and sounds of the Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park.   Today, the average keyboard player may have th...

Enjoy Post #3!  Please send me more suggestions or corrections, and check out my website at www.SingitForward.net Thanks everyone! Marcato This means to play or sing the song like a march, with that emphasis.   It will almost certainly already be in 4/4 time but that does not automatically mean it will be a march.   This term, however, clarifies, specifies that it should, in fact, be a march. measure Also known as a " bar ", this is distance between two “bar lines” or the music in a piece that takes place between any two measure or bar lines or one complete cycle of the piece’s time signature, such as 4/4, which would mean 4 beats of Quarter Notes or a combination of notes equaling/totaling 4 beats medley  A new piece of music, made of of pieces or sections of music from other existing pieces.   There are usually, at least, three pieces, which may overlap, be of equal or different lengths, and may or may not end by returning t...