Why I Love to Sing?

            You may be just about DONE with hand strengthening exercises but I promise these will have effects that help you for years and years in ways you can’t even imagine.   For instance, my family’s favorite talent of mine is my ability to give a massage, whether for tired feet or an aching back.   See, lots of good side benefits!   Just make sure you’ve already done all the exercises from, at least, Blog Post 61 before you move on to this set.   Check these out! ·       BOTH HANDS TOGETHER – By this time, you should have been practicing single hand and both hand exercises consistently enough that this exercise will only be an extension of those, and not a real burden.   #1   - Playing both hands simultaneously, you will be playing and repeating fingers 1-2-3 in quadruplets – 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3, 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3, 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3,...

            For all you piano players or SOON-TO-BE piano players, you will probably find that one hand or the other (the left, if you are right-handed, or the right hand, if you are left-handed), is much weaker than the other.   Therefore, you need to do specialized exercises to try to strengthen that “other” hand.   Here are exercises that are specified for the left-hand BUT all you have to do is substitute the right hand if you are left-handed and so, want to strengthen your right hand instead.   Here are some ideas:             The left hand provides important support for any musical piece.   Rhythm, tempo, and control are all contributed when the left hand is added.   In a “band” situation, the BASS PLAYER would provide important anchoring bottom notes.   The left-hand or bass notes also add to “note understanding” and t...

When you sing a song, you’re telling a story, whether you sing Blues, Broadway, Metal, Country, Rock, or Pop.   When you're creating a character on the stage or on film, that character has to be portrayed as a "real", a "whole" person.  This means, if you don't understand the motivation for, the reasons why a character says or does a certain thing, it is not believable to the audience.  As my Father-in-Law always said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”   An audience can be distracted by “bells and whistles” for a little while but gimmicks and vocal gymnastics are only entertaining the first couple of times.   After that, they need to hear some kind of “personal connection”.   We have all seen ensemble performances where one or more actors were, OBVIOUSLY, "acting", pretending.  They didn't know WHAT they were doing or why they were doing it, so we, as the audience, didn't believe thei...