Discover Singing

I saw Tranquil by Tuesday recommended online, and I am a sucker for a self-help/productivity book. This book has nine principles to help you feel “tranquil by Tuesday”, and my favourite is “Three times a week is a habit”.

It can be hard to feel like we’re doing enough practice. I would love to do a couple of hours every day across piano, voice and maybe a few other things! Instead, I have a busy portfolio career and a family of five that takes up the majority of my time.

But a bit of practice three times a week? That’s achievable.

I’ve started teaching this to my students. Three times a week is a habit. I do still encourage everyone to warm up every day, but when it comes to technical work, musicianship and repertoire, three times a week is a habit. Thats’s more than enough to see the solid progress, but not so much that you’ll get overwhelmed and give up!

So if you’re finding it hard to schedule practice or feeling guilty for not doing it every day, try thinking “three times a week is a habit”. It might be the key to getting more music making in your life!

One plus to being pinned to the sofa with a baby for several hours a day is getting caught up on CPD.

This week, I have finished off the last videos in the Vocal Health Education training on Inclusive Teaching. This course has covered a huge range of different additional support needs singing teachers might encounter in private teaching or choir work, offering ideas for how to include everyone in music.

I really loved this course and found the ideas helpful for my teaching. I also discovered that I have hypermobility in my lower back (which explains a lot!). CPD is for life, not just for work!

If you teach students with additional needs, this is a really great course to support your planning and delivery. Even if you don’t have ASN students, this course will still give you loads of ideas for how to teach in new ways.

And if you’re a student with ASN thinking about singing lessons, you can be confident that we can work together to help you learn in the ways that work for you.

One of my students was lucky enough to get to see this in Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, and I am very jealous!

35mm is a show that combines music, lyrics and photography and it’s right at the innovative edge of musical theatre. I’m really excited to get stuck into listening to the show and using some of the songs for a Grade 8 musical theatre exam next year.

It’s been a bit of a shock to the system, but we are back!

Students are back in the studio, and I’m trying to be back online sharing tips, tricks and inspiration. At least, when the baby is napping anyway!

Now the school holidays are upon us in Scotland, I’ll be on maternity leave until mid- to late- October.

I won’t be open for new student enquiries for the next few months, so please get back in touch in October if you’re still looking for lessons.

For current students, my last teaching week will be the week commencing 17 July. Remember, I’ve not moved to the moon, so texts and emails are ok, I just can’t promise how quickly I’ll reply.

Wishing you all a lovely summer, and I’ll see you on the other side!

🥳 So you’ve survived the first trimester. Everything looks good, you’re starting to feel better. Does singing go back to normal?

😌 First up, enjoy the respite. Even if you’re still tired or uncomfortable, try to be grateful for any improvements!

💦 Don’t stop hydrating though. I know loads of pregnant people who have struggled with dry skin and dry mouth. Use steam if you need to, but don’t add extra oils etc as they can be an issue for pregnancy.

The immune system is suppressed in pregnancy (to stop your body attacking the baby), so you’ll be more prone to colds and worse. Get any vaccines you’re offered, and keep up hand hygiene. Some people choose to wear a mask in busy places too. And sorry, if you do get a cold, you can’t really take anything for it…

Swelling can also be an issue as your blood volume increases dramatically. This will affect your vocal folds, so be gentle with them. Stuffy noses are another side effect - if you’re mouth breathing a lot in your sleep, try anti-snoring nose strips.

💨 Your breathing will start to change over the middle few months as your belly grows too. Keep up breathwork practices, adapting them to what you can do. You might need to add extra breaths into songs, or choose repertoire with more natural breaks.

Keep watching out for reflux and take steps to help like avoiding triggering foods, eating in plenty of time before bed and making use of Gaviscon or similar.

💪🏻 Don’t stop exercising! (Unless medically advised, of course) The kinds of exercise that support good singing are great for pregnancy - swimming, yoga, pilates and walking are ideal. Start doing pelvic floor exercises too - you need a strong AND flexible pelvic floor for singing and childbirth. Practicing before birth will help you recover faster after.

And as always, work with your healthcare provider to treat other symptoms. Since so few medications are approved for use in pregnancy, most interventions should be voice-friendly.

I can’t really keep it a secret any longer - I’ll be welcoming my third baby 👶 into our family in the summer!

It’s been a journey! Singing while pregnant 🤰, especially in the early phase when you’re feeling awful but haven’t really gone public, can be tough.

So how do you manage it?

🗓 Well, the first big one is to reassess your expectations and your calendar. Whether you like it on not, you’re on a countdown so you need to manage your energy more carefully. You might have to push big plans back or space out performing a bit more than usual (finances allowing).

Plus, your voice is going to be affected along with just about everything else.

😴 The biggest advice I can give is to rest as much as possible. That might mean shorter practice sessions, or breaking them up through the day. Focus on gentle warm ups and stretches more than crazy coloratura!

💦 Hydrate as much as you can - lots of people find pregnancy means they’re much drier than usual. Sip little sips, and remember it doesn't have to be water if you can’t stomach it. If you’re actually vomiting, this is even more important.

When you are actually singing, ginger or mint tea 🫖 can be ideal to have to sip as both herbs can settle digestion. Keep some snacks 🍪 nearby too, and nibble as needed. I also love the accupressure bands to reduce nausea (does require long sleeves though).

🤢 Even if you’re not vomiting, watch out for reflux as that can affect your voice directly. Thankfully Gaviscon is one of the few things known to be absolutely safe in pregnancy!

👩‍⚕️ If your symptoms are getting in the way of your singing, remember, you can ask for help. Speak to your healthcare practitioner for more advice on safe management.

I definitely found singing in the first trimester wasn’t super comfortable, but by nibbling and sipping (and plenty of sleep), I did make it to the point where things improved, at least digestively!

Yes, it’s that time. Spring is here and so are the Easter holidays. There will be no lessons for the next two weeks. I’ll see everyone back in the studio from 17 April.

As usual, I’ll keep an eye on my emails for any urgent queries, but it might take a few days for a reply.

See you all soon!

Struggling with tension? 😬 Me too.

Tension is, so often, the enemy of singing. The tiny muscles that control our voice are easily affected by tension in our bigger muscles.

Tension isn’t just about physical things either - it can be as much about the mental stress of the work you’re doing as the chair you sit in to do it.

So what helps?

🏋️ Get some exercise. Physical exercise will get your muscles working better and help relax your mind. Anything is good, so long as you aren’t holding your breath to do it (so careful with very heavy weights).

🧘 Try adding in mindful movement like Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi Feldenkrais or Alexander. Slower and more focused movement ramps up your body awareness and helps you isolate specific sensations. All these movement activities tend to help you think more widely about your daily movements and support mental and physical tension reduction.

🧠 Practice conscious relaxation. If you have never tried consciously working through your muscles and relaxing them, definitely look into practices that can help you learn to do this. Mindful movement practices are great for this, as are guided relaxation and meditation exercises. I love using a body scan to help me bring down the tension in my body.

🎁 Take time to treat yourself too. Doing things you enjoy simply for pleasure can help you get to a place where you’re carrying less tension. It’s so important to remember you matter and you need time to feel like yourself. Some activities (like a long bath) are tension reducing at the time, other things (like adventure activities) can help you relax after.

🚶And don’t forget, try using movement when you sing. Anything from changing position to lie on the floor to using a balance board can disrupt your natural holding patterns and free up your voice as you practice.

How do you try to reduce your tension?

Are you doing warm ups 🔥? Or exercises 🏋️? Can you tell the difference?

When you get into that practice room, we all know we need to warm-up. But what is a warm-up?

▶️ Put it simply, a warm-up is getting your voice from no singing, to ready to sing. It shouldn’t take long (3-5 minutes) and should feel easy and relaxed.

⏫ Exercises, on the other hand, are more about taking that warm voice and working on skills or techniques to improve it.

So, if you’re warming up, you’re probably working with SOVT exercises like hums, or fricatives (VV, ZZ etc). You might choose to use a straw 🥤 or even a kazoo!

I always recommend starting gently and close to your speaking voice range before expanding out to your singing range.

🛝 Starting with unpitched slides and glides also make sure your muscles are working smoothly through all possible sounds before we start to tune into specific notes. Sliding shapes also give you a way to check if your voice has any glitches in it to day - sticky areas, breaks or cracks.

Warm-ups can be on pitched patterns too, but the goal is light, gentle, and exploratory rather than anything too specific.

🎼 Then it’s time to go into exercises. This would be your more traditional scales and arpeggios, on vowels (oo) or consonant fronted vowels (ba, la, da) or even using words or phrases.

↗️ Now we’re selecting the things we’re doing to improve parts of the voice. Maybe you’re working on your mix voice, or you need to improve your high notes. Perhaps you’re exploring finding twang, belt or classical set ups. Maybe you need to improve your articulation with a nasty tongue twister or two?

You also don’t have to do exercises before singing songs - you might want to sing a song, then do an exercise to help with a sticky part and then go back to the song.

You -do- need to warm up before singing a song though - give that voice a chance to be ready to go.

How do you use warm ups and exercises in your singing?

🥤 Right, you’ve got a straw. What now?

On a simple level, anything you can do without a straw you can do with one!
🌊 I like to use my straw for gentle vocal warm-ups like sirens, waves, slides, glides and revs. This is one of the most impactful ways to use SOVT techniques as it helps your voice get moving really safely.

🪜 You can make huge use of your straw in technical work as well - scales, arpeggios or any other pattern your teacher has set you. Try using the straw and then repeating the exercise without. Usually, you’ll find it’s better having used the straw first!

🎼 What about repertoire? When I’m learning songs, sometimes I use my straw on a gentle setting as I work through the melody. We can often use less than optimal technique when learning and the straw will mitigate that.

Once you know the song, keep your straw handy for any sticky bits, as working with a straw can be one way to try and free up sections or work through a difficult run.

💦 And what about water? Water is best for tired days, when your voice isn’t quite as functional as it should be. It’s also a great cool down at the end of a practice session or the end of the day. Or you can add water for more resistance if you want a bit more of a workout.

🧪 The key is to experiment. Try different straws, different exercises, different set ups, and you’ll see what works best for you. Don’t be surprised if your straw becomes your best friend!

🥤Singing through a straw is everywhere! And for good reason - there’s loads of evidence in favour of SOVTs, and using a straw especially.

So if you want to give it a go, how on earth do you choose a straw??

There are a number of singing straw options out there if you have budget to buy a specialist tool. You can get a sing ring or an SOVT straw easily in the UK, or other options overseas. These metal straws are designed to offer a range of set ups and are really the best thing to buy.

But what if you want to try straw work before you invest in an expensive item, or can’t afford to?

🧲 Metal straws are washable, but only offer one set up option unless you add water or use a finger to cover the end slightly. If you want a metal straw, I’d suggest looking for a longer length to make it easier to use in water, or collecting a few different sizes over time.

📃 Paper straws are more flexible as you can squeeze them to narrow the diameter and increase the pressure. Unfortunately, they also have a tendency to disintegrate over time, and faster if you use water. Useful for workshops or occasional use but not really a great long term option. I’d rule out food-based straws for the same reason!

🧋 Which leaves silicone. If you’re looking for a starter straw to see if SOVT is for you, I’d say a silicone straw is probably the best to get going with. You can squeeze it like paper to vary the size, but they’ll also be durable and washable like metal. You can also take a pair of scissors to a longer silicone straw to make it into a shorter one if you like.

What kind of straw do you use?