Let’s Start Singing!

Let’s Start Singing!

by | May 31, 2017 | singing

Let’s start at the very beginning…

…a very good place to start.  Sorry…a little Sound of Music reference there.  When it comes to singing, however, whether we are just beginning to sing or starting over, we need to first understand the fundamentals…the basics, if you will.  So that, my friend, is what I wish to lay out for you right here…right now.  Because, there’s no other place I wanna be.  (ugh…sorry again.  It’s a problem of mine.)

Anyway…

When a student comes to me for the very first time, I never assume that they know everything there is to know about singing.  After all, if they did, they wouldn’t be needing a lesson from me, now would they?  Instead, I ask them a series of questions about what they know and what they feel they need to know in order to be the best singer they can be right now…or very quickly.  Whether a student can articulate all of that is irrelevant, but usually they can describe to me what isn’t working.  And usually, their instincts are right!

So, here are a few questions I ask a new student, and the (bold parenthesis) are what it tells me about how we’ll begin our journey.  As you read through these, ask yourself the same questions:

  1. How long have you been singing? Have you had any formal training?  (experience and knowledge about singing)
  2. What are you working on? (repertoire interest as well as knowing who they are)
  3. What do you know about breathing? (knowledge about breath management)
  4. What do you know about sound?  (knowledge about the vocal tract and resonance)
  5. What’s your sign?  Just kidding…just wanted to make sure you’re paying attention.
  6. What do YOU feel works really well in your voice?  (strengths and confidence)
  7. What do YOU feel like you need help with?  (self and vocal awareness and needs)
  8. What is your goal for taking lessons or enrolling in online vocal training?  (setting goals and making a plan)

If I can get this information up front, it takes a lot of guesswork out of the picture.  And both the singer and I can be clear about what it is we’re aiming for.  Without these important answers, we’re just blindly wondering around trying out vocal exercises and flipping through pages of song books without a goal.

So, if I may ask, what are your answers to these questions?  By answering them, you should start to get clear on some things and hopefully, get really excited about singing!  I know it makes me excited.  And I sometimes even go back and ask myself those questions from time to time in order to stay in check with myself and make sure I’m on the right track.

So, when it comes to technical knowledge, the obvious first big question has to do with breath management and breathing.  What terminology are you familiar with?  What do you use to inhale?  Is it the mouth or the nose?  Where are the lungs?  Where is the rib cage?  Typically, I get students who mention that they breathe through the mouth, although some have suspected the nose is also involved.  Most students know about some vague thing called the “diaphragm” and talk about breathing coming from somewhere in their belly region.  So, I begin tackling that topic by making sure they understand precisely where they breathe from and how the breath works for singing.  This concept of body mapping was taught to me by my graduate professor, and it works wonders in helping us find a place to start and getting us from Point A to Point B as quickly and efficiently as possible.

So, here, I’ve broken down some basic concepts that I always try to clarify within the first lesson or two:

  • We breath through the mouth.  First off, we want to note that we breathe through our mouths when we sing–unlike yoga where we breath through our noses.  We do this because, well, we can inhale more air through our mouths.  And, our mouth is like a stage that we set up for that initial sound to be produced.  We want to make sure it is open in the back with an elevated soft palate (which we won’t go into depth about here) and the opening in the front of the mouth is also relaxed and open to the degree it needs to be opened for the first sound we will produce.  Breathing through our nose has the opposite effect:  It causes our soft palate to be lowered and can result in a nasal sound.  Plus, our noses cannot inhale a whole lot of air, so we will come up short when we have to sing long passages.  Just say NO to breathing through the nose.  Except for yoga.  OK, moving on…
  • Locate rib cage and lungs.  The rib cage starts much higher and end much lower than we think it does.  It begins right beneath the shoulder blades and ends right at the middle of our upper body just above where our elbows hit when we allow our arms to dangle down.  Our lungs are housed inside our rib cage, and also begin just beneath the shoulder blades.  We have no lungs in our stomach region.  Many times, singers feel sympathetic movement in their stomach, but this is not where the lungs are and not where we should focus when we breathe.  Also, the lungs are not just in the front of our bodies, but they are present within our sides and back.  I like to refer to the lungs as an inner tube of air going all around our upper body.  When we breath for singing, that inner tube expands all around and supports our sound.

Here is a picture of our rib cage and lungs.  See how high up they are?  Who knew?  (well, I kinda did…)

  • Dispel the diaphragm myth.  The diaphragm itself is an involuntary muscle that runs through the middle of our upper body, directly below the lungs.  I repeat, it is an involuntary muscle.  That means, we have no control over it — at least not directly.  We don’t do anything with the diaphragm, and we can’t feel it.  The diaphragm does have a job, but we use other muscles to control it and not the diaphragm itself.  I’m not sure how it got to be such a popular term within the vocal arena and why it’s talked about so often within the choral world, but it is irrelevant for singers to know about.  There.  I said it.  My philosophy here is, if we can’t control it, why should we talk about it and focus on it?  It makes singing too complicated.  And no student I’ve ever met understands what it means or what it does.  So, why talk about it?  Who cares?  OK, I’ll step off my diaphragm hotbox and move on, K?

Here is a picture of the involuntary diaphragm contracting when we inhale.  See the arrow showing how the diaphragm descends down?

Here is a picture of the involuntary diaphragm relaxing when we are completely out of breath.  That is the diaphragm’s natural resting state.        

  • Appoggio.  Now, before you think I’ve switched over to Italian and you tune me out, just stay with me.  This is the real deal.  This is the good, important stuff we need to be talking about in terms of breath control.  The word appoggio (pronounced uh-podge-oh) comes from the Italian word appoggiare, which means “to lean into something”.  When we sing, we use our intercostal muscles, that are in between our ribs, function to create a resistance and help control our air flow.  So instead of addressing the overly-used “diaphragm spiel,” I talk about the appoggio.  When we expand our rib cage (like we would if someone were to sucker punch us or how we do if we’re surprised), we allow space for our lungs to then expand.  So try that.  Expand your rib cage and inhale (through your mouth) and concentrate only on the lungs expanding and nothing below.  When we use the appoggio, we basically resist deflation or retard the ascension of the diaphragm.  And that, my friends, is breath control — in a super-condensed nutshell.

Here is a picture that shows the antagonistic muscles, the external and the internal intercostal muscles.  These muscles oppose or resist the actions of each other.  This antagonistic action is the appoggio in action!

To demonstrate this concept, I always ask the student to place his/her hands around my rib cage (but only if he/she is comfortable doing so) and I show them how I breathe.  This area around the rib cage is, generally-speaking, right below the breast where the rib cage is a bit more elongated.  When the student feels the resistance I use when I sing, most of them are totally surprised that this is what is what should be happening.  Then, after I have demonstrated how it should work, I ask the student to allow me to put my hands around their rib cage and guide them to resist with those intercostal muscles we just spoke about and utilize their appoggio as well.  It always feels awkward for them at first, but then, I always see a light bulb go on, and they smile with a really cheesy big smile, because THEN…they get it!

After we’ve done that, I do a series of breathing exercises where I ask them to inhale and do this:

  1. Ch-Ch-Ch | Ch-Ch-Ch | Chhhhhhhhhhh until they have no breath left.  I ask them to feel the resistance.  We do a few of those, and then we do:
  2. S-S-S | S-S-S | Sssssssssssss until they have no breath left.

After we do a few of those to really feel the resistance of those muscles, we then work on singing through some phrases — either from a song they already know or a simple vocal exercise and focus on that area a little more.  I may spend a lesson or two on the concept of breathing and breath management while allowing them to sing their songs they brought in or already know.  My goal of each lesson is to give them as much knowledge I can while allowing them to do what they came to do in the lesson:  sing.  However, the concept of breathing and breath management is one that comes up a lot throughout my time with each student, and we must continually readdress it and sometimes relearn how to utilize this savvy singers’ tool effectively!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUGftTxJjYA[/embedyt]

Was this helpful for you?

If this post helped you, I’d love to hear about it!  Has anyone talked about the concept of using your appoggio before — either in a lesson or another learning setting?  Did I clear up any myths or issues you may have previously had about the diaphragm?  If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.  Also, please do me a favor and share this post now if there is someone you may know who might need to hear this information.  Knowing the correct information is vital when it comes to developing your voice as a singer!

As always, I offer you the opportunity to sign up in the box below, and when you do that, I’ll send you a FREE printable download which goes into more depth about the appoggio.

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What is (good) Singing?

by | May 23, 2017 | singing

“How was the concert last night?”

“Terrible!  Her recordings sound so much better than she sounds live!”

or…

“I love her voice!  She has such a beautiful tone.  I wish I could sing like that!”

or…

“He has a nice voice, but he’s pitchy.”

or…

“Her voice is so nasally.  It’s hard to listen to.”

When it comes to the art of singing, most of us — even the untrained ear — knows what we like and what we don’t like to listen to.  While singing may seem to be objective on many levels, and we may prefer one style or voice over another, most of us know good singing as well as poor singing when we hear it.  However, many of us can’t adequately define what good singing really is if we had to articulate it.  But fortunately for you, I can shed some light on the subject and help you define good singing, so you can know what to aim for with your own voice.

So, if I’m going to define what good singing is, it’s probably a lot more helpful for you if I first define what incorrect, or perhaps, undesirable singing is.

We’ve all heard her, right?  I kindly refer to her as the “Choir Lady”.  The one who sings every song to the top of her lungs in church, but she really shouldn’t.  It’s embarrassing for those of us around her, and we wonder why her sweet husband doesn’t do something.  Perhaps he’s deaf.  But, God bless her, it’s her passion, and we want to allow her to live it out.  By the grace of God.  Her voice definitely has a ring to it.  I’ll give her that.  We can ALL hear her.  But it’s more of a strident tone without balance and depth, and many times, it’s just a hair (or two) flat or sharp.

Oh, and then there’s “Guitar Guy”.  He loves to get out his guitar and play for friends after he’s had a beer or two.  He always fondly refers to the time he was asked to sing at his best friend’s wedding or the garage band he played with in high school.  He follows all the great, guitar-playin’ singers/songwriters of his genre, and he’s always working on learning something new.  We all cheer him on, and genuinely want him to do well, but it’s hard not to notice how strained he gets when his voice has to soar up into the higher part of his register.  He gets by with his unsupported middle range tones, but he sounds a little too much like a semi-trained, high school choir bass with a transitioning voice than he does like Eric Clapton.  We all wish he’d either not sing songs with notes he can’t easily reach or take voice lessons.  The beer might be helping his confidence, but it isn’t helping his sound.

Then there’s “One-Style-Sarah” who doesn’t quite know how to change things up when she sings.  When we first heard her, we were impressed.  “This girl can sing!” we all thought admiringly.  Until we heard the next song…and the next…and the one after that.  Oh, I guess she only has one trick up her 3/4 length sleeve:  choppy, extremely breathy and using wayyyy too much vocal fry*.  One-Style-Sarah can really only sing in one genre in one type of way, and while it’s clear she’s mastered that, any other genres or styles turn her upside and on her fashionable head.  Not only that, but she, more times than not, chooses repertoire (songs) that really don’t fit her voice well.  So, when she gets to the uncomfortable parts of the songs she sings, she either drops out or goes even more into her redundant, breathy style.

Now, this may seem harsh, but we’ve all heard these types of singers.  Maybe you’re even one of them.  And just to be clear, I’m not making fun.  As a teacher, I’ve seen all of these singers come into my studio, as well as many more types I won’t mention, but believe it or not, there is a lot of commonality among them.  And for lack of a better term, we’ll just say they represent the undesirable singing category.

So what exactly is undesirable singing?  So glad you asked!

Here’s a list of 10 Undesirable Singing Traits:
  1. Overly breathy – lacks substance, lacks volume control
  2. Overly strident – too bright and in your face
  3. Overuse of vocal fry*
  4. Nasal (lowered soft palate)
  5. Out of tune (either too flat or too sharp)
  6. Vocally strained
  7. One dynamic (always too loud or too soft)
  8. Too stiff (unmovable)
  9. Out of control
  10. Raspy

Now, wait a minute!!  Some of these traits are a matter of opinion.  I like to hear a raspy voice!  What about Janice Joplin?  What about Adele!?

Yes, I agree.  I love both of these singers…and you may love to hear some of these traits, like raspiness, in moderation, but if they are all the singer has access to, they will, over time, eventually give out.  In other words, we may enjoy hearing some of these attributes, but the singer using them needs to be aware that they are going to cause vocal issues down the road if he/she continues to employ them all the time.  Make sense?

There are many factors that cause undesirable singing to occur.  And one common thread through them all is a lack of proper breath management or support.  There are a couple, like vocal fry* that are just trendy and overly done for effect.  And the out of tune trait is one that usually rises up out of other dysfunctions like performance anxiety or lack of tuning to the fundamental as well as the harmonics in the space.  Nasal singing often occurs because of a lowered soft palate (the roof of the mouth that raises when we yawn) and singing with one dynamic is generally just an awareness or personality issue:  the singer either likes to hear himself singing loudly or is too timid or perhaps lacks the resonance to sing any other level but softly.

While this list is by no means exhaustive, it does hilight some of the most common undesired singing traits we hear from other singers and personally experience in our own voices.  And the good news is, every single one of these, outside of a medical issue, can be resolved with proper vocal training and a good, solid technique.

So, if all of those are the undesirable traits, what are the good ones?  What actually is good singing?  Well, fortunately for you, I’ve complied a list of these as well.

Here’s a list of 10 Desirable Singing Traits:
  1. Balance between breath and resonance vs. too breathy or strident
  2. Balance between light and dark throughout registers (chiaroscuro) vs. too bright or too dark
  3. Clear and focused vs. raspy
  4. Free (not strained) vs. strained; pinched
  5. Supported with breath energy vs. throat singing
  6. Controlled vs. out of control
  7. Flexible and Agile vs. stiff
  8. In tune vs. out of tune
  9. Natural vibrato
  10. Evenness throughout range, vowels and dynamic levels

Again, I could go on and on with desirable singing traits, but for the sake of this post, I’ll only list these as being among the most important, or most noticeable singing traits that we desire to have and listen to in other singers.  And if you don’t understand what a lot of these traits mean or how to implement them, don’t fear!  This is not an exercise in how much you already know, but rather, me trying to explain some rather complex vocal terms in a non-complex way.

The great thing about these lists is they define singing regardless of genre (singing style).  Sure, some genres have a little more of some traits than others.  For instance, country singing is going to employ more resonance (and even more nasality) than, say, an Indie folk singer might.  There’s going to be a lot more balance of resonance needed with an operatic singer than there would be in a contemporary Christian singer.  And that’s OK.  What’s important is that we learn what is correct and healthy and desirable, and then and only then, can we begin to modify and make changes depending on the style and the needs of a song.

Have you learned anything from this post?  Would you like to know more about each desirable singing trait and how to achieve it in detail?  Then, I encourage you to sign up for my FREE 2-WEEK MINI COURSE that will explain in detail what each trait I’ve listed means and how to achieve it.  The desirable ones, that is…

Hope to see you there!

xoxo,

Amy

(*) – Vocal fry refers to a singing or speaking method at the lowest possible register (if you want to call it a register) where the cords rub together and pop and rattle.  Think frog.  Think gravelly.  Think Kardashians.

Going All In?

by | May 18, 2017 | singing

When I ask this question, “Are you going all in?”, a lot of you would answer with an emphatic “Yes! Of course I am!”  You may be taking voice lessons.  You may practice on occasion or even perform with regularity.  But I’m going to ask it again personally and see if it really resonates with you.  Are you really going all in?  When it comes to improving your singing and really making a valid effort in practicing and fine-tuning your technique or learning that difficult song or setting up that audition, can you honestly answer that you are giving your singing your all and putting your best foot forward when it comes to crafting your talent?

I ask this question, because I know how motivation comes in waves.  I know how we can be so ON FIRE to do something great and be the best we can be.  I know how it feels to be inspired by another great singer who has accomplished amazing achievements and be driven to do the same.  We get serious.  For a while.  We may even land a gig during this wave of inspiration.  And then, out of the blue, something happens.  We get sick.  A friend dies.  Our car breaks down.  We get a new job.  We lose our job.  We move.  Our house is a mess.  Our finances are in disarray.  We meet someone.  We have kids.  A child needs our attention.  And then everything we were once certain we were supposed to be aiming for goes by the wayside and sits until we can pick it up and handle it again.  Months go by.  Sometimes years.  We wade through our days keeping ourselves busy with mundane tasks that don’t fulfill us.  We feel like something is out of sync, but we can’t figure out why.  And then it hits us.  We haven’t been singing!  That pursuit we once thought was WHO we were…what we were meant to do…has evaded us.  At one time, however, thought it was our life breath.  We knew we wanted to be better and hone our craft and eventually sing for the world to hear, and then life happened, and without even trying to do so, we put our voices on the shelf.

I know about the void of not singing all too well.  After years of honing my technique and working steadily at my singing throughout my undergraduate degree in Kansas City, Missouri, I moved to Europe to pursue singing as a career.  I went all in.  But eventually, after months of auditioning and working with coaches and voice teachers, the toll of brutal criticism, trying to survive in a foreign country and being broke and homesick just flat out wore me down.  Initially, I would practice religiously and never miss a moment to work on a piece of music or vocalize.  But auditioning and the lifestyle of being a singer was something I really struggled with emotionally.  Looking back, I had very few resources at my fingertips to overcome the weariness and fear-paralysis I was dealing with on a daily basis.  In the midst of trying to survive in Vienna, Austria and pursue my singing profession, I eventually found a full-time job at an American university that allowed me to obtain my work and residency permits.  This was a great thing!  And I was very fortunate to have found this position as it allowed me to stay in Vienna and pursue my goals.  And while working there, I eventually met my husband and fell over the moon in love!  All of this was so great, and I was so happy, and my life was coming into order (or so it felt), but I soon found that my time for singing was dwindling.  Where I used to have days on end to practice and sift through music, I now found myself working 10 hour days and spending my evenings with my new found love.  Days turned into weeks and weeks to months.  And gradually, without even noticing, I started to put my voice and career aside as I was falling out of the habit of singing.  Until one day, I just noticed I felt different.  Empty.  Strange.  Lifeless.  I kept thinking, “What’s wrong with me?”  I considered that perhaps that I might be depressed.  And then, one day, I finally forced myself over to my piano and began singing.  And to my surprise, it was like a balm to my soul.  It was the drop of water in the midst of the desert.  I had been needing this all along, but I was skimping on the one of the few things that fed me and gave me life and joy:  singing!

So I am asking again:  Are you going all in?  And if you say you are definitely going all in, what are you doing every single day to make it happen?  If not, what are some things you can do to guard yourself from losing steam when life happens or get back on track with your singing after you’ve been derailed?

I ask you these questions, because I really want you to have a strategy for singing success.  The world has enough so-so singers with no game plan.  What I want you to have in your pocket, however, is a fool-proof method that keeps you on track and doesn’t allow you to venture too far before returning to the practice room and finding your groove again.  For many of us, singing feels like a natural extension of ourselves.  We can’t NOT do it.  And when we’re in the thick of it and doing it, we feel exhilarated and know we can’t live without it.  Others have said this about running (although, I’ve never been able to relate to that personally!)  You may have chosen another profession to pay the bills and you may have chosen not to go down the road of starving artist, but I guarantee you, you do love to sing, and it brings something alive in you that nothing else, no place, no person, no thing could ever do.  When we briefly step away from our singing to deal with life, it can become a subtle breakup.  But it doesn’t have to be.  It doesn’t have to signal the end of something we love…where we carry the void of not singing with us for the rest of our lives like a martyr carries a heavy load.  We can work it back in and rediscover our joy and take our portion of that balm that heals our souls and fulfills us in a way that many other pursuits cannot do.

Before I sign off, I just want to challenge you and encourage you today.  I don’t know if you have been pursuing singing as a profession or as a recreation, or maybe you’ve never really pursued singing, even though you’ve perhaps desperately wanted to.  But I want you to put one foot in front of the other and just do it!  Make the time.  Create the space.  If you can’t do all the things you might have been able to do when you started, it’s OK.  It’s like riding a bike.  You don’t forget.  Just ease back into it and start singing again.  If you’ve never pursued singing and you know you need to, now is your chance!  You’re in the right place, my friend.  You’ll be a better person for it.  And the world will be better for being able to hear you!

Go all in.

xoxo,

Amy

Do you want to get my 8 Proven Strategies for Going All In with your singing? Sign up here, and I”ll send you over a free printable download you can hang up on your studio wall!  In addition, I’ll go into great detail with you about what I mean with each of these strategies via an email series.  You won’t want to miss it!!

My Misfortune Is Your Gain

by | May 11, 2017 | singing

When someone is beginning to learn how to sing or coming back to singing after a number of years, there are so many moving parts that it can quickly become overwhelming and cause even the most driven of singers to become faint at heart and confused.  When a new concept is introduced, we work on it and work on it until we’ve finally mastered it, and in the back of an inexperienced singer’s mind, we think we’ve figured it all out.  Until a new concept is introduced.  I remember the feeling, for instance, after I had mastered utilizing my face mask, feeling so exhilarated that I had FINALLY figured out how to resonate without pushing…until my teacher began talking about vibrato and how it is important for the sound to resonate but also be free and able to vibrate.  Oh, and then there’s that whole balance thing (chiaroscuro)!  Ugh!!

I also remember struggling through voice lessons.  I began singing at an early age, but most of my early teachers were mainly piano teachers or ladies who sang solos at our church.  They weren’t necessarily “voice teachers” who knew the vocal apparatus and how my voice was supposed to function or how to teach me.  One of my “voice teachers” was even half deaf, so I have no idea how she even heard me sing — let alone knew how well I was doing.  Each of these teachers usually just helped me learn a song and would kindly pat me on the back and tell me I was doing a good job.  In high school, I worked with my choir teacher a few times preparing for upcoming solo competitions, but I was never really exposed to vocal pedagogy until I went on to college.

Even in college, at the Conservatory of Music at UMKC in Kansas City, I studied with one very seasoned elderly woman my freshman year and was convinced that everything she said was biblical truth…until she let me go to take on more serious voice majors (since I was a lowly music education major), and I had to find another teacher.  I worked with the teacher she referred me to for a year, and then realized I was getting nowhere vocally and switched teachers my junior year to work with the teacher I stayed with for the rest of my undergrad degree.  Suffice it to say, each of these teachers had very different and sometimes opposing vocal techniques.  I was driven, but I was also highly frustrated with the huge discrepancy in what they were teaching.  I knew I had a lot of pieces of a pretty large puzzle, but I didn’t know how they all fit together.

After I graduated with my undergraduate degree in Music Education, I went to study voice at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria for 8 weeks during the summer of 1999.  There, I was exposed to even more teachers and theories on vocal production, breathing and performing.  I loved all that I learned and soaked it in like a sponge, but I also realized again just how different various people taught and couldn’t make heads or tails on what I was doing correctly or incorrectly.  This experience in Graz led me to pursue a Rotary Scholarship so I could go back to Europe and study with the best teachers the world had to offer (or so I thought).  What I quickly realized while there, however, was that these teachers were even more diverse in their approach to singing, and I was, once again, even more confused.  I think, by this time, I had studied with roughly 10 teachers in a period of 7 or 8 years. This will do some damage to your psyche and your soul!  But I persevered…

After spending a few years studying and singing professionally in Vienna, Austria, I was ready to get serious about my vocal progress and go back to the States to get my master’s in vocal performance.  I knew if I was ever to have a career as a singer I needed to sort through all the confusion and make sense of this mumbo jumbo in my head.  After getting married to my husband in Vienna in 2004, we decided to move back to the States where I, again, began studying with various voice teachers and pursuing singing as a profession.  In 2006, I began my master’s program at the University of Texas at San Antonio with a professor who helped guide me through all the voices in my head and sort out all of the correct and incorrect information I had received over years of studying voice.  It was then and only then that I was finally able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and develop a proven technique that was healthy and uh-um anatomically correct.  I’ll explain that in a minute…

You see…you don’t have to take voice lessons for long to discover that there is so much nonsense and flat out false information in this profession.  Did that statement surprise you?  Well, it’s true.  There are a lot of phonies and fakes within the “noble profession” of teaching singers, and my goal is to see to it that no one else out there has to experience what I have had to experience as a budding singer.  To be brutally honest, because, let’s face it, that’s all I can be…there are wayyyyy too many singers out there who end up becoming teachers, but they have no idea how the voice actually works!  It’s so bad that many people tend to refer to the vocal faculty at well-known, renowned music conservatories as the “graveyard for retired singers”.  For some reason, you could have absolutely NO background in vocal pedagogy as a teaching professor, but if you happen to have a long resume of solo performances to your credit, you are coveted in the university profession.  It’s sad, and there are some exceptions, but it’s true.  What’s also true is that these retired singers/now teachers, while well-meaning, are many times still very ego driven, and in my experience, their background and fame and experience outweigh their ability to detect a vocal issue and find a technical way to resolve it.  Rather, they talk down to students who aren’t as prolific or perhaps don’t possess the natural ability to sing like they do.  How many times have I sat in a lesson I paid good money for listening to how great the teacher was or a story how “back when I sang…we used to…and one time the conductor did this or that…and, well, it looks like our time is up!  That’ll be $60!”  I realize there are more and more efforts made nowadays to counter this ongoing problem, but in many cases, both at the university level and privately, this issue still remains in full swing!

I realize it may seem I’ve gone off on a tangent and gone into too much detail, but that’s ok.  I hope I’ve helped you understand who I am and what I have gone through as a singer so you can learn from some of my misfortune.  I’m here to make that journey with you and help you become your greatest you!  And if I have to share some not so amazing things in order to accomplish that, it’s fine with me!

So…(big sigh) after going through all of that over a period of roughly 10 years, I came out on the other side with 10 Rs for Successful Singing.  That’s right!  I’ve complied an easy go-to checklist to help you stay on track as a singer and not get caught up in how to manage all the moving parts simultaneously.  I go into these 10 Rs in detail in my Unveil My Voice course which will launch this September 2017, but because you took the time to read this long post (poor you!), I have included a little cheat sheet here and will dive into it over the course of a series of blog posts.

Thanks so much for stopping by and being a part of this amazing community of like-minded singers!  I hope you take the time to subscribe to this blog so you can continue receiving information.

xoxo,

Amy

10 Reasons Why You Need Vocal Training

10 Reasons Why You Need Vocal Training

by | May 10, 2017 | singing

So many people out there have amazing singing voices, but if they never take the time to hone their vocal skills and learn vocal technique, they are one of the millions of wanna-be singers who are limited to singing in their bedroom, shower or car and potentially never sharing their voices with the world!  How sad is that?

Worse than never sharing their voices with the world, however, are “wanna-be” singers that share their voices with too many people before they are trained and ready.  As much as I love to advocate putting yourself out there, I firmly believe that singing for others after the cute age of 12 needs to done in a manner that is thought out and prepared for.  We live in a generation of YouTube and Facebook where many people are showcasing their “talent”, but I think it’s always a win-win if those people have been consistently training their voices and fine-tuning their skills prior to singing for the world.

Another scenario I often see is people with extraordinary voices who are limited in their vocal ability simply because they don’t learn the fundamentals and consistently work on their voices and implement the things they’ve learned into their voices.  As they say, “Knowledge is power,” and the simple act of getting serious about one’s voice can open up a world he/she never knew existed.

Because of this, I’ve compiled a quick list of 10 REASONS WHY YOU NEED VOCAL TRAINING:

1.  You feel like you’ve got a good voice.

If you personally feel like you have a good voice, chances are, you do!  That might sound strange, because we all know of people who love to sing (think Florence Foster Jenkins), but they have absolutely NO business doing so.  But that is a rare exception.  Most of us have a natural affinity toward things we’re good at.  In other words, we are magnetically drawn to activities we can excel in and we resist activities where we struggle.  It’s human nature.  So, if you feel in your heart of hearts like you are good at singing, then you probably are!

2.  Other people praise your singing.

Again, what goes through most of our heads is the preliminary auditions for American Idol where the guy walks in and gets booed for even being there in the first place.  And there’s always some comment like, “My Grandma said I was the best singer she’s ever heard.”  This is not what I’m talking about though.  If quite a few people (besides your Grandma) have commented on your amazing voice, chances are you have an amazing voice.  And if so, you need to take that voice seriously and get it trained!

3.  You look longingly at professional singers and think to yourself, “I want to do that!”

Admiring other singers is one thing, but if you are constantly drawn to their level of ability, vocal range or skill, and in your mind you think to yourself, “I want to do that!” or “I could do that better than her or him!” then chances are, you should!  And don’t be fooled into thinking those professional singers you admire didn’t start somewhere — just like you!  They aren’t lucky or gifted or blessed any more than you are.  Chances are, they went through the process like you’re going through and came to the realization that they needed to make a commitment and they were determined enough to achieve their dreams.  So can you!!

4.  You sing whenever you have a spare moment.  In fact, it’s all you do!

Do you sing in the shower?  In the car?  In public?  In private?  You may even drive people around you crazy with all your singing at times.  You are constantly walking around with a song in your head and a skip to your step.  Well, that probably means you LOVE to sing and you should be taking it seriously.  It’s easy to look past these characteristics in ourselves when it’s all we know, but I would imagine that most people don’t usually have a song in their heads.  But if you do, you’re probably someone who enjoys music and singing and all things related.  This is what is unique about you and it’s something you need to pursue!

5.  You express yourself through song.

Musicals and operas don’t seem silly to you:  People singing their thoughts on stage and dancing to the tunes they are singing.  It doesn’t seem silly because this is your every day life!  You always have a song for an occasion.  You sing when you are happy.  You sing when you are sad.  This is how you express yourself and who you are.  Songs with words seem like they are meant just for you and they touch you in a way that no other form of communication touches you.  The world can seem crazy and make no sense whatsoever, but you turn on a special song or start singing the lyrics from a song that comforts you, and all of a sudden, everything makes sense again.  Crisis averted.  Confusion resolved.  Clarity regained.  You wouldn’t even think about living a life without a song to express your feelings and who you are and you can tell someone specifically what songs you love and what the lyrics to those songs are.

6.  You have an area of your voice you need to work on.

Just like there are professionals who are trained to do accounting and professionals who are trained to build homes and professionals who are trained to cut hair, there are professionals who can teach you how to work on specific areas of your voice and get over or resolve vocal issues.  Most likely, you wouldn’t try to cut your own hair or build your own house unless you already had experience in doing so and knew what you were doing, so why would you leave it up to yourself to figure out things that a voice teacher could resolve in a matter of a few lessons — or sometimes, a few minutes!

7.  You love singing but you struggle to hit high notes, low notes or sing for long periods of time.

Again, these are things you need help with and can’t do by trial and error (unless you want to seriously wear your voice out), so it’s best to leave it to a professional to show you how to do these things properly and avoid heartache, frustration and potential damage to the voice.  These are things every teacher should know how to teach you, so don’t go it alone.

8.  You are terrified to sing in front of anyone.

That’s right.  You should get vocal training if you are scared of singing in front of someone.  Why?  Because a good teacher and nurturing singing community will help you overcome your fears.  The fear alone is not enough to keep you from getting vocal training.  Or it shouldn’t be.  We all have fears.  Most of the students who have walked through my studio have been terrified of singing in front of me the first or second time, but after a few times, they began to feel comfortable, and as a result of being comfortable in front of me, they were on their way to becoming comfortable singing in front of other people too.  Baby steps!

9.  You want to sing in a choir, a band or a worship team, but you just don’t have the confidence to start.

All of these things are amazing tools for singers to learn and grow.  I always suggest that my singers begin with singing in a choir, because this is where you learn musicianship and all of the fundamentals of being a great musician.  In essence, I truly believe that choirs are where we find our true voices.  Once we have done that, we can move on to other things.  But if you are hesitant to jump into a choir or just don’t know where to start or how to prepare for an audition in order to actually get involved in one of these groups, a well-informed voice teacher can give you the confidence and tools you need to take that first step!

10.  You want to challenge yourself.

I truly believe that learning to sing is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, endeavors you can do for yourself.  There are so many wonderful non-vocal rewards to singing too, like being disciplined, having accountability, achieving a goal, developing confidence, overcoming fear and I could go on and on.  Learning to sing is such a wonderful gift you can give yourself.  Our voices are a part of us and are capable of doing so much more than we ever thought possible.  I have literally seen shy people come out of their shells and overcome their fears.  I have seen newly divorced women open up a whole new avenue of self-expression and healing.  I have seen men and women alike explore their passion and surprise themselves with what they are able to do.  Sometimes it’s life-transforming.  Sometimes it’s career-transforming.  But it’s always a wonderful investment in oneself and it brings about pure joy for those who take the plunge and do it!

This list certainly isn’t exhaustive.  There are many reasons why YOU should consider vocal training, but I wanted to get you thinking!

If you love to sing and think you might have a shot at it, it’s time you start taking yourself more seriously and take some form of vocal training!  You won’t regret an investment in a life skill you will always be able to use — whether professionally or personally!

Have a great day!

xoxo,

Amy

 

a little progress at a time

by | Apr 12, 2017 | business organization, mama work

My goal over the past month has been to chronicle the steps I’m taking to get my online courses off the ground.  Each day I work on my online courses, I’m writing down what it is I’m doing, how I’m feeling, what I’m getting stuck on and all the bells and whistles that go into making this happen.  My point in doing this is to show you, my dear readers, all of the necessary (and unnecessary) steps that go into creating a (hopefully) successful online business.

To spare you from having to read post after post of each little step I’m taking, I wanted to just share with you an excerpt of an online journal I’m using to track my progress in Google Docs.

This is what I have so far:

Thursday, March 30th, 2017 –

Spent wayyyy too much time messing around on social media and wasting time, but was able to get cracking on this course “Unveil” so I feel pretty good about where it’s going.  Module 1 which is the intro module that sets the tone for the entire course is nearly complete as far as content that will go into it.  That feels good and gives me a strong vision for what I will hopefully accomplish when I work on this course again in the near future.  When?  I will work on this course on Tuesday, April 4th.  

 

Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 –

Today I’m working at Cuppa Austin.  Have a headache due to sinus pressure.  Don’t feel rested and feel restless with all that I need to do to catch up.  Need to focus on one task and just see it through to the end.  Need to get Convert Kit opt-in set up and schedule content for Reveal.  Please Lord, let me get focused so I can start making money at this business soon.  I need desperately to get focused and produce something.

 

I’m ending today’s work feeling very excited.  I finished the practicing module.  I need to go back tomorrow and read through it and tweak it and add detail and refine the modules and lessons I’ve written out so far, but for now, I feel good about its progress.  I was focused today, despite my initial headache and distracting disposition.  I am hoping to keep flowing like this throughout the week and be ready to actually develop the slides and video content the week after next.  It is really crucial that I get this content written out, so I can start taking snippets of it and using it in mini tutorials, blog posts, podcasts, and freebies.  I have to have this content done before I can begin creating this community and getting followers.  So this is good progress.

 

Tomorrow I will go back and tweak a bit, but then begin the hardest and longest module which is the 10 Rs of Successful Singing.  My goal is to be done with the bulk of the content by end of week.  If I do this, I can begin to break it down and create content based upon it.  

 

Yay!!!

 

Tuesday and Wednesday, April 11 & 12, 2017 –

Yesterday (Tuesday) I woke right up and was ready to hit the ground running with working on my course.  I completed the first module and started immediately with the module “10 Rs of Successful Singing”.  I got through the first two lessons and it felt like it really flowed out of me.  I enjoyed it and felt like I had a new spark lit under me in doing so.  Today (Wednesday) was a bit of a different story.  I struggled to get out of bed after a night of being kicked by Georgia in bed.  She was super restless from about 1:30am onward (I think), so I finally took her hot fleece pajama bottoms off and she settled down a little.  I got up at 5:15 and dragged myself to the coffee maker and got out the door by about 6:15.  When I got here, I got caught up looking at pictures of my friend, Camilla, who just passed away from breast cancer and feeling sad and side-tracked thinking of her and how quickly her life vanished away. but then I just snapped out of it and jumped in. Funny how you can think that you are not inspired or motivated, but the actual DOING OF THE THING can make you motivated. Your flow sometimes comes regardless of the right circumstances and feelings. I love that about creating. We never know what we can make of something, even in a less than optimal situation. For instance, sometimes my best workouts are those that I didn’t feel like doing, but I got my sports bra on and workout clothes and put on my shoes and got on that treadmill anyway, and I ended up feeling amazing and exhilarated afterwards. Some of my best days are days when I didn’t want to get up, but I did it anyway, and I ended up having a special encounter with a close friend or was inspired in a way I didn’t think was possible. Some of my best singing days are days where my voice started out raw and raspy, but I warmed up and worked through it and began making some absolutely glorious sounds. Some of my best teaching has been on days when I dreaded that first student arriving at my house, but the student came and we worked and made amazing progress that got both of us fired up and energized. And some of my very best creative days are the ones where I thought I had everything in me BUT creativity, but I started working and things started pouring out of me like a never-ending, creative fountain.

 

This morning, I spent a good deal of time just chasing my tail, but I still managed to get quite a bit written out in my online course, nevertheless.  That inspires me.  That propels me to get up early again tomorrow and get back at it.  It feels like such SLOWWWWW progress, but it’s progress, and I’m proud of it.  

 

Since my kids will be out of school for Good Friday this week, tomorrow (Thursday) is the last day I really have to get some things done in my business.  And guess what?  I have a hair appointment and a therapy session.  I know!  Go me!!!  But I do plan on allowing myself some space in the wee early morning hours to wrap some things up so I can hit the ground running like a champ next Tuesday!

 

Tomorrow, I’m going to continue playing around with customizing my Convertkit opt-in box for both sites and create an email sequence for both sites.  After I create the email sequence, I will then create my freebies to entice people to opt in.  At that point, I will need to go ahead and set up LeadPages, I think, in order to get more email subscribers.  

 

One of the biggest things that keeps tripping me up here is what to do first.  I really think I need to create an email sequence first, and then create my freebies from there.  But I’m not sure.  I plan to host my pdf files on amazon.  

 

So much to learn!  Right?

 

The other thing I need to do, in addition to getting set up with my email sequence on Convertkit, is go ahead and bite the bullet with some big purchases.  Right now, I need a good lav mic, and I already have one in my shopping cart with Amazon.  I also need a Blue Yeti mic to start podcasting soon.  And I need to get a good computer camera to do live video on my computer.  I also need a desk top tripod for my iphone and a ring light.  Let’s see, what else?  So much I need to figure out!!

 

Lord, help me prioritize all this and get it down soon.  I feel like I’m treading through quick sand right now, but I know, at some point, this will all come together and I will know what I need to do!
over and out…

Nothing crazy, out-of-the-ordinary, but this is where my head currently is.

Thoughts?

I’d love to hear your stories as you journey through your online business and figure things out along the way.

Committing to Mastery

by | Mar 18, 2017 | business

If someone would have told me years ago that practicing every day would make me an incredible singer, I would have never believed them.  Something in my mind would have said, “Oh…that might work for someone who has a lot of talent or money or time, but not me.”  As much as I wanted it to be so, in my mind, this dream just didn’t seem possible for me.  I thought that other people were fated with being successful singers.  I didn’t think I had a space in that arena.  As much as I wanted it to be so, I didn’t have the confidence that my actions had the potential to actually make it so.  So I created my fate by that belief…that false belief.  And I quietly, subtly submitted to the role of side-liner, singer sub, onlooker, supporter and cheerleader to all my colleagues and friends who were succeeding at it.  But I was rarely ever the one to actually have the success.  “Gosh…that’s sad, Amy!” you might be thinking.  Yes, but where in your own life have you played the same role?  And don’t get me wrong:  I have very little regret.  I was happy there (or so I thought) in that space.  But I can’t help but always wonder, “What more could I have accomplished if I would have just changed my beliefs?”

Funny how life comes full circle.  Now, I am a mother of 3 kids I need to nurture and instill these beliefs into.  I am in the process of restarting my vocal studio with a completely different business model that requires lots of risk, lots of time, and inevitably…lots of money.  On February 4th, as you all may know, I decided to take the plunge and quit my full-time job in order to pursue this endeavor of creating online vocal courses and going ALL IN with my business.  It hasn’t been easy.  Money is tight in our house.  Actually, incredibly tight.  Before I quit my job, I decided I’d still work the same hours I was working at Apple, from 5am to 1:30pm Tuesday through Friday, so we could keep the kids in the same routine they were already familiar with.  But this ultimately means I’m still missing seeing them off to school and spending days coloring and having dress up tea parties with my 3-year-old princess since she’s still in preschool 4 days a week so I can get this off the ground.  Since my last day at Apple (over 6 weeks ago), I’ve invested in two online courses that teach me how to create courses and get in front of the camera in the most professional way possible.  I am learning the ins and outs of WordPress and Canva and my hosting company, Bluehost, as well as Convertkit and Buffer and all the nuances of social media marketing.  It’s a HUGE learning curve, but I’m dedicated to practicing and learning day-by-day.  Sometimes I make monumental leaps and other days I make incremental progress, but something has clicked with me that has never clicked before:  My dedication and commitment to this process of learning and getting this all down and working on it every chance I get is causing some SERIOUS MOMENTUM.  I am experiencing baby successes that are leading to toddler successes.  And I’m pretty sure these toddler successes will one day graduate from Kindergarten and become 1st grade successes.  And a year from now, I’m POSITIVE I’ll look back and say, “Wow, Lady!  You’ve come a long, freakin’ way!!!”  Cuz that’s how I talk to myself.  I call myself “Lady” and say “freakin'”.  😉

All that to say, when we are dedicated to the process, and working on it every day, incremental success becomes inevitable.  It’s the same with fitness, our abs, our guitar, or our finances.  Whatever we spend lots of time on, playing around with, reading up on, asking others about, tweaking, adjusting, trying…PRACTICING…we’ll eventually master.  Will we master it to the level where we’ll become world famous and make millions of dollars?  Who knows.  But we will never know unless we commit.  And as you know, the reasons behind our commitment have to be super clear and super strong.  We have to know where we’re going and identify the processes that will get us there the quickest.  It is imperative that we understand this and recognize what we’re doing at every step.  But it is even more important that we make some kind of progress every single day.  Most people get defeated because their efforts are scattered and random.  And then they wonder why they’re not seeing results. We always want to see immediate results for our actions, right?  But true success rarely comes in the form of immediate results, if ever.  We know this fundamentally, but when someone doesn’t respond to our blog or Facebook posts or even our paid ads, we can’t help but take it personally and get discouraged.

So today, I’m charging you.  Commit to the mastery of the skills your are learning.  Commit and put all those eggs in that basket.  You may not see the outcome and reward in doing so for months or even years, but you will eventually reap the benefits of your commitment to practice and get better along the way!

Consistent Doing = Consistent Progress

Consistent Doing = Consistent Progress

by | Mar 10, 2017 | business

I don’t want to brag :), but I am SO happy with my progress on my business this week!  First of all, I took the leap, and I’ve been taking not one, but two online courses simultaneously:

  1. Courses that Convert by Amy Porterfield – a step by step approach to creating courses that will SELL!
  2. LIGHTS, CAMERA, BRANDING! by Tiffany Lee Bymaster (aka Coach Glitter) – a guide to being the best you can be at video — whether live or prerecorded.

I know…pretty crazy!  But the courses seemed to compliment each other so much and each had specific content that is directly related to the business I’m trying to create, so regardless of the workload, it just seemed right!  And can I just tell you…I’m learning SO much!  And I’m motivated to do the work, ya know?  Before I enrolled in Courses that Convert, I felt like my wheels were spinning.  I knew I needed to do something, but I didn’t know what to do first.  Since this course was not cheap (around $1000), I gulped when I signed up.  But I now know I did the right thing.  If I am able to do the work and get this process underway in less time and with less headache and mental and emotional mindgames, I know I can make this business happen and set attainable goals for myself along the way.  This feeling is such a good one for me to have, because I know that it isn’t just hype and emotion, but the actual doing of the hard work that gives me perseverance to go on.

So yesterday, after getting my daughter off to school, I finished Lesson 2 of my coursework and decided to just dive in and create my course outline.  I was so focused it was unbelievable!  I was able to rip out my course outline in less than 2 hours and have a much clearer vision for how I wanted to structure the content!  This was a HUGE stride for me and my business yesterday.  I had been feeling so defeated, like I just couldn’t get the things done I wanted to do.  And all of a sudden, it was SO clear and borderline EASY!  Now it was only that easy because I had been laying the foundation and doing the little things that I needed to do leading up to yesterday.  But, it was effortless and so rewarding!

Everyone says that, once you get into the habit of exercising, running, practicing or any other kind of discipline, it becomes addictive.  You can’t live without it.  I never really understood that until recently.  I’ve never considered myself to be a runner, for instance, but after months of running on my treadmill every single day — whether it was just a few minutes or a half hour, rain or shine, feeling good or not — I ran!  And now I can honestly say, “I love running!” and I miss it when I don’t do it.  It’s also opened the door for more kinds of workouts that my body needs and made me not as timid to jump in and try new things.  Weird how that happens, right?  And very early on, when I began singing, I wasn’t that good.  I tell my students this all the time.  I mean, I had a raw talent, but it wasn’t anything like what it is now.  My teachers had their work cut out for them.  Many didn’t even take me seriously.  I was refused by some prestigious vocal coaches I wanted to work with, because I wasn’t good enough to work with them.  But I kept trying.  I kept practicing.  I never lost my zeal for learning and trying to find the answers.  And even though I never had the “career” I initially thought I wanted to have as a singer, I still went a long way with my voice and can do things I never thought possible when I sing.  The same is true for me and my business.  What used to be a dread, because it was overwhelming and I just couldn’t grasp all the seemingly endless processes and things to learn, it is now something I can I honestly say I wake up looking forward to working on!  From the moment I get my coffee, I find myself drawn to my computer to see what else I can learn or create.  This is when I know I’ve formed a habit worth hanging on to.  A long time ago, I heard the quote that has been attributed to George Washington, “It’s wonderful what we can do if we’re always doing.”

So there you have it!  It’s the doing of the things.  Not all at the same time…but day by day by day…that eventually get us to our goals.  But just like the doing can take us to our goals, the choice not to do will also take us somewhere.  And that somewhere is not a good place for me.  And I suspect it isn’t for you either.

Have you ever read the book, The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson?  It’s such a timeless and true book about success…in virtually any aspect of our lives.  I resurrected this book recently just to thumb through it and get inspired, and I was immediately hooked back in.  The premise is simple:  do little things every single day and you will get results.  Whether those little things are good habits or bad habits, they will eventually have an outcome.  The outcome is never today or even tomorrow.  Very rarely is the outcome even a week from now or a month from now, but slowly and steadily, progress happens.  And that, my friends, is the underlying impetus for me.  I know that, if I’m always doing, I will eventually achieve my goals.  I will eventually have the life, the voice, the business, the body, or whatever it is I’m aiming for.

I said all that today, because I want to encourage you, friends.  If you are struggling, feeling down, feeling defeated, feeling OVERWHELMED, just know that your consistency in the doing will pay off.  Your perseverance when times get hard and you wonder why you’re working so hard will eventually lead to something you can be proud of and feel good about!  I also wanted to encourage those, like me, who have a very limited amount of time and resources to accomplish your goals.  This may not apply to everyone reading this, but I can say that it takes a Herculean effort on my part to do a n y t h i n g of significance.  And I’m talking about even getting laundry folded or a room vacuumed.  I have 3 young children ages 8, 5 and 3 currently as I write this post.  And up until last month, I had a full time job at Apple.  And for years, I never knew how to carve out time to actually create or make something happen for my business. I felt trapped — and even paralyzed — like my hands were tied and there was nothing I could do.  Ever feel like that?  Like you want to make something happen, but overcoming the odds against you just feels too hard and exhausting to even begin?  Well, I can relate.

It actually wasn’t until I quit my job that I realized how much time I had had prior to working — time that I didn’t even know I had!  You know that old folk tale where the guy complains that his house is too small and prays for a bigger house, so the next day, he acquires a roommate, and then two cows, and three goats, and 10 chickens (I’m probably getting this wrong because I have a terrible memory about stories), but the gist is that his house was filled up with all these things, and when he finally got rid of all these things after a month of living with them all, he all of a sudden had the HUGE home he desired (and he probably enjoyed the smell of it again too)!  I find this to be true for me.  I had ALL this time that I didn’t know I had before I worked full time.  Then I worked full time and had no time at all — not even enough time to SLEEP.  So now, I’m not working full time and I feel like I have SO much more time available to create the business I want because I know what it was like not to have any time.  Does that make sense?  I hope so!

So, if you don’t feel like you have any time to create the business of your dreams and make the kind of progress you want to make with it, maybe it’s just time to reassess what’s on your plate.  Do you have too many goats and chickens and cows lurking around?  Do you have time you don’t even know you have?  What if you got up a couple hours earlier?  What if you went to bed a couple hours later?  What if you took advantage of a sitter a couple days a week or took a break from social media or t.v.?  I know there’s no ONE FORMULA FOR ALL, but here’s what my work schedule currently looks like:

Tuesdays – Fridays

  • 4:15am – wake up and drink coffee 🙂 and have some quiet time
  • 5:00am – start working (either in my home office or at a coffee shop, since they open at 5am and my house can sometimes be crazy in the morning)
  • 7:00am – eat breakfast and help get my kids ready for school (if I choose to stay home)
  • 8:00am – work out for 30 minutes and shower
  • 9:00am – get my daughter ready for her preschool
  • 9:30am – 11am – get back to work and start working on my courses
  • 11:00am – grab a snack and take a walk or do something I need to do around the house
  • 11:30am – work on my social media sites and wrap up day’s work
  • 1:30pm – pick up my daughter from preK
  • 2:30pm – pick up my sons from school
  • SPEND REST OF THE DAY with my family!

Now, I’m totally not suggesting you get up at 4am!  (actually, I kinda am) But that works for me, and I can tell you that I don’t miss the sleep!  Sure, I go to bed earlier than most people (usually around the time my kids go to bed) on those nights before I work, but I have other nights where I don’t.  The point is, I made a shift in my schedule that automatically carved out a time for me to work.  Even if my kids were home — which they will be in the summer — I can still carve out this early time from 4am to 9am and spend the rest of the day with them without having to hire a sitter most days.  That’s 5 hours a day!!!  Who knew I had that kind of time???  And sure, it takes discipline to get up at that time every morning, but you know what?  I’m addicted.  I’ve done it for so long now that my eyes automatically open at that time and I couldn’t sleep much later if I tried.

I just want to encourage you and help you find time for yourself and for the things you want to do.  If you don’t start actually carving out the time and doing the things you want to do, how can you ever know what you are capable of?  What’s the Dave Ramsey quote?  “Live like no one else NOW, so you can live like no one else LATER.”  And that’s what this is all about:  making necessary sacrifices now in order to build the business of your dreams.  The sacrifices won’t last forever.  And truthfully, they won’t even feel like sacrifices, because you’ll know where you’re headed.  Ya just gotta start.  Now.  Go on…No buts!

Please comment below and tell me how you’ll carve out extra time for yourself and your business this week.

Look forward to hearing from you!

xoxo,

Amy

rough day

by | Mar 8, 2017 | struggle

Hi Friends!  I have to admit to you today that I am down-trodden x 10 today!  I knew it was going to come this week.  After all, I have never had Premenstrual Syndrome, but rather…POST-menstrual Syndrome.  Is that TMI?  Well, sorry if it is, but it’s true.  I don’t get down and depressed during the days leading up to it but rather during the days following.  And here I am.  My energy level is low.  I’m feeling blah.  And I just can’t seem to get any traction with the IMPORTANT things I need to do for my business.  Does this sound familiar to you?

I guess I need to give myself a break.  After all, I am just human.  But I feel like I’ve been operating in superhuman mode over the past few weeks and trying like a mad woman to get websites and social media set up so that I can just plunk information into them.  I’m also in the process of creating courses, which is the main goal for my online business…but there is just so much work involved.  It’s also not easy to do the bulk of the work unless you have a dedicated, rather large chunk of time to dedicate to do just that.  I have also kept my energy flow pretty high over the past few weeks, so it is totally normal and actually pretty predictable that they would plummet right now.  But still…

I’m also just struggling in general with creating the community that I am going to need for these courses to be successful.  I have a Facebook page.  I have a blog.  I want to start a podcast.  And there’s the courses I want to sell (my ultimate goal)…but WHERE oh WHERE are the people??  Today, on my way home from the cafe where I was working early this morning, I was just feeling so down.  I don’t take it personally when people don’t engage with my posts.  I’m past that.  I just want to know WHAT to post to make them engage.  And no, I don’t want to download any more plugins or pay anymore money to ensure that that happens.  Isn’t there another way?  How can I engage people and get information from them to help me build my courses in the process?  I know there are people out there who want to learn how to sing.  Why?  Because I’ve taught many of them and literally everywhere I go, people are telling me they’ve always wanted to learn how to sing.  Why then, is it so hard to get people to respond to my posts about singing?

My only conclusion is that I need to have content and notoriety before I can have the respect and following I need to have.  But how do I get that???  How do you get your foot in the door and get people’s respect so that they will spread your name like wildfire and shout it from the mountains that everyone interested in what you teach should come to you???

And when?  How long will this take?  weeks?  months??  years????

So what will I do?  Well, my tendency is to plow right through it all.  I know I will probably stay with that tendency.  But in the meantime, I just don’t feel like I have time to lose.  I quit my job to invest all my would-be-working time to get my business off the ground, but some days I just don’t feel like I’m getting there quick enough.  On top of that, I have Mommy guilt.  And I don’t even know if I would call it that really.  I feel less guilty and more…just sad about having to put my 3-year-old daughter in preK 4 days a week so I can figure all this out.  After all, she’ll only be little once, right?  And I feel like I’m missing out on being with her in order to figure all this out and try to (at SOME point) generate some income through all this.

Anyway…I don’t necessarily share this post to vent with you.  I do have bouncing boards and people I can go to for things like this.  But I do want to let you know, if you are struggling, that STRUGGLE IS REAL and it’s all part of the process when you are trying to create the business of  your dreams.  And I am.  I want to figure this out.  I am DETERMINED to figure this out.  But the groundwork laying part is hard.  All the setting up and days you feel like time is just flying by and working against you are hard.  And have I mentioned HOW MUCH INFORMATION there is to learn???

I’m literally taking 2 pretty big courses simultaneously.  Yep…that’s right.  2!!  I don’t know if I’m ambitious or insane or both.  But I just feel like I need to learn and this is the quickest way to get there.

YOU:  What 2 courses are you taking, Amy?

ME:  Well, glad you asked.  I’m taking “Courses that Convert” by Amy Porterfield and “LIGHTS, CAMERA, BRANDING” by Tiffany Lee Bymaster.  Both ladies are fabulous and the content is incredibly rich.  So it’s inspiring me.  There’s just not enough time in the day.

Speaking of which…gotta go listen to another lesson and GET ON IT!

Have a great day!

…and thanks for listening.

P.S. – Please feel free to comment below on some of the areas you are struggling in with your business.

xoxo

Let’s Start Singing!

Posture vs. Body Alignment

by | Mar 8, 2017 | singing

So which is it?

Is it posture or body alignment?

I’d like to think it is a mixture of both.  But for the sake of this post, I’ll talk mainly about body alignment.  Posture, for me, always brings up visions of a military officer.  It makes me immediately feel stiff, tense and somewhat stressed.  It gives me the feeling of being upright, unnatural and serious.  For years, none of these mental images and perceptions made sense to me as a singer.  I did it, because I was told to.  But I didn’t know how it made sense and fit together with the idea of being relaxed as a singer.  So, with that in mind, the idea of replacing the word “posture” with “body alignment” was a breath (no pun intended) of fresh air to me.

So when we talk about body alignment, we are referring to the way we stand or the way our buoyant bodies move in place.  It’s the way we energize the voice while we are in an energized but stable position.

We begin with proper body alignment by standing against the wall with our heels, buttocks, shoulder blades and head touching the wall.  When we walk away from the wall, we have more awareness of where our head should be in relation to the body.  But this is the part where we relax the shoulders, breathe and allow our bodies to be relaxed but energized with our sternum high and our feet placed slightly apart with knees slightly bent.  We’ll talk more about the bent knees in a moment, but the point is this:  we want to stand tall, but never, ever stiff.  We want to be in a noble posture that emphasizes height but never tension.

After we find this tall, noble posture with the sternum high and shoulders relaxed back and down.  Oh…by the way…did I mention we don’t want HIGH shoulders when we sing?  I didn’t?  Well, anyway…we don’t want high shoulders.  And then, after all that…(are you still with me?) we want to make sure our back and hips are properly aligned and our feet are hips’ width apart with both knees slightly bent and one leg slightly more forward and bent than the other.

What is the point of all this?  Well, we want to have stability.  We want to be able to stand without falling over.  When our knees are straight and too close together or the body isn’t properly aligned, we run the risk of our knees locking and losing balance.  With nerves already in place during performance, our sense of balance is already threatened.  And if we are standing with our body properly aligned and our feet at a hips’ width apart with knees slightly bent, we are able to sing with balance and stability.

Now back to the high sternum.  When we raise our sternum (the bone in the center of our chest) toward the ceiling, we are physically encouraged to stand in a noble position.  This high, noble position allows our rib cage plenty of room to expand and our lungs to inhale to their full capacity.

So, this.  This is the body alignment we need and want as singers.  No stiffness.  No pretense.  No high shoulders.  But we do want high sternums.  Make sense?

Here’s a wonderful diagram of how the body should look when it is properly aligned.

Enjoy!

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