autumn
Sink into autumn with my listening playlist, full of autumn inspired music from the world of classical music.
What’s your favourite season? I know a lot of people would say autumn (or ‘fall’ in the US). Would it surprise you to I love every season and the changes between them?… sad to see the previous season go, and to welcome the return of the new season like an old friend.
There are many depictions of the seasons in art and music, so I thought I would add a few here and link it to a youtube playlist for you to explore more.
Feel free to add your favourite pieces in the comments section below if I’ve missed something out! You’ll see I’ve included a range of instruments/emsembles/styles/periods and I hope a few that you enjoy exploring for the first time as I have.
1 Chant d’automne, Faure
Sung by soprano Mary Bevan, accompanied by Joseph Middleton
2 Four Seasons, Autumn, 3rd Movement Allegro, Vivaldi
Played by Voices of Music, with solo baroque violin from Carla Moore
3 ‘October - Autumn Song’ from The Seasons, Tchaikovsky
Solo piano Olga Scheps
4 ‘Now the Leaves are Falling Fast’, from On This Island, Benjamin Britten
Sung by Peter Pears, Accompanied by Benjamin Britten
5 ‘September’ from Das Jahr, Fanny Hensel (Fanny Mendelssohn)
Solo piano Diana Sahakyan
6 ‘The Fall of the Leaf’, Imogen Holst
Solo cello Amily Airhart
7 ‘September’ from Vier Letzte Lieder, Richard Strauss
Sung by Renee Fleming, at the Proms, in 2001
8 The Seasons: 1. Autumn, Thea Musgrave
Solo clarinet Concerto played by Victoria Soames Samek, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Conducted by Thea Musgrave
9 Pensee D’automne, Massenet
Sung by Huguette Tourangeau, Accompanied by Richard Bonynge
10 Autumn Gardens, Einojuhani Rautavaara
Played by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy
Choir
Whilst singing as a soloist is always enjoyable with many benefits to us - today I’m exploring and celebrating group singing and why you should consider searching for your nearest choir and joining!
When new pupils come to me for lessons I like to chat to them about their previous experiences in music. Many have sung before, some have had lessons, but ALL of them will have some prior experience of group singing or singing in a choir.
Many pupils tell me of wonderful memories in choral societies or as a child - but unfortunately there are often some negative school experiences that have put people off. I am here today to tell you not to let that experience get in the way of a very warm and fulfilling pastime that has many benefits to you as a singer, and as a human being.
Firstly, I encourage ALL my pupils to take part in group activities like theatre, choirs, A Capella groups, or school activities. It’s an easy way to add regular singing to your life, while learning vocal technique, muscianship skills, and new repertoire/music styles.
Secondly, singing with a group of people with similar interests as you is a wonderful bonding experience. Many new friendships and relationships are made at choir rehearsals. Remember that you may have to do a little research to find the right choir for you - but once you have found it you may be a member there for some time! It’s worth the research time.
Some Benefits of group singing:
helps forge social bonds
is effective for bonding large groups
excercises the brain
beneficial for improving breathing, posture and muscle tension
reducing the stress hormone cortisol and boosting the Immunoglobin A antibody, helping us sustain a healthy immune system
is universally accessible - anyone can sing! (yes, really!!!)
is cognitively stimulating and helps with memory
it’s cheap! We all have a voice in our body waiting to go, without any investment needed
Sometimes I have pupils asking for help to build their skills for choir auditions or to help them sing with more ease at choir - and I am always happy to help you with this. This doesn’t have to mean long-term lessons, get in touch with me or your local singing teacher to discuss your goals.
As always, comment below if you have any thoughts on this subject, and follow me on social media for more quotes and information about singing and performing.
birds
Learning to float and soar with your voice.
Birds are a continual fascination and inspiration to us - hardly surprising in music when their birdsong is so admired!
In particular, I’ve found that some people wish to emulate the soaring feeling of a bird in flight in their own singing. They enjoy the feel of ‘soaring’ or floating through the music they are singing, like a bird does. So what is that, and how can we create that in our voices?
“The birds are the opposite of Time...They are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows and for jubilant outpourings of song!””
When you see a bird soaring above, floating almost effortlessly above the earth, what are you really seeing?
The bird has flown from a perch on/near the ground, risen to a height where it feels the support of the wind that allows it to stay in the air. The view we have is of no effort, when actually some rather complicated physics and effort has helped the bird get there.
Here are the things I suggest pupils think about and use to achieve this with their voice:
Mind
Support
Breath
Reduce the feeling of weight or pushing
Repeat and experiment
Know where your strong beats/words are, and therefor the lighter beats and words
An inflexible voice that is pushed or feels heavy will not float or feel light. How much ‘play’ and ‘give’ do you have at your disposal? Could you find more?
As ever, if you have questions get in touch below, book in for a lesson, or work with your teacher to discuss some of these and how they work in your voice.
“Birds have always had the ability to bring me out of a dark space and provide relief in bad times.”
grow
growth as a performer and why it is good for us
“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still”
In our blog today we are thinking about growth. In an attempt to allow balance in my work and personal life I have enjoyed trying to reflect the seasons more. I am learning to accept quiet times and use them for learning/technical work, planning (usually the dark winter months) and enjoy them knowing that busier times always come, particularly in the warm sunny summer months. Some people try ‘wintering’, a sort of modern-day hibernating - is this something you have tried?
So as we are now in spring, I am thinking of growth. What is growth in our performing life? Why is growth important? How can we grow?
What is growth?
We’ve all felt that nagging feeling that we are ‘stuck’, failing to progress, or being given work that does not stretch us - and felt frustration from those feelings! We don't always feel that we are in a position to progress at a pace we are happy with. So taking some ownership is helpful to plan your own development.
So what can you do? It’s a case of ‘Show: don’t tell’. Don't waste time telling people, find ways to do it!
Why is growth good for us?
Having a growth mindset means believing that effort and skill development will better your life.
As humans, having a ‘growth mindset’ is linked with higher levels of wellbeing and better mental health.
Those with a growth mindset are found to have better ability to cope with stress and anxiety.
Have a quick google to read more about growth mindset and how it might help you!
Tips to grow
Choose new repertoire, research something you haven’t yet learned. Perhaps if you are a singer you could brush up your language skills, or learn a new song cycle?
Tackle the technique you have been having difficulty with. We all come to a point where we need to address something that has been causing us difficulty - maybe there is someone who can help you do that or you can ask your teacher to help you find ways to work it out.
Work with someone new. A new accompanist, a new group of musicians, a new teacher, a new coach, a music course… Get a fresh perspective and ask their advice.
Be brave. Challenges help you to figure out the true extent of your abilities. Experimenting in lessons and with teachers is a safe space to try.
Remove the fear of failure. If you try something in a safe space, failure is not a problem, and growth is more likely as you will not be holding back.
l’amour
Exploring different types of love as depicted by the Greeks, and how this relates to classical music
“Every heart sings a song incomplete until another heart whispers back.”
In this months blog I’m tackling the complex idea of love and its different forms as categorised by the Greeks.
Within the world of music, opera, and lieder, we are asked to understand and portray all these forms of love. Here is my summation to help you fast-track your research.
By being able to distinguish which type of love you are portraying, you will have a clearer idea of motivation, whether your character is experiencing a deep and powerful reason for the action in the aria, or perhaps a surface and poorly thought out reason.
Do you agree with my different suggestions of opera characters and which are experiencing which type of love? Let me know of any other suggestions in the comments below. Most operas include the tension between Eros and Philia, for instance, and I think sexual passion is probably the main one in most operas!
Eros (sexual passion) - Carmen, Semele, Romeo and Juliette, Turridu for Lola: Cavalleria Rusticana, Manon, La Traviata, La Boheme, probably most operas!
Eros (ἔρως érōs)
(from the Greek deity Eros) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Greek word erotameans in love. Plato refined his own definition. Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. Eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth. Lovers and philosophers are all inspired to seek truth by eros. Some translations list it as "love of the body".
Philia (deep friendship) - Nadir and Zurga: Les Pêcheurs de perles, Cosi fan Tutti
Philia (φιλία philía)
dispassionate virtuous love, was a concept addressed and developed by Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics Book VIII. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality, and familiarity.
Philia is motivated by practical reasons; one or both of the parties benefit from the relationship. It can also mean "love of the mind."
Ludus (playful/flirtatious love) - Papagena/Papageno: Die Zauberflöte, Cherubino: Le nozze di Figaro
Agape (love for everyone, empathetic love) - Violetta: La Traviata
Agape (ἀγάπη agápē)
love in modern-day Greek. The term s'agapo means I love you in Greek.
Referring to a general "pure," ideal type of love, rather than physical attraction suggested by eros. However, there are some examples of agape used to mean the same as eros. Sometimes translated as "love of the soul."
Pragma (longstanding love, committed companionate love) -The Merry Widow,
Storge (unconditional, family love) - Ilia for her family: Idomeneo, Romeo and Tybalt, Nurse for Juliette, Aida
Storge (στοργή storgē)
natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring
Mania (obsessive love) - Lady Macbeth
reset
A guide to reviewing and resetting your work as a musician and teacher
“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.”
January is a month of making changes, so why not take the time to assess your business as a musician or in the field you work in, and decide what you want to take forward, and what you can let go of.
Goals and Rewards
Make a list of your goals for the year
How brave do you feel? Maybe this list has some simple easy goals and also some amazing and difficult goals, aim big!
Performances, work on languages, new repertoire, new genre you have not yet explored, working with new people, new teaching jobs/pupils, changing your support/additional job that helps you fund your music goals.
Make a list of rewards for reaching those goals
We know we all work better when there is a reward - be that money, travel/holidays, listening to a favourite piece of music after a hard day, or maybe purchasing that expensive score you have wanted for a while (yeah, this is my weakness… they might be a particular shade of blue… and start with a B)
When you are self-employed, build in your work ‘bonus’ to your work plan.
Add detail of the stages you will go through to reach your goals
Don’t just make a list of big goals, plan how you will get there. Some goals will be easy to reach in one stage, some might be a long term project with many stages to tick off along the way.
Assess your Success
What went right last year?
What are you proud of?
It’s time, you have permission to pat yourself firmly on the back, and hold your own personal awards ceremony! Best of all, it’s all about you. List all your achievements and thoroughly asses what you have to be proud of - include financial, emotional, and mental achievements
What will you try to replicate?
Update Ways of Working
What takes more time than it should?
What could you use to improve your work-flow?
Are your accounts taking ages? are you slow on social media? Are you keeping track efficiently of pupils and payments? Are there any tools like apps or software that would save you time? Remember time is money and effort - often spending money is worth it if your life is easier or you are taking less time to do tasks you don’t enjoy.
What can be done more efficiently
Is your teaching scheduled neatly together or taking up random times in your week? Would your commute be easier/quicker if done at a different time if you worked different hours? Could you use fewer paid childcare hours if you moved your work schedule/teaching?
Tidy
Tidy and sort :
Concert/audition/teaching clothes
Sell/post/give away/donate what is no longer suitable or does not fit
Music
It’s easier to find if it is stored in a system you find easy to use.
Desk
Computer Files
Keep old files/photos in folders for their year, and make a new folder for the current files
CV
Website
Your Home
Training
What training did you undertake last year?
What training will you plan for this year?
Where are your weak points and how will you work towards making them your strong points?
Plan
Set out your diary and plan in holidays
It’s very easy to fail to take a break if you get offered work - but it is not good for us or our friends/family. Make sure it goes in the diary even if it can be moved. Schedule work like social media to automatically load while you are taking a break.
Find gaps and decide where new projects would fit in
Know when you are free to take on training
Hobbies
Can you schedule holiday days around work travel to include your hobbies?
Decide on new hobbies or when you are free to learn/do something, particularly if this is a seasonal thing
Buy/plan to buy that new book or piece of sports equipment
Wind up Old Projects
Make a to-do list of old unfinished goals.
Sweep up all the old half finished things into one list. Plan what you need to do to finish them all off, and how you will do that.
If you are choosing to stop something, plan your exit and work towards it
If you plan to change jobs, or finish certain teaching jobs, plan how you will step back and when, build in a change-over time if you are handing a job to someone else.
warm up
warm up and get ready to sing
Here I am, in my sunglasses, ready to help you warm-up your body and voice to sing. Are you ready to start work?
Here are my top tips for a successful warm-up that will help you sing your best.
Schedule
Begin by scheduling in the time to warm up and practice. Make sure you leave yourself enough time to fit in what you want to achieve - or change your practice goals for that day.
Make sure you know how many times you want to practise this week, or even just to warm up your voice. Too much or too little will affect your goals and your muscle memory.
Prepare your space
I can't concentrate in an untidy room. Maybe you don’t have this problem - but I like the room to be clean and tidy, so I have as few distractions as possible! This helps create a calm space to work and I always feel more relaxed about my work.
How are you?
Before singing, take a moment to check in with how you feel today. Do you have a headache? Are you getting over a cold? Maybe you ache from exercise? All these things may affect how you will warm up and practice. Make sure you are making realistic and safe goals for the voice you have woken up with and not overdoing it.
Stretch, and Connect
We want our voices to be produced from a warmed-up neutral body that has no tension, pain, pulled muscles, or illness. We want our whole body to feel energised and yet relaxed - so begin with your favourite stretches. Choose a few positions that you may know from yoga or pilates, like roll-downs and Downward Dog to focus your mind and body.
I ask my students to do the same stretch I do. Reach up to the ceiling and pause, then gently lower your arms back down, feeling your shoulder blades slide down their back. This with a few gentle back rotations really helps me with my shoulder tension. Be aware of your own body and what it needs today.
Start at the very beginning
Be like Maria in The Sound of Music, and begin with gentle exercises of a few notes, before working up to longer and more complicated exercises. The voice should be treated gently.
Expand
Once you have completed the gentle exercises you are ready to expand and sing higher, and lower. You want to warm-up beyond the lowest notes and highest notes of the pieces you are working on in your practise session.
Add emotions
Even though your scales and arpeggios may be without words, experiment with adding emotion and meaning. Sing a scale as though very happy, very sad, angry, in love. Spot how your voice changes. Do you have a favourite emotion? Is the scale easier in one of these emotions than the other?
Isolate
Finally, you might want to take a phrase from your pieces that needs technical work and work on it in isolation from the whole piece.
Or, you may have a favourite piece/part of a piece you sing really well and you feel helps ground your voice in the right place. You might find it useful singing this before heading into the main part of your practice.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these tips - which do you find useful? As always, feel free to comment below, or share with your friends.
Learn to Sing
Learn to sing - what happens in singing lessons?
In my blog post today I’m going to take you through the benefits of taking singing lessons, and what happens in lessons with me. I’ve rarely met anyone who hasn’t dreamed of having singing lessons or working on their voice - but what do lessons entail? What happens in a lesson when you are a pupil, and what will you gain from lessons?
“The only thing better than singing, is more singing”
Why do people take singing lessons?
There are a number of reasons people take singing lessons, here is a list of some of the main ones I’ve encountered.
For enjoyment. Singing is enjoyable, and it makes us feel good. Many pupils take lessons simply because they enjoy the chance to sing and make music together. This is something I love sharing with my pupils.
To improve confidence. Many people feel vulnerable or self-conscious when performing, but lessons can help to give you confidence. Some people use lessons to help them learn and have more confidence to join or audition for choirs, musical theatre groups, sing with their guitar, or to join their local opera or Gilbert and Sullivan groups.
Sometimes pupils feel more confident presenting and public speaking in their jobs through their practise performing in singing lessons.
To gain qualifications through exams - school exams or College/University/ABRSM/Trinity/etc exams that progress through grades.
To learn more about technique. The human voice changes throughout our lives, so even the most experienced singer will continue to work on their technique. Lessons can help to ground your warm-up and practise with up-to-date information and ideas to help you with whatever stage you are at.
To explore different sounds. We all have the capability to make different sounds with our voices - and make different decisions about how certain phrases or songs should sound to communicate what we want to the audience. In lessons we can explore different sounds and choose which one you would like to use.
To problem solve. Some pupils have experienced difficulty doing something with their voice, or conquering a certain technique or repertoire. Lessons can help you work towards your goals.
To work on the performance or repertoire. Having a second person in the room can be useful to give you another perspective on your performance. Your teacher can guide you through portraying a character, showing journey, and making musical choices to ground that portrayal.
What happens in my singing lessons?
Firstly, I’ll invite a new pupil to sit and we will have a chat. I’ll introduce myself a little, and I ask about your previous experiences learning music (if any), your understanding of music, the body, and reading music, and your goals for lessons. I may make notes to remind myself - for instance if you can read music a little I know you can find your own note to start in your practice. If not, we will find other ways to help you.
I will ask how your voice feels today, check you have no illness, allergies, or feel tired. All these things may affect our lesson and what we sing together.
I will sit at the piano because I can play/accompany you for your lesson. Sometimes I use recordings for you to listen to/sing with, but for live performance practise and technical work I prefer using the piano as it gives us more freedom to stop and experiment.
Warm Up. We will sing a general/easy warm up of several exercises aimed to gently warm up your voice, and introduce the sung sound into our session. I know this can be a nerve-wracking thing for a new pupil (I’ve been there too!) so I will explain that these noises are for ‘play’ and experiment. They are not meant to be judged - in fact that isn't really my job at all!
I will choose exercises depending on your voice type, how comfortably you are singing in our lesson, and if you mentioned something in your goals you wish to work on.
We will sing a song. Either you will have brought music to sing together, or I will have music for you to learn. In regular lessons you may work on more than one piece for each lesson. The pieces you are working on will probably contrast - different emotions, different characters, different languages, different historical style etc. This avoids singing with the same style as it makes you sing out-with your comfort zone and make new muscle memory, helping you grow as a singer.
What will I gain from singing lessons?
This will depend entirely on you, and your goals!
You will enjoy singing with a live accompaniment, learning a song from an unknown piece of music up to performance standard
You will learn new ways to use technique and your voice to alter the sound you make
You will learn how to negotiate different phrases to make them sound the way you want them to
You will learn a variety of repertoire, including songs you may never have heard of before, broadening your knowledge and understanding of your voice
You will learn to think about the interpretation and performance of your music, and develop your skills as a communicator
You will become more confident in the sound you make from gaining better understanding of your voice
You will learn a skill, with many different aspects that shows development and skill attainment. This will give you a sense of achievement and pride, regardless of whether you sit exams or learn for your own enjoyment
You will learn a skill that you can share with others whether at home, with your friends or family, or taking part in performances
You will learn the skills of how to use your voice so that you can problem solve technique and work on music yourself
I have a broad experience of teaching and have taught people with different learning styles and approaches, so please let me know if there is anything you would like to share with me about you before your lesson.
I always aim to teach in a way that helps each pupil achieve and succeed in their own goals, and I am open to altering our lessons to help you do this.
food
Food for singers, advice on what not to eat, and some recipes to try
One of the greatest loves of my life is food. I love reading about it, growing it, making it, and of course eating it. This is not unusual among singers either! I have had part time jobs in cafes and restaurants to make some money to help pay for singing lessons - I’m sure you know or have been served by people working between music or acting jobs.
When I travel I love trying out new dishes and dream of coming home to recreate them, even if they never quite taste the same! I will greedily ask you what you ate on holiday, in a restaurant, or made for your dinner party.
This month which is often associated with summer holidays (for those of us in Europe), I thought it might be fun to talk about food and singing - what foods do famous singers eat? What is advised for singers to eat/avoid? And of course some recipes to try that are associated with some of our operatic heroes.
What should I avoid eating when singing?
Well, this escalated quickly - and the truth is… that there are no hard and fast rules! Know your own body, and respond to what works for you. There is no evidence that certain foods will be good or bad, only general advice linked to reflux and heartburn.
I recently ate ice cream just before singing, and it was delicious. Dairy is not an issue for me personally, but if you notice any extra phlegm that inhibits your singing, you might want to time it so you don’t have it right before singing. But don’t presume or deny yourself certain foods if they don’t cause you issues.
Reflux
Reflux can affect the quality of the voice, causing irritation and inflammation. There have been studies that link singing/professional singers and reflux, the link is not entirely clear, the linked study was with a small number of singers. You can read it here:
If you work with and are generally more aware of your body and small day-to-day differences, you may be sensitive to changes others may not notice.
If you are experiencing problems like waking with a scratchy throat, feeling burning in your throat, hoarse voice, bad breath, bloating/heartburn, you should speak to your pharmacist or doctor for advice.
Some of the causes of reflux can be:
Eating certain foods/drinks (coffee, tomatoes, fatty foods, alcohol, spicy food, chocolate)
Eating late at night
Certain medicines
Pregnancy
Smoking
Being overweight
Stress and Anxiety
So to try and reduce symptoms it is suggested you:
Lose Weight if overweight
Find ways to relax/destress
raise the head of your bed when asleep by a couple of inches to use gravity to help
Avoid food/drink that exacerbates your personal symptoms
Don’t smoke
Don’t drink alcohol
Wear clothes that are loose around your middle
You can find more information here:
Anecdotes
We’ve covered the science, we’ve discussed what should be sensible, so now we can enjoy the stories and the recipes!
It is said Pavarotti asked for three roast chickens to be available at all times where he sang. He was also famed for cooking certain pasta dishes for his friends for which there are recipes online
San Francisco opera published a recipe book called “What Aria Cooking” published by SF Opera Guild in 1974, with favourite recipes of the stars including Leontyne Price’s ‘Crabmeat Imperial Casserole’, and Tito Gobbi’s ‘Pasta alla Tito Gobbi’. I feel I need to hunt this down! There are several other cookbooks around with recipes from opera singers
Callas would collect recipes from famous cooks and hotels when she travelled, but was said to rarely if ever cook them. She ate mainly steak and salad to maintain her slimmer figure after her weight loss
Remember that what you eat will power you through your work - so balance the good and the not so good, and consult a personal trainer/nutritionalist if you wish specific personalised guidance to help you improve your fitness or lose weight.Always consult your doctor if you have any concerns and before making radical changes to your fitness and diet.I hope you enjoy trying one of the recipes below - a cocktail, pasta dish, and classic pudding for your enjoyment.
Please comment and let me know if you try one of them!
-
1 and a 1/2 ounces of gin
1/2 and ounce of Dubonnet (the red version)
1/4 of an ounce of maraschino liqueur
Dash of orange bitters (optional)
Twist of orange or lemon peel, or slice of orange to garnish
Method:
Shake together the gin, Dubonnet, maraschino liqueur and bitters (if using) in a cocktail shaker with ice, until the cocktail is mixed and chilled.
Strain the mixture into your choice of glass, and garnish. Serve with a name drop of the last famous singer you made the drink for at one of your many soirées.
-
This recipe is also called ‘pasta con le melanzane’ (pasta with aubergine/eggplant)
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 Aubergines cut into pieces of about 3cm
1sp salt
4tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
pinch of chilli flakes
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
350g spaghetti
small bunch of basil, shredded, plus extra to decorate
1 heaped tbsp capers
ricotta cheese or finely grated parmesan to serve
Method:
Add the salt to the aubergine chunks and set them in a colander over a bowl to remove excess moisture.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a casserole dish or saucepan. Fry the onion with a pinch of salt on a low heat for 10 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and chilli for 1 minute, before adding the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a simmer.
Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Heat the oven to gas mark 7/220C fan/200 C.
Pat the aubergine dry with a clean tea towel/kitchen roll. Stir in the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, and spread it out on a baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes until golden around the edges.
Meanwhile cook the pasta according to packet instructions, and reserve 100ml of the pasta water.
Stir the aubergine into the sauce with the basil and capers. Season to taste.
Stir the cooked pasta into the sauce, with some of the pasta water.
Divide between 4 bowls and top with ricotta/parmesan and extra basil for decoration.
-
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Choose 4 ripe peaches, the best seasonal ripe peaches you can find.
200g Fresh raspberries
Lemon Juice (optional)
some sugar
100g icing sugar
Vanilla ice cream - home made or bought
Fresh almonds/flaked almonds to serve
Method:
Blanch the peaches for 2 seconds in boiling water, remove them with a slotted spoon and place in iced water for a few seconds. Peel them when cold.
Optional- to reduce the peaches browning, place them in water with a little lemon juice. This helps if you are preparing the dessert in advance.
Sprinkle the peaches with a little sugar, and place them in the fridge.
Puree 200g of raspberries and pass them through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Mix with the icing sugar, and refrigerate.
When ready to serve, either prepare one large celebratory dish or plate into 4 bowls.
Add a bed of ice cream with the peach on top, covered in the raspberry sauce.
Use almond flakes to decorate - Escoffier suggest only fresh and in season, but shhhh, we don’t need to tell him!
breathe
Breath control in singing
“Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I
but when the trees bow down their heads,
the wind is passing by.”
Christina Rossetti
We breathe and take breath every second, minute, and hour of hour lives. Yet when it comes to singing, we must breathe and use our bodies to regulate air in a slightly different way. Breathing should feel easy, use our whole body, feel relaxed, and aid our music making and communicating. But how often have we truly felt that?
As always, my blog today is not here to teach you the one and only amazing technique to fix your problems or follow for perfect singing. For that you need to work with a trained and trusted teacher who can work with you, your body, your health, and your voice. Every singer will need a different balance of the individual elements.
Instead, I will describe what breathing well does, give some guidance for better breathing, ways to balance the different things that might be going against your goals, and talk about techniques to calm anxiety. I hope I might guide you to improve your knowledge and ability to assess your own breathing needs. If you have health concerns, consult your Doctor before trying any new exercises.
The Body
Breathing is part of what is known as the autonomic nervous system, or ANS. These automatic body functions are mostly involuntary, and include things like:
Digestion
Speed of breathing
Body Temperature
Regulating blood pressure
By regulating your breathing through exercise or for instance singing, you can regulate your your ANS, which in turn has the following benefits:
Lowers heart rate
Relaxes the body and mind
Regulates blood pressure
Lowers the release of the hormone cortisol, known as the stress hormone
Diaphragmatic Breathing
Pupils and fans of tv singing shows all know that diaphragmatic breathing is needed in singing. But what does that actually mean? And why is it good for singing?
The diaphragm is just one of the many muscles that we need to use to breathe.
Our bodies need to feel loose and relaxed when we sing both for good breathing and resonance, so try to include some stretches that feel like they relax and lengthen your body so you start in a neutral state without tension.
Your intercostal muscles between your ribs help expand your rib cage to allow your lungs to fill with air. The diaphragm is below the lungs and contracts on inhalation to make extra space for the lungs to fill and move into.
In order to breathe well, we need to breathe deeply with movement and expansion around the 360 degrees of the trunk of our body.
Deep breaths should be slower, without tension, and more relaxed. Shallow breaths are often made higher the body, and tend to be more tense, sometimes faster. You can experiment with this and feel the difference for yourself. We know we want as little tension as possible when we sing, so deep, slow, low breaths using the diaphragm and filling our lungs more fully is preferable.
For some people, focussed breathing or breathing exercises might increase their anxiety or be bad for their health- so take care to pay attention to your own body and mind, and only continue if you feel happy to do so.
Breath Control
Once that breathe has been taken, it is important not to let it out without control. Good imagery to explain this is the bellow taking in air and expelling it with focus through the small opening. Or a balloon being filled with air, and being let go to produce a long sound as it expels the air slowly through the small neck of the balloon.
We’ve noted how to expand our ‘bellows’ or ‘balloon’ by expanding around the trunk of our body, and we must now think of the air when expelled . It travels up the trachea (wind pipe) and out through the mouth, first meeting resistance in the larynx through the vocal folds. The vocal folds meet together in a waving/pulsing motion at great speed to make sound as the air passes through. We use our bodies to gently support the voice, and regulate the expulsion of air so that it is is gentle, not tense or forced, and the correct speed. Each singer will will find their body works slightly differently and needs different elements tweaked through their lives to support the sound they wish to make.
These are the basic concepts of breathing and breath control in singing that are needed to make sound that is healthy and sustainable. Not all types of singing, emotions, repertoire or voice production will need the same levels of breath support or the same breath, so at all times ask yourself questions about your voice:
Does is feel comfortable?
Is it sustainable?
Do I like the sound I am making?
Can I make the sound more sustainable/comfortable by changing something?
As ever, let me know in the comments if you have any thoughts or feelings about this months blog, and if you would like to read about some more exercises for anxiety or better breathing click on the link below.
Let there be Light!
Let there be Light! Music depicting and describing light, with a link to a playlist
In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
- Sir Frances Bacon
Welcome to a blog post with a bit of a difference! For this month, I have chosen the subject of light as a contrast to last months dark and spooky themes.
Music (being noise) does not directly contain light, but I am going to make a list of music that seeks to examine, describe, and explain light in some way. Click on the link below to take you to the youtube playlist on my youtube channel where you can listen/watch the excerpts back to back.
Here in the blog there will be short explanations and listening notes you can choose to follow along with, or not, as you feel like it.
As ever, feel free to comment and let me know your favourite pieces about light. Have I missed anything out you think should have been included?
Rusalka’s Song to the Moon, Dvorák
Rusalka is a water nymph, singing to the moon which is reflecting in the pool of water. She asks the moon to send her love to the human Prince who hunts around the lake, who she has fallen in love with. The music is full of shimmering ripples and dark forboding, as this story won’t end well.
Lux Aeterna, Ligeti
It won’t surprise you to find that several pieces in this selection about light are from the latin mass. This, however, is one of the more modern and perhaps the most challenging piece I’ve chosen, written in 1968.
Featuring a 16-part choir, this setting was used in Stanley Kubrick’s film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. The words are:
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine; et lux perpetua luceat eis
Translated as: "May everlasting light shine upon them, O Lord, with thy saints in eternity, for thou art merciful. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon them."
The music is written to be very close harmony cluster chords and dissonance, so many have a mixed response. Some people find it very unsettling, others find it relaxing. What about you?
In splendour bright is rising now the sun, The Creation, Haydn
Here is a sunrise, written to illustrate the creation as depicted in Genesis. The chords build to a radiant burst of sunshine where there once was nothing. Short and sweet, but very dramatic when seen live!
Lux Aurumque, for Wind Ensemble, Eric Whitacre
Eric Whatacre is a living composer who has become a celebrity in music circles for his beautiful choral music. Here I’ve chosen a wind ensemble version of this choral piece, as it really demonstrates the beauty of his writing to describe the golden light of the title. I also think the wind arrangement is very peaceful and atmospheric for our playlist, a mid point to reflect.
Lux Aeterna, Requiem, Verdi
Now that you’ve heard some very modern interpretation of Lux Aeterna, here is Verdi’s version performed in 1874.
The requiem includes some huge music scored for a large orchestra and large choir, but here the music is much more quiet and intimate, the soloists are partly unaccompanied, all eyes are on them as they sing of angels and the light shining, with twinkling woodwind.
Four Sea Interludes: no 3 Moonlight, Britten
We started with the moon, we had a little sunshine in the middle, and now we are ending with the moon again.
the Four Sea Interludes are taken from the opera Peter Grimes, first performed in 1945. The story follows the life of an unfortunate fisherman from a small fishing village. Several of his young apprentices go missing, drowned. The village people decide Peter is in some way to blame.
Written to cover the scene changes, the sea interludes describe the light, energy, and brooding of the sea, one of my favourite pieces of music.
Listen to the full playlist on Youtube by clicking on the link.
I hope you’ve enjoyed exploring some pieces of music about light - which is your favourite? Have I missed out something? As ever, write me a comment, and see you again next month.