sea

Exploring music written about the sea

This month we are celebrating the sea, and the music we that is written about the sea.

This list is a few of the diverse pieces written from more recent centuries, and it is also a playlist on youtube. Click the link at the bottom to read about each piece while listening to them too.

Feel free to comment and add your own favourites in the comments box - what have I missed out?

Prelude in G, Op 28, no.3, Chopin

Used in the BBC adaptation of Persuasion which features the sea-faring exploits of Captain Wentworth, this Chopin prelude seems to capture the ever moving and reflecting water which is present in so many Sea themed compositions.

Sirèns, Debussy, ‘La Mer’

Would it be the sea if a composer wasn’t writing about mermaids or Sirens luring sailors to their death? Here Debussy writes soaring melismas for the choir to represent those other-worldly creatures.

O Waly waly - Britten, Folk Song Arrangements

This folk song and arrangement is a favourite with me and many of my pupils. The technical aspects of performing are matched by the job of the performer to be a supreme storyteller.

4 Sea Interludes: Storm, Britten, ‘Peter Grimes’

There were 4 sea interludes to choose from, and I chose the storm as we haven’t had any music yet that really captures the strength and danger of the sea.

Here Britten really uses his powers of orchestration and melody to suggest the crashing sea on rocks, spray, wind, and surge.

My Gallant Crew, Sullivan, ‘HMS Pinafore’

As much as we respect the sea, we also enjoy satire and gently poking fun at authority and those in power. In this Sullivan song from HMS Pinafore the Navy and privilege are gently mocked.

Leave Her Johnny, Sea Shanty, ‘Assasins Creed’

The Shanty tradition is alive and well in this shanty used in the ‘Assasins Creed’ computer games. In recent years a sea shanty went viral as young people on tiktok enjoyed the art form and recorded their own performances.

La Mer, performed by Charles Trenet

To finish, we have French singer Chalres Trenet with his celebration of holidays and beach life. His rendition sums up the hot summer relaxing by the ocean.

positive

‘Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.’

-Frances Hodgson Burnett, ‘The Secret Garden’ -

In life, it is often said we fall in to one of two camps: optimists and pessimists. You probably already know or have an idea which you are! It’s not entirely the whole truth though, as many of us are a little of both, switching between the two.

In the arts we are often very hard on ourselves, and being self-employed we can feel the loneliness of working by ourselves for long stretches between gigs. I’ve heard of one artist describing success from one in ten auditions - so how do we handle the rejection, knock-backs and self-belief if we work in an industry by ourselves. And why should we be positive? There is a romantic fiction that performers are notoriously depressed, sarcastic and negative off stage…

Firstly, and most importantly, being positive is good for us. It not only makes us feel better, it is good for our health overall in many different ways.

The Benefits of having a Positive Mindset:

• Increased lifespan

• Better stress management

• Lower rate of depression

• Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from stroke and cardiovascular disease

• Greater resistance to illness

• Lower levels of distress and pain

• Improved creative thinking

• Stronger leadership skills

Have I convinced you yet? It’s a fairly conclusive list. These health benefits would make you better at performing as your body would be better at processing stress and recovering after.

Positive emotions actually widen our span of attention and it also changes our perception and focus on more of the “we” instead of the “me”

(Goleman, 2013. p170)

Well that covers the problems performers can have focussing on our own issues instead of thinking about the bigger picture.

So steps could we take to think more positively in our every day life and our life as performers?

• Keep a practise diary and look back on past goals to acknowledge your progress. Slow progress is still progress, and is usually longer ingrained.

• Visualize success. Not always winning first prize/the part, but singing your best, feeling connected in the performance, engaging with the audience, portraying your character well.

• Being grateful. Maybe there are parts of your work that are hard, but do they allow you to work with great colleagues? Can you work from home and reduce travel away from family? Has a job unexpectedly led to another job that you love - maybe that will happen again?

• Make plans. Treat your job like a business and do a full plan assessing where you are, and where you want to go. What are the ways you can get yourself to those end goals? Are there some in-between steps you can take to gain experience? Remember to book a six month assessment into your diary to establish what has worked and what you will change.

• Remember past successes. How did that make you feel?

• Read stories about the heroes in your industry and their journey to success. There are very few stories of instant/easy success, most artists strived and struggled through difficult times, having to find their way through multiple issues.

• Exercise and diet. Ensure you are giving your mind and body the fuel it needs. Find someone to help you with these if it keeps you motivated.

• Acknowledge your struggles. Being positive isn’t about pretending and living your life as a lie. Be real, but don’t allow that to pull you down and become your only reality. Deal with your sadness, anger, frustration, and move on.

As ever, these things can be talked about with your teacher and incorporated into your practise routine. If you feel your issues run deeper, seek professional help from a professional. Professional help will be a sound investment in your career and life.

If you have any comments or tips on how you stay positive, feel free to comment below.

bloom

Adding colour to the voice and your performance is often seen as the last step in preparation to perform - however it is an intrinsic part of the formation of sound and communication.

So how and why should we add colour to the voice?

Singing is the simple balance of phonation, and resonation.

Phonation is ‘the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration’ (Wikipedia) whilst resonation can include amplification and filtering the sound.

It is possible to tell the age of someone and what emotion they are communicating through sound alone of their voice, without sight of their facial features or physical gestures - so we know that the voice is a powerful and intricate communicator, and the brain adept at understanding very subtle differences in tone.

A study Read Here published online in American Psychologist recorded 24 separate human emotions in brief human vocalisation. This does not include the longer passages of speech etc, just short noises. 24. I still find this number incredible despite having read it several times!

These noises are created by instinctual things we do when talking/responding to situations. If I explain technically that they can be made by creating more inward space around the vocal tract, raising our soft palate, increasing or decreasing nasality, that helps in technical terms to describe what might be happening. But I think what might be more helpful is to provide an example of 2 scenarios that are similar but will have different sound responses to communicate different emotional responses..

• ‘ow’: hurt yourself, accidental papercut, self pity

• ‘ow’: hurt, your sibling gives you a dead arm, you are annoyed

These sounds show pain of very different types, and will be using different spaces to make the sound and communicate different layers of emotion to the listener. Have a go at making the two sounds yourself, what can you feel that is different in your breathing, posture, throat, to help you act out the scenarios and make the sounds different?

Most exciting, here is the link to the emotion map where you can hear the different emotions as recorded by researchers: Listen Here I love that each sound has a % of several emotions showing the variation possible!

As singers we aren’t aiming at displaying 24 emotions in our singing (not all at the same time/in the same aria thankfully!) - but this should also explain why your voice will not sound like someone else’s. You can’t possibly hope to match the percentages of each emotion to deliver an identical performance in sound and communication.

So we’ve talked about the different spaces the sound will resonate in due to emotion - how/why is this important when we sing? If you agree we should have Thought:Breath:Sing then you need to think the emotion/s, breath into that space with those certain parts of your singing space more open or more closed, then sing.

Some examples of Emotion in Singing:

Happy music requires more space and upper resonance. Why? Because this is what we do naturally when we are happy, as observed in normal life.

Our Faces are animated, our eyebrows are raised, we smile, we breath into those upper spaces naturally and with ease.

To help, get your pencil and draw a smiley face over your music/lyrics. Do you have to smile? No. But a smile or brightening the face is the simplest way in to acting that emotion, plus it usually magically adds other things to our voices that are very helpful (automatic space made and widening of the pillars of fauces, etc) .

Here is an example of a voiceover artist demonstrating their Happy/Bubbly voice, you can hear animation in her face and the upper resonances added by her acting happy in order to play the part for her script..

Happy/Bubbly Voiceover artist Advert

Music that is romantic requires more richness. Why? Because when we are being more romantic, we use a sing-song smooth voice with softened changes in pitch, and a rich tone.

For my example for this sound in speech I have chosen a Marks and Spencer advert in which several actors start talking with one emotion, then change to the now famous Marks and Spencer ‘This is not just…’ sensual voice. As you listen, can you hear how they change the shapes and spaces they are using to show us the new emotion?

This Is Not Just...M and S Advert

The actors are deliberately speaking with a smooth legato melodic style of speech. The voices are using a mid level of tone not too high or two low, although using those areas occasionally), and full bodied resonance, in that sounds relaxed. They are opening into and using the full depth of their body to add richness to the sound they create, with relaxed muscles/joints to further allow resonance (the opposite to help clarify, would be a small closed off sound, something like a nasal restricted tone that is small and thin with reduced resonance).

In summary: The emotional content of the music you sing should be a main starting point in your practise so that you are singing into the spaces that you need to connect the text and emotion to the music. Technical proficiency in singing includes the use of emotion and colour, and cannot be disconnected.

To add colour, we must study and think of how we might act out and speak the lyrics. Perhaps using words or emotion faces drawn on our music can help guide us when studying, a bit like Stanislavski who wrote how actors should prepare their scripts. Notice where we naturally move our anatomy, where we close the space and open it, to help us guide the voice to add colour.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post about adding colour, what will you add to your practice? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

As always, this is a discussion you can take to a trusted teacher or coach and use in your own practise with guidance and lots experimenting.

Adding colour is something highly personal, which will be different for every singer depending on their individual anatomy and interpretation. But it’s definitely something you can experiment with no matter your stage in vocal study.

love

‘And the stars were shining, and the earth was scented. The gate of the garden creaked and a footstep grazed the sand… Fragrant, she entered and fell into my arms.’

translation into English, from Tosca, by Puccini

Love is the emotion we are probably asked to convey more than any other, in music. This month, my blog is going to give you some singing and performance tips and tricks on how to convey the emotion of love in your singing or music performance. Whether new to performance or a pro, these are some of the ways to experiment as part of your practise to leave the audience in no doubt of what you are trying to convey, without having to make a heart with your hands!

1 Text, context, character, historical research.

If you are singing something in/from an opera or musical, make sure you understand your character and the plot before and after your aria. You need to find out if your character really means it. Are they so madly in love as to make the eventual heartache/tragedy even more poignant? Or perhaps your character isn’t sure, they have some questions. Is your character merely full of lust instead of love? You might want to think of ways to convey this in your performance - is your voice or body language fully committed to the words you are saying? By experimenting in your own practise you will try out a multitude of versions, perhaps also trying out some different things just as a director might wish to ask you to do in the production.

If you are singing a song or playing an instrumental piece - what is the character you will choose for your performance? How do you choose to convey the meaning of the poem? Has this altered over the centuries? What are the ways other recordings and artists have conveyed the emotional message?

If you are singing or playing a duet, are you playing in harmony? If you are making beautiful music in thirds… love birds are in the air!

2 Thought: Breathe: Sing

Whether singing or playing, the thought must come first. Music and singing are the conveying of an emotional message using language both with and without text. We sang before we had language. We talk by first thinking of the emotional content before breathing and talking.

It will alter the tone and colour of your voice - just as when you talk your voice is different when you are saying the same phrase but with a different emotion.

• If your body is playing an instrument, it is also useful to communicate in your playing with your body - if you are impassioned, or full of enthusiasm you may move more.

• If you are angry those movements may be more staccato.

• If you are calm and serene your movements will be very legato and smooth, perhaps long and flowing.

3 Mirror Practise

It is hard to always know how successful our movements or facial acting are, so don’t forget your best friend the mirror. It not only shows you what you might not want to do, but also what you should do more of. Subtlety not usually connected with displays of love or passion! Whilst your subtlety may be beautiful in a small room - does it read in a Concert Hall?

As you observe your performance check in on these questions:

• Do I look like I’m in love? For instance: Smiling, happy, bright face, enthusiastic, long glances and holding eye contact with the other character

• Is my body language matching the emotion I wish to portray? For instance: open posture, hugging/selfhug posture, stroking/smooth movements when moving, wide arms and shoulders, legs routed hip distance or so apart not narrow, legs uncrossed, confident walk, relaxed movements or energised excited. We often talk about people who are in love walking around in a daze, or being in their own world. If this is suitable, perhaps you are staring into the distance smiling.

4 Showing emotion in the voice

Adding colour to the voice to portray different emotions is integral to your technical work. The work of breathing and opening into spaces is often done for you if you simply add an emotion, then breathe, then sing. That’s right: singing is not just a list of anatomical movements that will make you a good singer.

Arias and music of great love and passion are usually legato, rich, full, have swells of dynamics. So how will you use this in your performance?

Isolate a phrase or passage and experiment with these:

• Any legato passages make sure you are using every inch of space in your voice. Stroke those phrases like the bow on the string

• Crescendos and diminuendos in keeping with the era the music is from - always historically informed, obviously!

• To add or ensure you are using a rich velvety colour experiment with speaking the phrases with feeling

‘I loooove rich chocolate’ over emphasising the sung quality of the spoken voice, open into the space you will then sing your passionate phrase.

Gently sirening on an mmMMMMmmmm with a crescendo and diminuendo as though you love the smell of what is cooking, or a favourite perfume/aftershave.

As ever, the best way to work on communication is with a teacher who will guide and help you experiment to find your own true performance. What works for one singer or performer will not work for another - so you are looking for your interpretation and technique. This will ensure you sing with your own true voice and complete commitment to the music.

Happy Experimenting!

I’ve made a Youtube playlist on my channel with some of my favourite romantic arias, duets, and trios from opera and musicals. They were all recorded live - and chosen because they feature some wonderful examples of singing and performance. Enjoy researching and being inspired by these wonderful artists.

As always, feel free to leave your comments below - what helps you convey love in a performance? Did I miss something out? Did you find this post useful in your practise?

singing lessons: why do we sing?

Exploring some of the science behind why we sing.

There are lots of reasons that we as humans sing - as a teacher I’ve had pupils come for lessons for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes the reason they started lessons aren’t the same as the reasons they continue, but they are all welcome!

Singing has many benefits for us, some obvious, and some a little more hidden.

Which of these reasons do you recognise?

As a teacher, my job is to welcome you to lessons and help you reach your goals.

One of the first things I do is to ask you what your goals are, establishing some of the reasons that have brought you to my studio.

This is a valuable time for me to find out all about you. Some people wish to learn a certain song or have a goal of singing a certain type of music or for a particular performance, and others simply enjoy the process of learning about their voice and singing music with me each week.

When teaching adult learners it is unusual that someone joins me with no experience of music or singing, so it’s nice to know what that is.

How you describe your past experiences helps me understand what kind of experiences they were - were they all positive? Why did you stop? If there was a particular reason you might prefer not to talk about it, but it is usually apparent in the way you describe the past.

My job is to help you and your voice from our meeting onwards, without negativity or judgement. My studio is a positive space open to all.

So why do we sing? What makes us want to do that or encourages us to meet with others and sing together? Here are some of the psychological reasons why.

• Deep breathing

  Singing encourages calm, regular, deep breathing, and full exhalation. We know these things to all be helpful for both mind and body. They encourage a feeling of calm, relaxation, reduce stress and blood pressure

• Accomplishment

  Learning a skill, developing knowledge and ability, gives a sense of accomplishment and pride. We enjoy tasks with slow or fast development that challenge us

• Complex task

  Singing uses many parts of the brain all at once, particularly if you count performance and memorization as part of the process. Our brains enjoy complex tasks, and these are in turn good for our brains. It is an in-depth focussed activity that forces us to concentrate. If you are learning music to perform in a musical or opera you are also adding in movement and acting. We know complex tasks are good at keeping our brains working well as we age

• Connection to others

  The act of meeting with others, joining together to sing a song in rehearsal or performance, builds a feeling of connection and bonding that is positive for us.

• Communication beyond language

  A parent singing lullabies to their baby soothes the infant but also conveys that they matter. The act of singing a lullaby to your child releases the ‘love hormone’ Oxytocin in the parent, and decreases the stress hormone cortisone.

• Music makes us feel good

  Music has been shown to have a positive effect on people with depressions and anxiety, and to reduce cortisol levels

• Conveys Emotion

  Singing music helps us to process emotion - we access memories, we convey emotions, we work through our sadness/grief, and we celebrate with song.

  ‘we sing the blues not just because we are sad, but to give the emotion voice. I think all of us have had the experience of knowing the emotions of a performer by just hearing them sing or play’ - John Lennon, retired professor of Emporia State University

It amazes me that there are so many scientific, measurable benefits to singing! Teaching in schools and privately I have witnessed the joy and mood-boosting effects of singing and music and it is always a wonderful thing to be part of that.

I hope you have enjoyed this list, if you wish a more complex explanation, follow the links to some of the science. 

Why do you enjoy singing? As ever, feel free to comment below.

nourish

Oak sapling in a jar, Photographed and copyright of Lisa Moffat

It’s cold and dark, we are wrapped in blankets, drinking hot tea, trying to avoid turning the heating on… Here are some simple ways to nourish mind and body as a musician or performer that won’t break the bank.

1. Exercise

If you haven’t already started a fitness goal for the new year - don’t worry! It is totally acceptable to start Any. Day. Of. The. Year. Yes, who knew. It doesn’t have to be expensive, there are easy beginner yoga classes and workouts on youtube, and taking a brisk walk outside is easy and said to be as effective as running.

Taking a 30 minute brisk walk is an easy way of stepping away from your desk or music stand, and returning refreshed ready for your brain to learn more. Set a reminder on your phone to schedule this and make it a habit.

2. Sleep

Too much caffeine, not enough daylight, alcohol, screens, internet scrolling… what’s stopping you from getting a good night’s sleep? We all know our weakness that might be letting us down, make the changes you need to prepare for your best sleep.

Sleep not only helps us learn music, it is the time when our bodies repair - there is no reason not to try get more or better sleep.

3. Meditate

You don’t need training or classes for this, a quiet space or calming music, and 5 minutes are all it takes. Practice slow deep breathing, and letting your mind think of nothing.

Alternatively, some people enjoy exercise for its ability to free the mind - have you tried some Contemplative Running?… google it! (other search engines are available)

4. Eat the rainbow, and make sure protein is in balance with carbs and fats

When we are busy its easy for food planning to slip out of schedule, but it is even more important to support your mind and body when you rely on them to get you through the busy days.

5. Breathe deeply

Breathing calmly, deeply, and easily without effort are all good ways to foster a calm mind and body. There are lots of apps and programmes on technology - some free - to encourage good breathing habits and bring calm.

6. Declutter

You know that drawer that never closes properly?… the pile of paperwork that is never-ending? The music pile that has more added to it than is safe? Make a few minutes in a break to tidy it, move objects to the correct room they should live in, and generally declutter. It’s a five minute job that makes us all feel more calm, easy to do a little and often without feeling overcome.

7. Make Time for Hobbies and Interests

I seem to spend a lot of time writing in my blogs about making time for outside interests, but I think it is one of the most important things you can do. It gives you a new perspective, it challenges your brain and body in a new or different way from your 9-5 (or whatever hours you work as a musician/performer/student!)

It also gives you new experiences and perspectives on your performance. You will meet people from other backgrounds, age groups, and professions, you will work in a new way that might teach you new skills that help in your work. You might make friendships with people out-with your work that are deeper or more interesting.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these suggestions to nourish mind, body, and of course, your music!

Have I missed out anything you think should be added to the list? As always, add it in the comments, and follow me on Instagram an Twitter for more quotes, blogs, and tips on singing.

Witches and Bitches - strong women in opera

It’s autumn, the wind is blowing, the nights are drawing in… and I am thinking about the dark stories and characters that we love to indulge in at this time of year. What does opera have to offer? Grab a mug of hot chocolate, stick another log on the fire, cuddle up in your favourite blanket and read on… if you dare!

Not all is as it seems in opera… we love a spooky story, and we love a villain! But occasionally we are guilty of creating a one-dimensional character who we wrongly judge to be ‘bad’… are we being entirely fair? I’m going to take you through a few spooky or ‘bad girl’ female roles in opera so we can decide. Some you will know, some you may not. No sitting on the fence, thumbs up or thumbs down.

All rise, the court is in session, with Judge Lisa presiding, please be seated and solemnly swear to take this very seriously!

Defendant 1 : Carmen, from the opera Carmen, Bizet

Look, we’ve all been there. You like a boy, but he’s a little dull, you like parties… you read your cards at a party and decide death is your fate and spiral out of control eventually having yet another knife fight and being killed by the dull boy. It’s a tale as old as time.

Carmen is a strong woman who uses sex and her allure to control, but her chaotic life, love of playing games and run-ins with the law catch up with her mentally and leave her unable to see a way out from her life.

Verdict: Guilty of being very bad

Sorry Carmen, you aren’t very kind (slashing your friends face…), and you are probably guilty of gaslighting Don Jose which ultimately ends in Don Jose stabbing you. You are the opera character we all love to hate, but modern eyes see your crimes with similar eyes.

Defendant 2: Emilia/Elina, from the opera The Makropolous Case, Janacek

Who wants to live forever?… Well, actually, nope, not really, thank you.

Poor Elina was born in 1585 and has spent 3 centuries living an itinerant life escaping any long connections, because her father invented and tested his successful potion on her. She lives currently as Emilia, a world famous opera singer - she’s had a lot of extra time to perfect her craft!

Youthful and beautiful, she has had a string of lovers and admirers, but by the time we see her in the opera she is tired of life and love, apathetic to others.

A mix up of papers and wills eventually leads to her confession. At the same time the potion is finally wearing off and she ages in front of her friends, convincing them of her fantastical story. She offers the parchment with the potion to another young singer, who refuses it and burns it in front of her. Emilia dies reciting the Lords Prayer in Greek.

This spooky story plays on the human fascination with ageing and death - playing out the scenario of how it might feel to live longer and experience more of life than our allotted 3-score-year-and-ten.

Verdict: not guilty of being bad

Emilia certainly is a very string woman, but was a child when she was given the potion to try, so would not have been able to refuse or see the consequences. The criticism that she is cold and emotionless is just, but she is a victim of her very very long life and the struggle to stay young. A story still relevant today!

Defendant 3: Mimi, from the opera La Bohème, Puccini

Surprised to see this opera included?… read on!

La Bohème is a fairly standard love story - between two bohemian artists living in poverty in Paris. Deeply in love, Mimi is ill with what is probably tuberculosis.

Rodolfo breaks up with Mimi telling his friend at first this is because she is a flirt, and then admits it is because she is ill, and that he hopes she can find someone wealthier who can pay for help with her illness. She hears this. (Yes. Pretty brutal.)

Mimi then tells Rodolfo that she is in fact leaving him… which is a pretty strong move to save face. However their love is ‘too strong’ and they agree to stay together until the spring as no one should be alone in the winter.

We cut to the spring and the men are talking about their past girlfriends who have found much wealthier partners, except that we learn Mimi is now severely weakened by illness and alone. They go to her, but she dies shortly after and Rodolfo is heartbroken.

Mimi is in the dock because a director once described her to me as ‘a b****’. emmmm SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE?

Verdict: not guilty of being bad

Isn’t this just a story of young impetuous people who are in love and don’t always act the way we all probably should? I still don’t see that Mimi has anything to answer for, Rodolfo however…

I’d love for you to supply me with fresh evidence that might reverse my judgement, but for now, NOT GUILTY

Defendant 4: Violetta from the opera Traviata, Verdi

She loved parties, she lived as a courtesan, and she fell in love. Original audiences were shocked at this tale which portrays Violetta as a moral and good person who just so happens to be a prostitute to pay her bills. She is independent and free in a way women were not at that time, her only reliance was on men and financial.

Holed up in the country with the love of her life, Alfredo, she is visited by her father-in-law, who begs her to give up his son for the sake of his family, as living unmarried was scandalous. The scandal would ruin them. Heartbroken she agrees.

Violetta returns to her old life, sad, and fatally ill with tuberculosis (yes… another female victim of ill health).

She is finally visited by her dashing Alfredo just as she dies.

Verdict: not guilty of being bad

Violetta is a victim of poverty, societal judgement, and of course the lack of a medical cure! The one time she follows her heart, she is persuaded to give up her happiness for the good of others, and does so.

Luckily, we all see this story with more modern eyes, and instead it is the sadness of the situation that stays with us.

The court thanks you all for your time and fair judging - did I miss anyone out? How do you feel about Mimi? Pop your comments and other suggestions in the comments box below.

Join me next time on All Hallows Eve, when we will discuss some very spooky operas, if you dare!…

“I love Italian opera - it’s so reckless. Damn Wagner, and his bellowing at Fate and death. Damn Debussy, and his averted face. I like the Italians who run all on impulse, and don’t care about their immortal souls, and don’t worry about the ultimate”

— D.H. Larence