Last night I smeared on some bright red lipstick, shimmied into an extravagant ruffled white top and set up my tripod in the best spot to get the (quickly diminishing) natural light. I hit Record, started the karaoke track (River Deep Mountain High) and proceeded to sing my guts out. Three quarters of the way through I messed up one of the runs. I sighed, stopped the recording and took a deep breath. I recognised that this was the perfect opportunity to practice what I preach.    My inner perfectionist (and the most fragile part of my ego) wanted to use me as a m ..read more

    Pfft! Why do I have to warm up at all? When you are singing you use the vocal cords (soft tissue) and the inner muscles of the larynx (the muscles that control the closing of your cords), both who need to be treated kindly as they're pretty delicate. Stretching and relaxing the muscles before we sing loosens those muscles, helps to remove excess mucous and reduces the risk of injury (because let's face it, losing your voice sucks). BUT my thoughts on warm ups is that they should be also be USEFUL and specific to what you’re working on. There are too many singers who are run ..read more

    How do you know that your vocal technique is letting you and your voice down? Here’s a list of tell-tale signs that your technique isn't quite working for you: ✨ Your voice constantly sounds breathy and you can't seem to get clarity in the tone. ✨ You start to lose your voice after singing. ✨ You find yourself pushing from your throat to "belt out" high notes or when attempting to navigate through your vocal break. ✨ You have a sore or swollen throat after a performance or practice session. ✨ You struggle to get any volume or power despite working your butt o ..read more

    Did you know there are FOUR types of singing practice? (and they’re all incredibly important when it comes to shaping you as a singer and a performer (and keeping your love for it intact) Well now you do and I’m going to introduce them to you - with a twist. You see when I was young, I LOVED the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (I even owned a toy toilet truck) and I figured aligning the types of singing practice with their personalities could add some fun.   Technical practice (Donatello) This is the one you’ve probably heard most about (and might tend to prioritise). The one ..read more

    You probably know the moment all too well. You only have a few words left but your lungs feel like a wrung out sponge, trying to squeeze notes out with nothing in the tank. Running out of air is a feeling none of us are putting our hands up to experience. It sends panic signals through the body (and rightly so). But our initial instinct is to simply load up on more air at the start of the phrase. And that's not always the best move.   Breath support/management is a RELATIONSHIP. It’s actually kinda like a thruple. The key players are your ribs/belly, your vocal cords ..read more

     Let me start off by saying, please shed any guilt or “I should’ve’s”. Your singer card does not get revoked because you haven’t uttered a note in a while. (And it’s likely that you HAVE sung, in the car or the shower or while you’re vacuuming, but you’ve decided it doesn’t count because it’s not “serious practice”) You’re a singer because it’s something that calls to you, something that keeps reeling you in. Because it’s one of the ways life is growing you, teaching you valuable lessons about yourself. Because when the mood is just right and the volume of your inner criti ..read more

      Authentic. Honest. Unique. Words that are craved by just about every singer I’ve ever met. But you know you and your voice are already one-of-a-kind, right? Which means it’s less about FINDING your authentic voice and more about FREEING it. About gently removing the BARRIERS TO AUTHENTIC EXPRESSION. Micro-managing, mimicking and hiding. Micro-managing Is when you keep your hands tightly on the wheel or wrangle your voice so that it “does as it’s told.” It’s following a paint-by-numbers formula - louder here, brighter here, add vibrato, end with more sweetness. You get t ..read more

   You get up to sing and your face and palms start to heat up almost immediately. Your heart rate doubles in seconds. You notice the microphone shaking because your hand has begun to tremble. You open your mouth and feel like you're squeezing the sound out like toothpaste. And if you're anything like my younger self, you PANIC. Up until now, have you believed that your body should feel calm when you sing?  That your throat should be completely relaxed at all times in order to express yourself? This belief, while seemingly helpful, actually does the opposite for ..read more

   The dreaded break. The flip. The cavernous divide between your chest voice and your head voice. Cringe central. Whatever you call it, it’s frustrating and sometimes embarrassing. I remember avoiding the G above middle C for years because it would either come out weak, airy and shaky or tense and strangled. As I got older it didn’t get better, it only moved higher. B became the note I skirted around and tried desperately to avoid running into. Unfortunately it didn’t resolve itself until I began to understand what was CAUSING IT. What pieces of the puzzle were enabling this great ..read more

  Teaching yourself how to hold emotions and feel safe in your body is an active practice. One that I have to revisit often. When I’m about to do something vulnerable or outside my comfort zone and my nervous system starts to act up, I tune in. I close my eyes and move my awareness into the centre of my head. I slow down and deepen my breath. And I wrap my arms around myself, creating a cocooned feeling. It may look strange for an adult to be holding themselves like this, but remember that much of our insecurity is patterns from childhood that we keep replaying over and over ..read more