I'm surprised how many vocal coaching experts and singing teachers talk so much in lessons. Usually that makes me think the coach is waiting to hear themselves say something important or useful. Or as I call it, blaguing. There are some really gifted blaguers out there, but they're gifted in blaguing rather than in coaching. Good [...]
I’ve always been a fan of patter songs – the type with speedy text or long lists of items. Think “Modern Major General” (G&S), or one of the most difficult written for a woman – “Not Getting Married Today” (Sondheim). I’ve sung them and I’ve coached them for years. The thing you don’t do when singing patter [...]
Teaching boys through voice change can be a challenge Teaching boys singing during puberty: 7 tips What can you do as a teacher working with adolescent boys’ voices? Adolescent changing voice is going to happen whatever you or they do, so how do you make the experience as good as possible? The singing voice [...]
How to sound uncomfortable, comfortably We’ve described how important it is to sing in your vocal comfort zone. But there is a place in performance for uncomfortable sounds. Think of the sounds you make in an extreme emotion: yelling, screaming or breathlessness. Now think of the patterns people make with those sounds – the yell hits [...]
Extend your singing comfort zone - 7 steps This article gives you advice on how to extend your singing comfort zone in 7 steps. Just adding one semitone to your comfort zone will increase the number and type of songs you can perform. -says Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher. In Gillyanne’s PhD research the singers with [...]
Choose the right warm-up Here's another article we wrote a couple of years ago for the Voice Council Magazine. This one's on vocal warm-up techniques and advice. A new client told us the other day that when she did a YouTube warm-up, her voice was as tired as if she’d been doing a 2-hour gig. That’s [...]
Core competencies in Singing Teaching At the beginning of this year I was invited by London College of Music UWL to take up a Visiting Professorship. As you might expect I’m on a pedagogical path and hoping to make more of a contribution to our profession. It seems there is a real zeitgeist Europe-wide to put [...]
What do you think about... Back in 2016 the Voice Council Magazine (now archived) asked us a quick-fire question or two about singing, performing, life, the universe and everything. Here are our answers! "Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher are eminent educators who run ‘Vocal Process’, a multi-genre and multi-media practice. Gillyanne has a doctorate in female [...]
eZINE 84 - Amazon #1 bestseller We excited to bring you the news from the last few months, including our Amazon #1 bestseller successes; updates on our current books; details of Gillyanne's new post as Visiting Professor at UWL's London College of Music; a conference on what it means to be a singing teacher; and a [...]
Help on changing your genre In 2014 I wrote an article for The Music Teacher magazine on Changing your vocal style (reproduced here) https://vocalprocess.co.uk/style-concious-1-singing-style/ Gillyanne and I also created an online training Webinar on a similar theme called Changing Your Style Without 'Losing' Your Voice http://store.vocalprocess.co.uk/ChangingYourStyle In this new article I thought I'd talk more about changing [...]
