Thoughts from Vocal Process
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… Continue reading
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 Continue reading
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… Continue reading
Breathing. Can we talk? I heard recently that there is a new technique for singers that involves breathing in against resistance. Apparently this trains you as a singer. WHAT? ARE YOU NUTS? OK, and breathe. It seems to me that there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about breathing and singing, and what the purpose of breath… Continue reading
Being a singer is tough. You’re out there, literally public-facing, making eye contact and sharing your sound and your soul. Working with singers to get them to performance pitch is a fascinating job. Gillyanne and I tend to divide our time between two different types of input – stuff that feeds the singer’s inner cataloguer, […]
Dr Gillyanne Kayes and the “After Estill” speech On July 21st 2017 AOTOS (the Association of Teachers of Singing) invited Dr Gillyanne Kayes to give the Keynote speech – “After Estill: a conversation we need to have”. In the hour-long presentation Gillyanne talks about her own relationship with Jo Estill, the context of Jo’s original […]
What’s the difference between a singing lesson and a vocal coaching session? Is there a difference between a singing teacher and a vocal coach, and does it matter? Gillyanne and I are a singing teacher/vocal coach duo combination, and we have been team teaching for 20 years. We think there IS a difference, and that […]
What is belting? Belting is the “high” in contemporary singing. West End actors, Gospel divas, and Rock singers use belting to raise the performance temperature and give voice to the strongest emotions. It’s an exciting, dramatic, loud sound that is based on a chest voice vibration: the vocal folds are vibrating with a thick texture […]
Book Review Singing from the Inside Out – Exploring the Voice, the Singer and the Song. A Practical Guide for the Expressive Singers Ineke van Doorn “This rather lengthy title, which the author describes as ‘a mouthful’ nevertheless sets out the stall for the book’s remit and for Ineke’s own teaching philosophy. The three main […]
Why do some people find it difficult to pitch notes? What’s happening when people sing out of tune? Let’s break down the question of tuning and start with what “pitch” means. Pitch Pitch as we think of it is a regular oscillation of airwaves. If the airwaves are oscillating at 220 times per second, we […]