Go It Alone

As I am away on my travels after our concerts at the end of this week, all those pupils who are coming to Song School, or competing in Inverness Festival are clamouring for extra lessons.

What I really wish I could do is to slice myself in two and let the 'piano playing' body parts be with all those have to sing with other, and unknown pianists! Having to let them cope alone, and make their own musical statements is, I imagine like letting your precious 5 year old walk through the school gates and begin a new experience in life without Mummy.

I know exactly how my pupils sing their songs, I know exactly where they need to speed up and slow down, and I know before they do when they are running out of breath. It is the most agonising wrench when I simply have to allow them to go it alone.

Trying to teach them how to take control and establish their own speed within the first bar of singing, and sticking to their guns when an accompanist thinks that they know best, is a tough and grown up thing to do. It took me years!

Singers often feel lesser mortals in the world of musicians, indeed, we cannot be members of the Musicians Union, we have to belong to Equity, the Actor's Union. This must be a leftover from the days when singers belonged to the more amateur and 'pretty' end of the business - who knows? So essentially trying to be assertive with a youngish, arrogantish and overly ambitious pianist is a big ask when one is 18 and has only had an empathetic teacher/player !

However, it has to be done, and I will just have to get over it! Those youngsters who will swim alone at the festival will do their best I know, but there will be a small portion of my brain thinking about them and throwing a small prayer up to that Heavenly corner which caters for singers !

The Lass from the Low Countree

I was really pleased with our rehearsal this week, the part songs are beginning to sound slick and tidy. The dynamics are 'happening', and the speeds are beginning to tighten up. Young R gave us a super solo in the 'Lord is my Shepherd', not sounding like a treble, but more akin to a young female whose voice is transitioning from girl to woman, and thus still has all the best attributes of BOTH voices. Well done R.

On wednesday one of my lady students, a retired botanist, came late in the evening. She is my final pupil of the 'normal' week, and has a calming effect whenever she comes in the music room. She has a sweet and unfussy voice, and loves arrangements of folk songs. I have got her started on the marvelous Britten arrangements, which I know she will find very satisfying, but it was one of the inimitable Betty Roe arrangements which she has almost completed which really gave me a shiver up the old spine!

It is 'The Lass from the Low Countree'. All I could find out about it is that it is British. That's it!

It is haunting and despairing, but full of the feist of a poor working girl heartbroken at the fact that the 'Lord of high degree' does not return her love. The truly magical thing about Miss Roe's setting is the way the first verse and the last verse have a sad, minor key feeling, using the typical chords which give it a feeling of nostalgia. They are easy on the ear and full of yearning. Then she moves suddenly into the middle verse, the one with the lyrics pertaining to the arrogant and dis-interested Lord, whom I assume she has admired from afar. Blimey, the harmonies go mad - they almost hurt the ear as much as the words hurt the young girl. We are pinched by the discordance of it all.

Lass From the Low Countree

Oh she was a lass from the low countree
And he was a lord of high degree
And she loved his lordship so tenderly

Oh sorrow, sing sorrow
Now she sleeps in the valley
Where the wildflowers nod
And no one knows she loved him
But herself and God

One day when the show was on the mead
He passed her by on a milk white steed
She spoke to him low but he paid no heed

So if you be a lass from the low country
Don't love no lord of high degree
For they ain't got no heart or sympathy

Oh sorrow, sing sorrow
Now she sleeps in the valley
Where the wildflowers nod
And no one knows she loved him
But herself and God


It is not really tricky, and is one of those songs which can sung by a competent beginner and an aspirant professional as well as a professional. It spans all the stages and ages. It was not composed when I was singing, and that makes me feel sad, as I know I would have loved it, and used it regularly in recitals.

It also makes me feel quite ancient!

Song School

Paradise Song School 2010
Click above on the link if you want to see more...




Dancing Included!

It is 'On with the Motley' monday. Back in the saddle after a tired weekend. I thought I was catching the universal cold over the last few days, but thankfully it has come to nothing today so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it does not make a late run. I have been so surrounded by ailing singers, breathing their plethora of germs over me in the music room last week, that it will be a small miracle if I do not succumb.

Five of my pupils are attending the Paradise Song School this year for the first time. I started it 4 years ago and was amazed how many folks came, from all over Europe, and of course the UK. They seemed to love the idea of combining singing with a 'holiday' in Paradise. I hold it at the Gaelic University which is on the coast in the most beautiful part of the Island, and about 15 minutes from me. The singers use the very up market uni halls of residence and have so enjoyed it that many are devotees who come every year. This year is is so popular that I have had to reserve 2 weeks, so in total 21 singers will be coming for intensive and enjoyable masterclasses.

My own students are really looking forward to it, but in the emotional mix is a good degree of fright! They will be so surprised how after singing on the first day all will be easy sailing after that, and they will start to enjoy themselves.

It is such fun, although hard sweaty work, especially the ensemble day where we often put moves and set the scene
if the musical choices are from operas or shows. I already have shedloads of ideas hurtling around my brain for some of the duets!!

Be afraid...................well not really!

Finding a Voice

Two Kings


It has been a very busy couple of days. I had to take the car to Inverness again to see if Toyota could get rid of the leak in the drivers door. Up at the crack of dawn and at the garage early enough for a late breakfast, having put the little black trusty vehicle into the hands of the mechanics.

I met up with friends and we shopped, which was rather less painful than usual, and eventually ate at our favourite Chinese Buffet restaurant.

To fill in the rest of the 5 hours before my car was ready to be discharged, we had decided to see The King's Speech. What a wonderful film, so deserving of it's zillion BAFTA Awards.

I was, of course struck by the majestic performances of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, but what I loved the most was the way in which the film was so truly understated, so very British, and so totally non block busterish. Do not get me wrong - I love a good block buster, especially a Sci Fi with families of aliens, but I also love a quiet and dignified film which is full of truth, and so touching.

With my teacher hat on I found myself nodding in agreement with the methods Lionel Logue was using with the stammering King George V1. The fact that tension was such a strong factor in his inability to speak, and that the distraction technique can often be the winner of winners in giving a person a voice. I loved the fact he made the King sing - it is almost unheard of for a stammer to appear when singing, and the flow of a good legato line using abdominal breathing releases a voice, and allows for performance - either speaking or singing.

I empathised so much with Logue who had to persuade, cajole, nurture and sometimes shout at his Royal pupil who, not unnaturally, felt a complete fool attempting some of these, seemingly silly exercises.

I experience this all the time - 'I look so stupid opening my mouth that far' - 'I can't make those exaggerated mouth shapes' - 'When I breathe that deeply my tummy rumbles!' - Oh yes I have heard them all....................

The King seemed so desperate, and became such a willing and hard working student, it was, in the final moments of the film, heart breaking to watch, at close quarters, the effort, the sweat and the sheer determination he showed to conquer his mammoth speech problem.

But he did it. We never conquer 100%, but enough to make life easier, and to give us a true sense of self worth.

Do go and see it.

On Friday I taught two of my pupils from Inverness. Young M is the teenaged girl whose voice has virtually broken, and in the space of 6 months dropped from high soprano to warm mezzo. She is a glowing example of trust. She saw a number of speech specialists and therapists, to make sure there was not a medical problem, but I felt in my bones that it was just a massive 'girl' voice break.

She is pretty much back to full strength, but full strength in her 'new' voice. She can produce a warm full blooded tone, and has made great progress in her development.

I am so proud of the way she trusted me, and even when things were very gloomy, and it seemed as though she had lost her voice, she did just what I asked. The proof of the pudding................she has it all back. It is one of the most wonderful rewards of my job. Giving a voice back.

A good day indeed!

PS It crossed my mind to shut down the singing teaching and start up the speech therapy! Don't worry, I like music with my words!!

Blood, Sweat and Crotchets

Excellent rehearsal tonight, and boy did they work hard! C has done a great job and they are really very secure with the parts of all the choral pieces. The Lord is My Shepherd (the one composed by Dawn French!) went very well, and the tricky parts are not too bad at all. There now needs to be some serious consolidation of each part, it only needs some learning at home from the singers of the inner parts. Nothing can replace simple 'slog', I am afraid ladies!

The other songs are not nearly so tricky, and I was very pleased overall. The finale from the Mikado, which we are using as our concert blitzy end piece is now on the way. C only introduced it last week, so those who were not in the show when we did it about 5 years ago, managed to keep up and really learn it tonight.

They managed happy smiles even at the end, and went home rosy cheeked and healthy looking. Singing really is a sport, and I realise I have said it before, but never fear, I will keep on saying it, until everyone in the company understands that something is only worthwhile if it is bought at some personal cost.

I always feel like I have been through a gym workout after a rehearsal, and the venue is very hot, so more like a full spa, sauna and workout indeed! I hope the singers feel as if they have worked out, given their all and got something back. Otherwise it is a good deal of hard grind for nothing!

Goodness we worked hard.

And so to bed........Voiceless........

The Stuart Burrows Song Prize...and others less frightening

Monday comes and Monday goes, and I have ploughed through the mammoth mail pile one always gets on returning after more than a few days away. In my mail was the yearly leaflet and application form for the Stuart Burrows Singing Prize, held in Cardiff University and with the first prize being £4000. This is not sent to me so I may consider entry obviously, but is for any student I may have who may wish to take the plunge ! As with most of these national prizes the upper age limit is a whopping 35, so usually anyone I teach will be a positive infant by comparison with most candidates.

When I was at the RAM we received these forms all the time, and sometimes if the age range was just a little younger I would put a singer forward for the competition. I am a big believer in 'competition' in the life of a musician. I have many colleagues who totally disagree, and think that music is not about pitting oneself against others, but that performing and true musicianship is based upon each person being a distinct and unique performer.

I agree with all of that, but in my experience those who have not experienced the cut and thrust of professional, healthy competition find it difficult to cope when the auditions loom, and the colly wobbles become uncontainable. I entered many competitions in my career, and won many and came last is as many, because that is the reality of the game. One audition some one person loves you, and at another they stop you before you have reached halfway in the aria, and silently signal 'don't ring us' !

I know I was much more fitted to cope with those knock backs because it was a known entity, I had felt it before and I knew I would survive.

I am also unable to find any other way of allowing a student to know where they are in terms of standard. hearing others better and worse, gives you a gauge to go by, a benchmark, or a standard into which one can slot oneself.

That is why I am a great exponent of the Music Festival. A child learns, in a safe and nurturing atmosphere how to win, how to lose and for the whole idea of competition not to loom too large in their young lives. This stands those who want to go further in very good stead for the joys and despair to come.


Biography of a great Tenor

Stuart Burrows occupied the top rung of the operatic lyric tenor ladder for 20 years from the mid-60s, particularly known for his fine performances of Mozart. And yet he could have been a professional rugby player before converting his career to the opera and concert stage.
Like many singers, Stuart Burrows' career started light years away from the opera stage. Born in 1933 on the same street in Cilfynydd as Geraint Evans, he taught for several years, and word of his skills on the rugby field reached the prestigious Leeds Rugby League club, who offered him a contract.
At the last minute Stuart decided it wasn't for him - but his career did change course from then on and before long he was appearing with Welsh National Opera as well as on the oratorio stage.
His big break came in 1965, when he was seen by Stravinsky who engaged him to sing his Oedipus Rex in Athens. Just two years later he was starting an association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden which was to last 25 years.
Throughout this time he was to perform at all the major houses across the world, including San Francisco, Vienna, La Scala Milan and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
His voice was best suited to Mozart, Donizetti and French composers such as Berlioz and Massenet. It had a purity of tone allied with a great sense of line and control of the production of the notes. He was never going to have the Pavarotti kind of voice and throughout his career Stuart has known exactly what sort of repertoire suited him best.
In line with this, he has always looked after his voice. He couldn't even be persuaded by Sir Georg Solti to sing Wagner because he felt didn't suit his voice.
Another area where Stuart Burrows excelled was that of Victorian song, both English and Welsh. He reintroduced these to the repertoire in his many recordings with pianist John Constable and at recitals everywhere from Vienna to New York.
At the height of his career, in the 70s and 80s, Stuart Burrows starred in his own BBC Two series, Stuart Burrows Sings, made by BBC Wales. It ran for eight years and was hugely popular. In it he combined performances of opera and oratorio alongside Victorian song and folksongs and was one of the first exponents of what was not yet referred to as 'crossover' repertoire.
Throughout his career, Stuart Burrows' home has always been Wales and he still lives in his lovely house in St Fagans, Cardiff. Now retired, he teaches and occasionally sits on juries of international singing competitions.
In June 2007 he was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list

The Lord is My Shepherd

Back to reality now, and gearing myself up for the coming week. We are only 3 weeks from the concerts so after the marvelous C has drilled the parts into them I will take over as 'Bad Cop' to his 'Good Cop'! As a longtime teacher, coach and masterclasser I have become accustomed to being bad cop, it comes with the territory. It also makes my singers appreciate the good cop all the more!

I gave the ladies the SSA arrangement of the Howard Goodall 'The Lord is my Shepherd', so successfully used as the signature tune of The Vicar of Dibley. C tells me they struggled at first as the parts are generally low, rather close together and the harmonies are quite scrunchy. It was composed for the TV show, yet was first performed by the choir of Christ Church College, Oxford. I think my ladies will love singing it in the female voice version, and feel a real sensed of achievement.

I hasten to add that the audiences will love it!

Whilst I was adjudicating at Oxford Festival a small boy of about 9 was singing the solo version of the said piece in the 10 and under solo class. He was very cute and wore a shirt and tie about 3 times too large for his svelte frame. He looked confident, smiled sweetly at the adjudicator (me!) and proceeded to announce his song.

Boldly, and with great aplomb he said, 'I would like to sing The Lord is My Shepherd by The Vicar of Dibley !'

Another string to Dawn French's bow !

Cello, the voice of the orchestra

I am just about to set off on my last leg home. The hotel in Glasgow suburbs is comfortable and so warm I had to switch off the heating and open the window! I think living in Paradise has hardened me to a cooler and more 'baltic' temperature. I did switch off the heating however before opening the window - ecologically aware I am !

I am rested after 3 lovely days with my daughter and grandchildren, and it turned out a perfect solution for her as on monday, the day I arrived, her car went into the car hospital and will not be fixed until today, so I did the school and work runs!

Little C gave me a recital of her Initial Cello exam, and much impressed I was too. She is sensitive and musical yet with a rather adventurous touch with the bow. She takes risks. At seven, I am not sure if she is even aware of it, but it bodes well for the future and her climbing the grades on this most beautiful of instruments.

I always feel the cello has a truly human vocality. It is, in the middle range, just right for a warm mezzo voice to sing along with, and her wonderful cello teacher starts them all off by singing as they play, so ear and fingers connect.

I wanted, at 20 to try something new, and I decided to take up the cello ! I loved the feeling of being a true beginner, of knowing the map of the cello playing world was out there to be explored. I took my Grade 3 after about 2 terms, and have distinctly embarrassed memories of slightly surprising the examiner as I was surrounded before and after by tots of about 9, all wondering what this strange, and clearly very weird grown up was doing playing the tunes they were playing ! Should'nt I be a teacher or something? Anyhow I passed with mediocre marks for my pieces and dazzling marks for my aural and sight playing!

Well it was only Grade 3 !!

Waly Waly, and a host of Golden Daffodils...

Speaks for itself


Well, it was a hectic and intense weekend at Oxford, but I heard some great singing!

I was largely adjudicating the under 18's, but with a 'smidgin' of adult classes which clearly were squeezed out of the weekend before which was officially the 'grown up' weekend!

There is some fine singing teaching going on in and around the environs of Oxford, and this showed in the high marks which I was able to give throughout the two days. Sometimes it is very hard on good singers when the overall standard is high, as many would indeed win classes in other festivals, but pitted against some real high flyers, they come out as somewhere in the middle.

There were some quite exquisite moments during the weekend. As a youngster I remember singing 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' a duet using Wordsworth's gorgeous poem and set to music by Eric Thiman, a much underestimated 20th Century composer. It is sweeping and romantic, one might even say 'of it's time', but that slightly old fashioned idea bypassed me thoroughly and I adored it's twirling and twining vocal line and luscious harmonies. I heard two young ladies sing this duet and their vocal charms made all the hair on my arms stand on end and tingle for the entire performance. They sang with such elegance and grace, and their whole beings moved like the poetic crowd of dancing daffodils. I was tossed back 40 years to a time when we young Middy girls simply opened our mouths and it poured out. We are old now but that rush of love for such familiar and comfortable music is buried deep in the bones of us all! I gave it an O for Outstanding, a grade hard to achieve, infact I gave only 2 in the 2 days.

The second moment of pleasurable shiver was the last true performance of the whole festival, well for the singers anyway. A young lady performed the masterful Benjamin Britten arrangement of 'Waly Waly', in the 14 years and under Folk Song class. By the end of the last day I would be fibbing if I did not say one is tired, a bit jaded and rather vocally punch drunk - this young lady however, made those somewhat exhausted hairs fight their way to upright once more with a positively magical performance of this hauntingly beautiful melody. As a 14 and Under she was astonishing in her ability to generate such a feeling of stillness. Her voice soared when needed but was so wonderfully controlled and shiny at pp. We were held breathless for the duration of her performance. It was one of the performances which, as an adjudicator, files itself in a special place in the memory filing cabinet draw called 'fantastic and unforgettable', and is glued there for good.

These special moments become, over the years, the bench marks for comparison, and the level which one measures others by, and the more one does the job, the more one's own musical life is enriched.

I was privileged to be listening to and commenting upon students of teachers whom I know very well, and sitting talking together at the end of the proceedings, when one can officially talk to everybody, we realised that we were all of the Middy Stable. How far and wide that lady's influence has spread, and how many lives she has touched in the wide ripples of her own love of music and life. We were three first generation pupils of hers, and a most talented third generation young lady, the pupil, of a pupil of mine.

We learnt from her and pass it on, and on, and on.

Thank God their are these youngsters to carry the flame, so it never extinguishes.

A to B

I hardly dare tread in the footsteps of Maurice Jacobson !

Sorry it has been a few days, but I had a frantic day on Wednesday trying to decide whether I should get a head start on my journey South. The weather forecast was for a swathe of blizzards and snow to sweep over the north of Scotland by around 3am on Thursday morning, and I felt that if I did not leave after teaching most of my day on Wednesday the chances were I might not get over the mountains at all. When it is just 'visiting' or 'pleasure' it is not so vital to be as concerned, but I am adjudicating at Oxford Festival this weekend and can not take the risk of being stranded in the wild North! All those candidates waiting for my arrival, a room full of nervous singers and equally nervous mummies, all the hard work put in to the songs, and I don't appear!

Quite apart from the disappointment of the youngsters and oldsters, I don't think my reputation as a reliable adjudicator would withstand the moment! There are strict rules about pulling out of a festival, and they seem to boil down to 'death' or 'near death illness' and 'act of God' !! Joking apart, it is the height of unprofessionalism to back out, and quite right too!

I was offered hospitality from the family of my super young Mezzo who has been coming for lessons every month or so, and who has talent oozing out of her pores (and her paws ! She also plays the trumpet!) So I am lucky enough to be ensconced in a friendly house, with excellent food, good company and wi fi; What more could I want ?! Many thanks D & S. It will make the intensive and tiring few days I have at the festival much less taxing.

The wind was unbelievable whilst driving down, it buffetted my small car as if it were a toy, and even the lorries were leaning rather drunkenly as the gusts flung us back and forth. It is still windy now, and all the more remarkable since I am in Middle England where extreme weather has not been of much concern in the past. These are the force of gales that I have always associated with Paradise and the outer edges of the UK, where there is nought between us and America except a wide ocean and all the weather torments that it brings.

Now, it seems, the world over is assaulted by these extremes. Cyclones, floods, drought, deep snow and lashing rain and gales. Something is going on..................

My first classes tomorrow are G&S Solo and Oratorio. Always, before a festival I wonder what the atmosphere and the ambiance will be. Each festival has it's own peculiarities, it's own life form. Some are very formal, others relaxed, and some verging on horizontal ! Friendliness and informality breed a less frightening situation, whilst the size of halls or rooms can terrify or please a performer. I suppose I just always hope that it is the needs of the terrified singers which dictates.

If that is the case then I can try my utmost to make it a positive, and maybe even a fun experience for them.

Surely what we, in the festival game, want is for them to come back next year, To gain confidence from their experience and to go away feeling as if they have achieved. I consider myself to have failed if there are tears (well except if the tears are because they did'nt win!). I will never forget an adjudicator from my youth, a very fine musician, composer and conductor, Maurice Jacobson, telling a hall full of parents, festival dignatries and sundry audience " Just simply to get up on the stage takes such courage that every performer deserves 75 marks before they open their mouths. If you don't believe me I invite you up here now. "

He had no takers, but lots of singers who were smiling in their hearts!

A note from his biography which may amuse you!

The BBC Sound Archive has a broadcast of The Song of Songs by Kathleen Ferrier on November 3, 1947, with Frederick Stone at the piano. For a later broadcast, by Helen Watts, the composer himself was the accompanist. He last heard it at an 80th birthday concert given for him in Brighton, a month before his death. It was sung by a young Tees-side contralto, Ann Lampard, who had immensely impressed him when he judged her in the Vocal Solo classes at Ryton Music Festival in 1973. The words were also read at the Service of Thanksgiving for Jacobson’s life, given in London at the "musicians’ church", St Cecilia’s, in March 1976.

Read More - copy and paste the address below into your address bar.....a fantastic man, and a wonderful adjudicator.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/dec05/jacobson.htm

Steady as She Goes

The Tortoise and the Hare

I had a great teaching day today - Tuesdays are turning into my exhausting but exciting youngsters who 'can' day! Young L sang with truth, honesty and wonderfully focussed baby baritone quality, closely followed by L who makes fantastic weekly strides bigger than she is, then R who has her place at Music College but is doing the 'fear' thing. Am I really worth it - do I really want all the hard work - is it what I really want ?

They all fall into the 'raw but ready' brigade and are bursting with talent, yet unsure and lacking in a certain amount of self belief. I often wish I could carve a little piece of what I have learnt in my long career, the confidence one acquires like a skin, and the lack of worry about what others think, and give it to them in a box. If I could just pass it on in a tangible way and bypass all the angst and pain they must go through to become the 'refined' end product.

That, however, would mean that they never gained those hard won feelings in a real way. It is only by going through the denial, the fright and the wobbles, they are able to experience those changes and the supreme satisfaction from getting there, in one piece and happy !

By tackling grown up music. Music indeed they will sing all their lives, they grow inch by inch and decibel by decibel the slow way. They learn there is no 15 minutes of fame. The X Factor is as unreal as a puff of smoke in the world of serious music, the Hare in the story, all instant explosion but no substance or staying power. Only a good deal of hard slog and patience, waiting for things to happen - vocally, psychologically, physically, intellectually and emotionally. The gain is in the gradual growth. There is no Hare, only the steady and persistent Tortoise.

Sometimes I yearn to be able to speed up the process. Or at least give them a taste of what the end product feels like. A needle full of the utter joy of it all.

To give the Tortoise wings.