Penny Grant

Another new term has started, and once again I realise that it has been ages since I posted anything on the blog…

As part of my own professional development I am always looking for new ways to motivate and inspire my students, and to help them achieve the highest possible standards in their singing.  There are of course many different approaches to singing, and as a teacher I try to find ways of communicating ideas about the techniques I believe to be most helpful to each of my students in a way which works best for them.  Despite a plethora of delivery methods, the content of my lessons boils down to pretty similar basic ideas: the essential singing skills!

So, what are these skills? I hope that all my students could name some of them, but  just in case, here are things I hold to be extremely important in terms of developing a sound and safe singing technique.

1. Breathing.  If you don’t breathe correctly, all other aspects of your singing will suffer.  Getting students to breathe from their diaphragm is usually one of the hardest things when they start lessons with me – despite the fact that we all do it as babies!  Those who persevere with learning to support their sound in this way always appreciate the benefits as their voices develop and mature.
2. Posture and relaxed muscles.  In order for you to make the best sound when singing, your jaw, head and neck all need to be correctly aligned and free from tension.  If your legs aren’t firmly planted on the floor, your diaphragm will be too busy stopping you from falling over (it’s also a postural muscle) to help you to breathe, and you will be holding tension throughout your body.  Your spine needs to be lengthened, but not tense, and your head must be correctly balanced.  Once all this is in place, your jaw should fall open freely (not too wide – otherwise you’ll be tense in another direction!) and you will have enough resonance space to create the best possible tone.  If your mouth is closed, the sound gets stuck at the back of your throat and becomes strangled – especially if you’re trying to sing high notes.
3. Legato line.  Sound travels on the vowel, and is punctuated by consonants.  Vowel sounds should be open, free and warm, and then sustained for as long as possible before placing the consonant.  This way you can maintain ‘bel canto’ (literally, beautiful singing) line which will always sound pleasing.  All the exercises my students sing with me are based on vowel sounds.  To give them a helping hand, each exercise starts with a consonant before the vowel.  This helps them to start the sound cleanly and confidently before the focus is shifted to the vowel.  As they become more confident, I introduce other exercises formed without the consonant sound.
4. Clear consonants.  Whilst the sound we listen to is made by the vowels, they are pretty meaningless without consonants to give sense to the words!  Consonants should be crisp and clear, so that words are easily understood.  Because there is nearly always ‘background noise’ when one is singing (necessary and wonderful though a piano or instrumental accompaniment is!), and you are nearly always singing to an audience in a bigger venue than the one in which you practise, you have to work harder than even when doing some form of public speaking in order to be understood, and for the audience to appreciate textual nuance.
5. Communication.  As singers, we have the unique gift amongst musicians of a text.  Nearly everything we sing has a story, meaning, thought, or concept which has been carefully set to music by a composer.  Our job as singers is to communicate that thought to our audience, as if it were our own.  Obviously, clear words and a beautiful tone, thoughtful phrasing, and other technical elements all help this to occur, but on top of this, we have to understand the meaning of the text, make it our own, and tell the story or express the mood through our bodies, facial expression and eyes, in order to make it come alive.  To do this, we must be present, or in the moment – fully engaged and meaning everything we sing, whilst not losing a hold on our technique (for more on this idea, click here).

I often joke to my pupils that I could have a cardboard cut-out of me in my teaching room, and merely add a few choice words onto a cardboard speech bubble so they could teach themselves, so often do I come back to these basic principals…. Whilst perhaps this is true to an extent, the most useful thing a teacher can do is to hold a mirror up to each student, to help them see what steps they need to take, and to offer direction when they are unsure what needs doing next.  

In my own teaching, I try to do this by suggesting repertoire that they may enjoy singing, and that will help them develop their skills further. I am their ‘external ears’, sitting at a distance and able to hear what they cannot – both good and bad – and offering honest, but also encouraging feedback.  Over time I hope that they learn to trust what I say, knowing that I will always demand the best from them, but never ask more than is possible.  Most of my students are very young by singing standards, and they need help to learn how to be critical in a good way, rather than by defaulting to a negative standpoint on their own performances.  

Instilling these five basic skills in young singers is one of the most positive things I can do at this crucial stage in their vocal journeys.  Most of all though, I hope that they learn to love singing, both as individuals and in ensembles – a skill that can bring them pleasure for the rest of their lives.

Once again we have passed the point in the school year where it is time to bid some of the older students a fond farewell as they leave school and head out into the wider world. 

For me, this year was a particularly poignant one.  The seven girls leaving this year have been stalwart members of the vocal department from the very beginning of their school careers, and I have taught several of them for their whole time at the school.  

I consider it a huge privilege of my job to be able to watch my students grow from slightly nervous but excited young girls into the talented, and confident young women who take the lead in all aspects of school life.  It is therefore always with a mixture of huge pride, and a little sadness that I prepare for their departure each July.  Whilst every year touches me, there are inevitably some who have a greater impact than others, and leave a bigger void in their wake.  I know that this year group will be much missed by the whole school community, and not just the musicians!

As has become tradition, I took these girls, along with a number of other singers from year 11 upwards to perform at my old University College, St Peter’s on the final day of term.  I am lucky to have students who are passionate enough about their singing to agree to give up precious holiday time to rehearse and perform in these concerts, especially as the end of the school term is always fraught and filled with other events!

As I had such a significant cohort of upper sixth it seemed appropriate to send them off in style.  Whilst searching for something which allowed me to sum up all I wanted to say to them, I looked back at old concert programmes from their time at the school.  We talked about some options for ‘favourite finishers’, including ‘Homeward Bound’, but in the end they chose to sing a celtic song ‘The Parting Glass’.  This had been selected by me as the final song in a number of concerts in previous years, but none of the girls had sung it for a while.  I learned it from an American group called ‘The Wailin’ Jennys.’  It was such a joy to me that it meant so much to them that they wanted to ‘resurrect it’ and to make it the final thing that the whole group would all sing together.  

Meanwhile, my husband had been listening to an album which we recently purchased and suggested another song which might be suitably poignant for the leavers to sing.  Initially I considered singing it to them at the concert, but in the end decided to arrange it for these seven girls to sing together.  The song was originally written by Scott Murray, a musician who worked with a group of homeless men who had found shelter in a hostel together.  Scott formed a choir to help the men improve their self esteem and give them a sense of belonging.  Most importantly, he gave them a voice.  The recording I used was made by Roy Bailey, and I felt the message was appropriate for these girls as they go out into the world too.  

The girls sang magnificently, and held back the tears until the very end of the Parting Glass.  It was lovely to see them supported by the girls who will still be at the school next year, and the camaraderie between all the girls as they sang together.

After the concert the leavers, their parents, and I went for a meal together to celebrate the end of their school singing careers.  Whilst we ate, the girls reminisced about their memories of singing at SHSK, and I was struck not only by the wealth and variety of achievements they had between them, but also by the common bonds which held this group together.  It was particularly touching to hear one of them comment that without singing, she may well never have got to know the girls who have become her closest friends.  

What an amazing power music has: to draw us together into common experiences, to allow us to express our deepest emotions, to give us strength and hope, and to leave indelible marks on our lives.

I have no doubt that this year’s leavers will go on to great and wonderful things, and I hope that the experiences which they have shared through singing so far continue to be a source of happy memories for them.  I very much look forward to hearing of their future successes, and hope that music will always bring them a sense of community and happiness.  What more could a teacher ask for?

The text for both songs is below:

The Parting Glass:

Oh all the money that e’er I spent,
I spent it in good company.
And all the harm that e’er I’ve done,
Alas it was to none but me.
And all I’ve done, for want of witTo memory now I can’t recall,
So fill to me the Parting Glass,
Good night and joy be with you all.

Oh, all the comrades that e’er I’ve had
Are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e’er I’ve had
Would wish me one more day to stay.
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise, and you should not,
I’ll gently rise, and I’ll softly call
“Good night, and joy be with you all”.

I Thought I Had no Voice (Fellowship in Song)

We’ve had good times together, 
We’ve shared a song or two,
In warmer days of summer,
And winter’s days of snow.
We know that life’s not easy,
The road is hard and long
But music aye can cheer us,
We’re better for a song.
I thought I had no voice,
Now listen to my song
The fellowship of music,
A place where I belong.
We raise our voice in song,
In ev’ry verse and chorus,
Many songs behind us now,
As many waiting for us.
Our time is nearly over,
These days are nearly done,
The tunes we will remember,
The songs will still be sung.
I hope the sun shines for you,
And that we’ll meet again,
For there’s a bond between us,
A bond that has no end.
I thought I had no voice,
Now listen to my song
The fellowship of music,
A place where I belong.
We raise our voice in song,
In ev’ry verse and chorus,
Many songs behind us now,
As many waiting for us.