There are dozens of reasons people avoid singing in public. Everyone has their own reasons but it seems like such a shame to let things stop people enjoying the joyous activity of singing.
It might be something that happened in the past or it might be something entirely in the singers head but these reasons are incredibly telling, they reveal something immensely personal about ourselves. What is definite, however, is that each reason can be overcome. There’s is nothing that will stop someone singing if they are committed to the idea and have the support of a teacher and peers like you’d find in a choir.
So let’s look at these reasons and dig a little deeper, and try to find the reasons to sing anyway. Continue reading “Top Misconceptions About Choir”
What is SATB and why it doesnt matter
SATB is a common choral acronym, referring to the make up of a choir. Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone – the four most common types of voice. Each type brings it’s own set of characteristics, such as the warmth of a baritone or the brightness of a soprano. These elements are called timbre. Most men posses traits of the baritone voice, while most women are tend to fit the soprano voice more naturally. Continue reading “What is SATB and why it doesnt matter”
5 Tips To Beat Stage-Fright
Nerves are something every singer deals with. It’s also what stops many of us taking the first step in learning to sing. Even household names like Adele have admit to experiencing a degree of stage-fright, but nerves don’t mean you can’t get up and sing. As the old saying goes “the show must go on.”
So how do we deal with it? Here are a few helpful suggestions to deal with stage-fright. Continue reading “5 Tips To Beat Stage-Fright”
6 singers who were told they couldn’t sing
No one is born able to sing perfectly. For everyone singer you see in the charts, there are countless hours spent practising and rehearsing away from the public eye. As we don’t see these, we can often assume that they’re naturally that good and can get disheartened. However, just as we can be told “you can’t sing,” there are many professional singers who were told the same thing.
When people say “you can’t sing,” what they often mean is “I don’t know how to teach you.” What matters is that they didn’t give up. They wanted to sing and so they put in the work needed to get better. Many of them came to choirs and learned, others had private lessons but all of them remained committed to the love of singing. Continue reading “6 singers who were told they couldn’t sing”
5 Skills You Didn’t Realise You Pick Up In A Choir
Taking part in a choir is not only a fantastic way to learn to sing. We’ve spoken about the health benefits of choral singing in the past but it may surprise some of you to learn that there are dozens of practical skills being built alongside the music.
Here we look at five of the skills taking part in BIGMOUTH develops. Continue reading “5 Skills You Didn’t Realise You Pick Up In A Choir”
How to deal with a cold
With Winter just around the corner, the dreaded cold and flu season isn’t far behind. These bugs can wreak havoc with our voices and it’s important to know how to handle them.
Firstly, if you have a cold – DON’T SING. Your voice needs time to rest, trying to sing before it’s had that time to recover will only put them through unwarranted stress. Before trying to sing, make sure you try these tips to help your voice recover. Continue reading “How to deal with a cold”
5 tips to take of your voice
Now that term is well and truly underway, we can stop telling you all the reason why you should join BIGMOUTH (you already know how fun it is!). Instead, as the cold weather rushes in, we thought it might be nicer to tell you how to take care of that voice you’re developing. Continue reading “5 tips to take of your voice”
Making friends: how choirs build social bonds
Singing is incredibly vulnerable. We all want to be able to hold a perfect note, and the ability to produce a little melody on command is infinitely cool. However, many of us haven’t yet learned to use our voices effectively and thus we hide them away. We identify with out voices immensely, so when our voice is less than perfect we feel that we are less than perfect. A report in the American Psychology found out that we actually express more emotion with our voice than our face so it’s no wonder we want to guard them a little. Continue reading “Making friends: how choirs build social bonds”
The unexpected side effects of choirs
We all know that singing in a choir can make you happier but in recent studies a whole host of other benefits have been unearthed. With the increase in happy hormones within our body, singing lowers blood pressure and stress levels but there is also evidence that suggests that taking part in a choir can alleviate the symptoms of depression, Parkinson’s and lung disease.
Fortunately for us our fearless leader Emily has worked with The Sidney De Haann Research Centre as a research assistant on their groundbreaking exploration of choirs and their benefits. Continue reading “The unexpected side effects of choirs”
Everybody Can Sing!
Singing is one of those talents that everyone wishes they possessed. There’s something really satisfying about being able to belt out a solid note on command or to drop jaws at a karaoke night.
Unfortunately for many of us, we get taught that we can’t sing and that it’s better for us to politely step aside when the microphone comes our way. We get obsessed with the idea that unless we have a five octave range, we’re not cut out to sing.
However, this is the big secret. Everyone can sing, it just takes practice. Continue reading “Everybody Can Sing!”