Tag Archives: singing

Let Music Talk to You

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Are you familiar with Star Wars? It’s a series of seven sci-fi movies that tell the story of a small band of heroes (the archetypal good guys) fighting against a huge army led by an evil emperor on a campaign to conquer and rule the galaxy. The first three movies that were released starting in 1977 are fun, witty, and full of action. The characters show depth of feeling, courage, and many qualities that  resonate with us. The later three movies, although a lot more engaging from the perspective of technology and special effects, lack depth of humanity, making the characters and their experiences feel stilted, almost fake. Although the pictures dazzle the audience with incredible special effects, one leaves the theater with a sense of emptiness. Yes, the movie tells a story, but it does so without much feeling, much like the experience one can have reading a history book.

This is similar to the experience of hearing someone sing with a gorgeous, well-polished voice who lacks the ability to convey feeling. Feeling, not a perfectly trained voice, is what touches the heart.

Recently, my wife and I were in Switzerland visiting family. While there, we attended a Christmas concert performed by a family of seven singers called Gruppo Vocale Famiglia Sala. We had heard them before, but this time I had a greater appreciation for their ability to feel the music deeply together, to enter a timeless zone where they feel and breathe together, where they and the music become one entity. The church where they sang was packed and yet it was pin-drop silent. I could feel that the audience was captured and transported on wings of inspiration.

We had a chance to meet them personally last year. Beside their incredible talent, we saw many qualities they shared: an innate, child-like joy, deep love for one another and for what they do, and a sincere desire to inspire people with their music. Not much room for ego there!

I sincerely believe that this is the secret to a magnetic performance: to humbly tune into the music and our fellow performers, to try to feel and breathe together, and to remain open to what the music itself is guiding us to do, instead of egotistically using the music to show off our talent.

Truly inspired music creates a strong flow of energy. If we tune into it, it can take us and our audience soaring on wings of inspiration, upliftment, and joy. One song can completely change us, if we are receptive.

The great American scientist and botanist George Washington Carver wrote “Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough.” Using our talents in service to music, supported by our deep love and sincere desire to tune into the music, will unlock for us the secret to deeply inspiring and magnetic performances that can transform us, our audience, the entire world.

 

CHECK OUT MY NEW VIDEOS

1) How to Sing in the Low Range

2) How to Sing in the Low-Medium Range

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3) How to Improve Your Singing Tone

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 A Community of Voices

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Music has a power. It changes those who listen to it and those who sing and play it. J. D. Walters, an American composer, said “Music is so much more than entertainment. It doesn’t merely reflect a state of consciousness: It also generates it.”

I experience the truth of this statement every Tuesday night, when I rehearse with the choir. Even if I’m tired, had a bad day, or am in a bad mood, I always know that by the end of rehearsal, I’ll feel light, joyful, and energetic, sometimes even to the point where I have a hard time going to sleep afterwards!

I found an interesting study on www.chorusamerica.org. Here’s an excerpt:

“Chorus America’s study found that an estimated 42.6 million Americans regularly sing in choruses today. More than 1 in 5 households have at least one singing family member, making choral singing the most popular form of participation in the performing arts for both adults and children.

That’s good news because the study also found that singing in one of the 270,000 choruses in the U.S., such as a community chorus or a school or church choir, is strongly correlated with qualities that are associated with success throughout life. Greater civic involvement, discipline, and teamwork are just a few of the attributes fostered by singing with a choral ensemble.”

Music can do that. But the group magnetism also plays a very important part. A choir is like a small community. Its strength and positive influence on the people in it, as well as the audience, is directly related to the singers’ willingness to blend their voices and energies together to create a unified sound. As long as the desire to stand out and be noticed is present, the true spirit of group singing is absent. It’s only when each singer humbly offers their voice to become part of something much greater than any individual that the choir can become a powerful instrument to uplift and inspire.

Here’s a short interview with John Rutter, a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music, about the importance of choir:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm-Pm1FYZ-U

A lot of what’s happening in the world today seems to undermine people’s trust in one another, creating disharmony and division. Singing together is a simple, fun, and effective way of building bridges, fostering harmony, and creating a sense of community. Try it!

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NEW AND UPCOMING

I’m very close to publishing my new online course How to Sing High Notes Without Effort!

It’s a series of 18 videos with instruction and guided exercises to naturally and effortlessly expand your vocal range, and overcome once and for all fear of high notes.

I will send out more information and samples soon. Stay tuned!

 

Sing the Blues Away

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What is happening in the world today?? While I don’t pay much attention to the news or watch TV, I feel a growing sense of fear and anxiety sweeping the world. My family in Europe tells me that this feeling is even more tangible there.

Current attitudes and events make world brotherhood seem more and more like an unreachable dream. Hearing of so many acts of violence causes many people to fall into despair, fear, and hopelessness. Many are asking “Is there anything that I can do to make difference? If so, what?” People are looking for tools to find inner peace for themselves and to share it with others. We may think that our individual efforts have little impact on the world’s madness, but the power of good is much stronger than evil.

As singers, we are powerful instruments for change. Certainly, we’ve all experienced the power of music to deeply affect our moods, our energy level, our behavior, and our consciousness. Just a few seconds of listening to an uplifting song can dramatically change our state of mind, from worry, anger, sadness, grief, to confidence, calmness, and joy. Just a few minutes of listening to positive music can alter our whole perspective, changing how we feel about virtually everything that’s going on in our lives. We have to choose the right kind of music, because just as there is music that uplifts, there is also music that can, and does, bring us down. (Interesting fact: in the early 1940’s, BBC radio banned a popular song called “Gloomy Sunday” because of the many suicides associated with it.)

If listening to music has this much power over us, how much more power is there in singing it? Singing positive, uplifting music, while striving to express high ideals and positive qualities, like love, joy, understanding and forgiveness is a sure way to help people, to give them hope and inspire in them all the beautiful qualities that bring happiness to us and those around us. Furthermore, it brings an intense feeling of joy to the singer, because, as a wise teacher once said, “The instrument is blessed by that which flows through it.”

Perhaps, our singing won’t change the world, but it can uplift and change people for the better. And that’s no small thing!