The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #113882   Message #2425180
Posted By: Richard Spencer
29-Aug-08 - 03:45 AM
Thread Name: Help please, I want to sing
Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
Skipy, you don't make it clear what you think your problem is, but you might be interested in this.

I can sing, and love singing. But I suffer from nerves, sometimes so badly that I can't get enough breath to sing, and have in the past pretended that I couldn't sing rather than make a fool of myself. Now I will not allow myself to take that option and always sing when I have the opportunity, but it can be a real struggle.

For completely different reasons (crippling RSI) I recently started a course in the Alexander technique. This is not singing tuition although many singers and musicians study it. It is however excellent in teaching you to learn to free up those bits (and there are a lot) of you that you use for singing, and is great for growing self confidence.

A short quote from an article on Alexander technique and singing:

"If you proceed with the clear understanding of how the voice works--that it is designed to "sing," and that it is all set in motion by the desire to communicate and express beauty--and you combine this understanding with a balanced "use of the self," a lot of the problems you meet will sort themselves out. In the process, you will understand more and more that we are, indeed, born to sing."

The whole article is here Singing and the Alexander Technique

I too believe that everyone can sing (unless their apparatus is damaged). Don't give up trying.

Richard