Help please, I want to sing

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Escamillo
Date: 05 Sep 08 - 03:57 AM

My experience in singing:
- At folk ensambles at age of 14-20
- With friends at age 14-30
- At 30 listened to Opera singers, then shut up for almost 20 years
- At the parent´s choir in my children´s school
- Attended serious classes for 3 years
- Since 1998: at the main Argentina Opera House (Colon Theatre, in the choir) and in many small stages as soloist, doing old jazz, spirituals, traditionals, canzonetta, ...

Those years of silence ended up when I took the decision of testing my voice with a classical teacher.

I can´t tell if you can sing or not, probably yes, but PLEASE don´t be afraid of classical teachers. They will not force you to sing in a classical style, they will help you FIND your voice and make good use of it, regardless the kind of songs you choose.

For example, 99% of people who begin to sing, try their voices in a very low pitch (deep basses) and think that their voices are very limited. Most probably, when you take classes, you will find that the best pitch for you is much higher. You can´t do this without the help of a teacher. Don´t get scared, go to a classical teacher who accepts beginners.

Best wishes / Andrés (in Buenos Aires)

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: GUEST,Heather P
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 06:39 PM

AWESOME!!! Three cheers from the shores of the northern Pacific! You and everyone on the thread have inspired me, Skipy; I just got back from a Faire where I had my first-ever three gigs *not* singing soprano in chorus... got a healthy serving of advice from other musicians (erm, I love trad - starting with very *old* trad - and sea shanties, and whoever heard of singing those soprano? I do it mostly in chest voice, which is nearly baritone at its low end and worries some musicians), but there was also a lot of support, offers to play together and such -- KEEP GOING, SKIPY! I'll be thinking of you! Oh, I LOVE THIS SO MUCH, and I know you do, too! YES!!!

Heather P in Bremerton

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Polly Squeezebox
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 05:32 PM

There you go see. It's Swindon Club tomorrow night which is not far from you so, - go do it again! Sorry I can't be there to support you, as I shall be on my way to France. However, many folk at Swindon will be very supportive of your long overdue VOCAL participation at folk events.

Polly

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 03:13 PM

Whoo-Hoo, skipy!!! Good for you!!!

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: BB
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 03:00 PM

Brilliant, Dave. There'll be no stopping you now - I hope!

Barbara

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Beer
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 10:35 PM

skippy, sorry for the late arrival. I am a singer (to a degree) and lost my voice for about a year. Starting to get it back but I know it will never be where it was before. It hurts a lot. But for you whom I don't know and have no idea how you sound..... Sing. sing for yourself first. then sing for a few, then sing for others. Senior homes are a great place to start as well. they love music. Just fucking do it.


When I can't play I'll sing,
When I can't sing I'll whistle.
When the time comes I can whistle no more,
I'll sit my self down and I'll listen.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 09:48 PM

100

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 09:48 PM

I Cant Resist the temptation !!

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 09:31 PM

About time you got in to singing again !

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Rowan
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:44 PM

Go skipy!!!!!!!!!!!! the singer!!!!!!!!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: skipy
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:40 PM

Thanks to all above, you guy are outstanding & there when I needed you,
I can't thank you enough.
Skipy

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:20 PM

YAH!!

sandra (wiping tears away)

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Bobert
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:05 PM

Belive me, 32 people is harder than 1000, Skipy... Now you are a veteran and you don't gotta be all worried from here out...

Congrates, you've made it!!! And I'm proud of ya... Fir real...

B~

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Alice
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:05 PM

Yay! Yay! Yay!!!
It's addictive, isn't it, skipy!
Bet you can't wait to do it again!!

Congratulations, singer!

Alice

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 07:53 PM

Well done Skippy, that's fantastic! I'm really pleased for you.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: maeve
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 07:33 PM

Hoopla!

Congratulations from me as well, skipy. Enjoy the catching-up!

maeve

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Megan L
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 05:52 PM

WELL DONE lad you may never know how many folk your efforts have helped. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to hearing of further adventures.

AWRA BEST
frae
Dauvitt and his Meg

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: skipy
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 05:51 PM

Kipling:-
Minesweepers, has a refain & got joiner iners!
Skipy

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: curmudgeon
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 05:50 PM

So please share the details. What did you sing? Chorus? Anyone join in?

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: skipy
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 05:48 PM

I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just got back from the local folk club where I sang a song!
32 poeple in there, only 5 that I knew from the old days! Drove myself there, so only 1 weak shandy as fuel. Just did the one as time allowed. It was not brilliant but IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH! Even got asked to come back by the lady who now runs the club!
I did it for me! but I did it also for you guys who so kindly put your faith in me & where there to prop me up, I can't thank you enough, all of you. A few more hurdles to go & a lot of missed singing to catch up on.
Thanks again!
Skipy
(singer!)

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:14 AM

I think that we have established, from remarks made by people that know you, that there is nothing wrong with your vocal abilities. It's just getting the mind convinced that you can do it. :)

I started performing as a deliberate attempt to become a more extrovert person. I was a very quiet type and my first wife had died leaving me with a big gap in my life, but we had been regulars in the audience a sevaral folk clubs in our area. I knew that I had a better voice than some of the "residents" but I would never have considered getting up to sing. No problem with the chorus though.

So, I decided that I was in a vunerable condition as an introvert with my then current state of affairs and decided to change. I reasoned that if I could play an instrument as well then at least I could hide behind it to some extent, so bought my first concertina and after about four months was ready to let sombody hear me. I wanted to throw myself in at the deep end so to speak, so I picked a week when I could go to three folk clubs in succession. I set off for the first club. I could not sing and play at the same time but the usual thing was to do two or three numbers in a floor spot so the plan was to sing one and play one then either sing or play for the third item depending on the nerves. There was a stool up at the front that I could rest the concertina on and this was a great help. I leant against the stool to try and hide the fact that my knees were quaking. (I'd always thought that this was a literary invention but now I know it's real.) I was introduced and launched into the first song and after a short while it was easy! Composed myself further as I played my tune then on with another song.
At the other folk clubs in that week I once again started out nervous but found that I had nothing to worry about in fact, except that I would need to learn more songs for the next week!

I'm fairly sure that managing to repeat the experience several times in a short period helped in the long run so once you've got up and done it - do it again.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: GUEST,Anon
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 08:15 PM

Great Story Rowan . It just goes to show , doesnt it ? I know skipy and I have heard him sing in the distant past , hence the anonimity - No Names , no Pack Drill - There are better singers , but there are a damn sight worse . Go For It .

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Rowan
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 08:02 PM

Just think what would happen if teachers said things like "you can't read" (happened to me, actually), "you can't do maths" (people do get that idea, don't they?). No-one seems to think of special needs in singing (or PE), do they?

The "or PE") bit in Penny's post got me reminded about a situation I experienced many years ago. I ran school camps full time and this particular camp concentrated on dealing with group dynamics and novel approaches to learning, rather than the usual run of PE-based Outdoor Ed. Because of our approach we received a grant to have some "Mildly-" and "Moderately retarded" (the "official" definitions, not mine) adolescents and young adults for a week in summer, followed by a week the following summer.

Most had some motor disability which impeded their progress around the place (we were in an Oz bush setting) but we got up to all sorts of mischief, even to the extent of towing one kid in a wheelchair behind the LandRover up a stretch of goat track. Great fun.

We couldn't take them to our usual swim location as the river was flowing and too deep for this lot, so we took them to a secluded pool in a creek. Trouble was, the nice 'beach' for this pool was at the far end from the 4WD access track (hence the towing bit) and the only way to get to the beach was to traverse about 100m of rounded and jumbled boulders ranging from pebbles to about 1m diameter.

After considerable thought, we decided to have a go. It was agonising, watching these disabled people gritting their teeth, knuckling down to doing it and helping each other (with our help as well, of course); it took them more than 3/4 of an hour just to traverse this 100m. But once they were in the water, they were like fish! Every one of them had been in a serious hydrotherapy program for yonks and the water was almost their native element. The return trip was only marginally quicker.

The following summer we made sure we incorporated another visit to this pool in the program; the whole lot of them insisted on it. What I found fascinating was the fact that, although there was no appreciable improvement in their motor skills around the camp itself, when it came to traversing this boulder field to get to the beach (and thus into the water), they were across it in about ten minutes!

It struck me that nobody had bothered, in their motor skills program, to teach them how to walk. All the physio had been directed through hydrotherapy so they were terrific in the water, but it was assumed they would always be handicapped 'on land' so only minimal concentration was put into that part of their program. At Steiglitz, they wanted into the pool so badly that they were prepared to overcome a formidable barrier and had learned some significant motor skills on the way. This hadn't been noticed, let alone capitalised upon during the year, until after the repeat visit. At this time it was certainly noticed and their carers changed their physio routines after that. They also changed their approach in the rest of the institution, as well.

For me, it reinforced my view that it's best to start with an assumption that "anything is achievable", it's just a matter of working at it.

Go, skip!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: GUEST,Vince
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 06:04 AM

Fascinating thread, as a non-singer myself, I received a great compliment at Shrewsbury FF by being told (by a very good Singer/Musician friend) that I will never have a great voice, but that I was a great singer (ie performer).

I only sing a couple of songs that I know back to front, but it's that knowledge and my will to get the songs across that comes through. You will never find a hostile session audience (unless you unleash a 107-verse mining disaster song on them :) ) as all sessions (esp at festivals) have such a range of abilities.

I only sing songs other people don't know (because I don't know the standard chorus songs myself) and I do panic if people start to join in as a musical accompaniment, but I concentrate on my perfomance of the song and let them worry about the rest.

Remember, it's the song you're trying to get across, and if you can convey the feeling and meaning of the song, well, in my book that's more than half way there, getting the bugger in tune, that's another thing.

Folks have already mentioned Dylan and Björk in this thread, I'd like to mention Leonard Cohen and Billy Bragg (early stuff in both cases) for where it's the song that counts. And in their words: "I was born with the gift of a golden voice" (LC: Tower of Song), and "There ain't nobody that can sing like me" (BB/Woody Guthrie: Way Over Yonder In a Minor Key)

Vince

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Penny S.
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 04:07 AM

I'm in two minds over the reading. There are songs I know by heart, but I want to extend my repertoire, to have some variation in what I sing, and it takes time to be absolutely confident, especially with new coinage. So I've been using my PDA as a prompt. But I had heard other people singing perfectly well from their files before I started doing it. And I do a mixture. I intend to use the prompt less as I go on.

Penny

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 05:58 PM

" ... many people for various reasons cannot hold words in their memory there is nothing wrong with using the words as long as you make a good effort at a song"

Hmmm. I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with that, Megan L. I suspect that many people who claim not to be able to memorise the words are a bit like many people who claim that they can't sing - they've never really tried.

Good singing is not particularly easy - it takes effort and practice, practice, practice. I've been to far too many sessions recently where it is quite obvious that certain people are putting minimum effort into their performances - and it shows! When I see someone reading the words off a piece of paper my immediate assumption is that they are too bone-idle to learn them. If it ever turns out that someone about whom I have made such an assumption has a genuine memory defect (and can show me a doctor's note to that effect) I will make an unreserved apology!

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: skipy
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 05:47 PM

Hells teeth! This getting SO out of control! SO many people on my side, helping me, so many stangers & so many friends!
Next step (subject to work) is to go to a folk club on Wednesday eve. & do 1 (maybe 2!) then report back to you guys!
The next bit of the plan is even worse:- When I got "picked" to an instructor at RAF Halton I fought it tooth & nail, but was bound to lose! So they sent me on am intensive teaching course, during the course they made me "do" a lesson for 1/2 hour approx. whilst they videoed it, when it was played back I thought "that was not too bad at all, infact it was pretty good" so I am going to risk doing simmillar & record a few track & them listen to them, a risk I know but with you guys behind me I may pull this off (no puns please).
Thanks again for being out there for me, the angst is dropping like a stone on a daily basis!
Bring it on!
Skipy

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Megan L
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 07:59 AM

Shimrod many people for various reasons cannot hold words in their memory there is nothing wrong with using the words as long as you make a good effort at a song

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 07:57 AM

Penny S said:
" The number of people who have been silenced by thoughtless teachers must be immense."

I think that happens because the students are put in a choir format. As I earlier stated I don't have a lot of range and because of this my choir ability is limited. Now if it was me who chose the key I could have done much better. Also a student may have more interest if they are singing a song that they like rather than one picked by the teacher. A good teacher would work more with the individual instead of forcing them into a mold but that requires effort.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Penny S.
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 04:28 AM

Not a lot to add to what other people have said. My best friend was told he couldn't sing when at school, and won't sing carols in public - but actually has a perfectly acceptable middle range voice and can hold a tune. The number of people who have been silenced by thoughtless teachers must be immense.

When I was at college, we were taught that everyone could sing, it being part of the human toolkit. some people needed more help than others. Our lecturer had been taught herself by Imogen Holst, who held to the same belief.

Just think what would happen if teachers said things like "you can't read" (happened to me, actually), "you can't do maths" (people do get that idea, don't they?). No-one seems to think of special needs in singing (or PE), do they?

You can sing.

Someone has suggested singing in the car. If you get CDs or tapes with the songs you want to sing, you can sing along while driving.

Penny

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 03:42 AM

For God's sake make sure you learn the words - rather than reading them off a piece of paper.

Apart from that, just do it!

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Jayto
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 11:44 PM

I still think that you have to believe in yourself skipy and let it rip. Of course you need to practice and know the song. I still hold my position that you should belt it like you feel it. I know I am not a great singer but I really don't aspire to be a great singer all I want to do is let my feelings out. If a singer can release their feelings in a way the crowd can relate then they have accomplished their goal in my opinion. I like emotion and that is what singing and music is about. If there is no emotion it is just noise. I know others are going to disagree with me but that is cool. I like passion in belief and if they want to tell me I;m wrong that's fine. I am stirring emotion lol Art is emotion music is emotion if it doesn't stir emotion it is nothing. I think you need to believe in yourself and let it out. You are a confident person. I know by talking to you in the chat room. Let it rip man.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Gurney
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 11:26 PM

Lonely up there all by yourself, isn't it, Skipy!

Use a guitar pitch-pipe to get you started in a good key, if you don't use an instrument.
Sing a song that you really believe in.
Practise at the volume you will use on-stage. This is important. On-stage you are louder, and need a different key.

You don't have to have a good voice to put on a good show. Did Johnny Cash have a good voice? How about Bob Dylan, or Willy Nelson? I've paid good money for their records, and I'd pay it to see their shows if they were local.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Bobert
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 08:37 PM

Litta good advice here...

If there is a music camp within a couple three hundred miles of you sign up... There will be others who just need a little proding andf help...

A real good teacher is Gaye Adegbalola of the blues group Sapphire... She does a one week vocals workshop at Elkins, WV evey summer... I'm sure there are other such music camps where you will be with alot of folks, like you, who just need some encouragement and a few pointers...

I am a firm believer that just about everyone can sing if they just allow themselves to try...

Good luck...

B~

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: maire-aine
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 08:22 PM

I'm certainly no great singer, but some people like what they hear. Some suggestions:

Find a song that you love so much that you want to sing it for everyone. Learn the words, and talk through it in your normal speaking voice. Then start to sing it quietly until you get comfortable with it. Then you can start to project.

And remember this advice and keep singing.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 07:18 PM

Skipy - try the Wareham Wail next year, instead of the Bunkfest! Or come to our singaround at Banbury next month.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 06:54 PM

YAH for heading to 2 venues, well done, skipy. Keep up the good work.

I was at a Folk conference on the weekend which started with a session & as always several very experienced singers forgot words in songs they knew well.

One has recently won a prestigious award for singing & just went la la la to the tune till she picked up the words. The other did the usual gaze-ceiling-wards-at-the-black-cloud that inhabits all session rooms. I've also seen songwriters forget words in their own songs.

And naturally no-one condemned them, the word-swallowing black cloud in the Glengarry was famous over the 15-20 years the session endured, & equally naturally it followed the singers on their quest to find another venue. It will always be there.

sandra

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Megan L
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 05:23 PM

:) Skipy as a Glaswegian might say "Ach son ye might be a glaikit wean but yewr oor glaikit wean"

You can do it lad and we are aw ahint ye.

Awra best frae Dauvitt and his Meg

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: skipy
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 05:18 PM

The support piles in & I thank you all so much.
I will do this not just for me but for ALL of you who have been there to help, I just can't believe that so many have been there for me.
Skipy

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Jane of 'ull
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 03:27 PM

Skipy, I feel for you. I am often told I can sing but have never liked the sound of my voice. I previously attributed this to years of low self esteem, but having conquered my self -loathing episodes (though its taken 37 years!) I am quite a confident person now - but I still don't like my voice or think that I can sing!

I had a bitchy singing teacher who only liked big 'bluesy mama' voices. my voice is quite sweet and reedy and she made me doubt my ability.
But I used to sing in folk clubs about 13 years ago, and people liked it. I also enrolled on a performing arts course and got distinction grades for my singing. My advice to you is that everyone does have different tastes in singing voices - think of people like Dylan or Bjork, who always divide listeners into two camps (they're always either 'brilliant' or 'rubbish'!) you will never please everyone.

So I would choose a venue where you're not known, but take with you a supportive friend, relax, breathe deeply and just GO FOR IT. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised. Most people love to hear the human voice, no matter how many instrumentalists play at the session..it's primeval, its natural, and above all it's what makes each human being unique. Good luck Skipy - I'm with ya all the way!! x

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 12:35 AM

Byron McGillvary (sp?) is a voice/singing teacher who travels a circuit from Texas to Alaska and back.

He pointed out that if you do not speak in a monotone you already know how to hit the notes. Just about everybody modulates speech. Start with that knowledge, record yourself on a couple of songs and recitations, alone and with others and I'll bet that you will be thrilled.

And as others above have implied, on occasions that you're feeling 'puny' and unsure of yourself just say, Not tonight, I'm in the mood to listen tonight. And later in the evening you may find yourself saying, You know, there is this one song I'd like to sing tonight...

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 12:00 AM

Good for you, skipy!! You are willing, you went, and you will go again! This is what Mudcat is all about...support and encouragement! I look forward to hearing how good it felt to sing next time you get a chance.

All the best,

kat

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 11:18 PM

Skipy, do you play an instrument to accompany yourself or do you rely on others or do you sing unaccompanied? Whatever the case the trick to singing on key has much to do with choosing the right key for the song for your voice. I have limited vocal range so the key that I choose is critical. I do play guitar well enough to accompany myself and with my trusty capo can quickly find the right key. I am often reluctant to have others play along without a bit of rehersal because they can often mess me up even though they are better musicians than myself. Always know what key is best for the song you are going to sing and don't let others choose it for you. As Kendall suggested earlier, practice with a recording device before performing in public. Also choose a song that you know well and that you are comfortable with and practice, practice, practice. You can do it!

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: skipy
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 06:35 PM

Thanks Polly, I must know you but not by your cat name! I do know that you go to Lechlade but that is about all.
I AM up for this, singing is what I want to do, I've set up & cleared down more than my share of venues, I want to be in one now & again, & it is coming my way.
I still cannot believe the ammount of support I have had over the past couple of days from the cat, I saw myself as "the obnoxious little non singing fuckwit who wants to spoil everbodies fun by smoking". It appears that I am wrong.
A large helping of humble pie please with a pint of fine ale!
Skipy

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Polly Squeezebox
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 06:23 PM

Hi Skipy,

Now, unlike most of the above, I HAVE heard you sing - and would never have guessed that you were so nervous about it. You can certainly hold a tune, you can certainly remember the words, and you most certainly gave pleasure to the people you were singing to. I - like you - gained the impression at an early age that my singing was deficient in some way - I was an exceptinal dancer when I was younger, and in later years hid behind the squeesebox! Like you I always longed to be able to sing and put across the message of a 'special' song. Going regularly to a friendly folk club helped me - far easier to stand up and sing in front of a group of people that met weekly than in front of the 'experts' at festivals. I've missed going regularly to folk clubs over the past few months and have found that it has really affected my ability to sing at festivals I have attended this summer. Yes, I'm still nervous about singing - but hey - learn to manage the adrenatine and it will work for you, and there is no legal or illegal drug which can substitue for the joy of leading a roomful of singers. Do take up Cats offer - I'll look forward to sharing the joy of the Fox & Hounds weekend with you next year. I always think that there is something about singing together with people which is very like sharing a meal with them - brings everybody closer somehow.

Stick with it, it's not too late, the rewards are tremendous and rememeber - I've heard you sing - YOU CAN - keep with it and enjoy sharing it with others.

Love, light and laughter, Polly.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: maeve
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 05:44 PM

Whenever you begin, skipy, we'll be happy for you. Keep us posted, please.

maeve

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: skipy
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 03:49 PM

Firstly, please don't call the lady in question a "cow" for she truly is not. You are ALL out there gunning for me to get this right, with your help I WILL manage this.
I went to a festival today and went straight to the normal sing venue, but it was empty, not a soul at all! So the next move was to buy a prog. & go to the new sing venue, when I got there I found man who was running it sitting outside with 2 non singers, no one else had turned up, however I did go to both venues with words & with the determination to sing, had there been a sing I WOULD have sung for sure. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching my 16 year old morris dancing, when we got back to the car we found that a sing / session had started in the first pub! Sadly we where on a very tight time schedule (That means late) so we had to dash. Next chance is a folk club some distance from here on Wed. night.
Thanks again everyone
Skipy

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Alice
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 10:03 AM

Adding to what I posted earlier, it is helpful in the beginning to record yourself singing so you can hear yourself objectively and work on any weaknesses. Sing every day in your full range - up and down scales from the lowest notes you can reach to the highest. Don't push, learn to float the sound on the cushion of air. Pushing or belting strains the vocal cords, which will only bring trouble eventually.

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: Maryrrf
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 09:14 AM

Coming in late to the thread, and a lot of good advice has already been given but I will just reiterate - 1) Practice a few pieces till you know them cold. You need to really be confident that you will recall all the words even when under pressure 2) Force yourself to sing at the next opportunity, even though you're nervous. One train of thought that helped me to overcome nerves was to ask myself "What really will happen if I make a mistake, or if I don't go over well". The answer - "Nothing". Although a mistake may loom big in your mind it will be quickly forgotten by the audience. Often they don't even realize you've made a mistake if you can catch yourself quickly and go on singing. Even if you really mess up - it's just a blip on the radar screen. They'll forget about it after the next couple of singers. At the most, they might think fleetingly that you're having a bad day. After messing up numerous times in front of people, and realizing that nothing happens and nobody remembered it except for me, I don't get nervous any more about singing in public. Oh and as for somebody criticising you or telling you you can't sing - I wasn't allowed to join the choir in fourth grade because I 'couldn't sing' - but I went on sing professionally in my later years and still get gigs!

Subject: RE: Help please, I want to sing
From: vectis
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 09:11 AM

Skipy
There is nothing wrong with your voice it is very pleasant to listen to. The cow that told you you couldn't sing is just that.... A cow. She has the problem so don't make it your problem.
Sing in the choruses to start off with and get your confidence back again.
When YOU are ready try a solo amongst friends who are supportive and friendly.
Find what is called a "natural voice coach" they won't teach you an operatic style but will help you to maximise your own god given voice and with this will come confidence.
Confidence makes most people better singers.

I was told to "shut up and mime" when I was in a school play at 5 and I didn't sing until I was in further education and totally desparate to sing the marvellous songs I had discovered through folk. I was probably rubbish at first but improved with practice and am now fairly satisfied with what I have (voice wise) but still strive to improve all the time. You never really get over a hurtful comment like that but you can overcome it in time.
Love
Mary