Dianne Stewart Singing Lessons

Wednesday, October 6, 2021 by Dianne Stewart | Blog

We all know practice is important.  Practice makes perfect, practice is how we get better at things, it takes 10,000 hours of doing something to become a master of it.  These are all pieces of information that are often referred to when we talk about practice, but what is practice?  

Here is what I recommend for my singers (and for myself) 

• REGULAR - practice needs to be regular, daily if you can manage it but definitely a few times a week - schedule it in like a lesson with yourself
• PURPOSEFUL - know what you are practicing to improve - have a focus - review your singing goals
  • learning the notes? listen to the learning track - play it on the piano if you can - recognise the notes you are having trouble with - bring that to your lesson to work more
  • memorising the lyrics - putting the music down, testing your memory, writing out the lyrics, working out the patters or story or other way to remember it
  • working in a skill - dynamics, soft and loud or singing in your light high voice and so many more - you may have a list to work on
  • working on a difficult passage of a song - using techniques like slow it down, tap the beat or rhythm out 
• REVIEW - what did you achieve? in your practice - what do you need to focus on next time - having a practice journal can help you stay focussed and see what you have achieved - and celebrate it.

Even 10 minutes where you practice a few little voice exercises, work on your posture or breathing, or just have time to look at one small passage or entry - every little bit adds up and puts us a step further along the path of learning and achieving our goals.

So -  start with review - what are your practice goals for this week?

And don't forget you can track your practice in the student portal - you can even send me a video or recording of your practice so I can see how you are going at home.

So have fun singing and keep on practicing - we all like singing so we should all like practicing too

Dianne

Sunday, September 12, 2021 by Dianne Stewart | Blog

I love the new world of online information and support.  There is so much good stuff out there.  

I listen to 4 podcasts about voice teaching and choir leading and listening to them makes doing the housework for me bearable!  But I am also a member of the Kodály Music Education Institute of Australia KMEIA and the Australian National Association of the Teachers of Singing ANATS who both have online blogs, email newsletters, workshops and conferences.  And if there was a singing teacher close enough to me who could support my own continuing voice learning I would be having individual lessons myself.  

Why?  Because I want to be the best singer I can be and I want to be the best singing teacher I can be, and this for me means continuing to learn and grow and be open to new ideas and ways of doing things and I want to encourage all of my singers to be open to new learning, to listen and read and attend workshops and be involved other musical learning like school or community band, learning an instrument with another instrumental teacher, being a part of school and community performances and just being open to learning and growing.

But when you have a lot of information coming in it is sometimes contradictory - so I love to talk with my singers about what they are doing and leaning in these other spaces, discuss why some teachers work in different ways and for what possible reasons, how the work we are doing can support their participation in those other activities and even about how some of that information can be included, or not, in the work that we are doing together in our lessons together.

When I was a beginning singer I depended on my teacher to give me music, to play accompaniment for me and it was very difficult to do anything outside of my lesson because I did not play any instrument - at all!!  These days we can easily use recordings, online portals, online music shops where we can find sheet music to just about any song we hear as well as backing tracks as well.  And this is just great because my singers can bring songs to me and I get to hear and sing songs I would never know if they didn't bring them to me.

This month ANATS is running an online workshop all about Jazz styles and how to sing and teach them - and I am really looking forward to this - i love Jazz and I encourage my singers to give that style a try - and even though I love it and know quite a bit about how it works I am really looking forward to learning more, knowing more and being able to share that with singers.

So, Looking forward to keeping learning and sharing and having fun singing.

Hope to see you all back in the studio soon

Dianne

Friday, June 4, 2021 by Dianne Stewart | Blog

People who know me know that I love to sing.  I love singing in all different types of styles, I love great songs, and catchy songs, from arias to rap.  But I didn't come from a household full of music, in fact, the music experience in my home was watching Count Down, recording songs from the radio top 10 onto blank cassette tapes so you could listen to them later and listening to whatever tapes or records we had in the house - and I can tell you that wasn't much.

So how did I get into singing?  I was lucky enough to have been given opportunities as a part of my schooling.

When I was in grade 6 there was this project where all of the grade 6 classes from all of Catholic schools across Bendigo came together to put on the musical Godspell.  From those schools we had a number of music and drama teachers (my primary school did not have a music or drama teacher) and each class put on one of the scenes from the musical - and somehow in all of that I was picked to sing a solo (so excited right) - Turn Back Oh Man. We performed 6 shows - with 2 sets of cast to give everyone a chance -  and I was also chosen to sing in the chior for the shows that I was not acting in.  It was an experience that really kicked off my love of singing and performing.  And what better show - Godspell is fantastic!!

Side note - I was not to sing a solo in a musical production again until I moved to Stawell - and even then my first stage show - Groovy in 2008  - did not see me sing a solo - I had a speaking part and was part of chorus (note to self if you want something chase after it because not all opportunities fall in your lap!!)

In high school, singing was a part of the curriculum - and part of the life of the school.  I went to Catholic girls school and we sang each week as a part of music lessons, we sang as a year level and whole school as a part of our church services. And of course I wanted to be a part of the musical productions and in year 7 the whole of year 7 were a rainbow of chorus up the back of stage for Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat.  Not the stand out I wanted but I was still singing and I loved every minute of it.

In my year 8 year the musical moved to being a year 10 production - ok I could wait.  When I got to year 10, there was a big change at my school - we merged with the boys school (now that was a big year in the life of a young hetero girl but that is another story) but the worst thing was the musical moved to being a year 9 program - I had been skipped over.  True, I was a part of every choir or back up vocal group for every production - but never had the opportunity to even audition for a part. *sad.

But as they say one door closes another door opens, I was presented with a different opportunity.  I was selected to audition for a scholarship ... for the Sacred Heart Cathedral Choir and I got it, and a whole new musical journey opened up to me.

I come from a Catholic background but being a very blue collar and rurally isolated household we didn't go to church every Sunday - but that was now to change.  The scholarship paid all of my school fees and so the 2 hour commute twice a week to Bendigo for a Wednesday evening 2 hour rehearsal and again on Sunday for an hour pre service rehearsal and an hour of church didn't matter to my mum - it was vastly cheaper than paying my school fees.

So there I was, singing in choir.  I hadn't even heard this music! Faure's Requiem, mass sung in latin, four part hymns and carols ....I didn't know how to read music and was completely out of my element .... but I loved every minute of it.  The music was so beautiful and the people were so nice.  Older sopranos helped me to find my place in the music and I started to learn.

After spending year 9, year10 and year 11 singing in choir I decided I wanted to do singing for VCE Music -  so that meant getting a singing teacher.  I started with a teacher in year 11 but in year 12 I needed to get serious and that is when I really started to take singing lessons - classical style (there was no other style then - VCE music lists were classical lists none of this contemporary stuff!!)  And it was hard.  Really hard.  But I really wanted to sing so I just kept singing.  My teacher was very strict, very critical, very old.

So I was telling you why I love singing.  Throughout this whole time of being provided with opportunities to sing - although at times it was hard, and I didn't get to sing what I wanted or what I thought I wanted, each experience exposed me to more singing and in I discovered that it didn't matter what style, what genre, what part of the singing I was doing, I loved to sing.  It made me happy - it moved me to a place of joy.

So, I love to sing because I love the act of singing - and it has taken me a while to think that through and get there because for a long time I just through I wanted to perform - but that is not it.  I just love to sing, in the kitchen, on the stage, to a small group or to an auditorium full of people.  Singing brings me joy.  

And I love being able to provide opportunities for others to sing - and I hope it brings them joy too.

Special thanks to the people in my life who saw me, who chose me, who provided me with the opportunities to sing - you gave me a lifetime of joy.

So enjoy your singing whatever type style or way you can.

Dianne