Studying music teaches us many things about ourselves; most importantly we learn the three P’s: practice, patience and perserverence.

Nature’s secret is patience …

Things take time and thoughts take even more time, this is just how it always has been and how it is supposed to be.

Learning to sing is an art that takes time to develop; it takes concentration and focus.

The professional singer’s mindset:

The key is presence – always be 100% in the moment and do whatever you are doing like everything matters. This kind of mindfullness will make perfection and this perfection will carry over to everything you do. Understanding that slowness leads to perfection and learning to slow down is an essential part of professional singer’s mindset.

Practice does NOT make perfect; only perfect practice makes perfect!

Our modern day society’s ideals of effectivity, productivity and fastness lead to the replacement of quality by quantity and the replacement of true needs with false.

Doing one small thing a day slowly, mindfully and with clarity – perfectly – is infinitely more valuable than doing a lot of things half-heartedly.  It’s important to ask yourself “If a task is not worth doing perfectly, is it really worth spending any time doing it at all?”

Interested in taking your singing to the next level?

Why not give us a call at: The Pippa Hayes Vocal Studio, Gympie studio Ph5483 7731 to discuss your singing lessons and find out what you are fully capable of achieving!

The confusion occurs when classically trained musicians try to perform or teach jazz using the same criteria as they would for classical music … it’s a totally different mindset.

The underlying motive of jazz is love and expression, jazz demands that you be yourself!

The best jazz musicians sound like themselves; they are not a copy of someone else; they are expressing themselves through the medium of music.

If you want to learn jazz singing you must find a teacher who speaks the language of jazz.

Jazz singers are influenced by jazz instrumentalists i.e., tenor sax, trumpet, trombone therefore the jazz singers articulation, intonation and over all stylistic approach reflects that influence.

Bends, growls, slides are all part of the jazz dialect but none of these musical effects are found in classical music, notice I said ‘effect’ for that is all they are effects that the vocalist employs to express himself or herself.

At the end of the day ‘the music is the thing’ that’s what really matters, it’s what you are saying with your music not how you are saying it.

When the world hears Louis Armstrong sing “What A Wonderful World” everyone gets it! Although from a strictly classical standpoint there’s many articulation issues with Louis’ rendition.

As Shakespeare said ‘the play is the thing’ with music it’s your ability to express yourself, all the scales and exercises are just preparatory studies they are NOT the music.

• Drink a minimum of 8 (ounce) glasses of water daily, more if you drink caffeniated beverages like coffee etc. The water will help hydrate the vocal chords and is excellent for your health.

• Pay attention to how you use your speaking voice, bad habits can translate to the wear and tear of the voice, check that your voice is not gravelly or too low.

• Singing with a cold – Pay attention to where the cold is residing, if you have nasal congestion you can still sing. If your vocal chords aren’t impacted you can still perform. Pay attention to how the voice sounds. Consult your Doctor when in doubt, rather than purchase over the counter medications.

• Use a microphone when you are singing with an amplified band if the band has onstage monitors make use of  them. Remember the band may not be as sensitive to your needs as a singer. If the music is too loud it would be  best to leave…. rather than suffer unnecessary vocal  strain.

You can’t sing jazz if you don’t love the music. It’s all about the music, I repeat, it’s ALL about the music…you have to learn to “leave your ego at the door” when you sing jazz.

Jazz singing is about connecting with your audience you are telling them a story, the jazz singer has to have an emotional connection with his or her listeners.

If you want to learn jazz singing, the best place to start is by listening to jazz. Today, we are fortunate to have many wonderful recordings of jazz singers available for us to study and enjoy.

Jazz singers are as different as their individual personalities, after a while you will be able to tell who is singing without having to check out the album sleeve. If you have a record player I recommend buying the records, even though CD’s sound great, you don’t get the amount of information about the artist and backing musicians. and that’s important if you want to sing jazz.

Jazz singing is about discovering the fun and freedom in the unknown and the unexpected. The art of jazz singing is a uniquely American art created by African-Americans.

Jazz vocalists are always exploring new ways to use their instruments to sing with heart, soul and individuality.

I recommend listening to: Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong to start your jazz listening library.

Jazz singing is much closer to the spoken voice than classical singing. Jazz singers use a variety of musical scales and techniques that are not part of the classical training.

If you are studying with a private teacher make certain that teacher can help you achieve your goals, there’s not much point asking a classical singing tutor what scales you need to learn for jazz singing.

Singing teachers have a variety of methods to help their students identify the muscle groups used to breathe properly. While singing technique is important, technical exercises are not music, they are preparatory work for vocal performance it must never be confused with music.

The dilemma of jazz singing is this: What is one to do with the words in an art form that is primarily nonverbal. So jazz singing is the best of everything, we get to use ideas from instrumentalists and create our own individual style.

As they say, “good style is never out of fashion” and jazz is constantly being discovered by a whole new generation eager to learn more about this amazing art form.

From nowhere, 10 or more years ago, young women have started to emerge singing the old standards, and sometimes playing the piano as well, and it was Diana Krall this and Diana Krall that, and then it was Diane Schuur and after that it was Claire Martin and Clare Teal and Kate Dimbleby and Amy Winehouse and Stacey Kent, and these days you can’t move out of the house without stepping on a jazz singer, and jazz singing is now so hip it’s painful.

The best way for students to learn about the creative, social and political history of jazz and jazz singing is for them to listen, watch and react to the music be it live or recorded.

Jazz singing is probably the most seductive access to jazz in general and attracts all kinds of public. The art of jazz singing is hard to define, but easy to recognize, and easier still to enjoy.