Singing Lessons with Liz Scott Hall

08/08/2019

It’s been a lovely summer so far - school holidays, summer camps, beaches, parks, playing out in the street - and gardening for me.
Have you given music practice a holiday too? We train our bodies to play our instruments, (the voice is an instrument). Without even realising it, we’re memorising the music we learn, and our body minds (brain control of fingers, lungs, vocal chords, emotions) respond to the memory signals.
Unless, of course, we don’t keep it going!
The first music lesson of a new term can be a bit of an embarrassing disaster for the learner who hasn’t practiced over summer.
Parents of several of my pupils have found that practice is easiest at the start of the day. They didn’t go out until that was done - and, a good incentive, some were let off certain household tasks because practicing was seen as being important.
Everyone has days off, but I just want to remind music learners out there of the old saying ‘If you ‘don’t use it, you lose it’!
Now is the time to start back to practicing, if it has been neglected. And if you’ve been keeping up with your practice, you’re clearly someone who’s committed and loves their art!
Enjoy these last weeks of the holiday, but please do some practice before you break your teacher’s heart the first week back!

15/01/2019

As the weather starts to get colder, central heating goes on, and we’re more susceptible to sniffles and coughs. It’s worth considering the effects of sudden changes in temperature and humidity as we go outside and indoors again. Asthma and COPD sufferers can really struggle with this. The change of temperature can set you off coughing.
If you’re going a choir or other singing event, when you arrive, just take some time to breathe gently through your nose and give yourself time to adjust to the new ‘climate’. Change your breathing: as you become more comfortable, start off breathing through your nose, then slightly open your mouth to take in air too.
Continue inhaling this way 3 or 4 times, then gently inhale only through your mouth. Next, breathe in through your mouth to a slow count to 4 ensuring you can feel your ribs lift(and not your shoulders). Release breath to a count of 8. Repeat. Inhale more sharply and deeply(count to 2, check shoulders), exhale slowly. Then enjoy your singing!

05/06/2018

Congratulations to the recent exam entrants on all getting Distinction. They worked hard to put into practice what they learned in their lessons and deserve to feel proud of their achievements!

23/12/2017

It's been a great term. Singing students have been doing great practice and improving week by week. (See my past post on effective practicing). It's always so pleasing to see how different aspects of singing and playing can produce the confidence for learners to go on challenging themselves.
I love to see how singing can change mood. Singing has a physiological effect that produces a feeling of well-being, and this appears to be the case for the newly-formed Carrigaline Men's Shed Choir. Everyone leaves smiling!
Happy Christmas,
Liz

02/10/2017

The children's Tuesday music class is now full, but there are still a couple of spaces left for Thursday sessions. It's been great fun so far, seeing children join in with all the action songs with enthusiasm, exploring instruments and learning how to use them with control. Using movement, and listening carefully, the children are now feeling, recognising and responding to crotchets and quavers.
if you want to give your child a head start in music, literacy and listening skills, this class provides children with a great opportunity way to learn, in a lively and enjoyable group.
High quality one-to-one teaching is essential for ensuring a firm grounding not only in good technique, but also in gaining understanding of musicianship, musical literacy and theory. As a well-qualified teacher of singing and piano, (see past posts for my qualifications) I have now increased my teaching time to offer piano, as well as singing lessons. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

16/08/2017

More about music classes for young children.
Classes for 4/5 year olds on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2.30pm and for age 3 on Wednesdays at 10.30am.

The goals and benefits of Early Childhood music classes

The main goals of the classes are that children will be able to:
*sing individually and in a group in call and response or question and answer songs and improvisation games
*enjoy listening to and responding to songs, rhymes and other music, joining in with familiar phrases
*recognise and explore how sounds can be changed
*match movements to music and step to a pulse
*learn how to handle a range of tuned and untuned percussion instruments
*gain in confidence and enjoyment when participating in the musical activities
*demonstrate the ability to maintain attention and begin to sustain attentive listening.


Musical benefits include: controlling the voice and developing pitch accuracy (tuneful singing); boosting sequential memory through song and action repetition. Through recognition and reproduce short melodic and rhythmic patterns, children begin to acquire musical literacy and eventually start to read and write their own simple tunes. This gives them a head start if they want to start learning to play an instrument.

Non-musical benefits
Speech and language development (vocabulary, clarity of speech) is supported by chanting and singing. This is particularly helpful if parents speak another language at home. The recognition of syllable patterns is a vital strategy when learning to read
Singing action songs and playing a range of percussion instruments both help with the development of physical coordination.
Singing number and counting songs, using small toys or fingers to display numbers helps development of mathematical thinking

Further benefits
There is a huge body of evidence that exposure to music at an early age (even before birth) enhances all aspects of development. In the past, I visited nurseries and preschools to run music sessions. See my Early Childhood Ireland Powerpoint for more information about this.

05/08/2017

I'm an accredited early childhood music teacher. I wanted to understand how children learn and develop musically. I'm Kodaly trained and have been a trainer and lecturer not only in music education from birth. I use simple instruments and fun songs and games to teach musical understanding to 4 and 5 year olds. Over several months, they experience and begin to understand pitch and rhythm to the extent they can write and read their own simple tunes. I will start classes maximum 6 children at a time in September. If this is of interest to you, text or call me on 0899474373.
Feel welcome to share this message.

11/07/2017

For the last few months I've been teaching a lady who has had terrible problems with her lung function. She suffered shortness of breath, was unable to sing a complete phrase without having to take extra breaths and she coughed terribly during lessons. However, we've worked on breathing exercises, and not only has her breath control hugely increased, but she hardly coughs now and she's had fewer chest infections too. This supports the research that's out there (e.g. Chest specialist and musician Dr Ian Morrison's report on singing for people with COPD).
https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/health-and-wellbeing/sidney-de-haan-research-centre/documents/Singing-and-COPD-Final-report.pdf
If you struggle with breathing on a regular basis, why not give singing a try? Please share this post.

https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/health-and-wellbeing/sidney-de-haan-research-centre/documents/Singing-and-COPD-Final-report.pdf

12/06/2017

Over the summer holiday period, it's all too easy to miss out on practising, whether singing or instrumental. Without your regular schedule, it's also easy to get into habits that can put back all that progress you've made over recent months.
If you can do some exercises, then great! However, when it comes to whole songs or pieces of music, it's easy to find they're getting a bit stale.
Here's an idea for effective practice in only a few minutes.
Don't start at the beginning and go over the whole thing, but go straight to the first part that presents a challenge. Go over just that part (it could, for example, be a phrase where the breath, phrasing, tone or pitch needs attention). When you're satisfied with the result, then stop. Try recording yourself and listen back critically, marking the parts you want to improve. You can just focus on the challenging parts until you've made it through to the end of your piece. Then start at the beginning and go through the whole piece, checking that you've managed all those bits you've worked on. It need only take a few minutes a day, and your piece won't have become stale through too much repetition.
If you can arrange to have lessons during the summer, do try, just to keep you on track and to keep up all those good habits you've worked so hard to achieve!

26/02/2017

Make it your own.
A common thing I encounter with students, especially when working on well-known songs, is how often past singing-along to learn can get in the way of taking ownership. Because they 'know' it, they stay very close to the original song. To make the song your own, read through the lyrics, away from the melody. Read the words out loud as if they're a piece of text, not song words. Think about what the words mean to you personally, and how they resonate with your own feelings and experiences. Then sing them through, unaccompanied, and at a pace that feels right to you. Think about where it seems right to you to be louder/quieter, faster/slower. Then you're starting to not just reproduce someone else's song but are singing from a place deep inside, making it your own.

01/02/2017

Silent practise
When you've got a cold or sore throat, and can't sing, you can still do some effective song practise. Singing 'in your head', silently, allows you a great opportunity for really thinking about how you're using your voice, breath, muscles and your posture. Go through the lyrics- really thinking about each phrase and what it means to you. Consider whether you're tightening up on higher notes and let your mind 'feel' around your physical state - jaw, throat, shoulders etc.
When your cold/ sore throat is better, start your warm-up with lots of humming to protect your vocal cords.
Happy singing!