Thank you to all of the singing teachers who answered our survey for
the Oxford Handbook of Singing. The responses are charted on the map
below - the darker the colour, the more responses that country gave
(the UK gave 374 of them). In all there were over 800 responses from
six continents. It was actually seven continents, as someone did put
Antarctica in their survey answer, but we didn't know how many
pupils they would have there...
There were just six questions and most people filled in the survey
in just over a minute. The survey really seemed to strike a chord
with singing teachers all over the world: we had responses from
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria,
Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel,
Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia,
Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Uruguay, and of
course the UK and the US.
We're compiling a short pre-analysis of the results in preparation
for the chapter (being published in late 2012) for uploading onto
our website, so we'll keep you posted on progress.
The 5 Minute Vocal Warmup CD
This is advance notice of our newest product launch, our first
Vocal Warmup CD for your speaking voice, incorporating the Four
Core Skills for healthy voice. And there's a very special offer for eZINE
readers (see below)
"Practical exercises that address the issues - I have simple
things to remember".
You
may remember that a few months ago we launched the 5 Minute
Vocal Warmup ebook. The original idea for a Vocal Warmup ebook
came from our work with the Premier Field Engineers at Microsoft
Headquarters in the UK, and was designed for warming up your
speaking voice before a heavy 'voice' day (presenting, lecturing, telesales)
The Premier Field Engineers have to travel all over Europe and
Asia giving
demonstrations, talks and workshops on Microsoft products, and
often have to speak unmiked across the white noise of rows of
computers - they needed our help!
The Microsoft PFEs were thrilled with the techniques and vocal
tips we gave them:
"All in
all, one of the best “personal skills” courses that I’ve been
on."
The resulting ebook we created for them has been such
a success that we've decided to release the same 5 Minute Vocal
Warmup as a CD. So now you can warm up your voice on the way to
work.
The CD contains the same Four Core Skills we think are essential
to maintaining a healthy voice in the workplace. There's an
introduction on how to use the CD, and four tracks with detailed
instructions on the Four Core Skills. Then track 6 is the
complete 5 Minute Vocal Warmup.
And we've included the bonus track - the 10 Second Voice Check.
This is the same voice check that Gillyanne and Jeremy do before
giving a day's presentation - it tells us if our voices are
ready to work, and genuinely takes 10 seconds.
Introduction - how to use the CD
Core Skill 1 - Breathing
Core Skill 2 - Opening Your Throat
Core Skill 3 - Jaw, Tongue and Lips
Core Skill 4 - Head Position, Body and Brain
The 5 Minute Vocal Warmup
Bonus Track - The 10 Second Voice Check
"Overall this has had a positive effect on my
presentation skills and reduced the stress on my vocal folds. If
my throat hurts I can now do something to address it, so a
completely converted thumbs up from meJ"
We're just completing the designs for the CD now, so it will be
available from the end of next week.
And there's a very special offer just for eZINE readers - for
the next week only, eZINE readers can pre-order the CD for
the same price as the ebook. To cover the cost of making and
pressing the CD, it will be available for £19.97 including
postage in the UK, but eZINE readers can pre-order it for £2
less at £17.97. This link is only available in this eZINE - it
isn't even on our website.
To pre-order the CD, click on this link:
Yes, post me the
5 Minute Vocal Warmup CD
We
had a very successful trip to Sweden in October at three
different musical institutions, SMI, Scengymnasiet and Dansforum.
"I really enjoyed the workshop we had with you at SMI. I learned
a lot and I
use what I learned both on myself and my students. As always I wish
there
was more time! :) I thought you had a very nice and good way to work
with
everyone, also I love that not everything was dead serious and that
you used
a lot of humour during the session. You encouraged everyone and got
a lot of
good results. I hope you're coming back! :) Thanks! Karolina"
The
Welsh Borders can be described as: "they're beautiful, but they're
cold" (spot the quotation from an opera/musical crossover piece -
email Jeremy if you know it). So we're recommending that people
bring woollies and thick socks!
GoodGifts
was created by the Charities Advisory Trust to provide deprived
areas of much-needed goods and supplies, encouraging literacy and
growth using every penny of your donation. 
In
Rwanda some extraordinary magic beans have been developed that
produce 5 times the crop of ordinary beans, allowing families to eat
and to sell the surplus. 
