Free Singing Workshops for Kids!

Not sure what to do with your kids at the weekends? Bring your kids down to a FREE singing workshop.

The workshops are run by the professional singers from Vocademy Vocal School, who regularly perform with chart-topping acts such as Beverley Knight and The Streets.   The tutors will take you through basic techniques and breathing exercises, finishing with group harmonies and solo performances.  Whether you are a beginner or a more experienced singer, you will sing with more skill and confidence.

Vocademy’s founder, Lu Bristow, said: “Everyone can sing; it’s just a matter of finding your voice.  The Vocademy approach is to have lots of fun while learning some key vocal techniques which really helps build confidence both through singing and in every day life.  We can cater for mixed abilities and teach ages 7 – 18. Our workshops are so much fun – I can’t wait!”

Workshops are taking place on 09/10/2010 at Ivy Arch Rehearsal Studios, Ivy Arch Road, Broadwater, Worthing. The workshops are split into age ranges 7-11, 11-14 and 14-18. Ages 7-11 will be taught from 10:00-11:00, 11-14 yrs will be taught from 11:15 – 12:15 and ages 14-18 will be taught from 12:30-13:30. Please book by calling 0845 5191765 or email sing@vocademy.co.uk, alternatively you can just turn up but spaces are limited so book to avoid disappointment!

For more information go to www.vocademy.co.uk

Learn to Sing at the British Music Experience

Holiday Blues?  Rock up to the O2’s British Music Experience and sing your heart out at a vocal workshop.

The workshops are run by the professional singers from Vocademy Vocal School, who regularly perform with chart-topping acts such as Beverley Knight and The Streets.   The tutors will take you through basic techniques and breathing exercises, finishing with group harmonies and solo performances.  Whether you are a beginner or a more experienced singer, you will sing with more skill and confidence.

Vocademy’s founder, Lu Bristow, said: “Everyone can sing; it’s just a matter of finding your voice.  The Vocademy approach is to have lots of fun while learning some key vocal techniques which really helps build confidence.  We can cater for mixed abilities and ages, which makes these workshops an ideal family activity.”

The ticket price of £5 includes entry to the British Music Experience, Britain’s interactive museum of pop music through the ages. 

Workshops are taking place on Tuesday 17, Tuesday 24 and Tuesday 31 August from 2pm to 6pm.  Please book on 020 8463 3415 or email learning@britishmusicexperience.com

Further information at www.vocademy.co.uk and www.britishmusicexperience.com 

Vocademy Students perform at Worthing Birdman

Two students from Vocademy Vocal School will sing live at Worthing’s Birdman competition next Sunday (15 Aug).

Ellis Lund and Ellie Earl, 18 and 13,  who are both students at the Worthing Vocademy School,  will each perform one or two numbers at 2pm to the crowds on the beach near the Lido.  Their performances will be projected to the audience on a huge screen.

Please come and support them.  

Advanced_lesson1 mic technique.wmv

Rising Pop Stars Put on First Performance

There will be a showcase of talent from the rising stars of Vocademy Vocal School at a concert on Thursday, July 8 at the Jubilee Community Centre in East Grinstead.

The performers, both children and adults, come from Vocademy’s Schools in East Grinstead and Horsham where they have been developing their singing skills under the tutelage of professional singers. 

The students will be singing popular songs from different music genres.  For many, this will be their first public performance.

Lu Bristow, Vocademy’s founder, said: “It’s going to be a fantastic night.  The students have worked so hard developing their vocal skills and sing with much more confidence.  I’m really excited to see them perform and I hope that lots of people will come and support them.   You never know, you might be seeing the next Beyoncé perform her first gig!” 

There will also be a chance to see the Vocademy tutors in action.  Sarah Benton, Rachel Mosleh, Kelly Barnes (add/delete as appropriate) are all professional singers who regularly tour with chart-topping acts like Beverley Knight and The Streets.

The Vocademy performance is at the Jubilee Community Centre, Charlwoods Road, East Grinstead at 7.30pm on Thursday July 8, 2010.  Tickets are £4 and are available on the door from 7pm. 

Vocademy holds vocal classes every Tuesday at the Jubilee Community Centre.  There is a session for 7-14 year olds from 5.30pm to 6.30pm and a two-hour session for adults from 7pm to 9pm. Places are limited to 15 per group. Please call 0845 5191765 or visit www.vocademy.co.uk for further information and to book.

Vocal Coach Helps Lung Sufferers to Breathe Easier

Breathe Easy Mid Sussex, a local support group for people affected by lung disease, found their voices at a singing session with Vocademy Vocal School.

Professional singer and Vocademy’s founder, Lu Bristow, visited the Breathe Easy group in Hurstpierpoint to introduce the group to the benefits of singing.

Lu said: “Singing is brilliant for people with lung problems as it helps increase lung capacity and elasticity.  You’d think that people who are short of breath would find it really difficult, but after doing some warm up exercises, everyone was singing their hearts out.”

“The Breathe Easy group is keen to set up its own choir so I’m going to give the members regular coaching sessions to improve technique and confidence.   I think they’ll be great as they have some very strong singers amongst them.”

The choir is the brainchild of Jennifer Ellingford, Chairman of the Mid Sussex branch, who has lived with asthma throughout her life and was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) five years ago.  She said: Singing is a wonderful group activity and as it has such tremendously positive effects on our breathing, I thought why not make this a regular activity and form a choir?

“Our session with Lu was marvellous – everyone joined in and we all felt the benefits afterwards.  We’re delighted that she’s going to help us progress to a fully-fledged choir.

“The main aim of our group is to find ways to use our lungs more effectively, to help us stay well and keep out of hospital.  Singing helps us do that and have fun at the same time.”

The importance of vocal warm up's

I had a student ask me the other day whether it is actually necessary to do vocal warm up's before doing a performance or whether it would be OK for them to just sing through a song to warm up..This was my reply:

Vocal warm up's are extremely important especially before a gig. Think of an athlete, they would never go and run a race without warming up first so you need to do the same with your voice. From warming up you will have much more control over your voice and diaphragm. Vocal warm up's help to ensure the long life of a healthy singing voice. It is also quite important to remember that warming up vocals before a gig is not the same as doing vocal exercises to help with vocal training - vocal training exercises are there to work on specific parts of the voice, whereas warm up's are self explanatory, they warm up your voice before a gig/performance.



Examples of warm-up's:

1. Humming - This will start getting your voice warmed up without tiring it out.
2. Brrrr up and down the first 5 notes of a scale. You produce this sound by closing your mouth and putting your fingers on your cheeks so the inside of your cheeks are touching your teeth, and hum the sound brrr, try to make an even and constant sound when doing it - This warm up also helps warm up your voice but also helps to relax your throat and mouth, it also helps with placement.
3. Staccato Ha's (short) "ha-ha-ha" on 1,3,5 of a scale. - This helps to exercise your diaphragm's flexibility.
4. Siren noises. Make siren noises starting low going up really high and then back down again - This will help to start exercising your range.
5. Major arpeggios. Use open vowel sound (ah, ay or o). Start off low and go up half a step each time  and go as high as you can but don't strain.

Try and remember to make sure your body is nice and relaxed before singing so you may want to do some actual physical exercises too.

Hitting those "big notes"

I have so many students who love singing songs with high power notes. Now these students I have can always sing these notes quite easily when they are doing their exercises but when it comes to doing it during a performance or even just singing the note during a song in their lesson they go wrong and let's face it, whenever someone sings a Whitney or Mariah song people always wait to see if they can sing that big note at the end and forget about the rest of the song!
One way to conqour these "big notes" is to not focus on the one note - if you do that you are compartmentalising it which will then cause your subconscious to watch out for it which makes you paranoid and unrelaxed which causes you to go wrong - if you think you wont get the note you wont! Instead try to work on the whole phrase around it, sometimes working on your placement just before the note can help. Also when you are performing try to actually visualise yourself getting it - if you can see yourself doing it and let go you almost certainly will get it!

Singing with colds/flu/general hoarseness.

It is that time of year when literally everybody appears to be ill with coughs and colds. I have alot of students who are unsure whether they are supposed to carry on singing or how to get the best out of their voices when they are ill. Here are a few tips and pointers:

1. Drink lots of water
2. Avoid drinking tea/coffee/cream/alcohol before singing - this dehydrates you.
3. Take vitamin C and eat lots of fruit and veg - this helps build your immune system to fight off bugs.
4. REST!
5. Try not to cough or clear your throat too much as this can damage your vocal folds.
6. Suck on lozenges - this will help with dry/sore throats.
7. Hot water steam inhallation - to help unblock sinuses and releive bronchitis. Breathe in steam produced from hot water, some people put their head over a bowl with a towel over their head. You can also put some drops of essential oils in, with essential oils you can clear up even quicker. Be careful when doing this - you don't want to get burnt!
8. Do NOT sing when your voice is hoarse unless absolutely necessary.
9. Do NOT sing when your throat feels sore.
10. As you start recovering start humming for a few minutes at a time around your mid range and gradually expand the range the more you recover. I your voice starts to become hoarse again, rest it for longer.

Vocademy Opening in Horsham!

I think it's amazing to see just how popular Vocademy has got in both East Grinstead and Worthing, so much so that we have decided to spread Vocademy's wings even further. Vocademy Horsham will be opened by myself in April. I'm already getting involved in schools and am working on ways to approach adults. It looks like Horsham may well be as successful as the other too!