Thursday, July 25, 2013

An Important Tip For Practicing Your Singing or Other Instrument


It's not how long you practice, it's how consistent you are.  Twenty minutes each day will bring better results than 2 hours of practice twice a week.

Try to practice about the same time every day and lock yourself in the bathroom if you need to in order to be in a quiet environment.  No distractions and for heavens' sake turn off that cell phone.

This time is YOUR time.  Make it a point to announce this fact to your friends and loved ones.  You are not available to anyone during this time.

Have plenty of water available during practice sessions.

Bring a positive attitude and clear goals.

Practicing should be a joy and frustrations kept at a minimum.

Sing with Joy!

Friday, January 25, 2013

This week's ear-training exercise for developing perfect pitch

Can you sing each interval of a major scale?

  • Beginning on  "A" below middle "C" on the piano (or choose any key that is comfortable to sing )  -
  • Sing "do " (dough) as the first tone
  • Sing "re " (ray) as the second tone
  • Sing "me " as the third tone
  • Sing "fah " as the fourth tone
  • Sing " so " as the fifth tone
  • Sing " lah " as the sixth tone
  • Sing " Tee " as the seventh tone
  • Sing " do" as the eighth or final tone of the major scale
Practice this vocal and ear-training exercise, recording your voice to monitor your pitch.  Daily, consistent practice will develop your ear by teaching it to hear a pitch correctly with repetition.

Singing up the scale is called ascending.  Singing down the scale is called descending.

After several attempts at singing only ascending intervals, begin practicing descending intervals. (It will help if you practice just saying the solfegge ( do, re, me, etc.) in reverse first until it becomes automatic.