You can sing. Here's why

Posted by Norman Bailey on Monday, July 7, 2014 Under: Voice Works



When I say 'I'm a singing teacher' many people reply, “I can't sing!” 

Now I'd have thought that would have been my perfect in.  But no.  For so many people their sheer terror at the thought of using their voice effectively, joyfully and confidently is something they'd rather not contemplate. 

I've been out and about promoting The Love singing method recently, so I've had the opportunity to talk face-to-face with people who haven't fully embraced the joys of singing.  What's even sadder was finding out how many people out there had been put off from singing at a very early age.  Which meant that for some people I met, many in their forties and fifties, past negative singing experiences had robbed them of them benefits of singing.  

I knew about this problem. I was just taken aback by the scale of it.   I used to say to new pupils that I should carry around a sealed envelope with the words, “When I was young someone I trusted told me I couldn't sing".  This was because for a great percentage of the people I've taught this is the case.  Somewhere along the line a teacher, a parent or a friend told them the sounds they were making didn't make the grade.

If you feel this applies to you, please think about the sealed envelope, realise that you are not alone, and maybe you should get out there and do something about it. You will be amazed the difference it will make to your life. 

 

In my post Why Singing Is Good For You I gave a quick rundown on how singing — just singing not performing — can change your life.   Amongst the things you'll gain are:

  • A happier healthier you

  • Longer life

  • the best free stress buster going

Seriously it's true.  I grew up in a culture steeped in Gospel music, so I was singing all the time.  And when we got together to party singing along to the latest hits was compulsory. And fun! Nobody ever told me told or anyone else to stop singing.  Not because we all had a great voices but because using your voices in an expressive manner was expected. And although many cultures do the same I was shocked to find out that many do not. 

I've found time and time again that people who are convinced they have bad voices actually have great voices but have been put off using them.  It's regrettable that you may have been put off by someone else's careless words.  What they said may or may not have been malicious.  An under pressure choir master, charged with putting together an ensemble in a short period of time may not have had the time to develop rough hued voice and would pick those ready to go. A stressed out parent may have been unaware of the damage being done by telling a child to be quiet.  

Everyone can sing

 The main reason people say they can't sing is because they sing out of tune but singing out of tune doesn't mean you can't sing.

I'm always going to stick to that assertion though many will disagree.   The only people who can't sing, in the conventional sense, are those with something to their oral apparatus.  It used to be that I would also say that you be in the same boat if you had something wrong with your hearing as well but I've recently started working with a young man, 10 years old, who was born deaf and has cochlea implants in both ears and he's showing remarkable promise.

I will always take issue with people who will tell a child they can't sing and insist that that's the end of it.  There are a great many things a child of five can't do doesn't mean they will never be able to do it.   Driving a bus, solving algebraic equations, and tying shoelaces are things on a long list of things a five year old can't do.  But, of course, It doesn't mean they' won't be able to do them.  But just like singing for them to become proficient at it they have to be taught it well.  

People will often say great singers are born that way.  It's certainly true that for some the ability to hold a tune and make sounds pleasing to others comes easier than others.  But for them to become fully proficient at it they will need many years of study and hours of practice.   And as much as we like to laud praise on the 'gifted' we do them a disservice by thinking that there talents come easy.   

So sing and enjoy it for its own sake and enjoy the benefits it brings.

In : Voice Works 

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Storybookers

7 Proven Ways To Get Boys To Love Reading

How many time have you thrown your hands up and said, “I give up”?    

For many people, those who care about positive child development, giving up isn’t an option.  

Think about how your life would be if you had no access to the written word.  This is a reality for many people. For some it’s a physiological issue, for others it’s psychological.  There are also those who by not understanding the importance of reading never bother to develop the skill sufficiently.

So what does it take to get a young man to put down his Playstaion and pick up a book?   There will be those who say that maybe it’s best not to buy one in the first place.  But that isn’t always as easy as it sounds.  Some parents bribe their kids with games times as a trade off against time spent reading books.  The danger of this is that reading then becomes the opposite of things that are fun, which, amongst other thing, will set the ‘Reading for Pleasure’ movement back a bit.

So what do you do?  I know teachers, parents and carers who have come up with some clever little ways of getting boys to see reading as a positive force in their lives.  Whether it’s as a pleasurable distraction or as a way to gather a wealth of useful information that they can use to enhance their lives.    These are some of the insights I’ve gathered.  I’ve also thrown in a few that have worked for me over the years.

So here they are, in no particular order.

7 Tips for getting boys into reading:

1.   Tell them a story

If it’s a short story, tell  it to them.  And I mean tell them rather than read.  There are a number of reasons why I say this, but I’ll expand on that another time.  Telling a child a  story might sound obvious to some but there are people who are little reluctant.  People often think that if you tell a child a story they won’t read it for themselves.  But you wouldn’t think that if you knew how much the book sales of the Hunger Games went up after movies came out. 

2. Tell them about a story

If it’s a long story, tell them about the story.  Be a kind of trailer and get them excited about finding out more.  Ok, this might take a bit of practice.  But watch TV and movies trailers and have some fun with it.

3. Let them see you reading books.  

You sitting and enjoying a good read will often entice a child into reading more than you reading a book to them.   It gets their curiosity going.  One parent told me that they liked to pretend that they were hiding the book.   If, like her, your son wants things they think they’re not allowed to have, this will work a treat.

4. Don’t lean too much on fiction. 

Boys get bored easily and often skip to the end of a book to see if the ending of the story is worth the journey. If they don’t think it is they won’t bother. (This behaviour isn’t limited to boys.)   That doesn’t work with reference books.   Every pages is packed with useful information.  So they will at least skim though the whole book to see what’s on offer.  


During school library visits, when I tell boys to go get a book to read, most of them come back with reference books of some kind.  Books that tell them about dinosaurs or their favourite sporting hero for instance.  Remember that boys like to show off.  So when they have a sweet piece of knowledge that they can share to impress others they love it.

5. Give them what they want

Leading on from that, a good tip is to find out what they’re into.  The son of a friend of mine is into cars so he’ll devour anything to do with that subject.   Sometimes we can get into thinking we need to steer kids in a certain direction and away from certain types of material.  This is fair enough but if you want your young man to master and enjoy reading it’s easier to do when he’s genuinely interested.  If a child is struggling with reading, coping with that and a subject he finds boring is a sure way to put him off reading for life. 

I know many parents aren’t keen on comics.   But let him indulge his passion.   It’ll will make it easier to tackle less interesting but potentially more beneficial subject matter later on.  Personally I think comics are beneficial and so does the British Library.  Their Comics Unmasked exhibition runs until 19 August 2014

6. Add a little magic. 

 I do a couple of magic tricks during my storytelling sessions.  I can only think of one instance where during the Q&A someone didn’t ask me how I do them.  I always say I get them from books and that they should get hold of one.  This goes back to the 'boys like showing off knowledge thing’.  I’m surprised that school libraries don’t stock more of them.  I know one of my local libraries does, and it’s hardly ever on the shelf.

7. Get them into telling stories.  

Storytelling is fun and it brings people together.  Back to tip 1.  When you tell a story get your young man to tell you one.  It could be the episode of Horrid Henry he saw earlier, the book you gave him last week or even the story you just told him.  That way you can gauge just how well he understood it.  Just get him into the habit of digesting and sharing stories.

If only one of these tips work for you then I’m happy.  If they all work, then I know you’ll be happy.   

Before I go.   Chances are it’s a young girl in your life that’s a reluctant reader.  If so I’m sure some, if not all, of these tips will work just as well on her.  Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

Posted 539 weeks ago

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