The Semaphore Music Festival kicked off this year at the beginning of October, with events spread across every weekend until early November! I was pleased to open the Foreshore event at Semaphore SA, on October 31, Halloween Beach Blanket Picnic. Stephen Loss and Dave Taylor added to the atmosphere with Bass, lead guitar and keys.
After a delayed start, the afternoon was enjoyed by all in near perfect weather! Five bands on the back of a truck!
“Encompassing 10-tracks, The More I Give begins with “Call It Home,” a gorgeous, elegant folk song rolling out on glistening acoustic guitars riding a mid-tempo rhythm. Rippling layers of soft coloration imbue the tune with lustrous, creamy textures as Paula’s dulcet voice provides warm, velvety timbres.”
“As we get to the deeper cuts, Standing carries on with a sultry flow and rounds off the album like a nice hug. The strings in Just Like Its Mine make you feel like you’re in the old-time plains of America, sitting on a porch in a rocking chair as guitar caresses the soul and sweeps you onwards.”
“The album’s self-titled track is especially impactful. Solemn piano is patiently accompanied by emotive vocals and gradual acoustics. The strings and piano intensify as a vocal duet emerges: “And I can’t help wonder how it all began / And I can’t help wonder when it’s gonna end.” The track showcases Standing’s gripping songwriting in passionate form.”
“a richness to detail in the instrumentation that far exceeds that of most albums. The array of stringed instruments whirl and tread waves of water of notes and rhythms, spending a fair amount of time on each track humming along sans drums. Standing gets down, as it were, on the vocals with a strenuous voice timed with canny inflections to spotlight some credible songwriting that’s another hallmark of this collection.”
“Understated music like this is what makes the world go round. Memorable, effortlessly connecting to the listener. Each song is a story with a purpose, holding a myriad of meaning for all.
Paula Standing is a bit of a dark horse. These songs might seem straight forward enough at first listen. However, she has a secret weapon. Talent.”
“Cut from the same tapestry as the likes of Dar Williams or Shawn Colvin, Standing’s folk is blended with subtle pop sensibilities and a whole lot of knowing—about life, and how she’s living it.”
While the music of Paula Standing can have a folk sound overall- those acoustic guitar vibes which sometimes border on country- there are a few other sounds to be found within here as well.
At the end of June I was invited to play a set in the Saturday Sessions at The Gov with the Crooked Road boys. It was a blast and now I have been asked to return at the end of August -28th- to play some more. This is always a fun event, it is free but due to the popularity of this event, it is advised to book your places if you want to get a good seat.
I will be joined by another version of The Mixed Blessings, final lineup will see Stephen and Sheelagh Loss, Andrew Hook and Dave Taylor. Envelopes are provided for an optional donation to go towards funds for ‘starving musicians’.
Book a place through The Gov Book a Table
On August 9, I was a guest on Songcatcher at Radio Adelaide 101.5FM, where I chatted with Adrian and Clayton about the latest album. For one hour we drilled down about how it all came about, the songwriting and recording. As current restrictions meant I could not actually visit them at the studio, we spent two hours in the phone! Sadly, there was no opportunity to play live.
Following the program, I hosted the mixed tape session, with a list of songs/musicians that played a part in the album’s story. Always a lot of fun and very informative for those of you that are interested in songwriting.
Oz Radio Gold has issued printable certificates for National Traditional #1 Country Hits. The More I Give (single) hit the top of the charts in June! There has been a nice big smile on my face ever since I received this.
The Jade Flinders St in Adelaide CBD, hosted the occasion on Friday June 4th. I teamed up with a great lineup of superb local musicians. The talented Trev Warner (fiddle); Andrew Hook (Mandolin); Stephen Loss (Guitar & Keys); Sheelagh Loss (Banjo) and the esteemed Shireen Khemlani (Bass) together on the one stage!
We had a great night at HATs in Auburn at The Old Courthouse, Saturday June 19. A full room of locals keeping warm by the log fire.
The show opened again by the fabulous Don Morrison! Don recently celebrated 40 years in the music business and you can read all about it in the updated version of his book ‘This Could Be Big’.
Following on from this I played at The Crooked Road Saturday Sessions at The Gov on Saturday June 16th. I had the wonderful Losses, Stephen and Sheelagh on guitar and banjo with Andrew Hook on Mandolin and Dave Taylor joine in on bass. Great afternoon playing to another full room!
The talented Miguel Rios flew across from Victoria to shoot a new video for the title track ‘The More I Give’. Many thanks to Ruby Osborn for agreeing to be my dancing girl and her mum Holly, for being such a help on the day. Elisabeth Hartmann-Smith for hair and make up and Matt at Nexus Arts Theatre for perfect lighting. The new video premiered with a Watch Party on YouTube June 14th and had over 250 views in the first 48 hours!
This album is a heartfelt delivery of ten songs that share a musical history that would be the envy of many who call themselves singers. First let’s look at the voice: both, sweet and ethereal, laced with emotion. Songwriter: storyteller. Background: country, folk, touch of Celtic, family singalongs on the porch.
Paula worked closely with Rod McCormack, Lou Bradley and Gina Jeffreys (and a few of the students mentored by Gina) on this project and they can all be proud of the result. The first single Hiding Out In Tuscany, foreshadowed the album and promised plenty-and Paula has delivered.
Well April has brought forth a new experience for me. Hard on the heels of the Adelaide Fringe, I have been granted a residency in the front bar at the Crown & Anchor Pub, a legendary live music venue. Monday nights in the front bar! There is a different support act each week and I have asked four local artists to take these spots. All four are very enthusiastic and I expect this to be a wonderful musical experience for us all.
The line up consists of Josh Forner; Sunee Holland; Emma Jayne and Jack Robins. These artists will kick off each week at 7:30pm with a 45 minute set, followed by two sets from myself. Music will be all finished up by 10:30pm.
This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for health advice. Choosing a vocal doctor is a personal choice. You should consult your own advisors and/or medical professionals before making any decisions.
When you’re a professional singer, just like a professional athlete, you need to keep your body in tip-top shape. Any singer’s most valuable anatomical asset is their vocal cords—tissues and muscles that need care and conditioning—but there are countless variables, including anxiety, humidity, and diet, that affect just how well and how safely you’re able to perform. And just like a professional athlete, you need to be in tune with yourself to a remarkable degree in order to succeed as a world-class singer. There are nuances to the way your specific body and vocal cords work that, with enough training and experience, you’ll be able to recognise as indicators for when to push yourself, when to hold back, and how to create just the right environment to hit that perfect note.
Get your pipes checked
Let’s start at the start. Which, in this case, means potentially undoing something that might have taken root before you even had dreams of slaying an arena. When many artists start singing as children or teens, there may be issues with their vocal cords—nodules, polyps, cysts—or problematic techniques that go unchecked and, over time, cause damage to their instrument.
Dr. Steven Zeitels is the Eugene B. Casey Professor of Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and the Director of Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation. He is the go-to for many artists with iconic pipes, such as Adele, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, and Sam Smith. Zeitels says that if you’re going to make a serious commitment to singing, you should begin with an examination by someone who specialises in voice issues. And you want to make sure that the office you go to has the capacity to do a laryngeal stroboscopy, which will examine the movement of your vocal folds.
“Once you do that, you’ve got to really pay attention… and not push it over the top,” Zeitels says. “Maybe you’re gigging in a place that has a lot of people smoking and it’s a closed environment and it’s really loud and you have to use an amplification system instead of driving it all just by your voice itself. When it hurts, or when you lose your voice for a day or two afterward, you’re doing something wrong.”
Stay in shape
Once you’ve been checked out, it’s time to start conditioning your voice. Just like an athlete wouldn’t dive into a game without at least a little bit of stretching, neither should a singer hit the stage belting with no warm-up.
“I try to push stretching a lot,” says Aaron Low, a speech-language pathologist in Toronto who’s worked with legends like Sting and Mick Jagger. He emphasises that before even starting to sing scales, you need to warm up. “I’d rather break down the voice,” he explains, “and say, ‘Work on your breathing, and work on heating the voice’s muscle system, and then we’ll get to the point where we can do quick movement between different sounds and changing vowels.’ I think a lot of people are unaware of the simple stretching that actually creates longevity and flexibility and endurance for the voice.” Low says he encourages his clients to start their warm-up by working with a simple sound—rolled Rs, lip trills, high-placed humming—and what that is depends on the individual.
Zeitels says that when a singer starts warming up, there is a slight swelling of the vocal membranes, which makes them more supple and therefore better-functioning. Vocal cords require more pressure when they get very swollen, but when they get just the right amount of swollen, they do their job perfectly.
“In my view, it’s less that their muscles are getting limbered up—like an athlete might stretch their muscles—and it’s more that the vocal membranes get to an optimal state to create vibration,” Zeitels says.
Protect your instrument
So once you’re familiar enough with the way your vocal cords work, how do you maintain the perfect balance? Some things to avoid are fairly obvious: Be very careful around sick people; don’t smoke anything or hang out in smoky areas; keep hydrated. Water doesn’t actually touch your vocal cords when you swallow, but your body needs it. Inhaling steam is one way to bring water into contact with your vocal cords, like a balm.
There are some less obvious don’ts, too. If you use aspirin or ibuprofen as pain-relievers, beware—those are blood thinners, which can make you more predisposed to vocal bleeding. Things like artificial stage smoke can greatly affect your vocal health (it happened to Bono!), and reflux can wreak havoc on your esophagus—so it’s best to avoid citrus, vinegar, spicy foods, pepper, caffeine, alcohol, and loads of other fun stuff. Carbonation often results in burping and regurgitation, which you also want to avoid, as singing requires high abdominal pressure.
“People who are performing have to obviously pay attention to their body,” Zeitels says. “They have to make decisions about whether it’s appropriate to sing, for instance, when they have a respiratory tract infection. When do you go out? When do you not go out? That’s actually something that has to be learned from experience, because often the injuries have little to do with the skill sets of the person. It’s their work ethic. They’re so intrepid they’re going to go on stage whether they’re sick or not, and that’s when they sustain injuries that ultimately take surgery to repair, like bleeding into vocal cords.”
As scary as that might sound, Low points out that most vocal issues are fixable, saying he’s been able to reset years of tension in as little as a few hours of hands-on physical therapy in some cases. But as Zeitels notes, the optimal path is avoiding doing things the wrong way from the start. And then keep it up.
“If you take care of yourself,” Zeitels says, citing The Who singer Roger Daltrey’s remarkable performing streak, “you can keep going for 50 years.”
—Matt Williams
Courtesy of Spotify For Artist Article January 2021
I have taught singing off and on since before I graduated from my Diploma of Creative Arts in 1983. More recently, in 2015 I started teaching a friend who was looking for help in that department. I eventually started taking on further students and even took on a student interstate via the internet. When COVID hit, I began teaching all of my students online.
I am now teaching via the internet as a matter of course, this has turned out to be very convenient for people as they do not have to travel to and from lessons. If you cannot find a teacher in your area or are short on time, this may be the answer for you.
If you would like more details, please contact me for more information on how this works.
Check out my Bella Voce FB Page
* * * Club Acoustica is back, first Sunday every month! * * *
What a delight it was to be back at Club Acoustica. A fabulous night with an equally fabulous audience and the usual top class service from the staff at The Olive Branch in Balhannah.
These sessions will continue throughout the year on the first Sunday of each month. Starting at 6.00pm with an 8.30 pm finish. There is ample time to catch up with friends and enjoy the great food, coffee and wine offered by the Olive Branch Café!
There are Covid restrictions on the number of people who can be the restaurant, so you will need to pre-book. The phone number is (08) 8398 0009. These are always booked out, so hurry and don’t miss out.