All my goodbyes and thank yous are in the vlog so not much more to say without getting weepy! Retrospect is a funny thing and I'm already feeling nostalgic for the last few weeks in lockdown. I'll never forget this experience and sharing my life as a singer with you. Stay cheered, stay healthy, lots …
Day 32: Hotting up
There's been a general lack of singing on the 'singing from home' blog. Oh the irony. I thought it was high time that you joined me for a vocal warm-up. My warm-up takes about 10 minutes but I've compressed it into two for today's vlog. Watching it back, I have a very definite concentration face …
Day 30: Open sesame
Hooray! I finally found enough time to put together day 30 of the 'singing from home' vlog. I've been busy working on some repertoire as well as having ideas and planning what I can do while I wait for public performances to start up in the future. By the time I've done some creative thinking, …
Day 29: Happy baby
Oh what a beautiful morning! Dorset basked in glorious sunshine today so I started it with a steady flow on the lawn. As you know, I've been suffering from a bit of tummy trouble so I've eased up on tri training this week - my Ironman has been cancelled anyway and entry deferred to next …
Day 23: Restraint & readiness
Ugh. Some days are just a bit naff, aren't they? Having slept fitfully, run slowly and breakfasted unsatisfactorily - mainly because I'm missing the copious amounts of sugar that I normally load into my body throughout the day - I was feeling frustrated by lockdown and emotional about all the performances I would have been …
Day 18: Girls on film
Today marks the 18th blog post in the 'singing from home' series and having videoed myself talking nonsense for the vlog that many times, I was feeling reflective about the process. What started off as a way to structure my days during lockdown, has become a massive learning curve. Not only am I learning more …
Day 15: Tummy trouble
From the age of 14, I was big into rowing and spent my spare time messing about on the river. I carried on with sport into my 20s and whether it was running, hockey or Zumba, I had developed a habit of tensing my rectus abdominis at the start of a race, match or workout …
Day 13: Back in the game
I'm back out on the road and inspired by daily exercise - today, a bike ride. Reaching forward onto the handlebars opens up the back and makes me very aware of the additional expansion that we can access if we exercise these muscles. Some singers use the terminology "breathe into the back" and it's often-forgotten …
Day 5: Aaand breathe
I went running in the beautiful sunshine this morning. I was (obviously) breathing and I was struck by the sense of serenity as a result of the world taking a breath. So, what better topic for today's blog. Breathing is such an enormous topic and I have done a lot of work on breath over …
Day 3: Necks please!
In the last week, I've completed a couple of swim training sessions. They're pretty long and include big chunks of steady front crawl. So, I had time to think about technique - streamlining and ways to reduce drag. I began focussing on my neck alignment and experimented with a couple of tricks I use in …