TOSINI

Seminar Day, Belfast Opera House, Saturday 24^th September 2011. On Saturday 24^th September TOSINI organised a Seminar day in Belfast Opera House. I received information about the event through Choral Ireland, a website that is maintained by David Maxwell with information supplied by AOIC (Association of Irish Choirs). The organisation of the event was most impressive, with a name tag for everyone and a folder with biographies and handouts of each speaker’s power-point presentation, together with a questionnaire and information about TOSINI. Tea/coffee and biscuits were offered from 9.00am, for which I was most grateful, having left Dublin at 7am, and soup and sandwiches were available on the premises at lunchtime. 10.00am: Elizabeth Drwal-Stuttard gave a presentation on Junior Voices and blew us all away with her wonderful ideas for teaching singing in Key Stages 1 and 2 in primary schools. She firmly believes that singing is for all children and should not be exclusive and she soon had us movin’ and shakin’ with warm-ups and energisers. Elizabeth’s experience of the Kodály and Dalcroze methods gave us an insight into what can be achieved through solfège, rhythm cards and through movement. 10.30am: Marie O’Sullivan was unexpectedly unavailable to deliver her presentation on Adolescent Voices and Mairéad Duffy very kindly took us through her handouts. We were reminded that female singers also experience a change in their voices and were given diagrams of the mechanics of sound. The advantages of both group lessons and of one-to-one lessons were pointed out and the importance of good vocal hygiene was stressed. 10.45am: Mairéad Duffy ‘s presentation was entitled Teaching Rock, Pop and Musical Theatre. Following jazzy warm-ups incorporating all parts of the body and voice, Mairéad discussed the differing vocal qualities of speech, twang, belt and falsetto that are all addressed in the Estill Voice Training System, which she recommended as ideal for teaching rock/pop and music theatre songs. Mairéad recommended beginning with the text, speaking it in tempo, but not necessarily in the rhythm, in order to find where the stresses go. She also recommended studying the text away from the music and reminded us how vital it is to believe in your story. 11.30am: David Robertson drove up from Enniskillen between singing lessons to speak to us on Singing – Understanding Cause and Effect.  He began by explaining about the Alexander Technique and how useful it is in helping improve the co-ordination of good habits in performance and in preventing detrimental performance tension brought about by nerves and anxiety. David went on to talk about the LearningMethods Library, founded by David Gorman and by himself This library offers a series of short articles on liberating performers. As part of our folder we were given an article on a person’s in-built value register (DG) and three articles on showing off, on perfection and on mistakes, all by DR. David suggested that tension is all in the mind and recommended that we ask the student what they are thinking of while they are singing: next meal, next set of words? (in which case they are not concentrating on the present moment) or are they afraid of being judged (by whom, on choice of song, vocal ability, musicianship, range….. the list of criteria is endless, but it’s entirely subjective). David asserted that it’s the singer’s own judgement that counts and that it’s all about the application of mind control. 12.40pm: The last speaker before lunch was Pamela Neal, who explained to us the value of Pilates. She brought us through the eight principles of relaxation, concentration, alignment, breathing, rotation, centering, flowing movement and stamina, all of which are vital to the body in providing core stability to the singer.  Lunch was an ideal time to meet with other participants and make valuable contacts. 1.45pm: After lunch Professor Paul Deegan gave a fascinating and entertaining talk on “The First Lesson”. He stated the most important thing a teacher can do is Look and Listen: look at the student’s posture, the way he/she holds his/her head/spine/neck/arm, watching out for tension in the jaw, shoulders etc. Listen to the student’s speaking voice, have they nasal/breathy tone, do they talk to the end of the sentence without breathing and then gasp, do they modulate their voice when speaking or do they speak on a monotone? In each case Professsor Deegan described in detail the possible causes of the problems and offered solutions to every problem. Professsor Deegan stressed the importance of knowing everything about the physiology of the voice and advised that we don’t categorize the voice into S,M,A,T,Bar or B, trying to get the voice to fit into a category. Professor Deegan recommended that we plan the lesson to suit the needs of the student. Following some exploration of warm-ups and stressing that they did not take the place of technical exercises, Professor Deegan finished by giving a very brave student a lesson on “Dové sei”, which was both entertaining and illuminating. 4.00pm: The seminar day finished with Pat McAlinden speaking about The Business Side: Setting up a Teaching Studio. Pat gave us a frank and clear account of how she managed to leave her full-time job in a school to fulfil her dream of becoming a freelance teacher of singing and piano and how she set herself up in a studio, asserting her value to the community. The secret of her success was in her preparation. She raised her professional standing by joining ISM, a register of private teachers for piano and singing, which covered her for public liability for 10 million pounds. She joined TOSINI, and was vetted to work with young people. She attended a workshop “Go For It”, which was delivered by CIDO – Craigavon Industrial Development Organisation, which is her local enterprise agency for business start-up and development assistance in the Craigavon District Council Area. CIDO helped her to identify her unique selling point, draw up a business plan and what skills she would need to set up a business (marketing, bookkeeping, VAT returns), design a logo and decide whether the venue should be home, outreach or studio. Overall for me five consecutive sessions in the morning without a break was a challenge. I would have preferred that registration was at 9.00-9.30am and that a tea break was built into the programme after three sessions. Aside from that it was an exhilarating day with lots of wonderful tips and ideas and I drove back to Dublin buzzing. Congratulations to all on a marvellously planned day, which was brilliantly executed. Dr. Marion Doherty Hayden