Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.

1950's and 60's American Footballer, Vince Lombardi, is quoted as saying "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." and that is truly relevant for every pursuit in our lives.

While we don't want to resign ourselves to our current level of skill, nor can we realistically assume that we will ever be our very own, overly harsh, and unrealistic state of "perfect".  By definition, perfection is a state of completeness or flawlessness, and there is nothing in the universe that is truly flawless.  Sure you may look at a celebrity in a magazine and say to yourself, "oh look at her flawless figure", or "man I wish I looked like that", some of you may even say, "I wish I sounded like [x,y,z]".  You must find the beauty in yourself.  All these celebrities, might have the appearance of perfection, but that's never really the case.  Imagine having your day intruded and photographed every time you decide to go for a coffee, what's worse, if you don't put your makeup on before you go, then you've got some incurable illness, or if you're a little bloated, then Boom, your teeny tiny size8 body is clearly pregnant!  I think I'll stick with my problems, those ones would annoy me.

Since there is no one out there that is perfect, has the perfect life, the perfect this, and the perfect that, then why would you put that pressure on yourself?  No really? Why are you sooo unbelievably different from the other 7 Billion people on the planet, that you and you alone MUST be perfect?  Ok, that sounds harsh, but it's true, none of us has everything we want, and if we did, where would our challenges lie?  Challenge is part of the joy of living, so lap every single one up with glee!

Now, in our singing lessons, we try to set reasonable goals every term with students so that they can see a realistic progress.  It is not realistic to assume that someone who cannot pitch a single note, is going to be the next Robbie Williams, auto tune is good, but it's not THAT good.  If you're struggling with your pitch, your goal will be to combat that, and over time, you will succeed!  If you're looking 8 stages down your path, and beating yourself up for not reaching that stage, then of course you're going to feel deflated, or low about it.  Stick to what's in front of you and take it in nice small consumable chunks.

Remember, what you put in, will affect what you get out.  If you don't practise your exercises, developing your techniques and combatting nerves, then you will not achieve the goals you set for yourself, and a vicious descending cycle will begin.  Only with effort will you break through and when you succeed, it feels good.  

So, instead of hearing yourself sing and assume that if you don't sound like Beyonce, you're totally "wrong", start thinking about what you've done right, what bits were good?  What bits put a smile on your face, I bet it was when you weren't trying so hard to be "perfect"!

Combat your nerves

This was modified from an "about.com" article on sporting performance, but it's as relevant to singing as it is to running a race...

Preparation

*  Recognise that the "jitters" are normal - Accept, rather than fight your nervous energy.  Don't misinterpret it, by thinking that it's fear.  The adrenaline rush you feel is a normal part of your body's function.  Notice it, but don't focus on it.  Once you're in the full swing of things, it WILL subside, it always does.

*  Prepare both mentally and physically - Arrive in plenty of time, so that you aren't rushed, which will only increase your stress.  Do a good warmup and think about your breathing, it might sound mad, but stretch a bit too...

*  Visualise - Allow a few minutes to practise visualisation.  During this time, mentally rehearse, showing yourself doing everything right.  Breathe easy, close your eyes and use the mental imagery to visualise yourself performing well.  This positive self-talk can change your attitude towards singing.

During the Performance

* Focus on the task at hand - Stay present in the moment and avoid thinking far too far into the future, the song or the end.  If you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, or negative self-talk, stop and focus only on your breathing.  Focussing on your breathing rhythm will automatically pull you back to the present.  Sometimes this requires practise, so spend time regularly to do it.  Take 10 minutes, set an alarm on your phone (or alarm clock), lie down and focus on that breath, in and out.  If your mind wanders, don't chastise yourself, rather bring your focus back to the breathing.  Your mind is a cheeky monkey that is always looking for the next adventure, it doesn't quiet easily.

*  Force a smile - (really) - If you're struggling with negative thoughts, and you can't break out of the cycle, then simply force yourself to smile, even if only for a few seconds.  This simple action will change your attitude in a split second.  Perhaps, all the time you need to relax back into your performance.

* Sing like you don't care - If you find yourself caught up in negative thoughts, and find that you suddenly expect the worst, it will be impossible for you to perform at your peak.  If you begin to sing like you don't care about the outcome, you will relax and and enjoy it for what it is, another day in your life, not the most important one!

Afterwards

*  Review the performance and recall the things that you did well - Focus on the thoughts, actions and behaviours that helped you perform.

*  Acknowledge, but quickly dismiss the things that hindered your performance - This is the same principle as avoiding an obstacle while driving.  You look where you want to go, and where you don't.  When you focus on the pothole, you almost always hit it.  Focusing on the negative aspects of the performance will not help you to improve in the future.  Better to focus on what you did right!  This is a form of mental rehearsal, where you practise skills that will be used in the next one.

*  Try to mimic the conditions -  Do what you can to recreate the setting that is causing your nerves, invite friends to sit and listen.  Do what you can to make a fake audience.

The main thing you need to remember, is to ENJOY yourself!  

How long does it take to be a good singer...

How long is the proverbial piece of string?  Many people will tell you that they "Mastered" and instrument in a few years, while others, believe the Malcolm Gladwell hypothesis that it takes 10,000 hours to fully master an instrument.  10,000 hours?  That's really YEARS!!! 

Well, it will not turn around overnight, and you will not grasp a new instrument in weeks, or even months really.  But plugging away at the new skills that you've learned and practising the technical, will eventually pay off, with persistence.  Sometimes, you really need to fight through the bad days, to keep the flow going, but those bad days will get less and less, as your skills improve.  With any instrument, you can trundle along for a long time, apparently not moving forward, then one day... BAM, you're able to do something that had once eluded you, and you've no idea why!

When learning something new, don't try to compare yourself to the masters of the craft.  You'll only annoy yourself that you're not that good yet, after all it's been 3 months!!! I can assure you, that they didn't master their craft in 3 months, and many professional musicians, will spend hours every DAY perfecting their instrument.  That's not really practical for most, who are learning as a hobby, even those who aspire to be semi or fully professional would struggle to fit in the kind of hours that the touring musician can!

Singing is a unique craft to learn.  While most other musicians have the need to learn where to place fingering, breath control, scales on an instrument, singers need to learn how to be singers at the same time... A guitar already knows how to be a guitar, but how do you know, right away, how to use your voice?  Some have a natural grasp, which usually comes from a specific learning style, but it still makes learning to sing difficult.  Why?  Because learning to sing, isn't easy!

Remember to practise regularly, and to concentrate on your technical skills during scales, but when it comes to singing a song, enjoy it.  Let your mind go, and your body will follow! 

Gig of the year (so far)

Our wedding band had the most amazing gig recently!

What an amazing crowd, we managed to keep the dance floor busy all night long.

We do love a responsive crowd, and, a crowd that love a good wedding band.  It makes a great night for everyone involved!

Summer's in Bloom

So this week our wedding band start of the busy summer season!

Summer weddings are always so fantastic and the wedding band love playing in fresh bright venues across scotland!

Bring it on weather, lets have a blast!

Great Success (in our best Borat voice)

So we had our annual wedding band showcase last week.  And it was good!

So pleased to say that every bride that came along booked the wedding band for their event!

A good friend of mine suggested that the title "Scotland's Premiere Wedding Band" is well overused,  I think we might even claim that title exclusively in the near future.

The futures so bright, we gotta wear shades!

Post Gig Blues

So we hand an amazing showcase gig for our wedding band last week!

Its always a bit rubbish the day days following a gig. You end on a high, you come down, you get tired and, in my case this time, I got ill!

I often hear horror stories of bands pulling out of gigs at the last minute due to illness.  How would you feel if your wedding band did that to you?  And thats a big thing to ask your wedding band when you book them........ do you have deps!

Very important, and yes we do!

Google Adwords

We are very pleased to say that we are now advertising our wedding band  on google adwords!

So now when people search for wedding band  in google, our amazing band will come up every time!  So more and more of you will have access our amazing quality and service!

Onwards and upwards!

Summer Lovin'

So glad to see summer is finally here.  And our wedding band  is raring to go.

Its safe to say that your average wedding band is always at its most busy during the summer months.  However we have noticed that our wedding band  has a few wedding dates in the colder months.

It begs the question, is the summer worth paying for?

Wedding Band Showcase

Our fantastic wedding band  are having a show case on 31st May in Edinburgh!

This is a great chance for you to see the band in action, in an intimate environment.   Its our small wedding band that are playing, its a small venue after all, but it gives you the chance to see our core band in action.

Rear View is fast becoming one of the most sought after wedding bands in Scotland, with a wealth of amazing reviews under its belt.

Dont miss out!

What You See, What You Get?

Marketing our wedding band is something we have have to do every day almost.  The wedding entertainment market is very competitive as Scotland has a high demand for wedding bands adds to the amount of bands trying to get their slice of the pie!

When we market our wedding band, we pride ourselves on giving the most accurate impression we possibly can.  All of our videos have been done 100% live and our studio recordings are no different.  We have stayed away from studio magic and trickery in favour of being as honest as we can be.

Like any marketeer, we keep an eye the competition, seeing what other wedding bands do to attract customers.  What we have found really surprised us in a number of cases, more cases than we thought.  We have seen many of these bands show a music video in support of their abilities, but very few of them have been an accurate representation. Nine times out of ten, the performers are miming to a highly polished studio recording in their videos.  And this highly polished recording employs all of the modern technology it can to enhance the performance.

We have to ask ourselves, do we blame them?  Of course a wedding band wants to try and get as many gigs as they can.  But imagine your big day, you have seen the video and they sound exactly like the record.  The band set up and play your carefully selected first dance and its nothing like what you expected it to be.

Furthermore, we have seen another level of studio magic, so to speak.  As a successful vocal school, we have a large selection of professional quality back tracks.  And on investigation of some function bands we have found ourselves recognising the backing track in the band's demo.  So only the singer is being showcased, not the actual band!

So when you are looking at a band for your wedding make sure you are seeing what your actually getting.  If you see a group that comprise of a guitarist, a drummer, bass player and vocalist and their demo has lush brass parts, huge strings and fluent piano, you can be sure that this band cant give you that on the big night!

We take pride in our function band and believe its one of the best in Scotland. And when you check our website, what you see (and hear) is what you get!

How does smoking affect my singing?

This is a great question, I get asked frequently by singers if it's ok to smoke and sing!

Truth is, smoking is not the best for you in any way, shape or form.  There really is no way to beat about that bush, it's bad for you!  If you want to be a singer, it's just not going to help you advance your career, and may very well do just the opposite.

So what does it do?

Breathing: - First and foremost, smoking affects your breathing, and as we know, breath is the fuel for your voice.  The lungs contain little fibres, called Cilia, which help to move debris from the lungs.  When you smoke, these fibres are damaged, so they don't work, debris sits in your lungs and you have to work extra hard to cough it out, hence, smokers cough.




 

The Vocal Cords: - The vocal cords are what create the pitch, their resonance is what creates the notes as the air from your lungs passes through.  They are pale in colour and covered in a slight mucos, which helps them to vibrate.  In a healthy voice, this movement is effortless.  If you smoke, you can disrupt the blood flow in the vocal cords, and they can become inflamed, a-symmetric and dry. 

 

 

This is when you notice changes to your voice, you sound hoarse, or dry and no matter how much water you drink, it doesn't go away.  The swelling in the cords and the a-symmetry, (as seen in the diagram), mean that the cords cannot vibrate together freely, and do not come together cleanly, instead there may be airy gaps in the process, which can alter desired pitches, or may make a note sound like it has an overtone as two pitches can be created.

It's not about fear, but if you want to sing, best to drop the ciggies!

Breathe a healthy voice...

Did you know that your medication can have an effect on your voice?

Even over the counter medications can affect the way that the vocal chords work, drying them out, thinning the blood, or causing fluid retention.  All of these things will affect the way that your voice works.

Your vocal chords have a protective mucosal layer covering them, and drying them out can make speech difficult.  So it's important to make sure that you know how to look after your voice and keep it hydrated.  Well, that's easy, just drink water and be careful of diuretics like Tea and Coffee, which can dry you out!  But did you know that medication can have an effect.  Anticholinergics (or Asthma Medication to you and I), can dry out this mucosal layer, and so Asthmatic singers need to bear this in mind.  Of course, Asthma is a very serious illness, often overlooked for it's severity.  Students with Asthma should be mindful that the control of Asthma must come before singing, because singing isn't potentially life threatening.

However, the breathing exercises that we cover at our tuition for Singing in Edinburgh can help you to improve your respiratory health and therefore you're need for reliever inhalers.

*VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Medication should always be monitored by a doctor, we are not advocating self medication.

Wedding Bands or DJ's, what's the deal?

So we get asked why people should take a wedding band over a DJ quite a lot. Its a good question really, a DJ takes up very little space, can play anything within reason and its only one person to be catered for!

Lets think about a night out. So you go to a club and they have a DJ.  They play the latest chart toppers along with a few old classics.  They sometimes talk over the mic, flirt with the clientele and maybe tell a few jokes.  It's all pretty standard really! I think you can see where this is going?

A function band really gives a sense of occasion.  When you go to a club and there is a band playing, its different. It gives a sense of occasion and brings energy to the room. And its no different at a wedding.  Wedding bands in Scotland normally play a variety of music and a variety of styles.  Overall, it brings something special to the table.

As an Edinburgh wedding band, we have played all over Scotland and have attended many weddings indeed. A band always brings something special to the table. Not that we don't like DJs.... they are amazing too. But for something that little bit different, a little more grand and as special as your big day.... Try and get a good wedding band in place, it really makes a real difference.

And if you cant decide, give us a call... we do both!

Magazine beauty and impossible singing!!!

Magazine beauty, the unimaginable, unattainable, unrealistic measure of perfection!

Girls have been obsessed.  What is Victoria Beckham wearing this season, doesn't she look fab now that she's a size 00 (er... not really - have a mars bar love).  When will Kristin Stewart smile, and wow doesn't Amanda Holden look amazing just weeks after giving birth?

With exposure and documentaries galore, as well as pressure on the European fashion markets to only employ models that have a BMI of 18.5 and over, we are much more savvy about photoshop, and the magazine market.  We seem to understand now, having seen some pre and post photoshop pictures from the likes of Britney Spears and Lady Gaga, that the image we're sold is not real.  It doesn't always stop us lusting after the perfect body, with no blemishes, and absolutely no cellulite, and it gives us a sense of schadenfreude, when we see the candid photo's of our celebs on their days off!

So, why oh why, in this world, where we know that the unreal is portrayed to us in so many ways, do we still feel the need to vocally out-master the masters?  When we are in our singing lessons in Edinburgh, we're frequently asked, "why can't I sound like...?", "how do they do that?".  9/10 it's clever production, disguised fades to make it sound like someone is singing something all in one breath, when actually, they have laboured in the Studio for days.  Taking the best parts of various "takes", splicing them together to make us believe what we here is the perfect rendition of a song, in truth, it's an amalgam of many hours of hard work.  We've all heard Cher's "Believe", a song which was marketed as clever recording, but has become recognised as a use of auto-tune.  Auto-tune, can now be used as a vocal effect to give the singer a more "robotic" sound, but let's not forget that auto-tune is there and was developed, to correct poor performance.

That's not to say that there aren't talented singers out there these days, of course there are.  And it's not to say that we would want you to stop trying to be the best that you can be, but please remember that there is a very good chance that your desired vocal, has not even been achieved by the person you look up to!

Busy times at RVM

SINGING

It has been a while since we updated... singing lessons have been going well, fully booked for the next 4 weeks, and bookings are starting for next year too! 

Lots of happy exports from RVM singers and we have a singing showcase happening on the 23rd November 2012 at the City Cafe on Blair Street, register your interest now!!!

We are now happy to announce that we are working with Edinburgh Council and Creative Scotland to bring music to youngsters through the Youth Music Initiative, a wonderful project to provide the arts to everyone!!!

FUNCTION BAND

The band is booking up quickly for next year, and the guys are very excited to be a part, and to have been a part of so many fabulous and special days!  Don't forget that you can hire the band for Weddings, Birthday Parties, Corporate Functions, your own amusement really!

Keep your eyes peeled for news on Rear View Music's entertainment.  There are some projects in development at the moment, including an upcoming showcase for the band.  If you want to see the guys in action, contact info@rearviewmusic.co.uk for information on this.

RECORDING

As a freelance sound engineer, JamieT was living it large on the Ross Bandstand, during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, seeing a number of acts perform more than admirably and to very excited crowds.  Bring on EFF 2013!

JamieT has been rushed off his feet.  Having become the in house engineer for Edinburgh 's famous, Banana Row, he's booking up even faster!

JamieT was featured in an article in the Scotland on Sunday, talking about a recording session taking place at Banana Row, and is very excited to be part of the team!

The Peanut Butter Adagio!

Singing made easy!  Ha, if only there was a quick fix.  

The truth is, there isn't a quick way to become a good/ great singer.  It takes hard work, effort, practice and guidance to help you develop and understand the sensations that you're feeling.  You have to know whether you should be feeling it, or what you should, instead have going on.

People learn in different ways, and some are more responsive to kinesthetic (it feels like this... or that) rather than the auditory (listening to) examples of technique.

I love this one.  It might not appeal to everyone, particularly those with the old peanut allergy but if you have any similar products that I could substitute, I'd welcome them!

So yes, the peanut butter, what is she talking about?  

Well, when we do our singing lessons in Edinburgh, one of the first things we do, is warm up!  Every good teacher should make sure that the voice is adequately warmed up and ready for the session!  One of our warm up exercises is a series of descending hums, on a major scale.  When you're thinking about doing the hum, imagine that you're trying to lick peanut butter from the roof of your mouth, and relax the tongue at the point where the tip of the tongue is about to cross the threshold made by your teeth.  You'll notice that your tongue is down at the back, you're soft palate will be raise slightly at the back, and above all the internal workings of your mouth will be relaxed!

Relax relax relax!

Try it!

Safety first!!!

Phew, what a week...


In our singing lessons this week, we've been mostly talking about safety!  What's there to be safe about? Well, if you think that singing is as easy as opening your mouth and letting even the proverbial belly rumble, then you could be in for a shock!


It's very important that you ensure that you're looking after yourself, because so many things can affect the shape of your voice.


If you bought a guitar, you'd have to change the strings on it periodically, you'd have to tune it certainly and that's all with the knowledge that your guitar already knows how to be a guitar, because it's always been nothing BUT a guitar!  You are not only learning how to use your instrument, but you need to learn to BE your instrument, and that is one of the unique qualities about being a singer!


Make sure you keep yourself well lubricated (with water and not diuretics, such as coffee, tea or fizzy drinks).  Make sure you keep yourself well slept because lack of good, efficient rest can take its toll on your voice.  And make sure you look out for any symptom that might be untoward!  That is, anything that is present without any other symptoms.  A sore throat, when accompanied by a cold, is likely just a sore throat!

Settle down and breathe right!!!

Breathing is a fundamental part of your singing process, and in our singing lessons, we like to make sure that our students know, not only how to breathe for health and well being, but to breathe for singing... there IS a distinction!


When we breathe normally, our ribcage expands as we breathe in, and collapses when we breathe out.  When we sing, we want our exhalation to create a feeling of firm support for the lungs, so that our rib cage doesn't fall when we use the breath!


In our singing lessons, we teach you how to suspend your breath, but it's worth thinking about how that might be accomplished, in an attempt to help you use your breath to it's full potential.


As we have said before, relax, don't put too much pressure on yourself.  Ultimately, it's breathing, you've been doing it since the day you were born!!!

Best Singing Method!

Cher vs Lene Nystrøm

You may remember Lene Nystrom as the singer from Poptastic Eurodance band, "Aqua", then again you may not!  We would not criticize her performances or singing technique, she has made a living from using her voice, but in the No.1 hit "Barbie Girl", her voice demonstrate, what we would consider, an undesirable technique.

It's all about the soft palate, and in our singing lessons in Edinburgh, we like to make sure that our students use the soft palate correctly.  If you're looking for the best singing method, would you choose, baby talking Lene, or rich and round sounding, velvet voice, Cher?


This is not to say that Cher is 100% perfect, her single "Believe", is rumored to be an example of auto-tune gone wrong.  However, in "If I could Turn Back Time", we hear the wonderful tones in her voice, like listening to an audible chocolate fudge cake!


Using the soft palate correctly, is one of the key ingredients of using the best singing method, practiced in our Edinburgh singing lessons.  It's not the only thing that you want to think about, but it certainly helps.


The next time you're doing your scales, have a think about where your soft palate is, and have a think about how you can make it work for you rather than against you!