Singing Lessons with Liz Scott Hall

It’s been a lovely summer so far - school holidays, summer camps, beaches, parks, playing out in the street - and gardening for me.
Have you given music practice a holiday too? We train our bodies to play our instruments, (the voice is an instrument). Without even realising it, we’re memorising the music we learn, and our body minds (brain control of fingers, lungs, vocal chords, emotions) respond to the memory signals.
Unless, of course, we don’t keep it going!
The first music lesson of a new term can be a bit of an embarrassing disaster for the learner who hasn’t practiced over summer.
Parents of several of my pupils have found that practice is easiest at the start of the day. They didn’t go out until that was done - and, a good incentive, some were let off certain household tasks because practicing was seen as being important.
Everyone has days off, but I just want to remind music learners out there of the old saying ‘If you ‘don’t use it, you lose it’!
Now is the time to start back to practicing, if it has been neglected. And if you’ve been keeping up with your practice, you’re clearly someone who’s committed and loves their art!
Enjoy these last weeks of the holiday, but please do some practice before you break your teacher’s heart the first week back!

I'm an accredited early childhood music teacher. I wanted to understand how children learn and develop musically. I'm Kodaly trained and have been a trainer and lecturer not only in music education from birth. I use simple instruments and fun songs and games to teach musical understanding to 4 and 5 year olds. Over several months, they experience and begin to understand pitch and rhythm to the extent they can write and read their own simple tunes. I will start classes maximum 6 children at a time in September. If this is of interest to you, text or call me on 0899474373.
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Silent practise
When you've got a cold or sore throat, and can't sing, you can still do some effective song practise. Singing 'in your head', silently, allows you a great opportunity for really thinking about how you're using your voice, breath, muscles and your posture. Go through the lyrics- really thinking about each phrase and what it means to you. Consider whether you're tightening up on higher notes and let your mind 'feel' around your physical state - jaw, throat, shoulders etc.
When your cold/ sore throat is better, start your warm-up with lots of humming to protect your vocal cords.
Happy singing!