Getting into the Song
- “Let the song pass through you. Don’t get in it’s way or try to force your stamp on it. Trust the song.” – Robert Edwards
- “Imagine that your nerves are friendly allies giving you a push in the right direction.” – Simone Niles
- “Get rid of all the stuff you are hiding behind and let me have the full experience: words, song – and you!” – John Kjoller of Basix, Best European Album
- “We try and imagine the songs as they would be if they were ours to begin with and how we would perform them as the artist.” Ni/Co”Persistence and courage are more important than talent.” – Eric Maisel, PhD, Leading Creative Coach
- “Even without lyrics, we convey emotion in many ways.” – Juliet Russell
Your Way Ahead as a Singer
- “Come to a complete stop. Empty yourself of expectations. Name your work. Trust your resources. Embrace the present moment. Return with strength.” – Eric Maisel, Coaching the Artist Within
- “The buzz, the nerves, the adrenaline is something you must learn to enjoy and use to heighten your performance.” – Simone Niles
- “Learn to use all the parts of your voice: Chest..mix…head…falsetto.. make friends with every single one and let them work for you and coexist in peace and harmony.” – Jamie Babbitt
- “All the greatest singers didn’t just sing one way. At different times their voices were gutteral, clean, whispering, torn up. They were in agony. They were in love.” – Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal of Guns N’ Roses
- “I still keep asking myself – why am I doing this music? and the answer still comes loud and clear: because I want to hear it! That’s a way better answer for me than ‘because I want a contract with Sony.”– Judge Smith, founder member of Van Der Graaf Generator
When You Make a Mistake
- “To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.” – Beethoven
- “Falling down is an accident. Staying down is a choice.” – Unknown
On Self-Worth and Authenticity
- “Deciding that you matter is not a cosmic given but a necessary, personal choice.” – Eric Maisel in The Van Gogh Blues
- Say today, “I intend to matter,” “my vocal work matters,” or, “I matter” twenty or thirty times – Eric Maisel, Coaching the Artist Within
- “Don’t let the fear of judgement stop you from posting what you love to do. Treat your audience as friends and not as “fans” or “followers.” – Ricky Somborn
- “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell
- “AUTHENTICITY is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” – Brenè Brown
- “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I stopped caring about people’s opinions and I jumped. Once you start living your authentic self, people see it and start to believe what you’re saying.” – Michelle Treacy
- “The quickest way to become troubled is to be concerned with what people are gonna say about your life and your work.” — Ahmad Jamal
- “One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these – to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estes
- “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”
- “I feel scared when I post a video of me singing where I don’t hit every note or where I think I look bad, or where I think I am being seen from a bad angle. But I find that that feeling of fear is exactly the thing that drives me to post it – because everybody feels that! And when people see you doing it, they’ll be inspired to do it.” – Sam Robbins
- “The great thing about getting older is that we gradually stop caring about what other people think of us and think of us and move back toward that childlike state of unapologetically being the “real” us.” – Jamie Babbitt
- “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
On Creativity
- “The art I make allows me to pause and briefly see the wonder that surrounds me.” – Dianne in Eric Maisel’s The Van Gogh Blues
- “Singing is probably the most natural function a human can do.” – Mark Baxter
- “Do not pick up your pen. Keep writing, keep it flowing, stream-of-consciousness style; Even when you don’t know what to say, keep writing… Do so for five minutes. When you’re done, you may find some excellent lines to riff off.” – Jamie Babbitt
- “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”– Goethe
- “An artist is born. They’re born with an artistic attitude. They’re born to be the axe for the frozen sea within us. They’re born to be in conflict; they’re born to be an alien and an outsider.” – Joni Mitchell
- “It’s amazing how many ideas – melodic, lyrical, instrumental, etc. – can start flooding your brain when when you start to play with tempo and groove” – Emily Braden
- “Words hurt, words heal, words save and words destroy. Words matter. Words hold tremendous power. Use them wisely and sing them reverently, playfully, joyfully – all kinds of fully.” – Jamie Babbitt
- “We can hold our songs, ideas, or even dreams so tight that we can suffocate the life right out of them. Surrender to the process.” – Jenn Bostic
- “This is one big game, and if you’re not having fun while you play, you probably deserve a little rest.” – SK Shilomo
Using Your Intuition
- “Your gut never fails you. When it comes to artistic choices – ask yourself, does this feel right?” – Louise Rose, Entertainer and educator
- “The more honest you are in all aspects of your life, the more honest a singer you will be.” – Jamie Babbitt
- “One of the primary qualities of a good performance is honesty.” – Roberta Flack
Singing and Life
- “Compose a full, brightly colored life and give yourself plenty to sing and/or write about.” – Jamie Babbitt
- “Singers are nothing less than medics distributing wholesome medication for a needy group of patients.” – Mark Baxter
- “Be alive. Don’t be a machine. Perfect singing in the recording studio is not necessarily interesting.” – Toke Wulf, Basix
- “Singing should NEVER hurt. Not even when you rehearse. Don’t think, ‘It’ll be better in a little while.” – Anders Orsanger, Basix
- “Ultimately, love music and love people, and it will all come back to you.” – Elena Droukopoulos, Bel Cantes
- “The poets and the singers represent the very salvation of the human soul.” – Heidegger
- “Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.” – Jimi Hendrix
- “Your life experience is unique, and yet, sharing that uniqueness makes you relatable.” – Kat McDowell
- “People fail to achieve mastery not because they aren’t talented but because they aren’t disciplined.”
- “All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso
- “We have art so that we shall not die of reality.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Compose a full, brightly colored life and give yourself plenty to sing and/or write about.” – Jamie Babbitt
- “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” – Rumi
- “Life is too short to sing music you don’t love.” – Louise Rose
Discipline
- “If you want to climb mountains, you have to start by climbing hills.” – Tim Howar
- “I’m inspired every fifth day or so, but only get that fifth day if I show up the other four.” – Tchaikovsky
- “I think too many people hide behind formal music education and can be passed up by people out there making it happen. It has a lot to do with your capacity for risk.” – Lisa Popeil
- “It’s impossible, said pride.” “it’s risky, said experience.” “It’s pointless, said reason” “Give it a try, whispered the heart.” – Unknown
On Vocal Technique
- “We have to remember that the voice is our instrument – and this instrument is not like a violin that you can put safely away in a closet when you’ve finished playing. Singers walk around with their instrument – and expose it to wind, rain and all kinds of other factors that don’t face that violin in the closet.” – Legendary singer, Neil Sedaka
- “Vocal technique can differ from one genre to another. But what remains the same is the basic truth that your singing should never cause physical pain.”
- “Great vocal technique is not the goal. It is the means toward the goal of creating magic and uplifting souls.” – Lisa Popeil
- “When I make phrasing decisions, I feel like an architect, creating a sonic structure where all my choices result in emotional consequences.” – Lisa Popeil
- “Proper breath control helped the most to improve my performance and reduce anxiety. Just breathe, dude!” – Adrian Chalifour
- “Unity of breath, unity of intent, and unity of word – those are three things, I believe, form the basis of any good choral singer.” – Michael McGlynn, Director of “M’anam
- “Find a quiet space, identify one challenge/event, and focus on the emotions that are raised by this challenge/event. Now, make some sounds that connect with the emotions you feel.” – Simone Niles
- “It’s great to hustle your work, but remember not to start using the hype as a measure of your human worth.” – Sk Shlomo
- “Go back in time and expose yourself to your favorite artists influences.” – Tim Howar
- “Singers are nothing less than medics distributing wholesome medication for a needy group of patients.” – Mark Baxter
Performance
- “Make every performance a deeply felt, honest and fearless declaration of your soul.” – Lisa Popeil
- “Whenever I look at my microphone setup, I am reminded that i have incredible and unlimited opportunities in front of me. I just need to sometimes get off my butt and take advantage of it!” – Chris Rupp
- “I can call a tune for the rest of my life and never sing it the same way. That’s freedom, that’s provocative, that’s jazz.” – Lizzie Thomas
- “Every time I write without other people’s expectations in mind, it always draws people in. It’s a much more powerful way of building an audience than how I look, or how good my branding is.” – Sam Robbins
- I got to open for Ronnie James Dio in 2009. He told me: “Each show and every interaction with your fans is a ‘moment in time,’ and though you may not remember these people or places, they will remember meeting you for the rest of their lives, so you must make it good for every single one of them!” – Lizzy Hale
- “When in the studio, never rush through your recordings. Think about the story you want to communicate and consider those who will be listening to your finished artwork.” – Vade
- “Try to look at your performances as giving others a break from their worries, the news in their city, or the illness or even death that may have affected them. If you possess a talent that can be of service now, why would you withhold it?” – Jamie Babbitt
- “Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.” – Miles Davis
- “What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself.”
- “If you can keep singing when a puppy is threatening to lick your face, you’ve definitely learned the music!” – Aria Cappella
- “When we can truly live in the present moment, our main concern is to make the best of exactly where we are. So any song we sing, any riffs we compose, any people we reach…are right here, right now, period. Like little children, we then can experience in real time, what that moment brings: joy, sadness, hunger, love. It then stands to reason that when we experience it, we can then pass it on – in real time – to others.” – Jamie Babbitt
Choir Life
- “We practice our music with gestures like pulling a ribbon out of a box as we sing legato or throwing a tennis ball as we need to sing a high staccato note!” – Slavic Chorale
- “We firmly believe that we will make it through this crisis, that we will come together, sing together, and fly again!” – Angel City Chorale
- “As a choir, we exist to bring people together, to elevate the human spirit and celebrate our unity of spirit and diversity of expression.” – Sue Fink
Singdaptive is the new way to learn singing and reach your singing goals. You’ll receive personal one-on-one coaching through video exchanges with a lead instructor who is supported by a multidisciplinary instructor team. You will do this at your own time and pace. Because we have a diverse team, you can work on any singing-related goals from technique, to performance, recording, vocal health, vocal effects, promotion and more…
