Ignorance is bliss? Well, I thought so. Written by Geoff (MKS Singing Student)

Here’s my story. I’ve been playing guitar for 15 years, but only really incorporated singing for the last 2 or 3.   After getting together with my mate cobbling together a bunch of songs we have managed to performed 8-9 gigs over time for family and friends. I really enjoy it! However here's the rub: I lack confidence in my voice.

I have never had a singing lesson in my life and really didn't know what I was doing in regards technique so I essentially would just wing it.

Doing this I found that I had more and more questions, like:

Should I belt it out or do I sound better to back off?  

Why does the same song sound good one day but sound like a wheezing mess the next?

What are my strengths? And what do I need to work on?

I know you are supposed to breathe in a certain way, but how?  

I thought that if I just kept on singing and practicing on my own for long enough I would improve naturally and it would all be good - like I said ignorance is bliss - right?  

Well I finally bit the bullet and decided I needed help to work on my singing so I can be sure that I'm doing it the right way - life's too short to sing bum notes. I looked around for a singing teacher for a while and decided Sarah was right for me. I looked at her website and was impressed by her musical honesty, her clear interest in helping singers achieve their goals, and also the fact that the coaching is 1:1 and not a school type environment appealed to me.

Well, how am I going?  Awesome is the best word to describe it. No surprise that breathing was the first stop on my journey but what did surprise me was the difference correct breathing makes. With Sarah's coaching, my consistency from day to day has improved, I can now hear my own voice instead of the hissing, nasally sound I got used to before. Just by breathing correctly into my diaphragm I can now sing the line better than before, awesome! Especially because now I know what I need to do to improve and I can hear the results myself. I'm also getting great feedback from others that I'm improving as well.

Sarah provides direction and vocal demonstrations so I know what I need to do and coaches me as I work through the piece. We work through breathing/vocal exercises for the first part, then get on with singing songs. We work on phrasing, where to breathe, tempo, pitch - the whole shebang. The thing about Sarah is that she has a relaxed style that is very easy to work with and makes you feel comfortable working at whatever pace is good for you.

So ignorance may be bliss for some, but for me, working with Sarah has given me the direction and renewed enthusiasm I needed to get me out of my rut and squarely back into the middle of the road on my musical journey...........Geoff B (26/6/2012).