Singer

To get straight to the point: if you don’t make music, you’re not really living. That may sound like a rather firm belief. But however you look at it, Guest blogger Iris Siemons, songwriter and singer, always seems to come back to that conclusion. Iris recommends starting with the most personal instrument there is—the one everyone carries with them: the voice. Singing is good for you!

Diction, pronunciation and articulation are often overlooked topics in the singing world. But that doesn’t make them any less important. In fact, they’re the foundation of good singing and a strong performance. Here’s how that works!

Experiencing and conveying the lyrics is essential for a strong vocal performance. The basic principles are fairly quick to explain, but in practice it can be very labour-intensive. You can also look at lyric delivery in a broader context—think performance and the way you, as a singer, position yourself in ‘artistic life’. Singer Ellen Evers has a very clear vision on that.

What do others think of me? What if I sing out of tune? With performance-focused hobbies like singing, we tend to put all our focus on how well we’re doing, says guest blogger and VocalFeedback coach Nandy Mannaert. But fixating on perfection leads to tension. And it holds back your progress and your enjoyment of singing, says Nandy.

“It’s completely human to feel nervous before a performance,” says guest blogger and VocalFeedback coach Nandy Mannaert. She works with many singers who feel insecure about their voice. They struggle with nerves, self-criticism and the fear of failing in front of an audience. In the Bax Music blog series ‘Singing with Confidence’, Nandy explains this time how creating an alter ego helps you sing with confidence.

For any singer, there’s often a tension that lies between flawless technique and singing with real feeling. Is there a way to strike a perfect balance between the two? Guest blogger and professional gospel singer Heleen Spreeuwers takes a deep dive into the age-old singer’s dilemma, looking at how the performance pressure and perfectionism that’s involved in being a vocalist can clash with what probably moves most vocalists to sing in the first place: the ability to tell a story and to emote.

As a musician, the spotlight is usually yours. After all, capturing the full attention of the audience is part of the job, but for some gigs, you need to take a step back and provide the background music. This demands a really different way of working and of performing and can sometimes be hard to pull off. Here, Guestblogger Kevin Okkema offers some tips for getting the best out of those quieter shows.

Hip hop is way more than just rapping and also more than just music. Hip hop was first born from a subculture with the music at its centre and, like most subcultures, started as an underground movement before going mainstream. Hip hop first grew up in America in the seventies and didn’t cross the pond to Europe until around a decade later. In this blog, we offer up a quick hip hop history lesson.

Whether you sing in a choir, a rock band or your bedroom, it’s crucial that you keep your vocal cords in good shape, even if you’re singing just for fun. Guest-blogger Fabienne Kervella shares five simple tips for good vocal health.

While you’re busy mastering any musical instrument, inevitably, a relationship is also busy developing between your instrument and your body. For any musician, the art lies in moving the body as efficiently as possible to guard off any possible aches, pains and even injuries. The Alexander Technique (AT for short) has already helped countless musicians, and here, we lay out the basics so you can start playing better and playing healthy.

Partly thanks to televised talent show competitions, there are more vocalists than ever. Some opt to join a choir, while others sing solo. And then there are pop and jazz lovers who sing a-cappella as part of a vocal group. Want to know what it takes to sing in a vocal group? Simply read on.

Most musicians will agree that singing is the most vulnerable way of making music. At the same time, that vulnerability makes vocals a great vehicle for expressing and evoking emotion. When it comes to singing with emotion effectively, there’s one thing that’s absolutely essential: connection.