My singing venture: update

Do some of you remember that last year I announced that I'd decided to follow up on my singing?  I can't believe that was in March 2012!  It's a whole year later now!

Anyway, my progress had been very slow.  Yes, I did acquire the books and had made a good start with learning what I could.  I had at least three pieces down and another two on the go, but those other German songs were just too hard to master without a coach for pronunciation.

So, I decided (with more than just a little prompting from my husband!) to seek some help so I could actually achieve this goal of mine.

It turns out that we have a wonderfully accomplished teacher now living 15 minutes away from here.  So, I signed up for lessons with her last month and we have hit it off marvellously.

We've backtracked a little, just to make sure all bases have been covered.  It turns out that my technique for transitioning between chest and middle voice needed some work, but we're making good progress.  (Oh, and my sight singing needs some work, too!)

Today will be my 4th lesson!  My homework last week was to learn two new pieces:
- an English folk tune, "Cuckoo"
- a William Shakespeare piece, "Blow, blow, thou winter wind"

We're using the ABRSM syllabus ... something else that's new to me! I had only known of the AMEB syllabus before. I really like how the books they use are self contained with cds, so you can practice with accompaniment at home as well as check the pronunciation guide.

So, I'm back on the road of progress and hope to have achieved grade 5 by the end of the year.

Time to go and sing those tunes!

Catherine