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Sometimes I find it useful to have one prompt that I share with all of my students over the course of my teaching for the week. This can help me stay faithful to the "Big Picture" part of mentorship. These "Prompts of the Week" or "POW"s can be about consistency, mindset, goal setting, or anything about the bigger picture of being an artist. I hope over time to build a database of over 200 prompts to share, along with some studio responses.   POW 1: What is the function of your voice lessons? How is our time together going to serve you in the short and long term.   Reflections: In the end, I want the singers that I work with to feel confidently independent. It's no good going for a drive if you're tethered to your mechanic. I want to help you to understand how your voice functiions so that if something goes wrong when you're out on the road you can fix it yourself and keep on singing. Of course I am here for any tuneups and checkins and

Reading about sports sleep coach Nick Littlehales, and how he optimizes sleep for elite athletes. This man has COUNTLESS articles on optimizing your sleep for peak performance.  Part of learning to optimize your singing involves optimizing your health and your body.  I have ALWAYS been a good sleeper-- excepting those times in which I had to subvert my naturally fantastic sleep habits to keep other humans alive.  If you struggle with sleep-- check out his blog linked above.  Some habits of successful sleepers: 1. Keep your bedroom free from clutter and from work.  This can be hard to do if you have space limitations, (for instance if you're in a dorm).  But you can find ways to keep things compartmentalized.  Put your laptop in a drawer so that it's not looking at you with that guilt-inducing look.  2. Stop looking at screens ! Experts suggest that you stop looking at "blue screens" two hours before sleep. 3. Develop a routine. This can be a simple way to cu

You can't play an infinite game with a finite mindset. You can't be Number 1.  You can't be the best or beat the competition.  There is no such thing as winning art.  There is is only ahead and behind.  "The goal is not to win; the goal is to keep playing." To play with an infinite mindset you need: 1. A just cause. You need a reason to exist or a reason to want to keep doing what you're doing.  Have we talked about the fact that "loving singing" is not enough?  What do you love about it?  Is it the community?  Is it the praise (be honest)? There are many good things that singing can do for us, but if your goal is to monetize it-- to make it your career, you really have to be sure that your mission statement is really strong.  Why are you in it?  2. Trusting teams. If you aren't surrounded by people who you trust and people who trust you as a creator, you are forced to lie hide and fake every day.  It does you know good to pretend to be

I believe in teaching a function based technique that is free from an aesthetic bias.  What does that mean.  Singing is art.  There is no "right" and "wrong" in art.  You have to know the kinds of sounds that you want to make, and it's my job to help you make them.  The word "beautiful" is largely off the table.  The word "functional" is my primary concern.  Your vocal longevity and your ability to express yourself with your voice are my primary concerns. I created this blog & podcast because there is nothing I enjoy more than getting missives from former and current voice students "in the wild." Because that's what it is, isn't it?  So many of you have come for voice lessons wanting to be performers or educators and have slowly over the course of your young lives drawn your own map to get yourself there. You have help from people who are further along in their cartography.... people like me.  But the path to b