Power Dressing November 7, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in life issues.Tags: dressing well, good grooming
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During the lesson, we had occasion to discuss the way in which posture affects the voice – the way in which standing correctly affects how well the voice functions, and additionally affects how a person feels……. which in turn affects how the voice functions!
This got me to thinking about posture in everyday life, and about how we dress. I think it’s a great pity that people don’t ‘dress’ for occasions anymore. For example, people used to dress up to go to the theatre. These days, most folks rock up in jeans and t-shirts. Restaurants are not, on the whole, filled with people who have made a great effort, and seeing someone very well groomed walking down the average street is unusual.
As a society, we’ve become lazy about our appearance, and I’m not sure if this is reflective of slipping standards in manners, etiquette and dicipline, or if the slipping standards in dress are in part responsible for those things.
All I know is that I still appreciate a person who makes an effort to look good, because I believe that if you can be bothered to try with your appearance, then you can probably be bothered to make an effort in other areas of life.
Dressing with care and attention to detail makes you feel better about yourself, and makes others respond better to you. It takes a bit more time and effort but…… isn’t that the point? Bring back dressing up, say I.
The IT Advantage October 30, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in life issues, singing stuff, teaching stuff.Tags: education, internet, life, singers, social networking, teaching, worcester, work
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I’ve recently been on holiday, spending many a happy hour taking in the sights and sounds of Devon and Cornwall. A particular favourite of mine is Tintagel, which has the most wonderful atmosphere, and of course some of the best views that the UK coastline has to offer. Every time I visit the countryside or our beautiful coastline, I think how much I would love to live a quieter life, away from the city.
As I’m originally from Beckenham, which is either in Kent or in South East London, depending on which newspaper you read (it’s in Kent. The end), 20 minutes from Central London, and now live in Worcester, which is a small city, I am used to city life. But as I have got older I have wished more and more for ‘my little cottage in the country.’
People often ask me how would I manage my very busy working life if I made such a move. Well, it’s easy isn’t it? Assuming that there’s an internet connection and that I have a car, I would manage in the same way that I do now!
As a lecturer, I spend a lot of time in the car, driving to the drama school where I teach as a freelancer. As Principal of VIDLA (Vocalist International Distance Learning Academy), I work from my handy computer – at home! The head office of the Academy is in SW London, but as all of our business is (currently) conducted online (it is a distance-learning college), there is rarely any need for me to make the trip to SW19, unless it’s to watch some tennis in the summer……..
I love technology, and recognise that, used efficiently, it has opened up our working lives in ways which I would never have thought possible as a child, when computers probably existed, but certainly not in the lives of ‘ordinary’ people. In fact, I didn’t see a computer until long after I left school, and found myself vaguely terrified of these strange new beasts. “But”, I argued, “I am an intelligent and capable human being, and if other people can learn to operate these things then so can I.”
So these days, I run my businesses from a variety of computers. I’ve learned (slowly) how to put a website together. I run an online network for my students, I record AV resources on my trusty and wonderful Mac (yes, I’m a converted Mac bore). I teach via skype – not that I like it much – I’m much more at home with a student in front of me! But that aside, Skype has proved invaluable for conducting meetings when one person is in the United States, one in France, one in Greece and one in Scotland. Technology has in some ways created new constraints, but it has also created boundless opportunity. So, little cottage in the country, here I come.
Meanwhile, it continues to sadden me when I encounter 18-year-olds who don’t know how to open, never mind set up, their email. Come on guys, catch up! If I can do it, I promise you anyone can – and it will open up your world if you just let it.
You want my life? Get your own! October 30, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in VIDLA, performing, rants, singing stuff, voices unlimited.add a comment
I’ve become increasingly alarmed, in recent years, about the number of people who say to me ‘I want to be you!’ or ‘I want your life’!
Now, I know that they’re (probably) not saying this out of spite or malice, and I should probably be flattered or something….. but actually, it just irks me!
I am a very fortunate human being. I do a job that I love. I get to indulge all of my favourite past-times – teaching, arranging, recording, writing, developing, designing, occasionally performing. And people pay me to do all of those things, which is a great privilege. But you know, nobody handed me that privilege. I wasn’t born to it. It wasn’t given to me by some benevolent trust. I earned it – all of it. I learned my craft, year on year (and still do), I gave up other things and spent what seemed like forever scratting around to make enough money to pay the bills.
Poor me? Of course not! It’s what you do isn’t it? You pay your dues. And you keep paying until you have earned the right to a good reputation and a reasonable income.
So when people who look about 12 but who are probably in their late teens tell me that ‘I’m so lucky’, I would like to politely remind them that being ‘lucky’ involves years of hard work and dedication, and never, ever taking anything for granted.
Curmudgeonly rant over 
When work is a privilege…. October 30, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in Uncategorized.add a comment
People in the performing arts industries can often be heard complaining about how tough the industry is (it is), how hard they work (they do), the long hours, the huge amount of unemployment, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum. We all find a million reasons to grumble and gripe, and convince ourselves that we’re hard done by.
For example, I can often be heard moaning about how much work I’ve got to do and not having enough hours in the day to write arrangements, record vocals, learn songs, teach my private students, lecture at drama school, work as M.D. for the choir, run my college (VIDLA), etc etc. Then this week, I was told by a colleague whose ear I was bending about how much work I had on “You shouldn’t moan, you know – it’s better than the alternative.” How right she was!
Thus, suitably chastened, I found myself on Saturday 10th October
Steve Maitland
lined up to do a charity show at the lovely Pershore No.8 Theatre, working for my buddy Steve Maitland, doing his Michael Buble Tribute show in aid of the childrens’ charity Acorns and Breast Cancer Awareness.
Also on the bill was a small troupe of dancers, three of whom (Lizi Chambers, Laura Edwards, Jon Salthouse) were graduates of the drama school where I teach and were a complete joy to work with, plus the Voices Unlimited Contemporary Choir, for whom I am the musical director, and local singer / songwriter Ady Marshall. A fabulous pianist with whom I have worked before, a great stage manager and the legend that is Dan Reeve on sound, completed the team.
So we all spent the day in a lovely, comfortable theatre, sang / danced / played to an appreciative and sold-out house, then had an after-show party in the hotel across the road. OK, so there had been a LOT of work leading up to the show – in my case writing arrangements / recording parts for the choir, and learning stuff to sing with Steve. But the day itself, and the fact that so much money was raised for these good causes, reminded me not to moan about the privileged position I occupy, in doing a job which I absolutely love. Note to self: moan less, celebrate more!
Dena Murray Talks VIDLA! October 3, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in singing stuff, teaching stuff.Tags: dena murray, education, singing, teaching, the modern vocalist, VIDLA, vidla bookstore, vocal technique
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Dena Murray
In my role as Principal of VIDLA, I have been lucky enough to get to know the lovely Dena Murray, who is a Master Vocal Coach and celebrated author. She became Patron of VIDLA earlier this year and of course we were delighted!
This week, I received a lovely communication from Dena, basically talking about how we met and why she’s committed to what VIDLA does. She also talks about the long-awaited release of her new book, which is due out in November 2009. This is what she had to say:
I learned about VIDLA from the website The Modern Vocalist. Dr. Keen and I are Subject Matter Experts for that site.We began correspondence and to my surprise and delight, found out that her teachings are very similar to mine.
The idea that there is a distance-learning Vocal Academy for students all over the world to train and learn from that caters to any singer who wants to learn how to sing and/or teach thrilled me. I was also impressed that the school is accredited, with access to degree level study.
I work on my own. However, I, too, teach singers from all over the world. Some of them come to the United States just to study with me. Others I teach online via SKYPE (from the U.S. all the way to China). I also teach those who want to be vocal instructors how to start and set up, many of whom have gone on to instructing in music schools located in their countries.
After Dr. Keen told me she had read my books and was aware of my work, it was then that I became familiar with more of hers. I can assure you, we had a lot to chat about with one another!|
I have recently completed my third, and last book, on Vocal Technique, “Vocal Strength and Power” to be published by Hal Leonard Corp. in late November. Dr. Keen is one of the few who recognized where I was headed with all my work.
The first book, “Vocal Technique, A Guide to Finding Your Real Voice” instructs how to build up the muscle groups that control the stretch of the vocal cords (also known as Vocal Folds). The second book, “Advanced Vocal Technique: Middle Voice, Placement and Styles” co-authored by Tita Hutchison, instructs the singer with a step by step description of how to gain placement in the mask, bridge the breaks, and styles. And now with this third book, “Vocal Strength and Power”, it completes the series by instructing how to take in the air properly for the support needed from the diaphragmatic region. Between the three books, we now see that the entire voice works as a unit, how one region supports another and cannot work without the other.
This latest book has already received a rave advance review by acclaimed voice scientist D. Steven Fraser (to be published shortly before the book’s release). I hope to not only help singers with this last addition, but instructors as well. It includes a glossary of dictionary-defined words used to teach voice by all of us. This was an eye opening experience for me, realizing that so much misperception with regard to different methods of teaching on the part of the student all comes down to the true meaning of a word.
I hope any of you who have questions you’d like to ask of me will take advantage of it by e-mailing me:
To be affiliated with one of the world’s most foremost Academies for vocalists is nothing less than an honor and privilege. To be working alongside the very gifted Dr. Keen is a dream come true.
A big hello to all who are already studying, and a big welcome to those just coming aboard.
Thank you Dr. Keen for such a wonderful opportunity to be of service.
Dena Murray
VIDLA Success September 22, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in singing stuff, teaching stuff.Tags: accreditation, education, IADL, singers, singing, singing teacher, teacher training, teaching, vocal technique, vocals, vocsl coach
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As you may know, I am the Principal of VIDLA (Vocalist International Distance Learning Academy), and have been working tirelessly this year to gain accreditation for this ever-growing online academy, which trains singers to be singing teachers, and offers formal qualifications to experienced singing teachers.
Thus it is that I’m delighted that VIDLA has just been granted Fully Accredited Membership status with the International Association of Distance Learning.
In order to gain this accreditation, VIDLA had to undergo a rigorous and multi-staged assessment and review procedure, in which our systems, teaching methods, resources, policies and paperwork were all scrutinised by a panel of experts in the Distance Learning field.
It’s great to be able to give our students the official assurance that they are getting courses and tuition of a very high standard. They always knew this, of course – but it’s nice to get the rubber stamp.
On not seeing what’s under your nose……… August 24, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in life issues, performing, singing stuff, voices unlimited.Tags: contemporary choir, hobbies, performing, singers, singing, vocals, worcester
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This weekend I’ve been busy at the Worcester Music Festival. It’s part of the Worcester Festival which takes place every August in the Faithful City, running for two weeks and involving all kinds of arts and entertainment, cultural and heritage events. It’s a great celebration.
For the Music Festival, I led four events: two vocal workshops, a lovely saturday afternoon performance with the Voices Unlimited Choir down by the fountains on the South Quay in front of hundreds of people in the sunshine (amazingly!), and a workshop with the choir in the morning.
We were booked to offer people a glimpse of what it’s like to sing in a contemporary choir using up-to-the-minute vocal technique, and working the voices hard. The venue was to be St. Swithuns Church in the town centre. I was confused. I’ve lived in Worcester since 1991 and had absolutely no idea where this place was. And yet I was told that it was literally yards from the High Street! I had to google it to find out exactly where it was, and then as I walked to it on Saturday morning, I had to laugh at myself when I saw it. I have looked at that building probably thousands of times in the last 18 years. I have walked past it on countless occasions. It’s beautiful, and it’s very clearly a church……… d’oh!
This made me wonder how much stuff I miss on a daily basis – I mean, if I
can effectively ‘not see’ a giant building that’s been under my nose for almost twenty years, how much other detail and information goes by the way? And how much gets missed by others too? It reminds me of what my partner always says: that we take a huge amount for granted, from the food we eat to the clothes on our backs, the welfare state and constant access to the wonder that is the internet. I’m going to try to see what’s in front of my face more clearly, and value things more.
Just so you know – St. Swithuns hasn’t been used for worship for many years, and the Trust which looks after it are keen to get people in there using it for concerts, workshops, recitals and so on. The acoustics were SUPERB for us on saturday – the choir has never sounded better – and the venue seats up to 200 people. Best of all, being of pagan persuasion, I managed not to burst into flames whilst leading the workshop. Result.
The Professional Mindset August 9, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in performing, rants, singing stuff, teaching stuff.Tags: acting, am dram, hobbies, performing, singers, singing, wannabes
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I was watching a Championship League football match on the TV the other day, and among the banter that was going on in the room, I remarked that I was expecting the level of football to be better than it was (not that I’m any real judge) because the players were professional and thus, being paid to be good at their job.
One of my companions remarked that being paid for the job was not the entire definition of what ‘being professional’ is – and how correct he was!
Professionalism is far more about attitude than about the paycheck – although clearly, the paycheck is important when one relies on it to pay the bills! However, the general populace’s understanding of professionalism in the performing arts falls far short of the reality. I meet this problem almost every day, be it in students training to enter the profession – who you would think would have some understanding, given that it is explained and demonstrated to them every day – or in hobbyists and amateurs who dream about being in the profession, or who aspire to do something as simple as sing in a local choir.
There is a vast chasm between what people perceive to be professionalism and the work that this actually entails, and the harsh reality of making a living and / or achieving professional standards in the industry. The problem is until you’ve experienced, first hand, the sheer hard work involved, and seen close up the standards achieved by actual, proper, full-on professional people, there is absolutely no way to understand it. You might as well try to understand what childbirth feels like, having never been through it. Whatever you imagine or intellectually understand, it can never match the reality of the experience.
Thus it is that I spend a great deal of my life being exasperated by students who think they’ve ‘got what it takes’ to be professional or who believe that they’re delivering professional standards, and also by hobbyists who want to dip their toe in the water but can’t grasp what it takes to be good, even at grass roots level.
The reality is that, whatever your aspirations, it takes daily hard graft. Hours of it. You need to practise in order to keep your skills sharp. You have to get past the idea that great performance is simply about remembering words and notes and standing in the right place at the right time. Good god no! You have to do more than sing once a week through stuff that you didn’t learn properly in the first place, then hope for the best. There will be no ‘best’ under these circumstances. First you have to listen – a lot! Then you have to commit the material to memory – and I mean every note, every syllable, every note length, every dynamic variation, every nuance. And at that point, you’ll be ready to start working on the piece! It has very little to do with talent (although that helps) and everything to do with grafting. The 10,000-hour rule applies, big time.
So, if you’re a student, or a hobbyist seeking to be really good at what you do, please understand this – you will never be good enough until you get past the ‘try to remember it and then hope for the best’ stage. You need to absorb the material – all of it – into your very being. And then you have to add in the peripherals, like physical conditioning, turning up on time, fully warmed up before you get into the rehearsal space / lesson / whatever. And then determining to be even better prepared next time.
To paraphrase an old favourite: You wanna be good? Well being good costs. And right here’s where you start paying – in hours of practise, dedication and hard graft.
Welcome to my world……….
War & Peace July 5, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in Uncategorized.add a comment
I am currently involved in an epic 7-hour production of War & peace, with all of the demands and pressures that that brings, including singing in Russian, speaking in French, learning more lines than you can shake a stick at, and handling a large company of students, some of whom are about to enter the world of professional work. Or at least, professional unemployment!
Every year at The Birmingham Theatre School, a Grad Show is staged. This is an increasingly rare thing in drama schools, as it’s financially burdensome. I’ve been a freelancer at the school for the last eight years, and over those eight years I have seen a worrying trend in the attitude of the students; more and more there’s a sense that this is their right, rather than a privilege, and each year they seem to care a little bit less.
This isn’t true of everyone – there are some absolutely outstanding people involved this year, and I applaud their contribution, their dedication and their talent. However I cannot applaud those who feel that it is OK to arrive late, leave early, or not turn up at all. Or those who talk through other people’s work. Or those who think this process is something to be endured rather than soaked up and enjoyed. They fail to understand that the world will almost certainly never again offer them the chance to work on the main stage of a touring theatre, never mind in a classic work of literature.
When it comes to be their turn to graduate, I shall be silently gleeful when others ruin their rehearsal process, or let them down by not being there. I shall also await with pleasure the horrible awakening that awaits them when they finally realise that the world does not owe them a living, and that making any kind of living in the arts is an uphill struggle requiring the highest levels of commitment and talent.
I am sick to death of this X-Factor generation, who so naively believe that they are going to find employment in the performing arts world just because they deigned to turn up at drama school. We tell them every day. They ignore us every day. But when they leave, they will finally come to know that they are not quite as good as they think they are. Or as good as mummy and daddy have always told them they are. And sadly, they will continue to believe that they can’t find work, not because they are lacking in some way, but because they are somehow being victimised.
Honoured by TVS July 5, 2009
Posted by Ria Keen in performing, singing stuff, teaching stuff.Tags: robert lunte, RODE mics, TC-Helicon, the vocalist studio, TVS, VIDLA
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I was fortunate enough to spend four days, last week, with Robert Lunte, top rock vocal coach and founder of The Vocalist Studio, which primarily trains rock vocalists in cutting-edge athletic vocal technique.
Robert is an extremely charming and charismatic man, as he proved in spades at his Birmingham workshop on Saturday 27th June. Everyone who was privileged enough to be there was blown away by his passion, and by the efficacy of his techniques, which have been handed down to him by Maestro David Kyle.
The workshop was sponsored by RODE mics and TC-Helicon, who did us all proud with the level of commitment, and the great standards of their hardware. I am now the proud owner of a new RODE mic, and am enjoying trying it out in my teaching studio in Worcester, UK. Many thanks to RODE for this.
The TC-Helicon pedal which Robert used was also an amazing boon to a singer. My friend Jenny was lucky enough to be given one at the workshop, and is looking forward to trying it out during one of her many gigs.
On a personal note, I was absolutely delighted to be made an honourary TVS instructor, receiving the coveted dog-tags worn by each of Robert’s elite ‘Screaming Pillars’ (the experts in Robert’s ‘Four Pillars of Singing’ system).
The techniques work, to the extent that I’m now in talks with Robert about bringing on board a Four Pillars course for the VIDLA curriculum. THis would be a very exciting adition to the existing range of VIDLA courses.
Robert – you are an inspiration, a scholar and a gentleman. I look forward very much to working with you again in the Autumn. Or Fall, in your strange lingo
