In lots of auditions, particularly in TV talent show ones, you will be asked to perform an A cappella song. That means singing a song with no accompaniment. This is harder than it sounds! For the purposes of this Blog we are going to limit our A cappella song to a 60 second version.

As my main focus is supporting and developing new artists I thought I’d bring new artists to you in Member Shout Outs! Entourage Membership was born out of communication I had with Alessandra Boldrini so it feels totally fitting that she should be first!

Music moves us and it is all around us for that very purpose. It's on adverts and films. It's played in bars, in spas to create an atmosphere. We sing at celebrations, events, rituals. It unites us. As singers we have the ability to communicate through song and make people feel something. I refer to this as ‘connection’.

Sophie is a professional singer, song-writer and educator. She has toured extensively with four studio albums, supporting artists including McFly, Sugarbabes and Will Young. She believes in sharing the gift of music as a therapy and life skill to build confidence and social development.

As singers we spend a lot of time working on our vocal delivery. Once we feel our vocals are secure we start to develop our performance. But a massive part of this is how we hold ourselves physically and how we move around the performance space. We inhabit a physical identity. So what exactly do I mean by this?

Emily Dolan Davies is a touring and recording drummer based in the UK. She has worked with artists including Bryan Ferry, The Darkness, Kim Wilde, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, Tricky, Cher Lloyd, The Hours and is currently the house drummer on ITV’s The Voice Kids.

To create different pitches we alter the length, tension and mass of our vocal folds, determining the frequency of vibration and consequently the pitch. There are several ways of positioning the vocal folds for high notes depending on what sound or style you want to deliver.

Potential is a word used to describe how far a singer can go, how good they can become and how successful they could be. It is a prediction, an expectation that we stamp on someone based on their anatomical capability, technical ability and mindset, using our experience, knowledge and instinct.

My days in front of the audition panel are long gone but the sensations and emotions involved in putting myself up for scrutiny have never left me. Sometimes I even dream that I'm in the audition room and no one is paying any attention, I'm grasping for words that I just can't seem to find and I have no idea how the song goes....thankfully, I wake up!

Due to the spread of Covid among several choirs and their members, singing has been deemed to be a dangerous activity during the pandemic. Although the same vocal mechanism is used for singing, speaking and shouting there has become a stigma around singing.

In 2016 I was working on the The Voice Uk and was asked if I wanted to get involved with the kids show. I have to admit I was dubious. I was then working mainly with professional Pop Stars and West End performers and, to be honest, the thought of kids belting their way to a winner’s title wasn’t that appealing.

Vibrato is a regular fluctuation in pitch and intensity. It is important to consider two things when analysing vibrato. One is the extent of the pitch variation, how far off the central note the sound goes. Then there is the speed of the vibrato, whether the pitch fluctuations are fast or slow.

A good way to improve your performance is to video yourself and watch it back as if it's not you. We're really good at critiquing each other but if a friend of yours sent you a video of a performance that they'd done and asked you to critique it you would be able to do that.

A dynamic journey within a song can help to keep the listeners attention and set up the 'money notes' to land with impact. After working through Dynamics: Part 1 you will have developed your own dynamic dial and now we shall match these levels to feelings.

I'm often turning people's volume down as singers often miss a really emotional part within their voice because they're too busy trying to project. I say to them 'don't underestimate the power of your quiet tones.'

It is important to be able to describe what style of music you make to anyone who asks. Your genre can be shaped by your influences, people you are compared with and your musical composition and production. Let’s explore this further.