I'm
a singer, songwriter and writer
living in central Edinburgh. Since
1992 I have performed at a host
of different venues and opened for
many different artists, including
Roy Harper, John Cooper Clark, Andy
White, Bert Jansch and Jim Diamond.
In my old job as a music journalist and BBC radio broadcaster I was priveleged to be able to stand in the wings and observe some of the world's finest vocal performers in action from close quarters: Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, Paul Rogers, BB King, Chuck Berry, John Martyn, Brian Kennedy, Eddie Reader, Kylie Minogue and Carol Kidd, to name but a few. I used my position shamelessly to extort technical tips on voice production and performance skills from the people I interviewed - all in the name of serious arts journalism, of course.
My formal musical background began in church choirs and as a member of the Finchley Children's Music group, where in addition to a solid grounding in music and stagecraft I attended individual singing tuition and regular workshops with Bel Canto expert Esther Salaman and the world-renowned Kodaly Method expert Cecilia Vajda. During this time I sang on a large number of commercial recordings, radio and TV broadcasts and appeared in hundreds of live performances in major theatres and concert halls both in the UK and abroad.
At 15 I entered the Junior Department of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, progressing to the Senior School after a year and attending a wide variety of classes including Alexander Technique and General Musicianship as well as singing lessons with a number of different teachers, including Michael Dale, over the next three years before going on to read Music at Cambridge University.
During the 1990s I was lucky enough to take part in four songwriting workshops led by the "songwriters' songwriter", Mr Ray Davies, and in 1997 I attended the diploma course in Music Management and Marketing at Jewel and Esk Valley College, Edinburgh, learning from (amongst others) Bruce Findlay and Stuart Nisbet. The course included valuable information on copyright law and the structure and practices of the music business.
I studied jazz singing in workshops with Anita Wardell and Della Rhodes at the City Lit in London in 1999 and 2000, with Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Sophie Bancroft and Fionna Duncan in Edinburgh in 2003, in 2006 with Jay Clayton and 2007 with Sheila Jordan again (also in Edinburgh). Most recently I was lucky enough to be selected to participate on a songwriting retreat with Maria McKee and the legendary songwriter Donovan in August 2009.
In April 2007 I participated in a workshop & master-class and took private lessons in Speech Level Singing™ with John Henny on his recent visit to London. I found SLS™ to be almost identical in practice to the very serviceable technique I learned from Esther Salaman and Michael Dale. Having studiously ignored their advice while I was singing with a rock band back in the day, I am living proof that using the voice incorrectly can drastically reduce one's range and capabilities to the point at which singing ceases to be an option. I am delighted to endorse SLS™ as a highly effective method of achieving an authentic, natural vocal delivery which can be applied to almost any musical (or speaking) style without voice strain. I am also something of an unpaid missionary for the Alexander Technique, which I believe to be the key to unblocking all sorts of physical and psychological problems faced by singers and speakers (which covers just about everyone).
I continue to update my skills on a regular basis and have also pursued training in Life Coaching, which addresses in very practical terms some of the key issues singers face in terms of confidence and motivation, whether they are bashful beginners or perfectionist professionals. My studies have led to an ongoing interest in performance psychology and in the cognitive functioning of the brain, particularly in relation to the nature of the learning process, the close relationship between mental, emotional and physical states and the direct bearing these can have on an individual's attainments.
I
record and perform in a variety of different guises:
straight jazz vocal shows, mixed cabaret, solo acoustic performances, a
recent musical collaboration with indie songwriter SH Davidson on his sellout
début CD, guest vocalist on several tracks with Viennese artist Richard
Kapp, recording collaborations with New Zealand producer Peter Kearns and
Dutch electronica producer Patric Bakkenist plus a long-time musical association
with UK blues legend Zoot Money. Since the start of 2008 I have been involved
in recording with leading music producer Stuart Epps (who has worked with
Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Chris Rea, Robbie Williams, Paul Weller, Oasis,
Bill Wyman and many, many more).
Over the past few years, in addition to my solo work, I have worked as a backing vocalist with the vintage blues band Goodmoney (formerly Thunderclap ...remember "Something In The Air"?), and as the female lead in the musical play One Night At The Caravan Club, set in the 1920s, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe and was later booked for performances in London and Dublin. There's more, but you get the idea.
As a performer I have won several awards, including Best Female Vocalist in Jazz on one leading music website, seven months at Number One in Blues on another and Best Electronic Song of 2007 on a third.
I started to coach singers on an occasional basis in the 1980s. I now have a steady roster of students that includes beginners, "improvers" and professional musicians and actors, with ages ranging from fifteen to over seventy, plus a very small number of highly gifted 10-15 year-olds. I also offer songwriting, general musicianship and coaching in acting, public speaking, journalism, broadcasting and podcasting.
From 2002-2003 I was the singing tutor at The Theatre School, based in Wester Hailes, a yearlong weekend workshop project of the Edinburgh Dance Academy, which also included drama and ballet skills for children aged from 3-16. In 2003 I was Musical Director for Les Mélimelodies, an amateur French cabaret show that was performed at L'Institut Français d'Ecosse.
I gear my teaching approach very much to suit the individual student or group. No two lessons are exactly the same ... any more than any two students are. I encourage good practice and listening skills, effective posture, breathing, voice placement and intonation, intelligent interpretation, phrasing and understanding of musical form, plus stagecraft and confidence, background to the material, improvisation and composition work where appropriate, and an overall high level of musicianship.
Above all I aim to help students discover just how much fun it can be to communicate creatively using their own voice, and to give them some of the tools with which to do so.
