Vocal Care Workshop: Preparing for Auditions

I had the pleasure of helping out Iris Koh in the latest series of her Vocal Care Workshop, held at the grooming studio In Queenz by Genecia Luo. This latest edition is entitled Preparing for Auditions, and is tailored for teenage students who hope for a career basking in the limelight of stardom. Through our session, the students learnt the process of taking care of their voices, especially throughout the stressful process of auditioning. I got to share my own thoughts on this arduous process and life as a full-time performing student, I hope they found what I've shared useful in building up their experience.

Iris also shared a few vocal exercises, which predictably was one of the highlights of the event. With enough practice, these exercises can help to strengthen breath control, coax the voice into its proper resonating chambers, and encourage smooth, even airflow throughout their singing. Of course one class does not a star singer make, but hopefully these students have an idea of the kind of work that lies ahead should they seriously consider a career as a performer.

The most profound part of the evening came unexpectedly when a student was asked, "why do you want to be a performer" and she innocently replied, "to fulfill my dreams". This led Iris to an impromtu heartfelt discussion about what 'dreams' really mean. Why do we want to perform? For fame and fortune? For attention? Or is there something inside us that we want to express? Is it because we want to make music with a big group of people? Or that we want acknowledgement for something that we thought we can do really well? Iris told us that it is good to have dreams as we need to have goals to make our lives meaningful, but big dreams often come with a price. She brought up the story of Madonna, who at 20 dropped out of college and  left her hometown of Michigan for the bright lights of New York City, trying first to become a modern dancer and then a pop singer, often getting by by rumaging through garbage cans for leftover food, then throwing the meat away because she was also a strict vegetarian. "That was how much she wanted to be a star", Iris said, reminding us that her status as one of the most successful pop singers alive did not come by accident. It was serious food for thought, which the students and myself took quite a while to digest.

Overall this class was really fun and a pleasure to attend. I hope Iris gets more opportunities to showcase her talents in this area and that the Vocal Care Workshop can be brought to many more places, so that many more others can benefit from it.

Singers Club All Girls at TEDx Singapore

It was heartening to see our Singers Club All Girls team make it to the prestigious TEDx Conference with their song Shoes. Workshopped by Iris and the girls, the song consists of anecdotes from each and every girl, telling stories of how their shoes have accompanied them throughout numerous journeys in life. Its touching and heartfelt to see the inner souls of these people, and I'm reminded again at how music can be used for therapeutic purposes and inspire others. Congratulations girls for a job well done, we look forward to your next adventures!

Here's a behind the scenes look at what happened backstage just before the girls went on:

Caring For Your Voice Workshop

24 Aug 2011
Written by Steven Ang

I had such a blast presenting our Caring for your Voice Workshop for Northview Secondary School. Presented under the banner of Athenarts Singers’ Club, the project was initiated when we got a call from Alen, a teacher of the school, who asked us to do a talk on this subject as the teachers are having a difficult time coping with the large amounts of talking they have to do on a daily basis. In addition to longer teaching hours, a condo construction next door and their managing their restless students have created a distressing environment which caused long-term strain for their voices.

As we have done similar workshops before, the challenge now is to expand what we already have into two three-hour sessions, adding more information and removing extraneous ones to make this event more action-packed. It took a long time to comb through the wealth of materials available online and off, arranging PowerPoint slides and fussing over every single detail, but eventually we did it.

Our starting point for the talk was a survey that was sent to the teachers a few weeks before. Over the National Day holidays, they were invited to share with us the problems they faced with using their voices, by answering about 20 short questions. After tallying their answers, we analysed the problems and came up with the main structure of our talk. In addition, we spent a day just hanging out in the school, observing various spots with a decibel metre to further understand the situation.

The solutions we provided are holistic-based and split into three levels: psychological, environmental and physical. We discussed the problems they faced, explained the anatomical structure of the throat, taught some simple vocal exercises, and provided some information on what you can do to keep your general health levels up; after all, vocal health is closely linked to your general health, and one cannot exist without the other.

Iris was not only a great teacher but also a wonderful host, keeping the energy levels of 70 tired teachers high as we played games, performed exercises, answered questions and received prizes. Three hours flew by in a whizz. We hope that all the hard work we have put in has ultimately communicated important knowledge of what our voices are like and how to better take care of it.

Despite having just wrapped up a long day of teaching, the teachers took it well in their stride, and were quite entertained by our presentations, especially the vocal exercises that had them stretching, doing lip trills and feeling up their own bodies to find out where the diaphragm is. We also handed out products that are helpful to them, such as breath sprays and a health drink called Activ8. At the end of the first session, they feel that they learnt a lot about their voices and how to take care of it. The only thing that they wanted more of is more vocal exercises, but that was easily taken care of in the follow-up session!

Join Us And Be Part Of The Youth Olympics

Iris Koh is gathering a team of performers to perform in the Youth Olympics.

The discussion is still going on with the organizing committee of the Youth Olympics. No official word has been given on whether Iris Koh's team is to be involved.

Iris Koh has formed the Athenarts Singing Club to aim for performing in the Youth Olympics. What is a more apt event to give value to youths than this?

The values of the Athenarts Singing Club are as follows;

1. Cultivating teamwork in youths.

2. Building of community spirit in youths.

3. Potentially be a part of one of the biggest events in Singapore!

4. Create memories that stay with youths for the rest of their lives.

5. Character building!

Join the Athenarts Singing Club's facebook group to be part of history!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48657754643

Iris Koh's Work

Group photograph in President's Challenge 2006's Launch. She was the Artistic Director of the whole launch. Event Organizer is Rosemary Chng & Music for Good. Photographer is Adam Latip.

President Challenge 2006 Launch : Cheerleading team from RGS.

President Challenge 2006 Launch : Another group photograph with the President & the West Grove Primary School.

President's Challenge 2006 : Personal photograph with the President

President Challenge 2007 Launch : Group Photograph with the President. She is the Musical Director of this segment. Les Merquita is the Choreographer of the event. Photographer is Chan Bin Kan.

President Challenge 2007 Launch : Singing group coached by Iris Koh

President Challenge 2007 Launch : Being recognized for her contribution to the launch. She was awarded in the Istana by the President

Esplanade Performance : She was the choir instructor of the CHIJ Choir. They performed in the Esplanade

Esplanade Performance : Iris Koh conducting the Choir

Esplanade Performance : Iris Koh conducting the Choir

School House Rockz : School House Rockz is a Kids Central's kids musical. Ms Iris Koh served as the Musical Director in the whole show. Choreographer is Trevelyn Neo

School House Rockz : Coaching Sebastian's singing. Sebastian acts as Inka's father in the show.

Sound of Music : Iris Koh's team was the winner of the Sound of Music competition 2005.