How I learned to sing

I didn't know much about singing technique until high school, but I was hardly as into it as some of the other people in the choirs. My brother took singing lessons, so we'd all discuss that stuff when we were at home. At uni, I didn't take any singing lessons, but I set myself challenges. I'd learn songs, and sing earworms and all that stuff that singers do. Then we wrote Portrait of a Knight and met some good singers. Phillip's a choral tenor with lots of skills: perfect pitch, percussionist's rhythm. Barbara's versatile, but I was also reading vocal coaches and things online. When I was driving to teach guitar, that gave me like half an hour or forty minutes in which to try tricky things like the opera melodies (acapella). No, I'm not demonstrating all the songs. Stop asking. Challenge yourselves to inhabit these characters. That's the point of the workshop. The point isn't 'oh, isn't Amanda versatile?' it's 'let's stage this opera!' - The Whakamana gig proves point 1. - If you've got good pitch sense, then it's about control. It helps to set challenges.