Kathleen Connell

Do you have grand singing goals for this year? While strategies like SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound) help guide and track your singing goals, it’s the tiny, incremental actions that get you there. For beginner and experienced singers, vocal training sometimes involves the intricate learning and practice of skills, […]

If you’re new to singing, or have some experience and want to take it further, it’s important to choose a singing teacher with enough experience to get you where you want to go. Working with a singing teacher, you’re also building a relationship, so you need someone who you get […]

As a new year begins, many singers are reflecting on where they’ve been and where they’d love their voice to take them next. If you’re setting your singing goals for 2026, I’d like to share some inspiration from the past year, highlighting the blog posts and studio tips that resonated […]

Celebrating your achievements is an important part of your development as a singer and performer. That’s why I recommend that studio singers reflect on their year, on the wins, the goals reached, and the ‘lightbulb’ learning moments, for incentive to continue improving. For the studio, 2025 was a year of […]

Singing in performance often requires acting skills, which might be unfamiliar to some singers. So, we recently held a Storytelling through song group workshop, where singers received targeted acting direction to help them bring more life, emotion and connection to their performance. Five students brought one song to work on […]

Wherever you’re at in your singing training, the foundations of posture, breathing and articulation are something you’re always working on. This is because your body’s alignment is closely linked to singing ease, balanced breathing, and the complex use of the tongue. Without this balance, one part will be more dominant […]

Performance anxiety can be overwhelming for some singers, especially those new to singing in public. You might sound great during a singing lesson or in practice, but on the day of a concert, gig or audition, your nerves and anxiety can stifle your sound and your confidence. While positive thinking […]

Colder months (here in the Southern Hemisphere), and the mid-year slump, can impact a singer’s motivation to keep their singing practice going. That’s on top of other common challenges for singers wanting to establish regular practice: you often practise alone, you may doubt your ability and give in to procrastination […]

Our annual studio concert showcased many months of work by our singers. While song choice is important, gaining the confidence to perform with secure vocal technique and tell a story for the audience, helps singers build their knowledge of poetry or storyline, work on character, and choose courageous phrasing and […]

Think about your favourite singers. How did you discover them, and what do you admire about them? Do they blend their head voice well with middle and chest? Do you admire their vocal flexibility or colour? Is their emotional connection to a song something you’d like to emulate? Do they […]

One of the best ways to develop your singing is by getting feedback from other singers, in a non-competitive, intimate, constructive environment. Whenever I’ve run singing workshops, I’ve found singers freely talk about their challenges and fears, while other singers make suggestions on how they solved a similar problem, or […]

As much as you might love belting Beyoncé songs, you can’t expect to nail them on first go. It’s a bit like thinking you can take on Tiger Woods after a couple of golf lessons. What I mean is there’s so much work in making singing seem effortless! Of course, […]

Some beginning singers think that copying the style of their favourite music artist will help them sing better. And some singing teachers are fixed to the idea that there is only one correct way to teach singing. But singing training isn’t one-size-fits-all. When learning a new voice skill, what works […]

Your vocal tract is the main player in making sound. Correct posture and breathing are also necessary, but it’s the anatomical elements from your larynx to your lips that shape the sound you want to create. And because there are many moving parts, I think it’s helpful to look more […]

If you’re planning your singing goals for 2025, I thought I might offer some inspiration, with an overview of our most popular singing blog posts and tips from 2024. Best blogs in 2024 Most Popular: August Performance firsts: 3 studio singers rise to the challenge This blog had the most […]

In 2024, the studio and our singers achieved much success. Most regular singers returned to lessons and we welcomed many new singers. This year, I’ve had the pleasure of working with singers who have sung in choirs and bands, those who are passionate about taking their singing capabilities further and […]

I have previously written about the importance of a relaxed jaw in singing. So much of a singer’s clear resonance and articulation hinge on a freely moving jaw. Any tightness in the jaw muscle, tongue root and pharynx (back of the mouth) can pull the soft palate down, resulting in […]

In my commitment to coaching singers in safe, evidence-based voice technique, last year I introduced Accent Method Breathing (AMB) in our lessons. Most instruction on better breathing techniques for singers can be too broad, not properly explaining the specific process of breath coordination. With AMB, your in-breath ‘drops’ deeper into […]

When I recently advised one of my singers to listen less to their voice as they practice, and learn to trust the feeling of their singing technique, they asked what I mean. So, I thought I’d share my explanation. As singers, we want to sound good, to be in tune. […]

June and July saw a few firsts for our studio singers. At our concert, singers Aleks and Celeste made their performance debuts. Another singer, Anne, gave her first recital at a Sydney city church. Part of growing as a singer is daring to step out of your comfort zone by […]

Before last month’s studio concert commenced, our singers participated in a group warm-up, which helped them release more nerves, prepare their voices for their individual performances, and feel supported by their fellow singers. Vocal warm-ups are essential before any singing, whether it’s practice, performing, or after a cold or other […]

The title for this year’s upcoming studio concert, To Fancy, is inspired by the John Keats poem, Fancy, and the song ‘To Fancy’, by Australian composer Colin Brumby – which will be sung by Alex Malubag. With ten singers and 19 songs, our program this year is a diverse mix of […]

Resonance is essential for singing that people – including yourself – love listening to. Beginner singers can find resonance confronting though, as they get used to the idea of being loud and being heard. When I ask singers to make a ‘resonant sound’, they can be perplexed by the term; […]

Singing in performance is a completely different experience to singing when you practise.  Nerves, the environment, acoustics and other variables can get in the way. In fact, when you perform, it’s thought you lose 20% of the skill, zing and focus you have when practising. So, using a studio singer’s […]

Consonants in singing can be tricky, but learning how to position them is necessary for clear and precise singing. While much emphasis is placed on sounding vowels in singing, consonants shape the words you sing so they are understood. This is part 1 of two blogs exploring consonants. Why it’s […]