In between cooking 3 meals a day, trying to actually teach something to my 3 year old, somehow enjoy time with the little one, and holding the line against chaos in the house, I like to work out my voice with the Singing Success program. I bought SS360 a long time ago, and loved it, but when I found out they had a VIP program with access to all the programs, their coaches, a Facebook group with warm ups, Q and As, plus professional constructive criticism for your personal songs that you share and ask about, I flipped out and signed up! The programs are sometimes updated with videos and other things, and as a VIP member you get to join in on challenge courses for free.

I think my favorite part about it is even if I'm too busy to get on Facebook and avail myself of the absolute goldmine of information and support therein (I don't trust FB especially on my phone with my contacts, so I only go there on my desktop) the VIP membership gives me streaming access to all and future Singing Success programs! So I got to use the new Range Builder program as soon as it was released at no extra charge!

Still, all the working out  and learning I've done with the programs has not equaled the growth I got from booking a lesson package with Madison. It kept me accountable and focused, and the magic she did to my voice made everything easy. As soon as I can I hope to take lessons again. I have an unfortunate lack of time and money at the moment, but I got to download our lessons, so I can replay them and try to find the magic again.

I've used Singing Success for years; I had a couple of in person voice lessons at my church, and though the teachers had excellent ears and could judge what my voice needed, they didn't seem to know how to get me there. They said I had a good voice and surprising agility. I knew it was from the Singing Success program I did in the car every chance I got.

I sang as a little kid but got scared of singing for many years. I wasn't in choir in high school or church. I didn't figure out I liked singing until I had to learn to sight sing as a Music major in college. Then I joined all the choirs I could. As a student I was super broke so one on one lessons with local teachers were out. Someone online suggested Singing Success and I found their original program. I was hooked! There are years' worth of vocal tips and tricks on their Youtube channel for free too.  I gleaned as much as I could from them. When SS360 was released, I bought it as soon as I could! When the VIP program began I jumped on as soon as I could! 

I regret not stretching back then and spending the $ to take actual SS coach lessons sooner- it really lifted the veil on some things that despite my best efforts kept eluding me and holding me back. You can get very far with the exercises alone, but without a teacher's trained ears and then without a renowned method like Singing Success to guide you to the right path, you're shooting arrows in the dark. 

I can't recommend them enough; I went insane and spent  a chunk of our savings going to two of their retreats in 2019 to meet my hero, Brett Manning in person; family in tow. You kind of get to know him through the program; he's even more awesome in real life. What a great, kind, and generous guy! He's smart and quirky too with all sorts of stories to tell that you think can't possibly be related to the topic at hand, but always are. The retreats were a big inspiration and I learned that I have my own music in my soul that is ready to come out if I let it. Anyway, check it out! The program might change your life like it did mine.

Best of luck to you!

Researching companies that distribute music. A lot to consider! 

https://www.omarimc.com/an-honest-review-distrokid-vs-cd-baby-vs-tunecore-vs-awal-vs-ditto/

https://musicdistribution.guru/


Also, how do people make records (lp's) these days anyway?? Looks like there are actually a ton of companies doing it. A bit more digging is required to choose one. 

https://www.furnacemfg.com/how-to-make-vinyl-record/

https://www.vinyl-pressing.com/
https://americanvinylco.com/
https://intheclouds.io/collections/make-your-own-custom-vinyl-records
https://www.discmakers.com/products/vinyl.asp

A second child and a lockdown later...

Hello again everyone! I taught Vacation Bible School music this summer and got some much needed exercise. Trying to get back into the swing of things now that lockdowns and mask junk is over here. I survived by singing karaoke on  Smule and got some pro vocal coach skype lessons from Madison Sariah from Singing Success. I totally feel the difference! I have much more to learn, but I think I'm on a better track now. Looking forward to posting more.

So Singing Success VIP community is having a 21 day quarantine challenge. I am catching up on some of the assignments. I just thought i'd share this exercise, where we had to practice pentatonic scales and some runs from the Style segment of the program and apply them to a few bars of a song. Here is my attempt.

So I joined Smule and have started singing there. Trouble is, when I joined is when all the respiratory stuff started up and got me down. Out of determination I recorded some not very good songs before I knew i'd get really bad from my voice. So there's a few things up there. I figured that singing with Smule is probably the easiest way to start recording music and sharing it. My personal projects ground to a halt when we were trying to sell our old ranch and figure out what to do with our herd of mini cows. All that is finally resolved now, and it's been forever since I recorded or made any videos. Now this pandemic thing. Well, if my husband ever gets to stay home, I plan to get a lot of the stuff I started done and shared!

I homeschool my 2 year old in the Montessori style, thanks to this awesome Youtube channel called Hapa Family. This video really inspired me back when he was going on a year (he's a little over 2 now) and these activities and mindset have helped me a whole lot. So it's hard to have energy for singing at the end of the day, but i have the will and heart for it! See you all soon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIf1qiLV7bk