Singer Stories: Pam Bourke says "Have a go and don't waste your life in fear." Hear about her journey back to singing.

Jazz Singer and Fearless Singer Student Pam Bourke

Oh G’day Dear Reader!

I hope iso-life is treating you well and this post finds you in good spirits.
 
And if hasn’t, then I hope this interview I did with one of my dearest singing students and good friend Pam Bourke, brings you some comfort and inspiration.
 
I caught up with Pam (over Zoom) to talk about her singing journey, which started when she was a little girl, was put on hold for 20 odd years, and then reignited later in her life.
 
Pam now gigs around West End here in Brisbane and has the kind of voice that gives you goose bumps.
 
This is jam-packed full of heartfelt wisdom, courtesy of Pam. Get yourself a cup of tea (and/or vino), relax and enjoy our first edition of Singer Stories

Keep an eye out for another post later this week. I’ve gone and made a whole bunch of new singing exercises for you!
 
Lots of love
Mel X

 P.S. I’m back in the studio doing one-on-one teaching on 18 May! In the meantime, you can have online lessons over Zoom. As long as your Internet is reasonable, this is a great option until we meet again in the flesh. When you book, a zoom link is generated for you. 

My Top Three Essential Apps for Singers

There are so many brilliant apps on the market now for beginner to experienced singers. Life changing ones in fact,.

Here are three that I cannot do without. I also need to add here that I am no way affiliated with the following.

1. iReal Pro $19.99

This will provide you with backing tracks to 1000s of jazz and pop standards. Not only that you can adjust them to your key and change the time feel of each track. You can even create your own charts and play it back to yourself. Trust me, it will be the best $20 you have ever spent!

2. Avid Scorch $1.99

Avid Scorch seems to be only available for iPad, which is a bit of a bummer. But basically it’s like a digital music folder that holds your Sibelius charts. If you have lesson with me, you know that I have all my jazz charts saved as Sibelius files. Not only will Avid Scorch allow you to view these but can also change the key of your songs, use the playback function to listen to the melody as well as print your charts.

Here’s a video I made for my online jazz course students on how to get started with iReal Pro and Avid Scorch.

3. Amazing Slow Downer (IOS/android/desktop: starting from $22.99)

The Amazing Slow Downer (ASD) is like what its name suggests, bloody amazing! You can use this app to transpose your backing tracks into your key. You can purchase backing tracks from iTunes and then upload the mp3 to the ASD and alter the pitch. You can even slow it down or make it faster.

Here’s a video demonstrating how to download and use the Amazing Slow Downer App. I made this for the students of my online jazz course.

As always, if you have any questions about the apps, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Feel free to leave your question in the comments.

Let me know how you go with these!

Five Tips on How to Overcome Procrastination and Stick to Your Singing Practice | EFT Tapping

Oh G’day
 
A question for you - did you sing this week?
 
Even if you sang in the car or in the shower or with your mates at karaoke, this makes me so happy!
 
It makes me happy to know that despite whatever may be going on in your life right now, you allowed yourself to feel joy and/or relief for those times that you were singing this week.
 
This is what singing gives us - an opportunity to connect to ourselves and to the present moment. Singing can teach us what happiness really is.
 
In this week’s episode of #FearlessTV, I give you my top Five Tips to Stop Procrastinating and Start your Singing Practice as well as an EFT Tapping session to help you commit to a daily routine.
 
If you grew up taking piano or singing lessons, chances are you have a negative connotation of the word 'practice'. It was drilled into us by our teachers – “practice makes perfect”. I don’t know about you, but I would often turn up to my singing lessons feeling super guilty because I had done next to no practice because a) I wasn’t quite sure how or what to practice or b) I would procrastinate and not get around to doing it.
 
This episode will help you redefine practice and give you some very practical tips on how to get started and how to structure a singing practice session. 
 
There is also a bonus EFT tapping session at the end. If you do this every day for the next week, I guarantee you that any blocks that you may have had about practicing will be gone.
 

This week's episode: <<Link in the picture>>

Anyhow let me know how you go by leaving me a comment.
 
Love
Mel
 
P.S. Could you please do me a favour? If you haven’t already, could you please subscribe to my YouTube channel. If I get 100 subscribers, YouTube will give me my own personalised URL, which will make it easier to get my channel out there to more viewers to help spread this Singing Positivity Movement.  
 
P.S.S The next video in my Beginner Singer’s Course will be in the Student Portal later tonight. You get access to this when you book in for your first singing lesson with me.

P.S.S. S Are you on instagram? I share a lot (perhaps too much) over there on subjects such as singing, creating, business and my air fryer cooking. Come on over! https://www.instagram.com/mellathouras/

Transform your Singing with Commitment and Consistency

In this episode of Fearless TV, I share with you the magical power of combining commitment and consistency.
 
I have to be honest, it’s something that I have only started practicing later in life. Better late than never! Perhaps it’s because I am driven more so than ever by my ‘why’.
 
We all have different reasons for why we want to achieve a goal but, in this episode, I share the importance of identifying and connecting to your why as well as how you want to feel as a result of achieving it.
 
Personally, I’m motivated by a desire to reach as many people as possible with the message that anyone can sing, and we MUST sing.
 
Honestly, singing is one of the most powerful tools of self-healing and transformation that we have and yet for a lot us, we are too scared to do it, especially in front of other people.
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I genuinely believe that I’ve been put on this planet to remind people of how bloody brilliant they are and also how singing can be a vehicle to make us feel good and to live in a heart centred space.
 
That’s my why for my goal, which is to build a Fearless Singer community of like-minded people who will support each other in reaching their singing/performance/creative goals.
 
Therefore, I take consistent action with posting these videos and providing content that will genuinely be of service.  
 

This week's episode: Transform your Singing with Commitment and Consistency

Oh! I should mention that I will be going full steam ahead with these vlogs. They’re challenging work but ultimately, I LOVE making them for you. Feel free to subscribe to the Fearless Singer channel and share the love with your friends and family.
 
Also - don’t forget to tell me your goal in the comments! I would love to show you my support.
 
I hope you have the best week!

P.S. The next video in my Beginner Singer’s Course will be in the Student Portal later tonight. You get access to this when you book in for your first singing lesson with me.

P.S.S. Are you on instagram? I share a lot (perhaps too much) over there on subjects such as singing, creating, business and my air fryer cooking. Come on over! https://www.instagram.com/mellathouras/