Don’t just sing.
Be magnificent.
THE MAGNIFICENT SINGER.
For those who suspect their singing has a more interesting future.
Sing with style. Turn ideas into songs, performances and projects.
Central London · Online
✦ Make it magnificent.
Singing can feel complicated to figure out, but life experience gives us an advantage. We have taste, emotional range, an opinion or seven — and most likely a few scars gathered along the way.
All this is incredible for singing. Used well, it can be the difference between ‘nice’ singing and making the room go quiet when you start.
So take heart if you are coming to singing later in life. Your life experience is a powerful asset and you are not starting from the beginning.
And if your singing is more established but now you feel strangely lost, this may be the missing link you’re searching for. You’ve changed, and your singing hasn’t.
Love Singing?
Do the singing you love.
In the way you love.
And make people glad you decided to sing.
✦ What’s holding your singing up?
Your voice can’t yet do everything you want it to.
You have plenty on the go, but none of it excites you.
It's only the shower that hears you sing.
You think you’ve left it too late.
You have ideas, but nothing to show for them.
You're waiting until you're "ready".
You’re too established to risk moving in a new direction.
You have absolutely no idea what you want to do next.
The singer’s journey has more than one high point.
Performance and attention are real pleasures. They are not the only rewards of singing.
Some singers particularly love the learning and the craft.
Some love experimenting, imagining and dreaming up ideas.
Some love making recordings, arrangements, shows and other things that did not exist before.
Some come alive in front of an audience.
Some love what happens when they sing with other people.
Most of us move between them. And it is perfectly possible to enjoy one part of the journey more than another.
None of these is the final summit.
But every part develops something useful.
Experimentation keeps you from committing too early to the wrong idea.
Curation helps you choose your own projects instead of spending your life realising everyone else’s.
Craft brings depth.
Experience gives the work something to draw upon.
Visibility opens possibilities, connections and opportunities — for you and sometimes for other people too.
Purpose gives all that attention somewhere worthwhile to go.
You don’t need the whole singing school
Progress often stalls because people keep adding more of the thing they already know how to do.More scales. More lessons. More songs. More notes in a folder called “ideas.” Meanwhile, the actual missing piece is elsewhere.
You may have a strong voice, but no clear direction.
A head full of songs you’d love to sing, but not yet the technique to pull them off.
Plenty of vocal ability, but performances where the audience switches off.
An established vocal style, but nothing particularly meaningful to do with it.
A project you’re excited by, but no idea how to pull it together.
Technique, style, direction and musicianship do not live in separate little boxes. Annoyingly, they all affect one another.
And although a secure vocal technique is a marvellous thing — more freedom, more choice and far fewer moments of wondering whether that note has personally declared war on you — a great technique won’t choose the song. It won’t make the song yours. And it definitely won’t decide what you are doing with your singing next.
You don’t need to master every aspect of singing. Nobody does. But unless the shower is your intended audience for the next ten years, it’s a good idea to find your version of magnificent singing: often a combination of skill, taste, imagination and a point of view.
And then singing begins to give something back. Songs you’re happy with. People who know you as ‘that singer’. Like-minded collaborators. Invitations you didn’t expect. Experiences you would never otherwise have had. Perhaps even money and recognition. The Magnificent Singer helps you work out what is already strong, what is actually missing and what would make the biggest difference now.
Four ways The Magnificent Singer helps
✦ TECHNIQUE.
Sound like you, only better. Identikit singing is not the aim. Get the vocal control to bring out more of your voice — so you can confidently sing the songs you love.
✦ STYLE
Make people believe you when you sing. Why blend in? Find the phrasing, sound and performance charisma that make a song feel unmistakably yours.
✦ DIRECTION
A good voice is not a plan. Answer the maddening question: what should I actually do with my singing?
✦ PIANO
Put your singing in the driver’s seat. Move beyond a few random chords and pieces. Perform, write, arrange and direct rehearsals without always needing back-up.
“I started out as someone who had a desire to sing but was too painfully nervous to ever perform with confidence as myself in front of a crowd. I couldn’t be further from that now, planning my own Sassy, Swinging Jazz, Cabaret Show. I now not only look forward to performing on stage but also as someone who can turn up with confidence at a last minute gig having never rehearsed with the band!”
✦ Where singing could take you
Your imagination could take your singing somewhere magnificent, if you let it.
A late-night jazz trio inspired by 1960s spy cinema. Original songs for guitar, stompbox and voice, filmed live. A ’70s Californian soul-and-strings EP. Choral for Care — a chorus of dog devotees singing for the local community with guide dogs to sponsor. An invitation-only ’80s rock soirée for grand piano and voice.
Your plans may be modest or world-conqueringly ambitious. Either way, it all begins with one good idea. Start your art.
“I don’t know where I’m going from here — but I promise it won’t be boring.”
— DAVID BOWIE
✦ Design your
singing future
There’s no one way to be a singer. Easy to say. Slightly trickier when trying to figure it out. The Magnificent Singer Map helps you find your version, rather than borrowing everyone else’s.
Singing is not just about singing.
A voice matters. But so do the songs you choose, the way you phrase them, the sounds you build around them, the people you work with and the places you choose to put the music.
Singing involves technique, certainly. It also involves taste, personality, emotional meaning, imagination, collaboration, musical judgement and the nerve to make bold choices.
A secure vocal technique is a marvellous thing — more freedom, more choice and far fewer moments of wondering whether that note has personally declared war on you.
But technique is not the only form of artistic currency.
It won’t choose the song. It won’t make the song yours. And it definitely won’t decide what you are doing with your singing next.
Where The Magnificent Singer comes from
I grew up around choral music, reluctantly sawed my way through several cello exams, then made a last-minute swerve onto bass guitar to study jazz at music college.
It took me years to move from the formality of classical music into the creative freedom of pop, soul, funk, jazz and Latin music. Gradually, the different parts came together, and I now sing and play piano professionally.
Alongside performing, I’ve spent more than twenty five years teaching singers. The Magnificent Singer grew from the belief that singing becomes far more interesting when technique, musicianship, individuality and artistic curiosity develop together.
— Elizabeth, Founder of The Magnificent Singer
Former Head of Vocals at the London College of Creative Music. Former Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster. Fifteen years teaching singing at BRIT Kids, including one year as Acting Director. First-class Graduate Diploma in Jazz, Leeds College of Music. Postgraduate jazz study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Currently in London
Piano for Singers
Get beyond “I can play a few chords”.
2 singers · 2 pianos · 90 minutes · Central London
✦CHOOSE YOUR NEXT MOVE
✦CHOOSE YOUR NEXT MOVE
1. Take the Scorecard
Singing isn’t one-size-fits-all. Take SING from The Magnificent Singer. 10 questions to help you figure out where your singing wants to go next.
Free · 10 questions · About 5 minutes.
2. Book a
Singing 1:1
Connect your voice with the music you want to sing. Work on technique, style and song to sing with more control, colour and conviction — without being pushed through an identikit singing programme.
London · Online
3. Join The Magnifier
It’s easy to get into a muddle with singing. Sometimes we just need that one tiny idea to get motivated again. Join The Magnifier for useful reframes, interesting singers, better ideas and intriguing possibilities for where your singing could take you.