VIDLA Principal in Performing Musician Jan ‘10

VIDLA Principal Ria Keen is pleased to have the cover story for Performing Musician’s January issue. Her article is entitled ‘Love Your Voice’ has been very well received and was intended to be the first in a series of six.

Unfortunately, Performing Musician have just announced that the January ‘10 issue will be the last one, due to the effects of the recession, but the company will continue to publish their long-established core magazine, Sound On Sound.

So, grab a slice of history while you still can! Pick up the very last copies of Performing Musician, which will be much missed by those who read it regularly. Content can still be found online in the archives: http://www.performing-musician.com

Study – Managing Your Fears & Expectations

Our Personal Tutors often get feedback from their VIDLA students, telling them that the courses are challenging, demanding, but ultimately fulfilling.

We don’t apologise for the fact that the courses need a high degree of focus and commitment from our students, as we believe that if a qualification is to be worth the paper that it is written on, then it must stretch the student!

The other feedback we get a lot is that students tend to be fearful of handing in their work, believing that it will not be up to standard. This feeling appears to be universal, and does not diminish as much as you might expect, as the course progresses. Each new unit brings new challenges, and new fears of not hitting the mark.

A certain amount of confidence can be gained from just knowing that everyone else feels the same way, but one of the ways that we encourage students to overcome these anxieties is to sign up to the VIDLA Network, where they can talk to other students on the same (or similar) courses, and share ideas and coping mechanisms.

Your Personal Tutor will always be there to offer individual encouragement, and of course our Principal is qualified in self-hypnosis and relaxation techniques, which may be of help to certain students.

Our Executive Team, Ria Keen, Cordelia Lewis, Anne Bradshaw and Alex Weatherhill, are all highly experienced in their fields, and all have tales of self-doubt to tell, if asked. They have all been through the same kinds of pressures felt by VIDLA students, as performers, as educators, and as students themselves. So don’t feel that you’re the only one who has ever suffered with anxiety about whether you’re ‘good enough’ – just speak to one of the team, and chat to your fellow students on the network. You’ll soon realise you’re far from alone!

Regards,

The VIDLA Team

We’ve got a new number!

Just a quick post to let you know that we have recently changed our telephone number and replaced our old ‘24 hour voicemail’ system.

You will now always be able to speak to one of our friendly reception staff Mon – Fri during office hours.

However, as a lot of what we do is rooted in online systems, we still recommend that you contact us by email first!

The new number is 0208 – 938 – 3626

New Article by Dena Murray!

VIDLA’s Patron, author and vocal coach Dena Murray, has been kind enough to write an exclusive article for VIDLA this week.

The article is called ‘Dispelling the Myth – Proper Engagement of the Diaphragm’, and is a tantalising glimpse into the focus of her latest book, which is available to order via Amazon, or via the VIDLA Bookstore

The book is called “Vocal Strength and Power: Boost Your Singing With Proper Technique & Breathing“, and is published by hal Leonard. It is the third of Dena’s books. Her first two: “Vocal Technique” and “Advanced Vocal Technique” (also published by Hal Leonard), are two of VIDLA’s range of Key Texts associated with specific Study Units.

You can find Dena’s new article in full  here.

Dena is unfailing in her support for what we do here at VIDLA, and the whole team would like to thank her for her always-charming manner, her kindness and her expertise.

With warmest wishes,

The VIDLA Team

Who’s in the VIDLA Team?

You may have noticed that a lot of our posts are signed ‘The VIDLA Team’. We sometimes get asked who ‘the team’ comprises, so we thought we’d enlighten you!

VIDLA couldn’t operate without a core team of dedicated, hard working and very professional folks, all fulfilling separate, but vital roles. Every team member is a vital cog in the machine.

The grass-roots people are the office and admin staff who keep VIDLA running on a day-to-day basis, and our Personal Tutors, who work as advisors, guides and mentors to our students, each student being paired up with a specific tutor who stays with them for the duration of each course. All of our PTs are highly qualified and have extensive industry experience.

But the people who lead and develop the VIDLA curriculum and services are the Executive Team (who also work as Personal Tutors so that they are in touch with students at ‘grass roots level’).

It starts with VIDLA Principal Ria Keen (PhD, MFA, B.Phil Hons, Cert.Ed, F.WGMSC), who has been teaching contemporary vocals for 25 years, and who has worked as a professional singer and arranger for even longer than that, performing as she says, ‘everywhere from the local pub to Blenheim Palace and The London Palladium’. Ria is absolutely passionate about the teaching of good technique, and believes in heralding the work of a wide range of vocal teachers and pedagogies.

The VIDLA ethos is to respect the work of fine vocal pedagogues and researchers worldwide, and to expose our students to as much great research as possible. As Principal, Ria drives and oversees the educational content of VIDLA, and writes a great many academic papers which accompany the learning Units, in support of the ’set books’ which our students study.

Ria’s first book (one of a series of three) is due out next March. In addition to her work as VIDLA Principal, she also maintains a private teaching practise in Worcester, UK, and lectures on a freelance basis at drama and music schools. She has written many articles, which have been published in newpapers, magazines and of course online.

Working closely alongside Ria are three Vice Principals, each of whom is an experienced and exemplary professional in their own right, and each of whom heads up a different department of the Academy.

Cordelia Lewis (BA, Prof.Dip, Cert.TeachingVIDLA) is a rock vocals specialist with extensive industry experience in recording and touring. She also runs her own private teaching studio in Worcester, specialising in rock and alternative vocals.

Alex Weatherhill is a West End veteran and reknowned Musical Director who has appeared in Chicago, Fiddler on the Roof, The Pirates of Penzance and a host of others shows, as well as composing original music for fringe theatre productions and working extensively as a Musical Director for several highly-acclaimed productions in 2009. He is much sought-after as a private voice coach and workshop presenter, and has specialist knowledge of Musical Theatre, Opera and the Counter-Tenor voice.

Cordelia and Alex are heading up and developing the VIDLA Workshops programme for 2010, and have a great many very exciting plans up their sleeves!

Anne Bradshaw (B.Sc Hons, Dip.Ed, DipVIDLA), is a healthcare, vocal healing and education expert who also holds a Diploma in Contemporary Vocals. Anne is heading up one of VIDLA’s biggest projects, which is set to be launched in September 2010. We can’t yet tell you what that’s going to be, but it’s a genuinely exciting prospect!

So there you have it – The VIDLA Team, and every single person, from the ‘backroom boys’ to the Principal, is dedicated to the VIDLA Mission:

 

“To enable, empower and educate a new breed of vocal coaches, and to bring new quality standards to contemporary vocal training’.

 

VIDLA – Attracting Top-Quality Students Worldwide

At VIDLA, we offer courses for everyone, starting with the Certificate in Contemporary Vocal Teaching, up to the Higher Diploma. We therefore expect to attract a wide range of students, from beginners to very experienced practitioners.

We are always delighted with the standard of students who sign up to VIDLA’s Distance-Learning courses. People from extraordinary industry backgrounds are attracted to our courses – singers with international recording / songwriting / performing pedigrees; teachers who have been working in vocal coaching for years, but who lack a formal qualification; practitioners with Master’s Degrees in Performance, who now want to move into teaching, sharing their accumulated knowledge with their own students.

And what if you’re a complete beginner? Well, we require all students to have a background in singing / performing, but our Certificate course is perfect for those who have perhaps just a few years of singing experience, but no teaching experience. Each student is assigned a Personal Tutor, who is on hand to guide and advise throughout any given course. As we only  employ highly experienced, well-qualified  coaches to be Personal Tutors, each student is assured the support of a top professional during their studies.

Best of all, having started (or completed) a course, the feedback that we get always tells us that the courses are worthwhile, challenging and cost effective, and that the individual support of a Personal Tutor is worth its weight in gold.

We try extremely hard to provide a high standard of educational content for our students, covering a broad range of pedagogies. In doing so, we promote the work of some of the world’s top writers, coaches and pedagogues, and are pleased to do so. We also provide our students with our own specialist in-house research papers; after all, our team comprises highly-educated pedagogues with a great deal to offer the industry at large.

As we approach the Christmas season and start to take stock of the year, we would like once again to offer or congratulations to everyone who has completed a VIDLA course this year. Happily, all of our graduating students are now successfully running their own vocal coaching studios. Well done to you all!

 

Which vocal system is best?

Singers and trainee teachers often ask which ’system’ they should be studying in order to be the best possible singer or singing teacher that they can be.

At VIDLA, we believe that all of the well-known systems have a great deal to offer, along with many of the smaller ones. Speech Level Singing, Estill, Jeannie Deva’s ‘Contemporary Vocalist’ course, Brett Manning’s ‘Singing Success’ (which is firmly rooted in SLS), all have much to teach us, along with the individual pedagogies of great teachers such as Dena Murray, Joan Melton, Meribeth Dayme Bunch, et al.

The VIDLA ethos is that singing and teaching students should be exposed to a wide range of pedagogical approaches, so that they can approach their art, or the teaching of their students, from the most viable perspective at any given moment. This is why we include units which allow research into so many vocal perspectives; quite simply, what works for one student may not work for another.

Thus it is that we never say ‘Estillian concepts are better than SLS’ or ‘this teacher’s approach is superior to that teacher’s approach’. Singing and the teaching of singing is not a ‘one size fits all’ arena, and we firmly believe that all experienced and well-educated singing teachers will have something to offer – and that it behoves us all to stay in touch with current ideas and research, as well as retaining the best of the traditional approaches.

As an Academy which specialises in training singing teachers, we take pride in promoting the work of a wide range of important vocal pedagogues, and hope that our students will draw from this the ability to draw on exactly the ‘right’ technique needed at the opportune moment.

Goal Setting

We came across a great article about what it takes to be a successful person, and thought you might enjoy it. It’s relevant to all of our students, staff, vocal coaches everywhere, singers, dancers, actors, musicians and indeed anyone who is wanting to make a success of themselves, their lives and their careers.The article is written by Brian Tracey, author of The Psychology of Achievement – and can be accessed via the ‘articles’ tab above

New Executive Appointment at VIDLA

The VIDLA Executive Team is delighted to announce that, as at January 2010, we will be joined by West End veteran, arranger, musical director and vocal coach Alex Weatherhill.

Alex has appeared in, or acted as MD / arranger for a string of successful productions, including a 14-month run in a principal role in Chicago in London’s West End, followed by a national tour of Fiddler on the Roof, and such varied projects as HMS Pinafore (the all-male version, in which he played three roles and drew universal acclaim), Rent, Mack and Mabel, and many, many more.

Alex will be working as a Personal Tutor for VIDLA, as all executive staff do, but additionally will be heading up the development of VIDLA Workshops and other exciting projects in the North East of England in 2010. (We can’t say too much about those other ‘exciting projects just yet’, but we’ll let you know as soon as we can)!

Alex is a long-term friend and colleague of VIDLA Principal Dr. Ria Keen. They have appeared together on stages across the world, and often collaborated in offstage music projects.

We are absolutely thrilled to have him join us here at VIDLA.

New Article by Dena Murray

Just to let you all know, there’s a new article by our lovely Patron, Dena Murray, on the ‘articles’ page (see the tab at the top of the page).

It’s well worth a read, as it discusses her journey from opera singer to contemporary vocalist. We recommend you check it out. Happy reading!     The VIDLA Team