Here’s a special  New Year video message for you:

And even if you are not a member of The Singing Zone… to ALL students. customers, clients and subscribers to my newsletter:  I wish you a wonderful finale to this year, and an exciting 2012 filled with opportunities to learn, grow and prosper.

Best,

Per Bristow

P.S. If the Facebook error message pops up below, try refreshing the page one or more times and it will hopefully become visible.

While giving thanks is not limited to one single holiday, I love the idea of a special celebration to reflect on gratitude and giving thanks.

Therefore, I want to take his opportunity and really give thanks to YOU. I am tremendously grateful for all of you: Visitors to my websites, subscribers to my newsletter, customers of the Sing With Freedom program, members of The Singing Zone and private clients.

I am not only grateful for the fact that you inspire me and drive me to grow and improve. I am also grateful for the fact that you are out there also striving to improve, wanting to explore capacities within you, wanting to sing and express and communicate in some way to have a positive impact on other people’s lives.

If I turn inwards, one of the things I am most grateful for is that some time early on in my life, I developed a belief system that focused on possibilities. I accepted that I have no idea of what is possible, and therefore nothing can be impossible.

I recognized moments when I surprised myself, such as the understanding that nervousness actually made me better, that fear had a purpose to propel me to learn, that changes could be made. I learned that the enormous power of the mind can change you from loser to winner (and vice versa) in a matter of minutes or even seconds.

In times of utter darkness and pain, when things have just not been working out (oh yes, there have been many such times) I have always trusted myself to find solutions. The more I learned to not blame outer circumstances, the stronger I became and the greater the possibilities became.

In all of this lies the desire to learn, grow and improve. It is something I love so dearly and that I have always been able to turn to when I am faced with great challenges. I devoted my life to coaching not because I wanted to “teach”, but because I want to help others learn and discover unknown possibilities within themselves.

And that is why I feel so grateful for who you are, and that you are on this path.

Gratitude is easy to feel when things are going well, but is not easy to feel when we face tough times. But it is in the darkest moments I have learned to turn inwards and be grateful for having a desire to dream, for wanting to improve and learn, for trusting and accepting what is, and for trusting that I can discover inner resources to improve the situation. I have never stopped discovering and learning, and for that I am immensely grateful.

THANK YOU – who in some way are a vital part of my life.

But what about advanced singers? Are the strategies I outlined only for beginners?

Not at all. The advanced singers who engage in the strategies of the Bristow Voice Method (whether in private or via The Singing Zone/Sing With Freedom home study program) know that much of the training encourages you to turn off your auditory sense temporarily (at will), and the reason for that is to help you develop a greater kinesthetic awareness than before (which can’t be done as long as you are listening and judging yourself).

With this greater awareness you can now effectively release tension, develop greater freedom and effectively develop strength, flexibility (range) and more.

In the precious article, I used the act of throwing a ball at a target as an analogy. I explained why making the child “focus on the target”(which engages the visual sense) is as counterproductive as telling a singer to sing scales and listen for the notes.

This applies just as much, if not more, to an advanced singer who has little need to just "sing notes" over and over again.

So let’s go back to the "throwing a ball at a target" analogy, but let’s this time use a professional baseball pitcher as an example. The “pitcher” is the person whose sole job is to throw the ball at the target.  Does he, therefore, practice throwing at a target all the time?

Of course not. He spends an enormous amount of time on other activities to develop strength, coordination and flexibility. Many of the activities never even include a ball. And when he does practice with a ball, much of the time he will focus on parts of his body – on the execution of a movement - rather than on the target.  If he has an injury or weakness, his focus and training will change  accordingly.

A professional pitcher knows better than to believe that he will develop strength and flexibility of his rotator cuff, or heal an injury, by just throwing a ball over and over.

Yet, many singers believe they are practicing effectively by just singing the same scales over and over. Many follow warm-up tracks, or pre-recorded audio exercise tracks, and sing the same scales in the same tempo, and in the same order, day in and day out.

Many become stifled and stagnate since they continue doing what they’ve always done  The day a problem occurs they, understandably, don’t know what to do. Naturally, no scale, pattern of notes, or vowel/consonant combo is ever going to heal a physical problem.

As I mentioned, when my professional clients develop a deeper level of awareness, they can also rapidly do something about the “problem” they might have. They can release restrictions and effectively develop greater strength, range, resonance, endurance and so on. Singing patterns of notes and trying to hit the notes “correctly” is not what a professional needs when he/she experiences restrictions in the voice. 

With greater physical freedom, you can perform with greater freedom and create a greater bond with your audience. Your performance will, therefore, become more successful.

Now, you might be thinking "but you still need to sing the notes to be a good singer". Yes, of course you need a good ear to be a musician, and there are ways to effectively develop that. However, that is for another discussion. The issue here is to learn what to focus on at any given time.

We could discuss this forever, but understanding intellectually obviously does very little in this case. To really develop the awareness and freedom we’re discussing, you must of course engage in doing – in the training. There is just no way around it. Nor can we experience any significant results if we are not mentally willing to let go of preconceived ideas and truly experience something new. (This applies to all learning)

But I hope, at least, this has helped you understand some of the underlying principles that have proven so effective for many thousands of singers worldwide. And also why it really doesn’t matter how “advanced”, or how much of a “beginner”, you are.

So let me finish by claiming that your mind and body is truly phenomenal. Once we tap into your potential and develop an extraordinary awareness of your body and mind… once you give yourself permission to let go of preconceived ideas of what you can do and cannot do… once we give you permission to explore, experiment and discover new abilities within you… then dramatic results are not only possible but very predictable. 

And most of all it is fun. Learning is fun. To feel a sense of growth is the juice that makes life exciting – at least it is for me. How about you? Have you noticed some shift by changing the way you approach your training – perhaps even beyond singing? Have you perhaps already engaged in the training and made some interesting discoveries?

Most people would naturally assume that the problem is in the hearing.

The common belief is that in order to learn to sing notes and patterns of notes you must do exactly that – sing notes and patterns of notes. You are, therefore, in most singing lessons encouraged to sing along with scales and other various patterns of notes. If you can’t sing the right note, you are encouraged to listen.

Unfortunately, numerous people spend years and decades (unless they give up) on these detrimental strategies. In fact, the consequences are often even greater…

To illustrate why this is detrimental, let’s look at a child who tries to throw a ball at a target. Most well-meaning parents would tell the child to “look at the target”. That is understandable. After all, professionals focus on the target. In fact, how can we accomplish anything without being focused on the target or the outcome?

But what if the kid who has a hard time throwing a ball continues to miss even when he is looking at the target?

It is interesting to observe that the singer who has a hard time hitting the notes and who doesn’t sound good, is often well aware that he doesn’t sound good (although he may not know how and why and what to do about it).  Likewise, the kid who tries to hit the target knows perfectly well when he fails. His vision is evidently good enough to notice when he misses.

Unbeknownst to those who want the child to focus on the target, the child’s visual sense is completely irrelevant at this stage. In fact, it is exactly because he is so focused on the target (i.e. using his visual sense) that he will never learn to confidently hit the target.

It is because he is so focused on the target – i.e. using his visual sense – that he has no clue of what his feet, hips, torso, arms, shoulder, wrist are really doing. 

Nor is he aware of what his mind is doing.

The reason he isn’t skilled at throwing the ball is not because of faulty vision, but because he hasn’t discovered the mechanics of how to effortlessly and effectively use his body to throw a ball with flow and balance (which creates a trajectory that goes straight at a target). 

But worse….

Since the sole goal is to hit the target, he becomes trained to judge success versus failure.  He becomes outcome-oriented and has little knowledge of what kind of process is required to achieve success. Since he is set up to fail more often than not, frustration naturally builds with every failure. Very soon the child won’t want to engage in this activity anymore. He will believe he has no talent.

We can argue that he has little skill in throwing a ball. But what he really is lacking is the knowledge of how to engage in a process to learn effectively.

The effective coach will immediately make the result of the throw irrelevant. First of all, to help the kid move away from anticipating and judging the results (the failure). Secondly, to give the kid a chance to finally focus on the mechanics. The effective coach will devise a strategy where success is inevitable – where each discovery becomes interesting.

Many sports trainers do understand the importance of form and mechanics and how to shift your mind depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, this is seldom the case when it comes to singing training. Singing training has never been designed to help those who don’t find singing “natural”. And unfortunately singing training has been so captured in tradition and old beliefs of "right" and "wrong" that it has evolved very little in comparison to many other principles.

I don’t know how many hundreds of people I have seen who have wasted years and fortunes with very little progress. As gratifying it is to see how these people’s lives change when their limiting beliefs are shattered, I also know that there are even more people out there who never attempt to sing again, because they have come to believe that singing is not for them.

The bottom line is that the more difficulty you have singing on key, the more you need to let go of using your auditory sense. This is sometimes hard to do on mental level. Your brain goes: “ But I want to sing the note, therefore I should be listening to the note” – just like the kid who has been conditioned to believe he must focus better on the target. 

Am I saying hearing and vision are not important? Of course not. The issue is what to focus on at any given moment.

The reality is that as long as you are engaged in singing scales, your auditory sense will automatically turn on and you will likely never truly discover your body.  And you will likely make even less discoveries as long as you are engaged in the common artificial ways of manipulating your body, such as “feel as if you’re yawning”, “stand with good posture”, “widen your throat”,  “sing through your mask”, “use stomach support” etc. 

As long as you are engaged in trying to “hit notes” and using your auditory sense to judge yourself, you will likely never experience what it’s like to confidently release free vibration, to experience wonderful flexibility and effortless breathing. You will likely never experience how singing “on key” becomes a natural by-product of free vibration, or when singing becomes the enjoyable experience that it can be. 

What if you reflect on a possible future: Imagine you have a greater voice than you have today (whatever greater means to you). What would you do with it? How would it affect your life?

What if you reflect on the past? Maybe there was a time when you couldn’t do what you can do today. If so, how has this affected your life?

Or perhaps it is the opposite; that you experience pain because you cannot do what you once could?

Singing is such an important part of all our lives, and it is because it is so important to us that I love to help people achieve greater freedom with their voices, greater confidence and help you become a more empowered human being – whether you sing in a choir, band or by yourself… whether you just like to sing with friends, or you perform in front of thousands of people.

But have you reflected on what makes singing important to you and why you would like to improve? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Please share below.

The news is in. As you probably know, on the website at www.TheSingingZone.com we state that we have members from 65 nations inside The Singing Zone.  It turns out that this is incorrect.   We just did an updated count of all our customers this morning.  And guess what? It turns out that I now have customers from 84 nations!

Naturally, I am personally immensely grateful for the success of the program, and that I am able to reach and communicate with so many people. I thank all of you who put trust in me and I certainly feel the responsibility to live up to that trust (which is a good feeling of responsibility in my opinion).

I also reflect over what a phenomenal world we live in.  There is no denying that there are many problems in the world, and there likely always will be.  Yet, the fact that we are able to communicate with each other the way we can today is mindboggling. 

I still remember the first computer I got.  How could I forget.  It wasn’t that long ago really.

I remember the first time I talked to someone via web camera. It wasn’t long ago at all.

Today I can can acquire information that I never could before. I can learn from, study with, communicate with, work with people from most parts of the world. I can communicate with friends and family all over the globe.

It’s amazing.

Saturday I had a class with my virtual singing class which has participants from many parts of the world, and we reflected on the fact that our grandparents would have been absolutely blown away seeing what we can do today. 

It truly is amazing.

And let’s not forget that the amazing technology we have today is a result of the rapidly evolving capacity of the human mind.

We’ve always known that singing is part of every culture, and it makes me warm inside knowing you are singing away in every part of the world.  Perhaps I can soon travel and study the culture of singing in various parts of the world in person.  And meet you!

Send me an invitation!   

How about reflecting on the positive developments in the world today and how you can utilize them to enhance your life.  What is it you can do today that you couldn’t have done a few years ago?

Love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share below.

In this post I am going to share an email I received.  It’s a perfect example of what we talked about in the last post, and a perfect example of why I do what I do, and probably why you do what you do. Out of courtesy, I won’t reveal the writer or the names he mentions, but bear with me and I think you’ll find this very interesting.

The unfortunate flip side of becoming more public and reaching more people is that you also become a target for abuse.  This is also something every successful artist unfortunately has to deal with.

If you haven’t read the previous post, please click here to read it first so this makes sense to you.

The email I received was from a gentleman who has not done my program, has not studied with me and does not know me. It reads:

"I'm open to new methods and information but I'm (beyond) sceptical about your claim that you can train anyone (who isn't born with a very special gift) to develop a four octave range from a one octave range through the use of video tapes…. I want you to know what I think and how your promotions come across to a real singer who's been through all the hoops, humming, exercising and vocalizations for many years. I can still at 69 years of age sing a ringing high C and (even an E) but I've kept myself in excellent physical condition and had a teacher in Toronto (long deceased) called… (name removed out of courtesy) who also taught … (name removed out of courtesy).  I'm delighted to have been born with a very special gift, so I've never boasted about my voice. But a gift is a gift!  Show me someone who could barely sing and now boasts a four octave range in perfect pitch!"

Now the first question is where on earth did he get the idea that I claim that anyone can develop a four octave range?  I have never made such a claim, nor do I even think a four octave range is necessarily what to strive for.  Most successful singers do not have or need a four octave range.

But the bigger problem is this belief of “the gift”.  This elitist, old-school thinking of being special, of being a “real singer”, is exactly what has stifled the joy of singing for so many. 

We sent him a polite email to clarify that I do not claim that anyone gets a four octave range from my program.

You might think a person might just leave it at that.  But instead he fired back.  And here’s where it gets really interesting.

It turns out that he had not at all heard me state that anyone can get a four octave range.  Instead, he had seen a video in which another person expressed the joy he had gotten from my program as he has now been able to release some of the tremendous pain he’s lived with since childhood – ever since his dream of singing was crushed as a young boy by a man of authority who had told him he could never sing because he didn’t have the “gift”.  That he mentioned his increased range was a side note. The real gist of his story (which, by the way, has inspired many and has received many thanks) was apparently completely lost on our ”real singer” friend with the “gift”.

But our “gifted” man is stuck on the four octave issue and chooses to fire back with another email. It begins with:

"Please note that your response is totally incorrect."

He then continues to proclaim his importance – just as we talked about that people who desperately try to hold on to their authority do (I used the extreme cases of Mubarak and Khaddafi as examples in my previous blog post)

 "
I coach a number of singers and consult with three choirs to demonstrate vocal techniques. At least 20 people have asked me about Per's claims, and I'm naturally compelled to tell them some of these claims stretch credibility far beyond its most extreme tensile strength!  … These claims are highly misleading and I'm surprised someone hasn't threatened legal action for false advertising… I studied and sang with …. (name removed out of courtesy) and I can tell you that this video is nothing but a scam!"


He then goes on ranting about his greatness and continues his accusations until he ends the email with:

"
Shame on all of you!"

Evidently, he still hasn’t embraced the fact that I never have made the claims he so desperately wants me to have claimed.

Now, in the event he seriously fears people will believe I create four octave ranges in everyone without the student having to do anything, I hereby proclaim publicly that this is not the case.

But the subject matter here is to understand fear. What makes him so afraid that he must write such an aggressive letter to someone he doesn’t know or know anything about in the first place? Has his authority been questioned by the 20 people who have mentioned my teachings? Is he challenged because someone who was abused as a child (abused in the sense that he was led to believe that he didn’t have the “gift”) can experience such newfound joy of singing – joy that our “gifted” man perhaps never has experienced.  Is he afraid that repeatedly claiming who he has studied with is the only way to give him greater stature?  Is he afraid his “students” are doing research on the Internet and are curious about other views and methods?   (Every tyrant is also afraid of others receiving information and will do everything to spread disinformation).  We don’t know of course, and it is not for us to make a judgment.

So why am I writing this?  

Because I fear that there are a tremendous amount of abused children and adults in this world who will never realize their true potential.  I fear children and adults live with beliefs that they don’t have a “gift” and are therefore shut down, while being exposed to the incredibly offensive talk about “gifts” – as if proclaimed (self-proclaimed) “gifted” people are special in the eyes of a God while they aren’t. 

Luckily, the world is also filled with an enormous amount of people who have achieved tremendous success and happiness despite the adult world’s attempt to push them down. These are the inspiring people who have over and over again proven that the adult world’s beliefs of talents (“gifts”) was completely useless and utterly wrong.

I fear a lot of people are oppressed by people who claim authority because of who they have studied with rather than because of who they are. I fear the world will not become a better place unless we recognize why anger, jealousy and hate exists. And I fear that as a result of my own success, will I need to shield myself more and more from abusive people, and will I then become less accessible to people who want my help?

Yes, I experience fear like everyone else, and therefore I act and do what I can to create changes and improvements.
 
Perhaps this can inspire a desire to reflect before one lashes out at someone (especially someone you don’t know). Perhaps it can help someone who is, or has been treated badly, or had their desires stifled in some way.

Feel free to add your opinion below and, by all means, sing with freedom!

Earlier today I stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial – the place where presidents have held speeches and where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his legendary “I have a dream” speech on freedom.

As you know, my program is called Sing With Freedom and there is a reason for that.  So it’s interesting to think about what freedom is?  Freedom from what?

I reflect on what is happening in some parts of our world lately. How the people of Egypt, in their pursuit of freedom, were able to overthrow their dictator in a mere 18 days without violence. How were they able to do this? One main factor was the possibility to communicate (and become better informed) thanks to the Internet (Facebook).  Another was that the world was watching. Another was that they no longer were afraid.  The chains of fear had been broken. The sight when they danced and sang with freedom afterwards was truly powerful.

Fear lies at the root of everything we seek freedom from. Fear turns into anger and violence. A dictator can only rule by systematizing fear, and when his own fears are challenged his only means are violence.  Mubarak attempted to use violence, but when he realized he had no means (no army), his days were over. Khaddafi on the other hand, who witnessed Mubarak’s “failure” will use violence to any means, just as any animal of low consciousness who fears extinction.

You may be familiar with the fight or flight response, but we seldom have the opportunity to run away and make fear suddenly disappear.  In societies where we do not face war or threats of torture and death, our fears are different.

How do we recognize fear?

We all know the bullies are bullies because of fear.  We have all encountered people who try to feel stronger by belittling others, blaming others and speaking badly about others. Have you ever encountered people in so-called authoritative positions who intimidate, humiliate, and use aggression? Their biggest fear is of course to have their authority challenged.

We see this in dictators of course, but the tendency still exists all over the place – in religious systems, work places, school systems and families.

But how do we recognize fears in ourselves?

The truth is that we seldom want to.  Suggest to any violent person that he is afraid and you might be punched in the face.  Accepting fear is by many believed to be a sign of weakness.  Courage is for many seen as not having fear, when the word "courage", in fact, describes how we act when we experience fear.

It is the person who cannot be aware of his fears who will be oppressed by his fears and likely oppress others.

Do you ever become angry? Do you ever blame others for your anger? Do you ever blame others when things don’t go well? Do you ever intimidate or speak badly about someone?  Do you experience resistance or discomfort? Do you hold yourself back? Of course you do.  You are human after all.

So here’s my suggestion…. When we experience anger or some kind of resistance, how about we ask ourselves: “What am I afraid of?”.

The issue is not to try to overcome our fear in that instant. We don’t need to announce our fears to the world.  The issue is just to be aware. Fear is not necessarily wrong. Fear is helpful. Fear can be good. There is no shame in experiencing and being aware fear. In fact, to become aware becomes extremely empowering. 

It is when we fail to recognize fear that we paint ourselves into corners and justify it as “pride”, or become aggressive towards others as well as towards ourselves (in the form of negative self-talk, disempowering beliefs, stress, skepticism, etc).

Fear, or rather the restrictions that unaware fear produces, makes learning, growing and healing immensely difficult. 

So to live and sing with freedom… what does that really mean? What does it mean to you?

If in moments of anger or negative self talk you ask yourself what you are afraid of, do you notice something?

Have you encountered people who belittle, blame others, use intimidation or aggression in attempts to appear stronger?

Please post your views on this.  It’s important. Thanks!

In this post, I want to follow up with some thoughts, an invitation and a challenge for you…

So, we are going to make 2011 an extraordinary year, right? And we are pretty certain that we automatically become more successful if we can make other people successful, as we talked about in the last blog.

But it is of course not easy to know what makes someone else successful…

The subject of "giving" came up in many responses. But many times it’s not easy to know what kind of “giving” actually makes someone else more empowered and successful? It is easy to give people what they want, but it is endlessly more difficult to give people what they need.  Giving what people want may not empower a person but may, in fact, weaken them – just like giving alcohol to an alcoholic may be what he wants but not necessarily what he needs. 

So our challenge is to develop strategies that will empower others.  How do you really help an alcoholic? How do you, as an artist, really move an audience to tears? How do you really improve your voice so you can be part of the chorus or empower the audience with your solo? How do you really arrange your song so it has the emotional impact that it can have?  How do you really improve the company you work for?  How do you really improve the organization you volunteer your services to?

To be able to do this better and better we must of course develop better and better skills – which is a constant process  – and is, in my opinion, what makes life so exciting (and, yes, frustrating many times – which is part of the process).

But many times we don’t know how to help people because we simply don’t know what people want. (And many times we don’t know what we want either, do we?)  Yet, if we can find out what people really want we are in a better position to help.

One current example in my life is that the problem of acid reflux has come up in several teleconferences I have done with members of The Singing Zone.  Therefore, because I’ve realized many want this, we are now (next Thursday) having a special free event for all Singing Zone members on this subject. I have suffered from this horrendous condition myself and I want to share how I healed in the hope that it will help someone else.

So now my head is spinning with thoughts of how I might be able to help you?  What if you have a problem that I, or someone I know, or someone who reads this, can help you with? Would you know what that is?  If you were helped with this, if you acquired this skill, how would that help others?

It can be challenging to understand ourselves and what we really want, and it is challenging to figure out what other people want.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – either if you want to share what you would like help with, how that would help others, or perhaps you have some insights into “giving” versus “empowering”. Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a dilemma of how to give that actually was helpful. Maybe you found a solution?

But do feel free to express what you would like my help with.  I really mean it.  What would you like my help with? Dreams may come true…

Whether success to you is to make more money, become more recognized as an artist and human being, attract greater love, or whatever, the key is really to become more valuable.
That’s probably no news to you, but the question is how do you become more valuable?

I firmly believe that it is far easier to become more valuable when we take the whole concept a step further and think about how we can make other people more valuable.

You become successful by making other people successful.  You become more valuable by making other people more valuable.  You become more powerful by empowering others.

But how does that work in the real world?

Beginner artists often make the mistake that they think people will or should show up to their concerts to “support them”.  Many live with the belief that “if I only get a chance I’ll reward you later” or “help me now and I’ll reward you later”.  Many grow up with a sense of entitlement. I think it is very hard to become a truly compelling artist, or gain much success in any endeavor, with this backwards mindset.

An artist becomes successful when the members of his/her audience have an emotional experience that is incredibly valuable for them.  Emotional experiences are indeed valuable for us all.  If you are part of a choir that creates a wonderful emotional experience for your audience, you are valuable to both the audience and to your choir. The more valuable the event is to the audience, the more often they want to come, and the more people will come.

If you want to earn more money, the same principles apply. If you can become more valuable to the people who pay you, you can also be paid more – whether that means becoming more valuable to one person or to a larger amount of people.
 
But, as I mentioned, what if we take it a step beyond “becoming more valuable”…

How does your customer, patient, client, student, audience, company, organization, community become more valuable to the people they interact with? If you can be part of that, then your value to them automatically increases and you can be rewarded tremendously – in the form of money, respect, opportunities, friendships, etc.

If a company gets the feeling that you will increase the value of the company you will be hired, you will be able to demand a higher salary or other benefits. If you audition and the producers feel that you will increase the value of the production, you will get the part.

I, as a coach, become more successful the more I can empower and make other people successful.  My job is not only to “be valuable” for my clients or customers but to make my clients and customers more valuable to their audience or the people they interact with.  My constant thought process is “what can I do to make them more successful”. It is a constant process of learning, growing and developing better and better ideas and strategies.  But it is that thought process that feeds the ideas. That thought process makes getting up in the morning very exciting. And I believe that thought process coupled with acting on the thoughts makes success in some form rather inevitable.

What do you think?