Dear Traveler,
One of the great things about a serious health scare is that it gets you thinking about topics you might’ve been better off thinking about all along. Just the other day, I found myself pondering how to begin passing on some of the skills I’ve picked up during my time here on this lovely planet. Mind, I have no illusions of grandeur; I’m often reminded I haven’t made a perceptible dent in all there is to learn. Yet there are a few areas where I’ve put in considerable effort, experienced failures and successes, and gained some hard-earned insight. So who knows, I just might be able to save one or two folks some precious time or a few worry lines.
To this end, I have several health and arts-related projects lined up that I’d like to pursue. One of the latter is doing some vocal coaching. Ah, and here’s where I suppose I need to shine a bit of light on the secrets of my past (the music-related ones, anyway).
Music has coursed through my life on a Plutonian trajectory, beginning with many hours spent "playing" a true-to-scale miniature piano I received when I was 2. From these roots came several kinds of fruit: school choirs and acoustic guitar in my mid teens; bluegrass banjo, dance calling, and ola belle reed songs a couple of years later; fretless bass, smoky bars, and Motown in my early twenties. Then, suddenly, a deep immersion into other, non-musical aspects of life for about ten years. In my thirties, gasping for creative breath, I landed in the audition room of the Royal Conservatory. Three years later, having attained grade 8 in piano and grade 10 in vocal studies (with sights set on an A.R.C.T.) I left, knowing with certainty it was not my best path. Still, little was forfeited by being lost in the light of Mozart and Part for a while, except my rich alto voice. I had walked into the venerable institution an alto who could easily sing tenor parts, and been re-shaped as a lyric soprano (something about my facial bones). Nothing to do after that except take a few years off to recover, and wait for my head to stop ringing. Thus began what I fondly call my “Conservatory Remediation” period, which is ongoing.
While a student at the Conservatory I did what so many earnest, financially challenged students do; I taught. At one point I had 35 vocal students whom I saw weekly or bi-weekly. After leaving the Conservatory (and except for a brief foray into Celtic music) I once again entered into a non-musical phase, which lasted until around 1999. That was when I began traveling to the US to learn about music as an aid for pain management and end-of-life care (which dovetailed nicely with my work as an R.N.) I took up Celtic harp for that purpose, and for three years studied medieval repertoire, Taize chant, and how to improvise freely. When a much longed-for opportunity to use this training in a large burn centre fell through due to insurance concerns (the hospital's, not mine), I set the harp aside for the moment. Shortly after that, the tide inexplicably turned. Suddenly, every thought and experience demanded to be reborn as a song, and in 2006, Rosemary Phelan the singer-songwriter came into being. I hadn’t yet fully recovered, or “found myself” vocally, but in the interest of answering the call I mustered up my courage, began performing, and followed that with two recordings. Along the way, it’s been an honour to keep company with some of the finest musicians in Canada. And so we arrive at this present moment in time.
If someone’s going to consider visiting me for some coaching, I think it’s only fair they know a bit about where I’ve come from as a singer. I hope this little musical autobiography was helpful. Anyone is welcome to go and have a listen to my voice on line, but my personal choices around vocal expression and what’s appropriate for the songs I sing are not the limit of my experience or ability; I tend to keep it simple. So the only thing left is to examine what I might have to offer as a coach.
In a nutshell, let’s say this: if someone
Although I can also help you learn to be comfortable with a mic, performance is not my specialty; the art and innocence of singing from your core is. Once you've experienced that, the sharing of it - or performance, as we like to call it - becomes a natural extension. It doesn’t matter whether we’re well-known, respected artists or just beginning to perform; we can be “in the pocket” vocally and still nowhere near it emotionally, and vice-versa. Connecting the two equals sheer joy!
On another note, this whole line of thought reminds me of my experience with Celsius the horse. You can read his story here:
One of the great things about a serious health scare is that it gets you thinking about topics you might’ve been better off thinking about all along. Just the other day, I found myself pondering how to begin passing on some of the skills I’ve picked up during my time here on this lovely planet. Mind, I have no illusions of grandeur; I’m often reminded I haven’t made a perceptible dent in all there is to learn. Yet there are a few areas where I’ve put in considerable effort, experienced failures and successes, and gained some hard-earned insight. So who knows, I just might be able to save one or two folks some precious time or a few worry lines.
To this end, I have several health and arts-related projects lined up that I’d like to pursue. One of the latter is doing some vocal coaching. Ah, and here’s where I suppose I need to shine a bit of light on the secrets of my past (the music-related ones, anyway).
Music has coursed through my life on a Plutonian trajectory, beginning with many hours spent "playing" a true-to-scale miniature piano I received when I was 2. From these roots came several kinds of fruit: school choirs and acoustic guitar in my mid teens; bluegrass banjo, dance calling, and ola belle reed songs a couple of years later; fretless bass, smoky bars, and Motown in my early twenties. Then, suddenly, a deep immersion into other, non-musical aspects of life for about ten years. In my thirties, gasping for creative breath, I landed in the audition room of the Royal Conservatory. Three years later, having attained grade 8 in piano and grade 10 in vocal studies (with sights set on an A.R.C.T.) I left, knowing with certainty it was not my best path. Still, little was forfeited by being lost in the light of Mozart and Part for a while, except my rich alto voice. I had walked into the venerable institution an alto who could easily sing tenor parts, and been re-shaped as a lyric soprano (something about my facial bones). Nothing to do after that except take a few years off to recover, and wait for my head to stop ringing. Thus began what I fondly call my “Conservatory Remediation” period, which is ongoing.
While a student at the Conservatory I did what so many earnest, financially challenged students do; I taught. At one point I had 35 vocal students whom I saw weekly or bi-weekly. After leaving the Conservatory (and except for a brief foray into Celtic music) I once again entered into a non-musical phase, which lasted until around 1999. That was when I began traveling to the US to learn about music as an aid for pain management and end-of-life care (which dovetailed nicely with my work as an R.N.) I took up Celtic harp for that purpose, and for three years studied medieval repertoire, Taize chant, and how to improvise freely. When a much longed-for opportunity to use this training in a large burn centre fell through due to insurance concerns (the hospital's, not mine), I set the harp aside for the moment. Shortly after that, the tide inexplicably turned. Suddenly, every thought and experience demanded to be reborn as a song, and in 2006, Rosemary Phelan the singer-songwriter came into being. I hadn’t yet fully recovered, or “found myself” vocally, but in the interest of answering the call I mustered up my courage, began performing, and followed that with two recordings. Along the way, it’s been an honour to keep company with some of the finest musicians in Canada. And so we arrive at this present moment in time.
If someone’s going to consider visiting me for some coaching, I think it’s only fair they know a bit about where I’ve come from as a singer. I hope this little musical autobiography was helpful. Anyone is welcome to go and have a listen to my voice on line, but my personal choices around vocal expression and what’s appropriate for the songs I sing are not the limit of my experience or ability; I tend to keep it simple. So the only thing left is to examine what I might have to offer as a coach.
In a nutshell, let’s say this: if someone
- is in a vocal rut or feels undermined by habit
- feels disconnected from or bored with their voice
- seems unable to reach their full potential on their own
- does not feel elevated and joyful when singing
- hasn’t uncovered their innate unique-ness vocally
Although I can also help you learn to be comfortable with a mic, performance is not my specialty; the art and innocence of singing from your core is. Once you've experienced that, the sharing of it - or performance, as we like to call it - becomes a natural extension. It doesn’t matter whether we’re well-known, respected artists or just beginning to perform; we can be “in the pocket” vocally and still nowhere near it emotionally, and vice-versa. Connecting the two equals sheer joy!
On another note, this whole line of thought reminds me of my experience with Celsius the horse. You can read his story here:
| celsius.doc |
Celsius’ weakness led to his greatest joy and success. What a delightful metaphor for, well, everything. We can all be champions. Let’s get on with those figure-eights, shall we… who’s first?
~ rosemary
PS: just email me through the contact page here if you’d like more info about vocal coaching, or see the "lessons / workshops" page on this site. Thanks!
~ rosemary
PS: just email me through the contact page here if you’d like more info about vocal coaching, or see the "lessons / workshops" page on this site. Thanks!
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