The thriving singer's podcast

A Life in Song: Carole Farley on Longevity, Courage & Curiosity Host Hrund Ósk sits down with internationally celebrated soprano Carole Farley , whose legendary career spans the world's greatest stages — from her iconic Lulu at the Metropolitan Opera to acclaimed performances in Die Frau ohne Schatten , Wozzeck , and La Voix Humaine . They explore: • The making of a lifelong artist — from Idaho to...

In this episode we discuss Donna's pedagogic approach which is based on the work of Cornelius L. Reid the late noted vocal pedagogue and author of six books on singing, among them the trilogy The Free Voice, Bel Canto: Principles and Practices and, Voice: Psyche and Soma  The method, in essence, is based on the fact that the muscles that bring the vocal folds into tension are involuntary, thus the...

In our conversation today we talk about being financially empowered to be creatively free! Basically, we take a deep dive into her book Arts and numbers. We discuss subjects such as budgeting and how to create discipline around budgeting when you have a varying monthly income throughout the year. We discuss the emotional and psychological hurdles around gauging the worth of your work and building...

In our conversation today we take a deep dive into the Feldenkrais method as a way to release tension in the body by developing a deep awareness of how the mechanisms of the body are constructed and how they work together as a whole, that is, how one movement affects another. And we discuss why it's important to develop this vision of how the body works as a whole in order to really be in control...

In our conversation today Janet generously shares stories and lessons learned from her own career. How she developed debilitating anxiety just as her career was going really well, what answers and tools she found to tackle it and how the solutions in turn inspired her to write her excellent book " Nail your next audition".  We delve into subjects on building mental tools needed to deal with strugg...

My guest today is a dear friend and colleague of mine Francesca Mondanaro. A fabulous singer and a master teacher. At the forefront of our discussion today are topics such as working with and Identifying the big voice and what "building" one actually means.  Why developing and listening to your own intuition is so important in addition to three metrics Francesca has defined for trusting vocal grow...

Ingela Onstad is a High-Performance Coach for performing artists and other professionals in the public eye, as well as a professional soprano, psychotherapist, and board-certified coach. Her coaching business, Courageous Artistry, supports performing artists in their quest to perform at the top of their abilities. She helps performers address emotional wellbeing and mindset in order to help them t...

Shirley Tennyson, MA, EdM CCC-SLP, is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist with a particular interest and training in voice disorders. She graduated with  Master's Degrees from Ohio University and Columbia University. Her specialty is working with people who have voice disorders caused by such things as polyps, nodules, or cysts on the vocal folds, a paralyzed vocal fold, atrophied vocal folds,...

Today's guest is Dr. Benjamin Asher a New York based, board-certified Otolaryngologist - Head and Neck Surgeon. In addition to being a highly- regarded conventional physician and exceptional diagnostician, he has been at the forefront of applying alternative methods to Ear, nose, and throat disorders since the beginning of his medical career over thirty years ago.  Dr. Asher's conventional trainin...

Today's guest and my very first guest on the Thriving singer podcast is non-other than the great David Jones, who has developed an international career as an author, vocal pedagogue, teacher of singers, and teachers in Europe and the U.S.  David is celebrating 50 successful years of teaching the fall of 2022 He has trained singers performing at opera houses and festivals such as the New York City...

I think one of the most important things we should start to develop early on in our singing journey is ownership of our development.  By that, I mean learning in full detail how our instrument works and actively figuring out who we are and who we want to become. The two factors in combination will in turn allow us not to give our power away to teachers, coaches, or any mentors along the way. Enabl...

We can become very good at creating our own suffering consciously and unconsciously.  Today I look at just a few ways we can be causing ourselves unnecessary hurt and sadness.  Just being aware of them can break the cycle and make room for a healthier perspective.  

We go into what I believe to be the 3 pillars of creating the state of flow in performance. How not to get distracted by your thoughts, nerves, and fears. P racticing as if performing, being present, and honing your focus skills. How to prepare and how to deliver! xx

Why creating a stable financial income for yourself, that sustains you whilst also financing your dream is something you should be creating for yourself. Getting started with generating ideas and generally thinking about what would be the best option for you.  Take advantage of the digital age, your many talents, and acquired knowledge to build something that you can be proud of.

If you live in a state of acceptance of your weaknesses and strengths and you know and trust that you are working on them you can handle any comment or crappy feedback given to you in an empowered way. By being able to analyze it and work with it objectively without it destroying your sense of self-worth. Nobody should be able to touch or put a dent in your sense of self-worth, always remember tha...

How to Create an overview of your goals and plan your whole year of practice for results that will show up in your performance. With links to bonus worksheets to help you get started and keep going through the start, middle, and end of the year!

"I am a freelance artist therefore I am a business owner" or these days at least a brand! If you get money for what you create, you fundamentally own and run a business/brand, be it a product or service. Owning a business means owning a lot of jobs, that all need to be executed for the good of the whole. Mastering your craft and becoming the best artist you can is obviously the most important thin...

The fusion of master craftsmanship and creative power allows for flow to produce art. I believe you can't use the word art for your creative output unless it is combined with master craftsmanship! Beauty will only emerge if there is harmony in your energy, between what you have in you and how well the medium is built through which it comes out or flows through.  So what does it take to create flow...

"Get back in the saddle" or "get back on that horse" Is my favorite metaphor for getting back at it if you get thrown off course, if something happens that makes you feel like you just can't do anything more or pick up where you left off. If this happens to me and I get thrown off my trajectory, I like to picture that horse, and myself climbing back on, gathering the reins in my hands and easing t...

Where to draw the line between you as a person and your voice. Have you ever even thought about making that distinction? As singers we can't physically put our instrument away at the end of the day, there is no tangible way of tucking the voice away when we've stopped working on it. And this creates a hazard for us, in that we don't simply think of singing as something that we do, but unconsciousl...

What if you could win a competition every time? What if you could always walk away from a highly competitive and political situation as the winner?  This is very much possible but maybe it requires a shift in your perspective on the situation. I know what it feels like to do competition after competition and feeling like a total failure after because I didn't get a prize! And I felt like all the w...

What if you had recordings galore and were always updating your collection? What if you always had recordings that showed your abilities to the nine in this exact moment, not scrambling to produce one for an opportunity that just came up - giving you the best chance at getting that audition or into that competition! Today I wanted to expand on my "Record and Analyze" chapter and offer you an idea...

Ever feel like you practice and practice and practice but are not able to bring your performance to a higher level - don't see a major difference or improvement, always the same struggle and frustrations? for a long time, I struggled with this, somehow my practicing wasn't giving me the results I wanted. With time and a lot of trial and error, I realized that I was simply not going to the trouble...

Have you ever stood on stage and noticed that you only had nerves because you didn't know the music well enough to really give it all you knew you had in you. You were paying more attention to being nervous than the piece itself, worrying about all the difficult passages up ahead, I know I have! I dive deeper into my chapter "How to learn an aria" in my FREE E-book "The ideal practice"!  I explore...

In my first episode on my podcast " The thriving singer" I wanted to go deeper into the concepts I write about in my Free E-book "The Ideal Practice". The first one is about becoming a world class student and  I believe it is one of the most important concepts in the book. It´s about evolving your mindset and habits as a performing artist singer. Falling in love with the process of becoming a sing...