Tuesday, June 4, 2013
The word is spreading
It is exciting to have contacts from around New Zealand and further afield asking about the Singing for Seniors programme. Following up is being done by my commercial manager. I have been contacted by the woman who ran the Weekend of Workshops in Tirau, to ask if I want her to contact groups there about the programme. She will set up the visits and we will visit together. Krissy Jackson, part-time high school music teacher of New Plymouth is planning how to market to the 23 villages in the greater New Plymouth area. Christchurch villages are being followed up in the next week. A day is being planned for the Rotorua area, and a three-day campaign around the Auckland villages.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
from the book "Music, Health and Well-being"
When this book came out, it was one that I had to have, because it speaks so well into what I am passionate about. In the conclusion for the article "Music Therapy: Models and Interventions" by Gro Trondalen & Lars Ole Bonde there is this statement.
"Expressive and receptive musicking (music making) allows for experiences at different levels through a present aesthetic participation within a multi-layered framework of interpretation. Such a musical relationship based on empowerment and attunement supports affirmative, corrective, emotional and relational experiences through musicking, and it defines music therapy as a specific health promoting practice."
In the article "Musical Flourishing: Community Music Therapy, Controversy, and Wellbeing" by Gary Ansdell and Tia DeNora has this paragraph
"Aristotle, unlike Plato, did not think that music helped because of metaphysical correspondences with the planets, but because it promoted earthbound conviviality and communality (wine, women and song, to paraphrase!). Well-being is not just the absence of illness, or just an individual matter, or just the result of the provision of 'health technology'. It is, as Mark Vernon suggest, part of our pursuit of the 'spirit level' part of our seeking the good life, through which we may find well-being together. For many people well-being emerges in the spaces made between people and music. This was, after all, an insight that the pioneer music therapists Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins came to 50 years ago: that when music flourishes, people flourish too."
I trust that this give you informative reading material.
Julie
"Expressive and receptive musicking (music making) allows for experiences at different levels through a present aesthetic participation within a multi-layered framework of interpretation. Such a musical relationship based on empowerment and attunement supports affirmative, corrective, emotional and relational experiences through musicking, and it defines music therapy as a specific health promoting practice."
In the article "Musical Flourishing: Community Music Therapy, Controversy, and Wellbeing" by Gary Ansdell and Tia DeNora has this paragraph
"Aristotle, unlike Plato, did not think that music helped because of metaphysical correspondences with the planets, but because it promoted earthbound conviviality and communality (wine, women and song, to paraphrase!). Well-being is not just the absence of illness, or just an individual matter, or just the result of the provision of 'health technology'. It is, as Mark Vernon suggest, part of our pursuit of the 'spirit level' part of our seeking the good life, through which we may find well-being together. For many people well-being emerges in the spaces made between people and music. This was, after all, an insight that the pioneer music therapists Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins came to 50 years ago: that when music flourishes, people flourish too."
I trust that this give you informative reading material.
Julie
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Exciting new venture coming to fruition
I am very pleased to be spending time with my commercial manager, working on the website for my new venture "Singing for Seniors". In this programme, villages receive two CDs every two months with a new set of ten songs. There are two CDs: one with sing-a-long tracks and one with accompaniment only.
The website is www.singingforseniors.co.nz Please go and check it out. My commercial manager has built it, and put hours and hours of work into it. I am immensely proud of him (he being my eldest son, Matthew). He is a very astute business man, and of immeasurable worth to my business.
This programme grew out of the work that I had done with the Hilda Ross Glee Club, who I left, for commercial reasons,18 months ago. They had recorded their first CD, they had performed in 8 to 80 concerts, they had travelled to Auckland to sing at the sister Edmund Hillary village. They had sung a wider variety of songs, some easier songs, and some that really stretched them.
Since I left them, the repertoire has changed, and the song choices are now more aligned with the 1940/s and earlier. I have had them surveyed about their preference for song choice and the singers in the Glee Club (at that time there were 31 singers, many have left and the group is now much smaller) are unanimous (100%) in preferring the songs that are newer and more interesting. " I enjoyed the songs that we had to put work into, because then we could see the results. We need things to work on. The sense of achievement leaves us on a high" Pauline
The website is designed to inform individual villages, and companies who run retirement villages, about the programme. In working out the costing, it seems to me pretty obvious that villages that do not have singing can use this programme, and it is much cheaper than the costs for doing it themselves.
I am going into the recording studio to make the recordings. I wad going to use GarageBand, but was not happy with the quality of the recordings. This ha added significantly to the costs of the project, but the customers are getting a quality product, with consistently high standards of production maintained. At the same time I am supporting a local business:
www.theporchrecording.co.nz
who are being very supportive, and doing an excellent job of both recording and mixing my tracks.
The first orders go out this week, which is incredibly exciting. Not just in a business sense, but because I am so aware of how good singing is for people and how good it makes them feel, thus contributing markedly to their quality of life!!
The website is www.singingforseniors.co.nz Please go and check it out. My commercial manager has built it, and put hours and hours of work into it. I am immensely proud of him (he being my eldest son, Matthew). He is a very astute business man, and of immeasurable worth to my business.
This programme grew out of the work that I had done with the Hilda Ross Glee Club, who I left, for commercial reasons,18 months ago. They had recorded their first CD, they had performed in 8 to 80 concerts, they had travelled to Auckland to sing at the sister Edmund Hillary village. They had sung a wider variety of songs, some easier songs, and some that really stretched them.
Since I left them, the repertoire has changed, and the song choices are now more aligned with the 1940/s and earlier. I have had them surveyed about their preference for song choice and the singers in the Glee Club (at that time there were 31 singers, many have left and the group is now much smaller) are unanimous (100%) in preferring the songs that are newer and more interesting. " I enjoyed the songs that we had to put work into, because then we could see the results. We need things to work on. The sense of achievement leaves us on a high" Pauline
The website is designed to inform individual villages, and companies who run retirement villages, about the programme. In working out the costing, it seems to me pretty obvious that villages that do not have singing can use this programme, and it is much cheaper than the costs for doing it themselves.
I am going into the recording studio to make the recordings. I wad going to use GarageBand, but was not happy with the quality of the recordings. This ha added significantly to the costs of the project, but the customers are getting a quality product, with consistently high standards of production maintained. At the same time I am supporting a local business:
www.theporchrecording.co.nz
who are being very supportive, and doing an excellent job of both recording and mixing my tracks.
The first orders go out this week, which is incredibly exciting. Not just in a business sense, but because I am so aware of how good singing is for people and how good it makes them feel, thus contributing markedly to their quality of life!!
Monday, February 18, 2013
Online media has changed
When I made my last post here, my Facebook business page had started to take off, so I have been concentrating my efforts there. For those who like a longer read, the is the summary of my tasks & responsibilities for 2013
The bread & butter stuff
I have 10 face-to-face singing students and 1 Skype singing student
I continue to conduct The Hamilton Chorale which is growing exponentially (40% on last year's choir by the second rehearsal)
The fun stuff
The 8-80 concert for 2013 is performing in just 2 days. It is the model that I have always envisaged, where the local primary (elementary) school choir joins with the retirement village choir. They sing separately, and together, and it is magic! Of course,when people sing together, they form an emotional bond, and the buddy system which matches child to senior helps this along. Next Monday, the senior choir is going to perform at the children's school assembly, which will be the start of a whole new relationship between village & school.
I am the musical director of the Bay Audiology Retirement Villages Association Festival of Choirs. Encouraging choirs in retirement villages to send audition DVDs by May 31st to be considered for a festival in Wellington (NewZealand) in September this year. The expressions of interest at present are a bit slow, so we will see where this goes.
I have just commenced a 6 month programme with the local Pathways organisation. Their mission is with people with mental health situations. I am hoping to make myself redundant by the middle of the year.
I am making recordings of songs that are more modern than the song books that are sitting in retirement villages. Sample tracks have been sent out to all of the RVA villages, and a playlist for residents to make selections from. Then the village gets a disc with : ten singalong tracks, and ten accompaniment only tracks. The songs are slower,and a little lower as well, and all lyrics are included in the package.
The bread & butter stuff
I have 10 face-to-face singing students and 1 Skype singing student
I continue to conduct The Hamilton Chorale which is growing exponentially (40% on last year's choir by the second rehearsal)
The fun stuff
The 8-80 concert for 2013 is performing in just 2 days. It is the model that I have always envisaged, where the local primary (elementary) school choir joins with the retirement village choir. They sing separately, and together, and it is magic! Of course,when people sing together, they form an emotional bond, and the buddy system which matches child to senior helps this along. Next Monday, the senior choir is going to perform at the children's school assembly, which will be the start of a whole new relationship between village & school.
I am the musical director of the Bay Audiology Retirement Villages Association Festival of Choirs. Encouraging choirs in retirement villages to send audition DVDs by May 31st to be considered for a festival in Wellington (NewZealand) in September this year. The expressions of interest at present are a bit slow, so we will see where this goes.
I have just commenced a 6 month programme with the local Pathways organisation. Their mission is with people with mental health situations. I am hoping to make myself redundant by the middle of the year.
I am making recordings of songs that are more modern than the song books that are sitting in retirement villages. Sample tracks have been sent out to all of the RVA villages, and a playlist for residents to make selections from. Then the village gets a disc with : ten singalong tracks, and ten accompaniment only tracks. The songs are slower,and a little lower as well, and all lyrics are included in the package.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Time to rationalise
It is late March, and there have been so many initiatives that I have been investigating that it is time to go back and revise my business plan to rationalise and sort them: in priority, in financial viability, and in importance to my ongoing business.
Initiatives have included:
Initiatives have included:
- Facebook advertising for singing students: with new advice, I need to try this again.
- Advertising: at Waikato University Faculty of Education for singing students as individuals or groups. One enquiry, no response to my followup email. I will try again in the second semester
- Teaching in Taupo: A town 2 hrs drive away from me, where I lived and taught 20 yrs ago. They currently have no resident singing teacher. Flyers left in town in January, visits with various music friends, and cards left with many, but minimal responses. I have been invited to go and sing at a lunchtime concert in July, and have two families waiting for me to get there for their children. After the coming school holidays I will consider going for the few, and getting the world of mouth working.
- Retirement Village choirs: I am now working in two villages, but still very much at a basic rate (entertainer). I am meeting with the CEO of the RVA mid April to nut out the details of The Silver Sing festival in 2013, and once this is launched in June, I am hoping and planning that this work will grow; both in scope and remuneration
- Choirs: Community choirs are close to my heart, non-auditioned singers who can be trained to sound very good. But again, it is close to charity work, very low remuneration. When travel costs are taken out, my time is worth about $5/hr. How far can I spread myself?
- Presentation skill training: I am booked into the Faculty of Engineering to present a two-seminar series, and will be inviting relevant people from the Faculty of Education (to give these skills to trainee teachers) and the Teaching Development Unit at the University.
- Work-based choirs. Initial enquiries were not followed up, and this will go on the back burner for now.
- Jubilación Suite: Songs for retirement. I have completed the first suite of six songs, and the Hamilton Chorale have given me very positive feedback about them, even choosing to sing the first four, for the third time, at the Choir's 20th anniversary dinner. The final two are being premiered at the anniversary concert preceding the dinner. The first songs were performed for the first time, less than 6 mths ago. I need to keep composing, and sending out perusal copies of songs to potential purchasers.
- Conference break-out sessions: I have sent information to the biggest local conference organiser, and need to know whether I should try the squeaky wheel method or wait to be approached. This would definitely subsidise the large proportion of my work that is under-paid.
I would be interested in my reader's responses.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
A new year, and much to report.
I have just received an email from Jeanne Kelly of the Encore Chorale organisation, asking for my six songs, and offering to send a cheque straight away. How exciting is that!! Now to check them all very carefully, and make sure that they are good publishable state, and then send them off. The titles are:
1. No more meetings
2. We're SKI-ing (spending the kid's inheritance)
3. Shh it's a secret
4. Grey Nomads
5. The revenge of the grandchildren
6. The Bucket list
I have decided to sell them at $1 per copy and $5 for the set of six. The theory is: if the price is good, then it does not pay to 'not' pay :-)
The local Home School Choir has asked me to work with them during the first term on singing technique, so I will be starting that on February 7th and will enjoy working with those interesting young people.
My advertising in Facebook has been incredible. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to reach a wide audience. I am advertising for people to learn singing via Skype. My advert has appeared on Facebook pages in New Zealand an Australia over 100,000 times, but I do not pay unless someone clicks on the link, and the charge for that is between 20c and 35c. Since mid November, when the adverts first went up I have paid less than 1 hrs tuition fee, and it has resulted in one student thus far. I need to work more on what they see when they get to my website.
Backing tracks for the 12 songs for the 8 - 80 concert (that is happening on February 24th at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival) are my main project for the next few weeks. It is the most challenging use of Garageband that I have done so far, but each one will get easier, as I get better at selecting and editing the samples.
I am excited about the year and what it is going to bring.
1. No more meetings
2. We're SKI-ing (spending the kid's inheritance)
3. Shh it's a secret
4. Grey Nomads
5. The revenge of the grandchildren
6. The Bucket list
I have decided to sell them at $1 per copy and $5 for the set of six. The theory is: if the price is good, then it does not pay to 'not' pay :-)
The local Home School Choir has asked me to work with them during the first term on singing technique, so I will be starting that on February 7th and will enjoy working with those interesting young people.
My advertising in Facebook has been incredible. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to reach a wide audience. I am advertising for people to learn singing via Skype. My advert has appeared on Facebook pages in New Zealand an Australia over 100,000 times, but I do not pay unless someone clicks on the link, and the charge for that is between 20c and 35c. Since mid November, when the adverts first went up I have paid less than 1 hrs tuition fee, and it has resulted in one student thus far. I need to work more on what they see when they get to my website.
Backing tracks for the 12 songs for the 8 - 80 concert (that is happening on February 24th at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival) are my main project for the next few weeks. It is the most challenging use of Garageband that I have done so far, but each one will get easier, as I get better at selecting and editing the samples.
I am excited about the year and what it is going to bring.
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