Sing to Relax Like exercise, music can be a powerful way of calming the mind, easing symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression. A lovely way to help this process along is to start your day with some slow, meditative breathing exercises. This one uses the sounds Mmm, Aw, Ah in repetition, almost like a mantra. Try singing along and feel… Read more »
Damian OxboroughComments Off on Some lovely student feedback this morning
Here’s what my new student, Keri, sent me in an email over the weekend: Hi Damian, I had to message you to say my Mind. Is. Blown. What a massive difference it makes taking an intentional breathe rather than just singing whilst breathing like you do naturally when talking. Already, I can hold the notes better because I’ve got enough… Read more »
Damian OxboroughComments Off on Update: A temporary return to Zoom
Because of plans of a trip that my family has coming up, I’ve made the decision to offer Zoom only lessons from 1st to 16th July, this with a view to minimising contact with others during that period. Face-to-face lessons will resume w/c 19th July. The early part of next week is booked up, but there is availability for Zoom… Read more »
Damian OxboroughComments Off on Update & Developing ‘Unitasking’
This week I’ve been reading Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. In it she makes a strong case for what she calls ‘unitasking’ – the rejection of the idea that it’s better or more efficient to work on multiple things at once, and instead just to concentrate on a single task or idea. In… Read more »
First just play for fun, and achievement will follow. Slots for the coming week: All the available slots this week are after school, so if you have a child who would like to book into a music lesson, this is the week for you! Monday 14th June 17:00 Wednesday 16th June 17:30
Damian OxboroughComments Off on Music matters, and it really doesn’t matter at all
Like many aspects of our lives, music is difficult to define because any attempt to pin it down seems fraught with caveats and contradictions. Music is organised sound.. and so is speech. Music doesn’t require words but very often uses them. Music is often described as a universal language, but pieces from one place, time or culture can seem irrelevant… Read more »
Just a brief blog today to give you the list of slots available for the coming week. I’m taking annual leave for the first few days, but there’s slots available towards the end of the week: Thursday 3rd June 11:00 13:30 17:30 Friday 4th June 10:00 14:30 If you would like to book any of the above, drop me a… Read more »
Practise scales the right way Over the years I’ve found the students expect to start each lesson with a series of exercises – more often than not, scales. This is especially true of people who have previously been taught by someone else. My view is this: that not every lesson / practise has to start in the same way, and… Read more »
Music is Mindfulness The Sunday supplements these days are full of articles about how to let go of stress, anxiety and depression; how to move forward and find your way to truly ‘live in the moment’ experiencing life as it happens rather than being physically in one place but mentally elsewhere. I know that I’ve struggled with this over the… Read more »
Damian OxboroughComments Off on Update & Nostalgic School Assembly Songs
YouTube Recording Project Partly as a bit of fun (but also to help increase my web presence), I have recently started a little project recording songs that we used to sing at assembly at school. There are loads that people will be familiar with from the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. I’ve been playing them on piano and uploading to YouTube… Read more »
