Welcome to Songkraft!
 

"If more people understood how profoundly singing can enrich a life, they would want everyone they love to experience it."  JTM


People come to Songkraft to improve their singing.  That is a perfectly good reason to begin. Singing is one of life's great pleasures, and there is deep satisfaction in discovering a voice that is freer, richer, more expressive, and more capable.  Arriving with the hope of improving their singing, people also discover something greater: an understanding of how human beings learn, change, and grow.


What follows, on the pages of this website, is the information that you need to have if you intend to learn to sing and perform well.  It's not an easy read.  If you are looking for a quick fix, this isn't it.  What is this?  A clear description of the road to excellence.  Put on your thinking cap and let's get to it. 


The primary reason that every singing studio in the world isn't full of amazing world-class singers is easy to understand.  Most people are comfortable with less than their best.  Excellence isn't on their radar.  They accept living with less than their best because what is familiar to them feels safer than what is possible for them. 


Growth demands effort, uncertainty, self-examination, and the risk of failure; limitation asks only that we keep repeating what we already know. Over time, compromise becomes a habit, that habit becomes our identity, and then we start defending the very boundaries that keep us comfortable and confine us.  


It is sad how many times I have spoken to someone who deeply desires to sing and express themselves freely and authentically only to realize that they will use some excuse or other, and there are a great many, to prevent themselves from learning to do so.  Please understand that no one I've ever met has an ugly voice or is incapable of singing beautifully.  Whether the voice is coarse-sounding or refined, nothing is more beautiful than someone freely expressing their heartfelt emotions through the melody and poetry of a song.  Some of the world's best singers have pretty gruff voices.  Take Teddy Swims or Chris Stapleton, for example.  There's nothing extraordinarily beautiful in their voices, nothing like Pavarotti or Domingo, but what they can do with expressing a song is absolutely extraordinary.      


So, if you don't wish to be one of those people who accepts less than their best, then you are on the right path.  By choosing to sing and perform, you will begin to learn how to become your best.  When you step up to the mic nothing but your best will give you what you're looking for.  


You'll need three things.  


Firstly, you'll need the information necessary to understand how exceptional voices and performances work.  You can't fly a plane without knowledge of the language of aviation, and you can't sing and perform without acquiring the how-to language that makes it possible for you to understand how to be successful.  


Secondly, the discipline to put in the time necessary to get it to work.  You have to be able to schedule a practice appointment with yourself, lots of them, and show up. 


Thirdly, you'll need the patience to see this through no matter what it costs you.  What that means is that you will have to love what you are doing enough to keep at it no matter how many times you fail or how long it takes to learn.


What's not to love?  


At a foundational level, it's simple.  If you think you can, or think you can't, you are right!  Great singing is easy and, to the singer, it feels effortless because, in their finest moments, singers are not separate from the song. What's difficult is learning to make it that easy.  It's not a task.  It's about working at it until you and the song are one; singing becomes a subconscious act, an experience in which breath, body, feeling, memory, imagination, and intention integrate into a live spontaneous creation.


If this way of thinking resonates with you, I believe you'll find that Songkraft offers an exceptional journey focused on the process.  We pursue vocal excellence with the understanding that every genuine improvement in the voice reflects a deeper integration of the person who produces it. In the end, that may be the greatest lesson singing has to offer: that excellence is never simply about performing better. It is about becoming more fully yourself.  



Songkraft singers have graced a wide range of musical styles and performance events for over four decades.  Contact the studio if you'd like to attend a class or workshop.  If you are interested in getting an up-close, personal look at the program, take advantage of an introductory offer for a complimentary session.  Send a text, an email or give the studio a call.  

Take the time to read through this website and, in particular, the next page entitled:  "A White Paper on Voice & Performance."  There's a lot of good information there about how to be successful in achieving the standard for excellence.