"Check It Out!"

Singers' Daily? Weeeelll...
Its the Singers' By-Weekly if its a day.

I'm noticing I don't write about something decidedly 'vocal' unless
its really authentic.

Meaning, its something I've recently dealt with
in my vocal studio. Or its something that's
really "up" for one or all of my students.

Keepin' it real, little darlin's...as real as I can.
SO, what's been "up" this week?

I have had so many requests, recently,
to teach really little kids to sing that
I am responding with a new vocal program.

Kids (2 to 7 years) don't really have the attention span,
nor the desire to master anything too technical,
nor should they.

Yet, learning how to sing, or rather, duplicating,
expressing and engaging the voice
can start as early as you like! It just
takes saintly parenting to deal
with it super early. All that screaming and
experimenting can drive one
"Too Much Barney" crazy.

So, I've come up with a new program
and a structure for parents
to teach their own kids the basics.

Whether they themselves are any good at
it or not won't matter. As long as the parents are willing to
show kids that they themselves are willing
to learn voice as well...
the kids will sing out with gusto.

Now, the kids will sing out anyway and early on!
(The reason for so many proud parents calling
me wondering if its too early
to start vocal training!)

But the second they notice Mom and/or Dad not ever
or refusing to sing...they get a funny message.
So the permission and duplication of the
energy of "Its OK To Sing" stays mostly at school
or daycare.

Our kids then become adults that
fill my vocal studio with a heartfelt desire
to learn to sing!

Listen, I don't mind: You've all kept me vigorously
employed for 30 years!

AND: why not nip this in the bud?

Parents need to be a part of
the vocal permission process (ie..."Its OK to sing!")
by example as much as possible.

Soon, you'll be able to download
the programs directly from my website

(Probably Spring of 2010 @
AustinVoiceLessons.com)

Isn't that great??

I think it rocks. I don't mind being "Auntie Divy"
for The Universe. It kinda suits me now.

The whole project
is a direct response to a need that is largely unfulfilled!
I am ecstatic to fill it with 30 years of encouraging everyone
to SIMPLIFY and relax into the path to vocal mastery.


If you'd like to be apart of the test marketing
group contact me on Facebook or directly:
divynelson@gmail.com

Oh, and the obvious by-product is
parents get super easy to learn, basic vocal technique
in a repetitive style for next to nothing!

Quite a lovely win win I think.

This is Auntie Divy for
The Singers' Daily
(which is really
The Singers' "When Divy has anything relevant to say or if
she Feels Like IT" BLog)

Thanks all, for your comments and support.

Mwah!

"I Fell Down"

Yes I did. I feough doughn.
I fell off my beloved horse...the one who loves me and would NEVER dump me in a bush and run.
HA!

As I was falling ( in SUPER slow motion) my partner said quietly
"Oh, there she goes". His horse standing quietly by , watching.

It was very humorous cuz I could hear him perfectly! He was reading my
mind! "...awwww here I go...." Surrender time!

Mid air, I just waited for the BUMPPH of hitting the ground
(which was very soft) and I cracked up laughing inside as
my body groaned....but it was very light and even a bit fun.
So dumb! No saddle, lots of mud and deer and horses not having
been on the trail in a few weeks....what a recipe!

An adventure you don't exactly sign up for but are fine with later...
I'll take the badge of honor and have that good story in my back pocket no problem!

THEN I JUDGED IT! (yikes)
Gigi says, "Are you pouting???"
I says, with the curled lip of 5 yr old "yeeeessss"...

Cuz I fell off my horse! I never fall off horses!
I just don't! (pout pout pout).

And as good friends will he made me laugh n laugh
at myself...it was fun and today I get
a well deserved massage.

SO, sportsfans... when singing:
you might fall off!
Don't pout. It only hurts for a second (if that!)
At the very least let us rib you in the ribs a bit so you don't
take your "process" so seriously, K?
Get right back into the song and earn your badges.

You'll have plenty of them by years end...and many great
stories to tell of daring do, singing off key, forgetting lyrics,
going forward anyway! Its an adventure!

And adventures are GREAT!!
Especially when you least expect them.

Walk it off soldier!
No one can tell you're limping
when you're in heels anyway!

AHHHH!!lol

This is Divy Nelson for
The Singers' Daily
AustinVoiceLessons.com

i feough doughn

The Synchronous Sound of Silence

"Hello darkness my old frieeeeend...."

no no no thats Simon n Garfunkle...what was I going to say?
AH! Right...!

Recently, I've come to see and hear more musically!
Which for me means: more clearly...

I'm applying my skills as a musician to everything (and everyone) around me...
at last. Everything is singing, everyone a song. WAY easier for me to see and hear!

When exploring these new skills my head, like a puppy listening to music,
will sometimes tilt gently from side to side.
My eyebrows a bit screwy as I listen to what's underneath...to what people are REALLY saying...
and I hear them!

I can relax!
I hear the song that they are, not just the words they are selling.

When listening to music, singers especially, I could always hear clearly
everything that was present or contracted out of reality.
Everything in nature as well:
easy to observe, communicate with and see clearly.

But People? I mean just in general? Way confusing...

When my Dad said the little fish I was about to poke through the eyeball to use as bait (for the really big big
fish I was sure to catch on a long ago deep sea fishing trip)
WOULD NOT FEEL A THING when I did this...I heard the lie trying to protect me. And saw CLEARLY
the exquisite level of torture I was beginning to perpetrate on the little fish.

I stopped,of course. Started crying and threw the fish overboard. (I did catch a rather large
Yellowtail later that afternoon...baited by the Captain himself!)

So my conclusions were mixed:
voices could bring rapture and bliss and relaxation and stability or
lie to your face! How could this be!?

I just couldn't quite see people clearly.

And then one day, while singing, that fairy world of denial
just slipped away and
I could see and hear
like a new born!

Okay well...a LOT of study and meditation
probably helped! But the moment was just simple and easy...

So to everyone who is performing this next month (including ME!)
Do we really have fear and trepidation?

Or are we are simply excited to express and share and be
with each other in such a dynamic way!?

Performing is such a huge opportunity for growth
as we choose NOT to
judge any aspect of our performance
in any direction: Simply enjoying
putting in the flight hours of
practical expression for all to
See and Hear.

We CAN see and hear what is really happening.
We DO know what is important and
what is not.

As it always was.

Gratitude and Love,

This is Divy Nelson for
The Singers' Daily
AustinVoiceLessons.com

Ciao!

"Why Not Be Great?"

I LOVE THE MONKEY'S........
And Coco Channel....

Coffee's nice...chocolate cheescake...diamonds...marigolds
all yummy.

How enjoyable can we create the experience of mastering Self?
Here is voice as template:

Today we went over the basics((Again??!!)
Looping deeper and expanding our level of control AND relaxation at higher rates of speed.

And then we went over it again, in slooowww motion just for fun!
Then we worked it and worked it and worked it and rested and grew big fat muscles!*WHEW*

And then we streeeetched and became sooo flexible, singing sexy ballads to no one in particular!

Then we sped it all up and marveled at our hyper rate of speed!

!!

Then we performed: singing for a few hundred angels, not caring at all if we failed or succeeded.

And then...we "started" again (in a completely new place of course)..

Going over the basics, finding the newness underneath! How Cool!

And on and on and on..... ballerinas and race car drivers all.

Someone mentioned recently how amazing some of my students are
and how well they deliver a song...someone who has watched me teach for years.

I was like "Of course they are!"
I'm so used to you all succeeding...even when you don't quite know you have.

Everyone I work with is totally amazing.
Its just a fact.

Choirs of angels all around me!
You guys SO rock!!

Now I'll get all these emails asking "Did I miss something..some performance?"
No no no...you are all just doing better then you can imagine...right now.

No performance necessary...until (for some of you)
OCT 13th!!!
lol

You'll be great....cuz it just doesn't matter: so, then, why not be great?

This is Divy Nelson
in praise of Devoted Diva's
and Divine Dervishes...

For:
The Singers' Daily
AustinVoiceLessons.com
ciao

"Such Desire Is An Everyday Affair"

I actually have a tremendous desire for you to sing well...because I know whats its like.
Its FANTASTIC to do it, be it, experience it...master it! Of course I'd want this
for you! :-)

In the big picture, singing is just something to do, to play around with.
Its not that important in and of itself. Its just a form of expression.

Its poignancy can be tremendously uplifting and
your vibration can shift worlds...but thats true of many things.

Animals sing all the time. Everyone seems so surprised and almost shocked to hear dogs
or horses or whales make long, calling sounds with their eyes closed.

Celebrating the enjoyment of being alive is instinctual?
Yup!


Singing out in the community, playing in clubs, singing at your friends wedding, singing in church is a blast.
It doesn't need to lead anywhere! It is, in and of itself, totally satisfying!

When we make it a means to an end, like, to become famous
or to make an impression the "trying to prove something" energy
comes across.

And the event is much less fulfilling for the singer
(whether they know it or not).

I started performing again recently just for fun and its been...FUN!
I'm not looking for validation anymore so its easier then ever.

I want to thank the Michael Goss Band in Austin for making
it even easier to enjoy playing out...and for being SO good!
And thank you to Annie Reed for getting my butt there!
Annie is an amazing singer on many levels and I'm grateful to her!

When something is right, it will fall into your lap...with almost no effort.

Want a new relationship? Be your sexy, cool, wonderful self and just forget about it!
Wanna be a a famous singer? Play out, practice, write n record while being your cool sexy self and ...
forget about it!

When you forget about what you want out of something
it delivers when you least expect it.

And stick to your craft, mastering it as best you can.
Mastering something, putting in the "10 Thousand Hours" is
a way of life and can give true fulfillment regardless of goals
or targets.

And once you have mastered anything, it gives you the means to travel the path of
mastering everything....even yourself AS life itself.

Mastering myself....Being Myself....being.
Just an everyday affair!

With True Hearts Love
and Desire for all beings to
Sing as the Stars We Are...

This is Divy for
The Singers' Daily
(well, weekly at this point)
AustinVoiceLessons.com

(since 12 million BC)

"I'm Often Asked..."

Why does this seem so hard when it was easy yesterday in the car?
How long is this gonna take?
Do I sound ridiculous?
Was that "right"?

It probably sounded WONDERFUL but are you gonna believe that?

Receiving some bit of info and imbibing its truth, feeling it resonate
throughout your bones into the knowing of your being...well,
that's pretty rare. But it can be done!

Its worth a try! Right!?

Awww go on...Give it a go.....
"Your voice is beautiful."
(pretend I'm saying this to you personally, like, you know, right now).


"Your voice..........................is...............beeeeutiful."



(Okay, what'd your 'head' spit back at you about that?)



"Your face, when you're singing is like an Angel!"
(How about that one in?)

"Your soul is showing and your voice seems to be weaving you
back together in a whole
new way!"

(How'd that go down?)

"When you sing that note I..I just want to CRY its so...I don't know.....
Gorgeously YOU!" (Try THAT one on.)

My point is...(... on the top of my head?)

...no no no..MY POINT is that hearing, from someone else who is listening or watching, how
beautiful we are, never quite...lands.
If, on the off chance, it does, does it stick?

Do we integrate it into all the other information we've gathered about ourselves
allowing it, by its elevated nature, to UPLIFT all the other crap we've taken on as "true" and self-evident?
Do we take that ultra positive with us for the rest of our lives?
Do we count on it as Truth in a pinch? ("But officer, I am really beautiful and wonderful and
sing like an angel...!!") ("Honey, I am a really beautiful vibration and I actually Love you and you do not need to yell.")
etc etc...lol( I could make these up all DAY!)

For what its worth, no matter who you are or what
your behavior has been lately.....You voice is already beautiful.

It is not a "part"of you...
its YOU!

You are not a "part" of Oneness.
You are IT!

So when You sing, who is singing?
(What is singing?)

Whyyyyyy is this relevant?
Might this perspective get us to relax the "doing it RIGHT" fist of Technique and
sing in a more natural way? While at the same time
enjoying that we've got technique and can CHOOSE IT ANYTIME?


Even if we're scared, contracted or both?

I am REALLY good at this job...I see the results everyday
and its pretty darn gratifying!
I mean, I love just singing a song, getting paid, getting applause (oh the glory)
And this, this conversation we're having (well, I'm having, I have no idea if anyone is actually having it with me.)...

...is just a tad more fascinating.


Thanks for the comments all!
Go see Julie and Julia
if you haven't already...it is very sweet...pun intended.

This is Divy Nelson for
The Singers' Daily
AustinVoiceLessons.com

ciao for now
PS: comments on FACEBOOK are fine as well! and THANK YOUUUU!

Singing As Prayer

There are millions of people in hopeless situations at the moment. Of course, this may have always been true.
It is what we have been choosing for a very long time.

The real question is:
Am I consciously choosing happiness in any given moment?

A sign that things have changed is that this subject used to be regarded as
airy-fairy and way out. Now its considered common sense by most people,
that one can choose to be happy.

Unhappy people avoid singing because it reminds them of forgiveness, power,
kindness, allowance and redemption. For those few moments
they actually would be happy, or at least remember that choosing it is possible.

A major shift towards wholeness and enlightenment is understanding that happiness
is a choice. The test is when things are going really badly.

What do we usually
choose then?

What reasons and justifications have I historically put in place that dictate when I can
be happy? And how much happiness I deserve to feel? And for how long?

Sometimes singing is NOT what I feel like doing. But, for professional reasons I, of course,
do it anyway. I discovered that it healed almost all wounds.

Time, choice and prayer did the rest.

When singing is prayer Communion with all things can be perceived.
When singing is heart centered it heals the singer and anyone listening,
opening hearts and paving the way for
even more integration and the
Awareness of Oneness.

In this sense, what value does singing a song have?

Much love to you today
and everyday.

This is Divy Nelson for
The Singers' Daily
AustinVoiceLessons.com