Singing Tips and Techniques | Grace Foley Blog - Grace Foley

Ask The Universe

8/20/2017

Ask the universe

I am a firm believer that I am never alone. Since I was a young child I have known that I have a guardian angel looking after me and now that I am an adult I need my angel more than ever!
The worst thing that can hit an artistic person is doubt. Doubt can hit you out of nowhere. It can totally derail you and dull your artistic nature. It eats away at your time and makes you second guess all your decisions. Having such a fickle career can lead us artists to experience doubt quite often if we are not careful. We start asking ourselves if we are crazy to do what we do but I think we probably need to be a little crazy for this business! It is so important then for us to know that there is something working for us outside of ourselves. I believe that sometimes, when doubt has got its clutches into you, you must just say, 'Universe...help!'.
I recently experienced some doubt as to whether I am mad to be creating a career for myself in such an unstable field. Then, one day, the universe answered. I was approached by a woman who had lost her brother and wanted to thank me for the comfort that one song on my album had given her through an incredibly dark time. I then opened an email from a young child from Germany who had loved my concert in Kenmare and wanted me to know that. This was followed by numerous wedding music enquiries!
So, artists, if you are questioning yourself and maybe feel lost, why not ask the universe for help? Maybe say a prayer or meditate? The answers sometimes lie in the energy around us.

Who is my audience?

8/8/2017

As an artist there is a fine line between appealing to the public and staying true to yourself. Do we stay within the confines of our own vision or do we relax the boundaries a little to let a new brand of audience come in?
When I was studying music in college there was a definite dislike among my peers for the 'crossover' type classical singers of the world. The likes of Katherine Jenkins and Josh Groban were seen to have turned their backs on their true background and to have lowered their standards in order to appeal to a wider audience. I always felt torn when these debates took place as I was knee deep in my classical studies yet my heart was siding more with the crossover singers.
At the ripe old age of 31 I have now realised why I felt so torn back then. While my peers felt that these famous singers had turned their back on their roots I think these singers probably always had a passion and love for the more contemporary style of music. I came to this conclusion because that is exactly how I feel. As a child my favourite singer was Celine Dion. As a teenager I listened to the Frames and Damien Rice on loop. When I began vocal training I simply fell into the classical world and went from there. Now that I no longer have anyone telling me what to sing and how to sing, I feel I can use my training to compliment the type of music I love to perform. I ask everyone to try not to judge people for the way they express themselves. We can only appeal to a certain number of people and my hope is that, if we stay true to our hearts, people will inevitably be more drawn to our creations.

Our Croke Park

7/31/2017

I have a number of cousins who are excellent footballers and we as a family do our best to go to all their games to support them. When I've held my concerts and wanted them to come along I told them that concerts are 'my Croke Park'!
Well, I recently was one of the very lucky people who got to be present at one of the most amazing spectacles that Croke Park has ever seen and there was not a football or sliotar in sight. On July 8th the band Coldplay came to Croke Park and played a gig that none of us will ever forget. This concert truly was the Arts world at its' finest. Not only was the music incredible but the visual display was out of this world. The concert began with a classical singer singing 'O Mio Babbino Caro'. This was a great way to catch the audience's attention from the outset and from there things just got better and better.
From the flashing lights on everyone's wristbands to the moment Chris Martin brought a man in a wheelchair on stage to play the harmonica, we were taken on an incredible journey with a band who clearly live for music. My favourite part of the show was when Chris Martin said that they used to play in Ireland years ago to audiences of 'basically nobody' so they were blown away by the response they were getting from the 82,000 fans in the stadium. He was genuinely so grateful to each person who came because he remembers the days of playing to almost empty halls.
This concert shows that this great country can celebrate both our national sports and music in the same great venue and this makes me proud to be Irish.

Home Grown

7/26/2017

Home-grown

I spent a number of years studying performance in Dublin and during that time I was lucky enough to work and study with some of Ireland's best up and coming singers. One might assume that all the best performers gravitate to our country's capital but you couldn't be more wrong.
Recently I have become very aware of the number of extremely talented people living and performing in our own town and around Munster. The amazingly talented Gemma Sugrue has spent the last number of months singing with Jenny Greene and the RTE Concert Orchestra. This whole project is such a great step forward for music in Ireland as it combines so many different musical genres and musicians from completely different disciplines. Gemma also runs a hugely successful school called Voiceworks and her knowledge of the ins and outs of singing seems endless.
Living locally we are very lucky to have two great male singer-songwriters, Tom Lucey and Cathal Flaherty. They have both recently released new songs along with music videos and I have to say I was both moved and impressed by what I heard.
On an international level the local brother-sister combo that are Greywind are Killarney natives Steph and Paul O' Sullivan. Their brand of music is so powerful and dramatic that it is hard to believe they began by writing material at home in Killarney and were picked up when a music company came across one of their songs on online.
I cannot begin to imagine the number of talented local people out there but what I do know is that we need to support our local talent. We all hear that we should shop local. Well, I urge you this week to listen local! If you haven't already, look up these fantastic artists and show them that homegrown talent is not only acknowledged but it is also supported.

Home

7/3/2017

I was recently at home with my parents in Fossa for a visit and I left there feeling totally inspired! It was a combination of things that led me to feel this way. I decided to go for a stroll around the garden to see what my Dad had done with it as I hadn't taken the time to look around it in years. My father's garden is a work of art in itself. Not only did I enjoy the beautiful plants and flowers, I also felt so connected to my own roots. I can't describe how I felt but I didn’t feel like I was remembering what it was like to be a child, I actually felt like I was one again.
I thought my neighbour Christina would run up to me any minute and we would go climbing trees or we might continue upgrading my secret home that we had put together behind the shed! I also felt in my heart that sense of wonder and excitement for life. That feeling that the world was my oyster and all my dreams would come true.
We often associate dreaming with children but I think this is one of the biggest mistakes we can make as adults. Why should we stop believing in the magic of life just because we have more responsibilities now? Surely that is even more of a reason to dream and hope and plan for great things. My parents have always supported my dreams, even during the times when my hopes have been dashed. I firmly believe that I will always be a dreamer and I hope that one day my children will come home to a place where they can reconnect with their own dreams. Home is where the heart is and the heart is where your dreams live.

When I Grow Up

6/16/2017

I've often written about inspiration and how important it is in the Arts world. The other day I was travelling to Cork by car with my fiancé John. As much as he loves listening to the radio I convinced him to let me put on an album and I chose one that I actually hadn't listened to in years. As I sang along, almost word perfect, to each track, I was brought back to a time when I initially fell in love with music.
The album we were listening to was the 'Grease' soundtrack. I can't tell you the exact date when I first saw that movie, but I can remember how I felt. I felt uplifted and excited by all the singing and dancing and I vowed that when I grew up I would be 'an actor, singer and dancer'. I rented that movie for months on end then on the morning of my 5th birthday my parents surprised me by presenting me with my very own copy. I couldn't believe I now owned this piece of magic that I had completely fallen in love with. I continued to watch this movie along with 'Grease 2', 'Staying Alive' and 'Dance Academy' on loop for many years. My childhood friends and cousins can attest to the fact that I was obsessed with these movies as I would regularly subject them to 'show rehearsals' using these movies as our soundtrack.
I hadn't thought about my very first musical inspiration until this weekend. Can you remember what initially caused you to fall in love with music or art or dance? Did one line in a poem or song inspire you to one day grow up to be an artist? Are you now the person you wanted to be when you grew up?

Are we human or are we singer?

6/12/2017

I have always been more drawn to the lyrics of a song than it's melody. My father and my fiance both feel the opposite but for me, unless I can feel some sort of connection to the lyrics, I can be left cold by a song.
This often leads to a heated debate when watching talent shows on TV in my house. The singers who I would describe as 'Powerhouse' singers have never really done it for me. I can certainly see that they are very talented and they have a very strong instrument, but, I often find all the belting and vocal acrobatics a little tiresome. I must make it clear that this is simply an opinion.
When I am working with a student I always tell them that you must take the listener on a journey. Years ago someone told me,"You don't give them starter, main course and dessert all at once. You give one course at a time". I loved that analogy and still use it today. In my eyes a song is a heightened way of telling a story. The combination of words and music can often get a message to travel right to the heart of the listener. I think I like singers like Glen Hansard and Damien Rice because they are not afraid to sing a story in a very stripped back manner. They have moments where they sing notes that some may say are rather harsh and ugly, but the story at that part of the song requires that.
As singers, do we sometimes hide behind our vocal prowess? Do we lose the story in our attempt to impress? As singers WE are the instrument but we are also the human behind the story in that moment. Do we prefer our singers to be more singer or more human?

Fear Will Not Win

6/2/2017

'What have we done to the world? Look what we've done'. Those are the lyrics of the late and great Michael Jackson and, in today's world, they have never been more relevant. When I heard about the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena I was, like everyone else, absolutely sickened.
This new brand of attack does not target the powerful but instead targets the innocent and most vulnerable. They are aiming to instill fear into the hearts of everyone as you just don't know where they will strike next. Those poor concert goers were there for the taking. I'm sure for weeks and months fans of Ariana Grande planned and dreamt about going to her concert. They would have been singing her songs for weeks. They would have been planning outfits, hairstyles and makeup. The vast majority of the singer's fans are very young and so this particular act of terrorism has hit the world very hard. Innocent people who had gathered in song were left running for their lives and for some it would be the last time they would ever sing again.
It is so utterly heartbreaking to think of those people who one minute were having the time of their lives, and the next, their lives were changed for good. I will admit that I started to wonder if it is safe to go anywhere. I myself am going to see Coldplay in concert in Croke Park and I began to feel fear grip at me. But we cannot stop gathering in song or in sport or in any way where we come together as one. Fear will not win. So continue to sing like no one is listening. Dance like no one is watching. Love like you have never been hurt.

No Filter

5/30/2017

The world we live in at the moment is one that, I feel, is contradicting itself. On one hand we are the first generation to face mental illness head on. We talk about our feelings. We say it is ok not to be ok. Then we are also the first generation to literally filter the dark parts of our lives out so that the world sees our seemingly 'perfect' lives on social media.
The more I thought about this, the more I thought about the topic in relation to the Arts. As artists we are supposed to be proud that we bare our souls and hearts to the world through our creations and our self expression. While we do expose ourselves and our insecurities on a daily basis, we also dread that someone will see our flaws. I know that I personally worry I might step onto a stage where the audience doesn’t like what I do. A stage where I will stumble over a word or my voice might crack. But then I ask myself, is that not all part of a live performance? I do things like mindfulness to calm those nagging worries, but are those little insecurities not actually all part of what it is to be human?
I ask my fellow artists, would you let the world see your broken creations? Should we have an art exhibition of 'The Lost Paintings'? Should we have a concert where we air 'The Forgotten Music'? Would we dare expose our failings to the world? Should we just turn the filter off?

The Job

5/21/2017

'What made you decide to have a career as a singer?'. This is a question that I am asked very frequently and it's understandable given the unusual nature of what I do for a living. This question is normally followed by, 'But what do you do for a day job?'. I'm always amazed at how people seem to finally understand and accept my life's choices when I tell them that I also teach singing. Teaching is widely accepted as a proper job whereas a career in performance or in the Arts generally isn't.
I suppose I can see that, from the outside, it can look like a very 'airy-fairy' kind of lifestyle but it is, in fact, the very opposite. Most people who work in the Arts have years of training and practice under their belts. Much like in other areas of work, we had to learn our craft and work very hard to become as skilled as possible. I think there are some obvious differences between a more regular job and a job like mine. My job is not a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday type of job. One week can be crazy, the next week can be so quite I wonder if the phone will ever ring again! A job like mine involves a lot of alone time and of course there are days I find that very difficult. I think that if you are content with your career, most of the time, then you should be happy with your choice. If it feels like it fits and you feel like 'you', then stick with it.
In answer to the question 'What made you decide to have a career as a singer?'; I didn't decide. I have a huge love and passion within me for music and I cannot do anything else. Believe me, I have tried!