June News and Updates

When the “blogging shift” hits, even a singing teacher can experience the very real fear of the blank page — that moment when getting started feels difficult. The empty page seems to freeze your thinking, and writing, brainstorming, or working simply won’t get going. It’s an incredibly common phenomenon. You just stare at the blank page without getting anything done, avoid starting, and overthink everything because it feels like all the good and important things have already been said… And now, as I browsed through the Tampere Singing School blog posts, I realized it even more clearly: how many wonderful things have already been written in our blog!

But that’s exactly where I got an idea! In this June blog post, I want to highlight some of the wisdom that we teachers have already shared in our earlier texts. Too often good insights get lost in the constant stream of information, so it’s really not a bad idea to bring back some of the best parts from blogs that have already been written.

Or perhaps you noticed an interesting detail about how the diaphragm works in Johanna’s blog post about breathing? “When we inhale, the diaphragm moves downward like a parachute, pushing the internal organs out of the way. This ‘pushing’ can be seen as movement in the stomach, sides, and back.” In the same text, Johanna continues by saying that true relaxation in inhalation requires the ability to “let go of the diaphragm,” something I often try to explain to my students using the term “seal breathing.”

In my own 2023 blog post about the wellness benefits of singing, I wrote that “singing practice deepens breathing and thereby increases the oxygen level in our blood, develops the body’s deep support muscles, and releases pleasure-related hormones such as oxytocin and endorphins.” I also referred to a report by the Finnish Memory Association and the Nursing Research Foundation, which found that music is one of the best non-pharmaceutical forms of treatment and mood enhancement for memory disorders.

But what if you feel so nervous that you don’t even dare to cross the threshold of Tampere Singing School to enjoy the wellness effects of singing and the good feeling brought by deep breathing?

Our singing teacher Jennifer wrote about performance anxiety in her blog post The Horror and Beauty of Performing in late 2025. In her text, she talks about how different performance anxiety can feel depending on the situation. I can definitely relate to that myself: performing in front of a large audience is not too nerve-wracking when it comes to speaking professionally, teaching, or lecturing, but sitting down “at the curve of the grand piano” is still one of the most nerve-racking things imaginable.

Jennifer reminds all of us in those moments to remember that “singing is a meaningful and wonderful experience for us because we want to share stories and convey emotions to other people.” In addition to this, Jennifer reflects on singer identity in her blog post From Words to Action, while I myself write about everything from summer courses to level performances.

So there is all kinds of content to be found in the Tampere Singing School blogs. Take a look through them, pick out the best thoughts to reflect on, and perhaps even suggest a topic to your teacher — one that might save the next blogger suffering from writer’s block.

Looking forward to the summer courses,

Anu