Choose Optimism!

Here's some great advice from Sandra Anne Taylor's book "Quantum Success":

There's absolutely no energetic value in a pessimistic outlook. No matter what's going on around you, you can look past the problems and open yourself up to receiving the solutions. Think about how well things could go, and then take action in that direction.

This same philosophy applies to voice and singing! So many clients come to me with negative beliefs about their vocal ability. Since I believe that singing is 90 percent mental, I work on the mental and emotional level, as well as the physical, to get stellar results. If you're having a vocal challenge, stop thinking about the challenge, and start visualizing the perfect, powerful voice that you would like to have!

Andrea Michaels on Obstacles

I thought this was a great quote from Andrea Michaels, President of Extraordinary Events. It reminds me that we don't have to be perfect, just do our very best!

"Obstacles are merely challenges to overcome. No matter how much you think you know you should know that you don't know everything."

-Andrea Michaels

Musical Memory and Dementia

Studies have shown that musical memory lasts longer than any other kind, and may be the reason why people suffering from dementia are 'awakened' when hearing music that is familiar - sparking memories that would otherwise be unavailable.

A Baby Baptism Gift

I got this question from Dan on my askbethlawrence.com site, where you can ask anything you want about voice/music etc. And thought it might be of interest to those of you who are going to Baptisms or baby showers:

Thanks for your question: What are/is a typical type gift to a child being christened/baptized?
Since this question doesn’t pertain to voice, per se, I can’t give you a perfect answer. But, I might suggest that the gift of music would always be appropriate as a gift for both parent AND child. Here's my answer:

You might consider my lullabye CD “The Land of Sleepytime” which won the National Parenting Publications Gold Award. It’s a beautiful CD, with great reviews. I’ve heard from lots of parents who say they’ve played it for the child from birth and the child won’t go to sleep without it!

You can order it from my website: vivalavoice.com/products.htm

Or from CD Baby: cdbaby.com – just input my name.

A lullabye CD will help the baby sleep, and help the parents GET some sleep, so it’s always welcome.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Beth Lawrence

Sound Healing - Get A Cat!

I found this bit of information really interesting and wanted to pass it on!

The cat's purr may be a self-healing mechanism. Cats purr at between 25 and 50 hertz, a frequency at which vibrations have been found to have a wide range of medical benefits, from increasing bone density and helping in the healing of fractures, torn tendons and muscles to generally relieving pain.