(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-21 11:04

Don't be stricken by KTV stage fright. Learn to breathe properly, stand correctly, position your voice and belt out the song in your heart. A voice-coaching "bootcamp" is coming up.

In Shanghai a night on the town almost invariably begins at a KTV bar and ends at another. Then the pressure is on to perform - after a fashion - or at least put on a good show.

However, if the prospect of crooning at a KTV leaves you in a cold sweat, even after a few drinks, or if you've always had a song in your heart but your vocal cords need tuning, don't despair. Help is at hand.

Newly arrived professional jazz singer Marta Taylor has linked up with JZ School of Music for a voice-coaching bootcamp on March 8. It's a foretaste of JZ School's basic voice lessons to follow. So next time you have to sing, you can dazzle rather than daze.

The bootcamp workshop is free, with reservations; the school charges for lessons.

While this will be her first teaching gig, Taylor is quick to point out that "singing is like anything.''

" Some people are just born with it while for some it doesn't come easily. They have to work a bit harder. But everyone can sing," she says.

Sometimes the singers who aren't "naturals" make such an effort in their craft that they excel.

"Nobody should ever discount their abilities and their potential to become amazing," says Taylor.

   1 2 3   

   1 2 3