Good service?

Here's an interesting lesson from the car industry.

Took my Saab estate to the Saab dealers yesterday because the ABS lights, brake lights and Traction control lights were all on, and the big red triangle in the middle of the dashboard was saying "Oy, don't drive!"

Now my excellent local garage doesn't do ABS, so it had to be the Saab dealers, even though I've never visited.

The phonecall from the dealer later that day came as something of a shock - £1,400 + VAT for new brake pads, discs, tyres, in fact pretty much everything moveable on the car. Oh, and a £60 test to see if the head gasket had gone, which could be another £2,500+.

After a day of panic I rang round a few people and got some advice.

So the following morning I asked the dealers if they had switched off the ABS warning light. Various mutterings and shufflings at the other end of the phone, so I said that was all I wanted, and I escaped with a £51.00 tab.

NONE of the work they wanted to bill me for was essential to fix the ABS. But they did not make that clear to me at any point. You can be absolutely sure that I will never go there again.

And the moral of the story?
I see music (performing or training) as a service industry. As far as I'm concerned, there are two schools of service industry.
i. Sucker the gullible, blind them with science, people are stupid enough to part with their money.
ii. Give people clear explanations, value for money, and stay honest and helpful, and your customers will recommend you to others, and come back themselves.

Which school do you belong to?


Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/ to sign up for the free eZINE and get your copy of the free ebook 86 things you never hear a singer say

The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series

The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

And the new Vocal Process MusicalStore is open for business throughout the New Year period:http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/products/MusicalStore.htm

Being a musical entrepreneur

Interesting article recently on a new seminar for performers at Eastman School.

The School is setting up a three-day workshop on Preparing the Generation-E Musician.

Heidi Neck, professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, is facilitating the workshop at the end of January. As far as I am concerned, she has got it spot-on.

Ms Neck is concerned that sometimes these [music] schools "are saying they're adopting entrepreneurship but are really adopting business basics, such as how to write grants and how to file taxes."

I feel very strongly about this subject. When I was at music college (way back in the 1880s) money, income and earning were dirty subjects and were never discussed. The emphasis was on performing to the best of your ability, but exactly how you were going to do that when you left college was shrouded in mystery. Only after I left was a lecture instituted that even covered tax basics.

As you might see if you visit the site, I've left a comment on the article to the effect that I've been earning a living solely connected with music for 24 years, and a good deal of that is due to knowing where the work is and being flexible enough to tackle it.

Entrepreneurship includes creating or finding work for yourself, rather than waiting for someone to employ you!

Click here to read the article:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/01/12/music

Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/ to sign up for the free eZINE and get your copy of the free ebook 86 things you never hear a singer say

The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series

The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

And the new Vocal Process MusicalStore is open for business throughout the New Year period: http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/products/MusicalStore.htm

Brand new "opening the throat" DVD

In the last few days I started a pre-launch of the brand new Vocal Process training resource.

"Constriction and Release - the techniques" is the new voice training DVD.

I decided to offer the pre-launch to our eZINE subscriber list. The list is free to join, but offers all kinds of goodies including money off training courses, discounts on our products and of course, pre-launches.

You may or may not know that the UK is having a tough time at the moment, and we appear to be in the grip of the worst recession since World War 1.

We're feeling the pinch a bit at Vocal Process, so I decided to press only 50 of the new DVDs, and offer them in advance of the launch to the eZINE list, to see what the reaction would be. I gave the subscribers a week to order, or until the 50 DVDs ran out.

Well I needn't have worried.

The first sales happened within 4 MINUTES of the email going out, and the 50 DVDs were snapped up in an astonishing six hours.

I had to go and pick up my car from the Saab dealers (and that's a whole other story, for the next blog), and when I got back, we'd exceeded the original 50 and the orders were still coming in.

So I made a decision and ordered a second pressing. Although I'd said the price would go up after the original 50 were gone, I was getting desperate phonecalls and emails from people who were having problems with paypal, and even in one case who didn't have internet that day and was emailing me from her phone.

So I've relented and am keeping the price the same until next monday or until the second pressing runs out.

Needless to say, we're halfway through the second pressing already and it's only the day after the pre-launch!

Incidentally, the DVD shows the "opening the throat" technique, or constricting and releasing the false vocal folds, or retraction, or the release of hyperadduction (different names for the same thing). This open throat technique has been taught for years, but this is actually the first time it's ever been shown on a DVD available to the public.

The film comes from footage of the Singing and the Actor Training intensive seminar and shows Gillyanne taking the group through the entire process, with several variations, in just under 21 minutes.

If you want to find out more about the DVD and its contents, click on this link for the details - it's well worth reading.
http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/resources/e_shots/openingthethroat.htm

And if you'd like to buy it, you just need to join the Vocal Process eZINE mailing list here.

Sorry, no exceptions!

Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/ to sign up for the free eZINE and get your copy of the free ebook 86 things you never hear a singer say

The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series

The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

And the new Vocal Process MusicalStore is open for business: http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/products/MusicalStore.htm