Janet Edwards - Everyone’s a Singer

Janet Edwards - An Extraordinary Voice Coach

Janet Edwards - "Never be in any doubt about the power of music."

Janet is also a successful performer in her own right.

Janet offers a number of courses that anyone can enrol upon.

“I believe everyone can sing. There’s such a range of freedom that we barely tap into, says Janet Edwards to me as we begin our interview.

And she believes that it’s society as well as individuals that benefit. “Never be in any doubt about the power of music. It’s been proven that you can keep crime down in shopping centres just by playing good music.”

“And parents must never discourage their children from singing. It really doesn’t matter what sound they make. Children must be allowed to just sing and be free.”

The freedom to perform herself is important to her, although she has found that in countries like France older women are much more appreciated than here in the UK.

“Europe has always been a wonderful place to perform. They have a good attitude to culture in general there is an openness to music genres and appreciation for quality which over-rides ageism.

“We’re completely obsessed with age in the UK especially with women and particularly in the pop industry. I don’t think it’s exclusive to music, I think it’s a British attitude in general. In France they tend to value a woman for what she can produce in the way of art. If it’s good and she happens to be older, she’ll be given great respect.”

Janet’s own style evolved from classical training. “I was a violinist, pianist and church organist. I had complete professional training from a very young age. But I also always had a great love of jazz even as a concert pianist so I started to do a lot of modern cross over music. Now the soul jazz area is something I spend a lot of time in, it’s so free and creative, it allows me to improvise a lot.”

The skills she has helped to build and confidence that she has given to others has set many on the road to musical success. “Everyone is vulnerable, even those who appear to have it all. We are all human and as artists we’re always learning.”

She began to work with Leona Lewis when she was just eight years old. “I was working with lots of leads in the West End at the time and it wasn’t usual for me to take someone so young but she was exceptional. To start with I gave her simple guidance and left her to have fun. She was very quick to learn and hungry to do more. I took her through the classical repertoire and then as she got older introduced other genres and artists like Mariah Carey.”

But what does Janet think of the current crop of TV talent shows? “They don’t give a realistic picture of the industry and encourage lots of young people to believe that in a short time they can be amazing when the groundwork hasn’t been done. That’s why lots of reality stars will run into trouble beyond the programme.

“Reality show winners’ schedules are horrendous. It’s extra pressure that is not conducive to the rest of their performance. You have to have the right people around you and also be able to know what’s right yourself.

“I’ve had some wonderful people around me during my career but creativity is our own responsibility as artists. We are only as good as our last performance. The music industry is political. You have to be wise and have integrity. It’s very easy for young artists to get manipulated.

“We can be inspired by all kinds of things. Good artists should be keen to perform live. Audiences inspire us to a better performance. Miming to tracks is not what music is about. The artists I work with will be doing their own performing and even through sore throats and flu and they still sing well.”

Janet believes that without the groundwork you have little to build on. “Anyone who trains with me will start to work from music even if they haven’t read a note in their life. But for those who have learnt to play an instrument or sung in choirs as children, it really does show through.”

Janet advises parents to give their children music as a valuable gift.

“Learning to play an instrument is very, very valuable to a child. Music is a great uniter as well. There should be more music being learnt and played in schools. The effect good music can have on any community, children especially, will be very important and bring value in the long term to us all.”

Janet is currently performing in France but plans to play in London and across Europe in the near future.

If you would like more information on Janet or her innovative voice coaching courses then check out her websites at www.powerthroughvoice.com and www.janetedwards.co.uk.

Abi Mowbray

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Tue, 03/09/2010 - 11:58 — Abi Mowbray

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