'Tain't whatcha do (it's the way that you do it), as the song goes. Singing for instance.

And I'm not talking about loud, soft, vocal fry, whether you use your head or your chest voice. I'm talking about what you do when the sound comes out. You do things you don't even know you're doing. You might pull your chest up. Throw your head back. You might be bracing your knees. You might be tightening your arms.

I remember a teenage girl coming to our studio back when we did 'studio recording experiences', a session just to record a couple of songs. I looked into where I'd set this girl up, where she was about to start singing, and she had both her arms wrapped around herself, hands on her shoulders. Like someone was about to attack her. Not surprisingly, the sound that came out was very small and timid.

I went in and helped her to relax a little. After all, this was a new and stressful situation for her. And she did, and we got a good take.

You might have got through numerous sessions and shows just fine. But then your voice starts to feel tired, you get a sore throat, and we've seen this happen with some big names. You get away with it so you don't question it.

These little tensions that we have, that we don't know we have, all build up. They wear down your machinery bit by bit until bam, there it goes.

So if you don't know what you're doing, how can you change it? Well you can start paying attention. Notice where your feet are, where your weight is resting on them, whether your knees are locked, what your arms are doing. When you start to sing, do you pull your head back, stick out your chest?

In a lesson with me, I'll be able to help you notice what you're doing when you sing, speak, perform, even while you're walking around or sitting down. It might take you a while to notice, and to let go of these habits, but when you do, you will notice a massive difference in your voice and your movement.

You can try hard, don't mean a thing, take it easy, then your jive will swing!