Who are Natural Singing - For those of you who would like to know more about John. As a boy of 9 he joined the church choir and a year later sang and appeared in the Opera 'Sir John in Love' by Vaughan Williams and this was the first time that John met Vaughan Williams. By the age of 13 John's voice started to change and at 15 he was singing as a Boy Baritone, which was very unusual at that time. When John was 15 (1936 and 1937 season) he played international rugby for England school boys.
From 1942 to 1946 John served in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. After demobilisation John studied at the Royal College of Music entering this world renowned music college in 1947. He graduated in 1950 to start his professional career as a singer working on the radio and television (often broadcasting live) and on the stage in the west end and throughout the UK. And then finally he decided to go into teaching this wonderful art.
Please listen to the songs recorded by John during the 1950’s. John went on to join the Bristol Old Vic in January 1961 and taught singing at the theatre school. Students describe John as a straightforward, avuncular and jovial man, and have a special fondness for his favoured training song, Ombra Mai Fu.
John taught actors to focus their breath in such a way that their voice would come out from the top of the head, because even humming quietly can then be heard right up in the 'Gods' of the theatre. John claimed to be able to teach anyone to sing, no matter how unpromising they seemed when they arrived at the theatre school.
John would give a special Saturday class for people who had a 'faulty ear', affecting not only their singing but also the range of their speaking voice, and the ability to vary pitch: 'At the end of the year, I would have them singing unaccompanied in two parts,' he would say with pride.
Christopher Ashley remembers that John showed him that in order to act, he didn't need to put on a special voice. An acting voice is simply an extension of an ordinary voice, and a singing voice is simply another extension of that.
