Healthy tips for the voice

 Some people spend hours at the gym or pounding the pavement to keep their bodies in shape. But beyond singers and actors, who worries much about their voices?
You should, say Norman Hogikyan and colleagues at the University of Michigan Health System.
"Your voice is your ambassador to the outside world," Hogikyan contends. "It portrays your personality and emotions. People make assessments about you based on your voice, so it is very important when you're speaking or singing to think about what people are really hearing. Problems with your voice also can have a tremendous impact on your life."

So therefore to keep your voice in shape, follow the following rules:
1. Drink water to keep your body well hydrated, and avoid alcohol and caffeine. Your vocal cords vibrate very fast, and having a proper water balance helps keep them lubricated. Important note: Foods containing large amounts of water are excellent hydration-conscious snacks, including apples, pears, watermelon, peaches, melons, grapes, plums, bell peppers and applesauce.
2. Don't smoke, or if you already do, quit. Smoking raises the risk of throat cancer tremendously, and inhaling smoke (even secondhand smoke) can irritate the vocal cords.
3. Don't abuse or misuse your voice. Avoid yelling or screaming, and try not to talk loudly in noisy areas. If your throat feels dry or tired, or your voice is getting hoarse, reduce your voice use. The hoarseness is a warning sign that your vocal cords are irritated.
4. Keep your throat and neck muscles relaxed even when singing high notes and low notes. Some singers tilt their heads up when singing high notes and down when singing low notes. "The high notes are on the ceiling and the low notes are on the floor," Rosenberg says. "Over time, you'll pay for that"—not just with strained vocal muscles but also by causing future limits on the vocal range.
5. Pay attention to how you speak every day. Even performers who have good singing habits can cause damage when they speak. Many skilled singers don't continue their healthy habits when they speak; indeed, says Herseth, "many people—including singers—should have much more breath flow when they speak."
6. Don't clear your throat too often. When you clear your throat, it's like slamming your vocal cords together. Doing it too much can injure them and make you hoarse. Try a sip of water or swallow to quench the urge to clear. If you feel like you have to clear your throat a lot, get checked by a doctor for such things as acid reflux disease, or allergy and sinus conditions.
7. When you're sick, spare your voice. Don't talk when you're hoarse due to a cold or infection. Listen to what your voice is telling you.
8. When you have to sing or speak publicly, to large groups or outdoors, think about using amplification to avoid straining your voice
9. Do lip or tongue trills in the morning (try it in the shower or on your drive to work) to facilitate better use of airflow and breath.
10. Perform gentle humming and cooing to warm up your voice in the morning.
11.  Avoid drinking caffeine right before any performance. Caffeine tightens the vocal cords; needless to say, this temporarily hinders your range and endurance. If you need to drink tea, then ensure that it's decaffeinated.
12.  Consider taking voice lessons, even if you have never had a voice problem; voice lessons have been shown to increase vocal efficiency, and decrease the likelihood of developing voice problems.

For more tips visit the following links:
 Texas voice center
voices.yahoo

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The Zenith Bank Interview experience

A lot of people want to get a first hand information of how the zenith bank interview stages looks like, well i have tried my best to keep it simple and straight forward here.

Note that as nothing in life is constant, so also job interviews. The process is majorly the same but questions asked are definitely different. the reason for this differences could be due to urgency of new staff, time factor, your level of experience(for fresh graduate, you probably might not get lots of questions) etc.

first thing you need to know is that zenith bank recruits through its agent PEOPLEPLUS. never make the mistake of thinking you are being invited by zenith bank, trust me i was corrected on that

Stages in the Zenith bank Interview:

1. Chat with HR (Mostly done at the H/O on Ajose Adeogun street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
2. Aptitude test (More often than not, the venue is a zenith bank branch on Sanusi Fafunwa street, just opposite Ajose Adeogun. ) Note that the test is four sessions: Quantitative (maths and logical questions), Comprehension (about 4 or 5 comprehension passages with questions demanding mostly implied answers and very few expressed answers), Sentence Correction(English-concord, parts of speech, etc and Logical Reasoning. total number of questions is 100 and you'll have 2hrs
3. Clearance (before your interview, you'll be cleared based on your submission of photocopy and originals of the following documents: 3 copies of CV, Waec Certificate (Not statement of result), Degree Certificate(s), Birth Certificate, previous employment offer letter(s), Professional certificates, NYSC discharge Certificate
4.  Interview stage (For this stage you will be seeing three interviewers separately. the third interviewer always seem to be the toughest, so be prepared)
5. Interview with the Executive Director (ED)
6. Medicals
7. offer

Only successful candidates will be contacted to move on to the next stage. Always remember be observe etiquette such as knocking before entering the offices (especially the ED office), greeting, wearing a smile, audibility, etc
Try not to rope yourself in by giving unnecessary information cos they wuld be asking you questions from your answers.

*DRESSING: Dress corporately for zenith bank means GET A SUIT!!. this applies to both guys and girls

Some important things you might be asked are on:

• Why should we hire you?
• Tell us about yourself
• Relate the Nigeria economy to your course of study
• how can you describe the Nigeria economy today?
• What is the current inflation rate, interest rate, unemployment rate, exchange rates etc.
• Why do you think you are better? etc

In all, the key to succeeding is Confidence and God. Pray well for favor from God before attending. Well thats about it!! If you need more info, just ask me. 

NLNG RECRUITMENT

Graduate Trainee

GT/2013/001

LOCATION : PORT HARCOURT (INTELS)  

The Job:
Graduate Trainee

The Duties:
Graduate Trainee

The Person:

Qualifications:
Candidates must possess a university degree obtained at a minimum of Second Class (Upper Division) in any of the following disciplines:

• Engineering
• Sciences
• Social
• Sciences
• Arts
• Law
• Business/Management Sciences

In addition candidates must

• Have obtained either their NYSC discharge certificate or exemption certificate.
• Not be over 28years old as at the date of this advert.

 click here to register


Closing Date:
22/11/2013

Oando Wants You! Apply to be Part of Oando Marketing’s Career Fair Today

 

HReade is pleased to inform you about the Oando Marketing PLC’s Career Fair.

The fair, themed “Demonstrating Superior Brand, Attracting Superior Talent“, is a career fair designed to provide information about career opportunities and create a credible platform to learn about the company and foster interaction with potential employees.

Oando Marketing PLC is a fully owned subsidiary of Oando PLC and Nigeria AOS leading retailer of petroleum products with a vast distribution network with over 500 retail outlets around the country. In addition, the company has significant investments in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Lubricants manufacturing, as well as operational subsidiaries in Togo and Ghana.

Please be informed that attendance at the Career Fair is strictly by invitation.

We, therefore, invite you to indicate your interest by uploading your CV to www.oando-cvmanager.com.

Date: Saturday 2nd November 2013

Secrets to Shifting on the Violin

Don't underestimate the importance of shifting and shifting properly. Shifting to higher positions without knowledge or a good foundation can set you up for catastrophic failure.

-Heather Broadbent

 

What is shifting? Well, you have to have an understanding first of the positions on the violin. The violin fingerboard is setup as a grid and the moving of the left hand from one position to the next is what is known as Shifting.

It is imperative to have an understanding of the positions before shifting. If you don't know what or where 5th position is it makes it pretty difficult to accurately shift somewhere you don't even know.

If you find yourself needing to shift to a position - not only practice the shift but practice in that position so you are familiar with the new lay of the land.

11 Shifting Secrets

1. Use a Tissue – In some cases, When I introduce shifting to a student I use a tissue. This helps the student have a feeling of polishing the strings with the finger when moving up and down the instrument and encourages a relaxed feeling. I had one teacher compare it to jumping of a diving board. That analogy didn't really work for me but hey if it works for you great! What he was trying to describe was the feeling of a solid finger playing a note then the releasing motion after the note is played to begin the shift and landing solid again on the new pitch.

2. Stay RELAXED – Do not strangle the instrument. It is Impossible to shift with tension. The tension is actually creating friction on the instrument making it difficult to shift smoothly. If you find this happening use a tissue and investigate your thumb. Is your thumb gripping the instrument? If so practice shifting without the thumb and then slowly bring him back into the picture. When you feel tension in your thumb do what I call the thumb dance. Take your thumb away from the instrument and wiggle it around.

3. Start SMALL - Start from shifting first to third – easy enough exercise. Play B and D on the A string in first Position. Really listen to the Pitch D, hear it in your head and then shift from B to D with first finger.

4. Teamwork - Have the Arm hand and fingers work as a team. Don't just shift up with the finger and leave everyone else behind. It is all about teamwork.

5. Siren or Tornado Exercise – My students love this exercise because they could annoy their parents or brothers and sisters. This exercise works for all levels. First it encourages practicing the shifting motion with teamwork. Start with any finger in first position and just shift up and down sounding like a siren. For Intermediate Level – Know exactly what position you are shifting to and vary positions, fingers and strings. Advanced level – DOUNIS :)

6. Keep an Eye on that Left Elbow – Let your elbow help you maneuver around to the higher positions. Bring it under the instrument to have easier access to higher positions

7. I can't emphasize this enough – Always know what position you are shifting from and to.

8. Always HEAR the new pitch in your head before shifting to it. You will seriously be surprised at how quickly this improves your intonation accuracy in shifting.

9. Be a posture inspector. Inspect your hand, thumb, arm – are they truly in the correct position. It is very easy after shifting not to know where you are in the posture department. So INSPECT. When shifting to seventh ask yourself “Am I truly in this position?” When shifting back to first again ask yourself”Am I truly in first?” Inspect your thumb that he is truly in the new position. This can be a GAME CHANGER in the intonation department let me tell you!!! This simple fix can change many intonation problems.

10. Practice Shifting down the instrument as much as up. So much time is spent on shifting up. Have you ever started from seventh position and practice shifting down? When practicing shifting don't neglect the downshifts :)

11. When isolating shifting in piece work make sure to practice the shifts fast. This is a different and difficult concept but just because the piece may be slow you still need to get to the new position just as cleanly without slides in most cases so the shift needs to be practiced fast.

If I had to narrow this all down in three SECRETS – Always HEAR in your head the pitch you are shifting too, TRULY BE in the position – new or old, KNOW where you are going.

Kind of sounds like life doesn't it – Listen, Be and Know

Happy Shifting :)

Be TRUE...Be YOU...