Daily Express
In the current climate of doom and gloom people want to do something that lifts their spirits and singing is the perfect solution.
A lot of people insist that they can't sing at all or have a terrible voice, with training you will definitely see an improvement and that will encourage you to carry on.
Daily Express December 2008
Hounslow Informer
Katy Seath opens a COURAGE TO SING venue in Hammersmith and says "Singing is a really uplifting thing to do especially in the current turbulent times. When people are being creative they are not being destructive"
Article "Singing can help you get grinning" by Stephanie Rose
Hounslow Informer November 2008
Time Out
The Sound of Choral singing reverberates
"a course for people who would love to sing if they could summon up the nerve
I went along to an informal concert by some of the students who were already on courses and witnessed the terrific kick they got out of performing."
Article "Pitch perfect" by Sara O' Reilly
Time Out May 2008
The Camden New Journal
For the opening of Joshua Millais's franchise at The Candid Arts Centre at the Angel, Islington
New course aims to build up confidence as well as teach students how to hit the high notes...
Joshua says "If you can get up and sing a song without any musical accompaniment then you are pretty much ready to give a talk in the office or do a public speaking for every occasion"
Article "Singing helps you breathe easier" Sara Newman
The Camden New Journal January 2008
Be Happy
"I am really excited about the prospect of having a good singsong, as I make my way to THE COURAGE TO SING workshop. There its founder and director, Lorrayn de Peyer, greets me with a hug and shows me into a welcoming room reminiscent of the one in Liza Minnelli's film "Stepping Out". THE COURAGE TO SING started in 1992. Since then 2,000 people, from policemen to bankers, have walked through the doors, there have been some extraordinary improvements in people's singing abilities and self-esteem."
"my confidence has really gown through the session and I can hear my voice has got 100 times better since I first walked into the studio my previously tight-chested cough has vanished and I feel like I'm walking on cloud nine.. When I walk in the door my boyfriend tells me I have a healthy glow. "I can see you're really buzzing, you look really happy" he says. In fact I couldn't stop smiling and talking about it all night and saying how great life was in general."
Article "Joy with a song in my heart" by Jessica Johnson
----Daily Express, November 2006
Article "Soulful Singing"
THE COURAGE TO SING has also been recommended and featured in the Easy Jet Flight Magazine 2006, Sainsbury's Magazine 2007 and The British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors News Magazine in 2000.
In 2007 THE COURAGE TO SING was featured in BBC 3's "Honey we're killing the Kids".
"I recently dared to enrol on a singing course, to see if I could unearth some deep-seated talent. I didn't exactly so that, but I did manage to develop my repertoire into something more than just a shower soprano. The course armed me with the confidence to have a go at the notes that used to be out of bounds. Plus now I've got a whole rack of folk songs under my belt; I just need to find a campfire to sing them at."
----Green Events, Oct 2004
Article "Soulful Singing"
"Beginner Emma Hunt who works for a sustainable development charity said the classes had helped her confidence "In my job I have to do a lot of public speaking" she said " I'm looking forward to performing and I'm not nervous at all."
-----Islington Tribune, April 2004
"Judging by the looks on my fellow class-mates faces, I wasn't the only one with butterflies when I stepped over the threshold for my first ever singing lesson run by THE COURAGE TO SING. No musical aptitude or experience is required for the Level 1 course. Tutor Rob has you belting songs out with the best of them. After my class I stayed behind to watch a Level 3 class the students bounded into the class and started belting out songs with obvious relish and confidence. But as Rob pointed out, just a few short months previously they had been as timid and nervous as we were. Which is real progress."
-----Time Out, February 2004
Article, "Songtime" by Kieron Corless
Encouragement Lorrayn de Peyer, who runs THE COURAGE TO SING organisation, believes we need encouragement not therapy... if people are singing out of tune the best way to build their confidence is to ask "Why don't you try doing it like this?" The Fame programmes like Pop Idol are rooted in being competitive but if you are genuinely creating music for the love of it that is not the right way to do things."
Profile Sarah Bylinski 25 My work life left me unfulfilled and singing was a good way to bring me back to life. I did Level 1 Courage to Sing and found everyone was just a nervous as me. In the end everyone felt self-assured. Sarah enjoyed it so much she ended up staying and is now employed as the office manager."
-----Metro, September 13 2003
Health and Fitness
"Having trouble expressing your innermost anxieties?...low self-esteem?...depressed .draw your problems out of yourself - literally...According to Dr Jane MacNaughton, director of the Centre for Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine, it's all part of a general move away from straight medicine to focus on all aspects of our wellbeing not just physical health. "People don't feel their problems are fully dealt with by the "pill for every ill" approach to medicine anymore and they're looking for something beyond that.....Health is about a total sense of wellbeing not just the absence of illness. Art therapies are about trying to realise people's full potential using music and singing to ease depression. the scope is enormous."
"in a review of studies into the effects of music, the Performing Right Society (PRS) highlighted evidence to suggest that music may help in reducing pain levels."
"Professor Diane Waller, President of the British Association of Art Therapists, found improvements in mental alertness, physical competence and sociability..."
Sound It Out
"Its sometimes said that music sounds the way emotions feel. By using vocal sounds such as chanting it's possible to release, retune and harmonise the body, according to musician and sound therapist James D'Angelo... Singing is also thought to have therapeutic effects "When you sing you have to use your lungs and the lower part of the body to produce sound" explains Lorrayn de Peyer, founder of THE COURAGE TO SING which runs singing for transformation courses "Once you get people to really breathe their fear dissipates and stress levels drop."
"Lorrayn de Peyer believes that live music has a particularly beneficial effect. "I believe that in a live music situation some kind of molecular exchange takes place - an exchange of energy which really lifts people" she says "Singing will give you a sense of wellbeing, relax you and really help your confidence." In her workshops she encourages jamming and chanting. "We also use songs that are easy to learn so that you can get straight into the singing. We pick songs with lyrics that you find uplifting and inspiring then you'll get strength from the lyrics as well as the tune" she says. "Sharing with others really helps people to forget their fears - they feel part of the community when they sing together."
------Health and Fitness, 2002
Article "The art of wellbeing" by Annabel Saladino
"THE COURAGE TO SING has seen hundreds of people who thought they had a voice like a corncrake move through their insecurities and emotional blocks."
"Lorrayn believes her holistic approach makes her students more successful in all of their life singing can help you release the emotional blocks and open you up to a divine energy that will inspire you. Blimey."
----Time Out, February 2002
Create 24:7
"Dedicated to helping people find their voices and express themselves. By creating its own unique set of rules THE COURAGE TO SING breaks the boundaries of the wannabe singer as everybody can sing. The workshops ensure that there is room made for those with little or no experience, a complete beginner or those who have no belief that they can sing. This perception changes as you enter the workshops and takes you right through from BEGINNER level to advanced level where you can end up working as a professional singer. A central focus is learning to connect and harmonise the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects of our humanity bringing ourselves into alignment and balance and singing is one ay of doing this" Lorrayn explains."
-----Create 24:7, June 4 2001
Metro
"By the time we left we were revelling in the actual physical release and a new found confidence. Courses such as THE COURAGE TO SING shatter the preconception that you have to have Mariah's range to reap the physical and emotional rewards of singing. After a 90 minute session the sweat and adrenalin attest to that."
-----Metro, Dec 2001
South London Press, Lambeth Local
"With no end to her talents, Miss de Peyer has penned lyrics for Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, Elaine Paige and Patti Labelle and is receiving a healthy interest from various record companies. Lorrayn is currently recording her new song for the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest and has started a self-help group called "THE COURAGE TO SING". The company puts on workshops, courses, classes and concerts all over London and is quite different to ordinary singing classes."
"Lorrayn said "I was the most frightened person when I was due to perform but all I wanted to do was sing. I had to go through incredible self-growth and every step takes self courage. Everyone can sing even those who think they can't. We want to help people with their self esteem and self confidence and break down boundaries."
----South London Press, Lambeth Local, December 11 1998
Article "Singer to set up Voice Workshops by Sonia Gayle
Evening Standard
"My flatmates are so sick of listening to my painful Blondie impersonations that I've been sent for singing lessons. We break the ice with a group song while doing Chi Gung relaxation exercises. My body is now tingling from head to toe. My voice travels up and down the keyboard by swinging my arms out I reach a high G. It's Showtime and I'm on stage. I'm going to be Debbie Harry except times up and can I come back next week? Can't wait."
-----Evening Standard, November 1998