Dear Stardust,
I do deep breathing (Bodyflex) exercises; they seem to help me hit the notes, especially the higher ones, and hold them. I'm limited to about one octave (contralto?), so I'm grateful for these techniques. You can wake the dead, but here goes: 1)Pretend to whistle, but instead of whistling, exhale fast and hard. 2)When air is gone from lungs, close mouth, tilt head back (look up at the ceiling) & inhale through nose quickly & deeply. You should sound like a Hoover vaccuum. 3)When lungs are full of air, purse lips as if you are blotting lipstick & say "pah". It sounds as if you're wheezing, sometimes I cough. Do this quickly & deeply. 4)Try to touch chin to chest, pull stomach in & up, & hold your breath for 8 or more seconds. Do not inhale. 5)Open mouth. Wait 2 hours after eating or else you'll hurt yourself. Do this 40 times per day.

I'm not joking; you'll find Bodyflex on Google. OK, opera is sort of on my list. You know who told me I had a good voice--a delivery man. I worked in a store & would sing when there were no customers. A guy dropped off some items. Later, my co-worker told me that he said I had the best voice he ever heard. I thought he was lying or trying to hit on me, but she said he was a musician. Eh...I was flattered but still skeptical.

Kindest regards,
Diana

Dear panbient,
Thanks for the guitar advice. I use the computer, scissors, phone, piano, & type pre-dominantly right-handed, so I'll learn this right-handed.

Kindest regards.

P. S. It's an acoustic guitar.

so how many hours do you practice singing everyday?

no, I have the least interest in doing work with wood. it was just an example. I rather be a metal smith if I have a choice.

Shere Hite mentioned in the book that masturbation helps females to get to know their body and know where to touch to be pleasurable. so that's kind of a do-it-yourself approach for better sex. so you can practice before you do it with a partner. and no sex is not dirty, sex is as normal as eating.

what is a recover flirt-a-holic? hmmm never heard that term before.

"I think the guy is going to become a priest, so I have to back off from men for awhile."

no, you didn't offend me at all. I hope you didn't hurt yourself from falling off the chair.

I practise about two hours a day...singing that is...not masturbating..., guess I'm a flirt-a-holic as well.

Dear Stardust,
LOL. I practice singing 1-2 hours per day also. I swear, when I read E.'s posts I have to visit a computer magazine website, calm down, & then come back here. I can't help it. What I meant in that suggestive post was not really mas********* but that he should be with his wife, girlfriend or the bimbo who started this thread in the first place. I never want to insult anybody--I'm quick to say something dumb but just as quick to apologize.

For example, at another forum, I thought the guy liked me, but then I read in another thread that he was thinking of becoming a priest.

Then at a political forum, this older man was nice to me. I tried as hard as I could, but he never responded, so I gave up.

The biggest screw-up: I had to correspond privately to 3 men at a computer forum to explain what I had posted to them. I promised to be serious from now on because I didn't want the host/moderator to ban me. I'm a newbie.

Kindest regards.

Dear Stardust,
When you wrote, "I practise about two hours..." I thought you were speaking to me, so I replied to you, "I practice singing 1-2 hours..." You were talking to Evilmatik.

Dear Evilmatik,
I practice 1-2 hours per day. A recovering flirt-a-holic is someone who hits on another poster when she discovers that he is an adult male. She doesn't mess around with married men; hands off. Then she converses with a really nice person...so far, so good. But she reads in another thread that he may become a priest. After that, she tries to stop her wicked ways and focus on computers, news, music, etc.

That computer magazine website is good. I enjoyed falling off the chair.

Kindest regards,
Diana

Dear Evilmatik,
Yes, sxe is not dirty and is as normal as eating. I like thinking about it.

Kindest regards.

Dear Stardust,
When you sing jazz, funk & soul, do you sound like an opera singer? I don't want to sing Sade's songs & sound like Luciano Pavoratti. Disgusting.

Kindest regards,
Diana