My Top Moments of 2022

Each December I love to do a review of the year and look back at my top moments of 2022.

Here are the highlights as there were a tonne of amazing opportunities that I am so grateful for.

I have three main creative areas I love giving time to:

Singing and Performing
Vocal Coaching
Big Notes Get Votes

I’d like to spotlight a few moments from each and reflect on the creative focus, fun and friendships in each!

Singing, Performing and Voiceovers – My Top Moments of 2022

L.A.B

I am lucky enough to sing backing vocals for the powerhouse that is L.A.B, alongside one of my BEST friends Lisa Tomlins.

That in itself sets this gig up to be an epic time, but this year saw us travel and perform locally and overseas, which is so much fun!

Check out this playlist of the Australia tour. I did a video each day for a month!

Synthony

There is a brilliant show called Synthony that brings dance music classics together with an orchestra and unbelievable lighting and sound production to make for an outstanding entertainment experience.

I had done this show for 3 or so years prior to working with L.A.B but it was a bit challenging managing both my vocal coaching business, so I said goodbye to Synthony.

Lucky for me, an opportunity came up in October for me to be a part of the very first original show when it was taken overseas to SINGAPORE!!!!!!

So that was a definite highlight and you can check out some behind the scenes of that trip here:

Voiceovers

I have made an effort to work on my voice as part of my training, for preservation of my speaking voice but also as I find myself with more opportunities to use it professionally.

The biggest campaign of my voiceover career to date happened this year for Vodafone in NZ. It was really fun to work on this and use two different vocal speaking styles in these two campaigns.

This is the business one:

And the lighter voicing for the charity arm of the campaign:

Bonus Highlight: Studio Sessions

I love doing singing sessions for Big Pop. They produce reworks and originals for the Les Mills health and fitness company so it means I get to try LOADS of different vocal styles, in different keys and challenge myself to keep my vocal chops up!

When I was singing covers gigs full time, this was my best practice and training ground for my voice, so I am grateful to have these opportunities.

Here are the numbers:

Gigs – 18

(11 Overseas – Australia and Singapore, 7 in New Zealand)

Gigs average around 5 hours of time per gig including warm ups, rehearsing, sound checks, performing and warming down.

Total hours = 90

Studio Singing Sessions – 14

Roughly an average of 3.5 hours per session including warm ups, practice, singing in studio and warming down.

Total hours = 49

Voiceovers Sessions – 11

Works out to average of 1.5 hours per session including warm ups, practice, voiceover in studio and warming down.

Total hours = 16.5

So that roughly works out to an average of 155.5 hours of using my voice for singing and voiceover work in 2022!

That breaks down to 3 hours a week!

Vocal Coaching – My Top Moments of 2022

2022 was a wild year for my vocal coaching business! I ended up doing very few one on one coaching sessions as I consciously cut my availability to two one hour sessions each week.

This was due to the gig schedule but also a couple of awesome planned and unexpected opportunities!

I ended up working more in the tv and film industry vocal coaching, than the music industry! It was very cool and I am looking forward to doing more of the same in 2023.

TV – Toi Time

At the start of 2022 I was asked to join the Toi Time production team as a vocal coach. Toi Time is a children’s television series that is bilingual, exceptionally inclusive and musically fantastic!

I got to work with my favourite music production team Big Pop on preparing the talent for the studio recordings and also expanded my role into vocal arrangement which I love!

We recorded 40 songs for 20 episodes in just two weeks! It was crazy intense, but so much fun! I’m stoked to be back on board in 2023 for the next season as music director!

Here is the first episode to check out!

Movies – Netflix/Disney

The unexpected moments of the year were working on movies as a vocal coach!!!!

Netflix – I got to work with an amazing American actor and musician on an upcoming Netflix rom-com that will be released in 2023. I’ll share some details as soon as it has been released but till then, I have to keep my lips sealed!

Disney – It was an absolute honour to host a vocal workshop for the cast and work one on one with a couple of the leads in the Te Reo Frozen movie. Yes, Frozen! The biggest Disney musical movie of all time!

In New Zealand the indigenous language is Maori. A local production company has been working with Disney the past few years to translate the movies into Te Reo Maori. They have done a beautiful job with the Lion King as well. Next year they will be doing Coco!

Be a part of this process was so heart-warming and I am so grateful for the opportunity!

You can watch the incomparable Awhimai Fraser sing Waerea (Let it Go) here:

I have never taken such a deep dive and workshopped a song with a singer as we did with this.

It is such a hard song to sing in English, let alone adding a new beautiful language to the mix.

As you can hear, she nailed it and I cried lots throughout the process at how powerful and awesome her delivery was!

Online Course – Singers Technique Toolkit

Another proud moment for me was launching and running my online course the Singers Technique Toolkit.

This was born from my own love of studying voice online and wanting to help more singers from all around the world.

As my schedule gets busier with gigs and projects, this course is a fantastic and efficient way to coach and connect with singers.

In my coaching business, I predominantly work with established artists.

The course also gives me an opportunity to work with more singers and share the fundamentals techniques that I know work so well in video form, whilst also giving personalised feedback in our weekly 90 minute coaching sessions.

There will be a live round happening in March of 2023 so you can jump onto the waitlist to be the first to hear when the doors open.

Here are the stats:

Coaching Sessions – 45

Each session is approximately 60 minutes each but some were 90 minute sessions. Add on preparation and session wrap/follow up which adds roughly another 60 minutes per session.

Total hours = 101 hours

In-Studio Coaching Sessions – 7

Each session was 6 hours with one being only 3 hours. Additionally, on pre-production preparation which is roughly 2 hours per session.

Total hours = 59 hours

Coaching Workshops – 4

Each workshop runs between 2 and 3 hours. Most were done online but one was hosted in-person in Wellington, so there was travel time as well. Factor in roughly 2 hours preparation and follow up post workshop.

Total hours = 20 hours

So that roughly works out to an average of 180 hours of coaching in 2022.

I coach 40 weeks out of the year and so that breaks down to over 4.5 hours each week.

Big Notes Get Votes – My Top Moments of 2022

Last but not least, my online baby, Big Notes Get Votes!

Most of my time is spent creating singing tip videos on YouTube with blog posts to accompany them.

As a team of one, I do all the research, filming, editing, writing, design and social media. An average blog post with a video will take about 10 hours to complete.

I absolutely love making and sharing videos so it is a labour of love.

This year I created (or updated):

Blog Posts – 13

Videos – 38 (including 4 live streams)

Social Media Posts/Stories – 91

I welcomed 197 YouTube subscribers and 167 lovely humans jumped onto my weekly email mailing list (hey and THANKS again if that was you!!)

The most popular videos for the year to date:

The most popular blogs posts for the year to date:

Video, Blog and Social Media Creation – 555 hours!

That’s a healthy 11 hours per week.

I would say that is VERY conservative as well!

The bottom line is that I love creating singing content and I am so grateful for your support and attention this year.

Thank you for being as interested in singing as I am and for allowing me to share my thoughts and experiences with you.

I hope it has been a little bit helpful!

I’m looking forward to continuing with more of the same and maybe even a few new things (make sure you are subscribed to the Big Notes Get Votes YouTube channel and my VIP mailing list so you are the first to know!

And to wrap up 2022, here is a highlight reel for you.

Happy New Year!

Cherie

P.S. What are your singing and performance goals in 2023?

Comment below for some accountability.

Need some help? Check out How To Improve Your Voice in 2023.