Ask the Director

Todd Wilson

Q: How much time should I allow for my vocal warm-up?

A: The amount of time you spend warming up is individual to your voice. You have to learn how much is too little and how much is too much basically through trial and error. I've encountered some singers that seem to get by on very little, perhaps as little as three minutes of warm up time, while others prefer to warm up for no less than 10 minutes. For me, the warm-up requirement varies dramatically, depending on what voice part I am singing and what types of voices I will be using. I've noticed that when I sing bass with the Suntones or Nashville Singers, I can get by with 3-5 minutes of vocalization. When I'm singing tenor with ACOUSTIX, and using my head voice and falsetto, it can take me as much as 30-45 minutes to feel like I'm ready to sing. The take-away from this answer is simple. If through trial and error you've discovered that you need 20 minutes of warm-up time to be ready to sing and the warm-up time at a rehearsal or prior to a performance is limited to 10 minutes, it's up to you to vocalize on your own before you get to the rehearsal or performance.

Driving Mileage for Non-Profit Volunteer Work Is Tax Deductible

The Internal Revenue Service provides you with an opportunity to deduct from income tax the value of all donations you make to charitable organizations. However, you may not deduct the value of time you donate to a charity, regardless of whether it is personal time or services you ordinarily provide in a business. The IRS does allow you to deduct the expense of using a personal vehicle when you volunteer.

1. Qualified Organization
Before you can deduct any expenses, you must ensure that the charity organization at which you volunteer is an IRS-qualified organization. A qualified organization is any non-profit entity that is organized under United States law, including the District of Columbia and U.S. possessions.

2.    Deductible Car Expenses
If you use a personal vehicle to provide volunteering services, you can deduct the costs that directly relate to those activities. To qualify, the only reason for incurring the expense must be due to the charitable work you perform. Deductible expenses include the actual cost of gasoline, oil, tolls and parking. As an alternative to maintaining records of the actual car expense, you can calculate the deduction using the IRS standard mileage rate. Effective February of 2011, that rate is .14 per mile. However, both methodologies require you to prove that you actually drove the miles you are deducting and to keep a record of the organization to which those miles driven relate and the dates of your volunteering. You can deduct the miles you drive to and from the location where you volunteer and the miles you drive as part of the services you provide.

3. Taking the Deduction
The earliest tax year for which you can deduct the car expenses is the year you actually provide the services and incur the expenses. You include the amount of deductible car expenses you calculate in itemized deductions on the Schedule A attachment to IRS Form 1040. If you are unable to take the full deduction in the year you incur the expense due to limitations, you can use the excess amounts in any of the future five tax years. Expenses you do not deduct within that time become worthless for tax purposes.

For any question not answered above, please consult your CPA.

Happy Birthday Mike Casper!  

   

Mike Casper

 

Mike Casper will be celebrating another trip around the sun on March 1st.  He and his family call Smyrna, Tennessee home. Currently, Mike is the Worship Leader at Walter Hill Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. He has been married for almost 30 years to Pam, and has 5 children. When he can squeeze it in, he likes to be out on the water or racing cars on the X-Box with his son. Mike joined Nashville Singers in June of 2009 and was responsible for securing the very first public performance for the chorus.     

This Week in Music History 

The Eagles

 

March 1, 1975 - The Eagles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Best Of My Love', the first of five US No.1's for the band. The highest chart position in the UK for the group was No.8 with the 1977 single 'Hotel California.'

Agenda for March 3 

Grace Thomson

SECTION I 

7:00 - 8:30  Free Singing Lessons program
presented by Grace Thomson, Sloan Rutherford & Todd Wilson 

SECTION II 

8:30 - 8:40  Business Meeting (Bryan)
8:40 - 8:55  Break

 

SECTION III 

8:55 - 9:05 The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Sloan Yarborough

9:05 - 9:15 Impossible Dream

9:15 - 9:25 Man in the Mirror
9:25 - 9:35 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

9:35 - 9:45 Satin Doll
9:45 - 9:55 Tonight

9:55 - 10:00 Thank yous, Closing Song  

 

Todd Wilson