Singing for Obama!

There have been over 2000 songs devoted and dedicated to the Illinois Senator and the Democratic Party Nominee for President of the USA. This phenom called Barack Obama and in honor of him and how he will soon transform history here is a small snippet of songs to check out - with different flavors all in great celebration of Obama. Enjoy and please VOTE!



Here something funny...



Here is is Trinidad & Tobago's Mighty Sparrow performing a song in Barack's honor



Sung by Jamaican Coco Tea



Hear this and you just might cry...



Finally Seal salutes:

Singing At It's Best - Diamanda Dahhrling!

If you've never heard of Diamanda Galas you're in for a strange dark treat. It's dark alright, in your face and strong. She definitely wants it that way and that's the point. Diamanda is a performance artist, vocalist, pianist and composer that happens to have a three and a half octave range, and she work off material with the following warm and fuzzy themes such as suffering, despair, condemnation and injustice. She personifies singing at its best! Check out the clip below...

Singing at it's Best - Sister Rosetta Tharpe

This lady is one of my all time favorites. I discovered her reading an article in MOJO magazine some years back and couldn't believe a life lived without knowing her, her music and her guitar. It was truly a life deprived because if this lady doesn't have the HOLY GHOST then that just don't exist! Her spirit and voice leap out at you, grab you by the throat and you just can't move. She had style and sass too - checkout her look in the first video. Listen in moderation now - because she is HOT!!!



one more...

News you can use: Twista!

As a vocalist and an audience member, one of my vocal pet peeves is inarticulation. I feel, very seriously, that if you sing with lyrics - it's important that every word to be understood so the audience understands what you're singing about. Otherwise, why sing with words??

So to aid in the agile, facile delivery of words, here's some fun tongue twisters to get those jaws loosened and get you speaking and singing clearer than ever while have loads of...well... fun! Why a giggle or two over a groggy gurgle or grumpy grumble will make clarity a hoot! Say the following exercises 4x round, take a breathe and then move on. Do it again 2x as fast. Now you try:

Nice & easy starts things off...

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk,
but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

then...

A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

On to more challenging fare...

Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

More wondrously wordy words and phrases - check out the official Tongue Twister Database:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8136/tonguetwisters.html

See a darn good demonstration:




Tired already? Let's loosen up our jaws in another way - here's our current President having some tongue twisting issues of his own...

Singing at it's Best - Pavarotti, Horne & Sutherland

Check out these videos below on Bel Canto Singing discussed, shown, demonstrated by 3 of the best classical voices of the 20th Century. If you are a fan of Bel Canto, this will delight for sure. And even if you've have no opinions about it, these videos are a fantastic snapshot at the inner workings of great vocalists on their own voices. In 2 parts:

Singing at it's Best - Abbey Lincoln

Some may argue that her style is an acquired taste or that grit in her voice comes on too strong yet to me she is one of the most expressive jazz vocalists to ever grace the genre. She's political, fiery, fierce and a prolific songwriter to boot. I'm posting this clip of the FREEDOM NOW Suite from the 60's. There's a scream in this clip that's UNBELIEVABLE!



Want to know more about Abbey? This article's a good start.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=1100

Singing at it's Best - Cathy Berberian

What can I say about Cathy? One versatile, adventurous vocalist who was blessed with the instrument and technique to pull off whatever her whimsy commanded. Luciano Berio married her and she became his muse. This clip shows him conducting and her singing in all her glory...Folksongs. Observe how the color and tone of her voice changes per folksong. Enjoy!



www.cathyberberian.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciano_Berio

Singing at it's Best-Nat King Cole & Mahalia Jackson

Ahhhh yes! What more can I say. Some singing at it's best. Enjoy!

Filter

I used to live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and this will come up often because, you see, I worked alot of shit out when I lived there. For all sorts of reasons, I owe a great debt for my musical development to my 8 year stay in that great little city. I didn't always appreciate it then...but boy do I now. I learned great lessons while I lived there and I'd like to start off the blog with one lesson that is central to my way of doing things and to this blog.

Life Lesson: Anton Goudsmit.

Anton Goudsmit is a guitarist who played in my Amsterdam based band for about 31/2 years. We met through my husband whom had taken a few lessons from Anton some years before. I had heard Anton live a couple of times and I liked his playing. He also exploded on stage. At the time I was working with a Barcelona-based guitarist named Pere Soto and he was in Amsterdam, considering a permanent move. I wasn't looking for anyone then...and anyway I mostly worked with pianists at this time. Working with the Pere, I began to see the possibilities of using the guitar with my voice. I thought it offered more space and it could distort itself with colors and sounds that pianists can rarely do. I also found it sexy. Guitarist have a different posture and express the music in their bodies clearer.

Anton certainly could do that with the music and more. A few years later I hooked up with Anton for a couple small gigs, playing mainly standards with little rehearsals. I didn't know it then yet the music was changing for me. I started writing and wanted to hear my words more, my voice more. I was busy searching for my own sound, beginning to tire of the jazz mannerisms that had latched on and I didn't know how to shake them off.

Anton and I connected immediately and started working together shortly thereafter. after. I asked him to be on my second recording for the Dutch label Timeless Records. That worked like a dream. Everything fell into place on the recording. I asked him to be part of a new band I forming. He was happy to take part...

Anton is a very special person. I can best describe him as the perennially good side of a 10 year-old with all the greatest of intentions. He is a warm, carefree, fun-loving, open, brutally honest and creative person who was, is always in the moment. Sometimes you try to have a conversation with him and he veers off looking at some clouds while he contorts is face in a weird way, just like a 10 year old. Then he's back, dead serious, looking at you straight in the eye. Always present. This made the experience of playing with him a gift because I never knew what would happen. He showed me the pure joy that lay in just expressing oneself in the moment and how an audience reacts to that. Audiences LOVE him. Anton had no filter.

This fascinated me and flabbergasted many. You watched him play and he gave himself up to it. All the time. He had his rare off days and then he channeled it through the music. His completely honest feelings. He and I talked about it as best we could. You see, he never gave the thing a thought. It's just how he was. Same off stage. Same onstage. I wanted to understand how to be that way. It became clear to me that this is the way to be. No buttoned up sentiments with walls in between me and the audience. The real thing - connection. I too sought to be more honest in my expression. I wanted to express ME. whatever that is. Anton showed me the door and took me there sometimes even but I needed more time to walk through. When I returned to New York nearly 5 years ago, with the lesson of him fermenting...I wasn't ready but I worked on opening up and expressing myself in a more honest way. Ugly, sad, happy, angry, loud, strong, vulnerable, sassy, sexy, political, analytical, spiritual, small, big, historical, bad, righteous and bawdy. Everyday I get closer and lately I feel like I'm almost there. I'm not tracking it, mind you. Just looking at it. Just feeling it. How I relax more before I sing. How I KNOW things will work. How sure I've become of sounding like myself closer and closer to 100% of the time. I owe Anton big for that.

He plays alot in a band called the New Cool Collective. You can check him out here -

WELCOME!

A few weeks ago..I finally got around to something I've wanted to do for a long time. Start a blog on the voice. My ideas about it. Technique vs. expression, inside vs. outside music, band leadership, repertoire, Mike technique, CONFIDENCE, styles and most of all the unique tool of expression the voice is. How I came to understand and know what I do now and how much more there is for me to learn, hopefully along with you. I don't know how steady this will be. How frequent the posts. How geared the focus will be. What I do know is that I'll will write and include only what I believe to be true and honest.

The Visible Voice is just about that. Through our voices making our intentions strong, transparent and uniquely our own. We get to share a unique human trait that's universal at the same time. Half the world can carry a tune...well! Yet we're drawn to unique voices, in song, in speech, in content. We never tire of hearing someone sing, say, articulate the same old thing in a new way. That's the magic and that's what I intend to explore here. Getting to that place in you...