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...

Questions for Your Artistic Self - #4

Why would other people want to hear/listen to you?

I ask this question to look inward. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in developing our craft/sound/repertoire/performance skills and opportunities that we rarely stop and ask this question to ourselves. Perhaps it’s far too confronting. Nonetheless, I think it is important to take a look at the reasons people may want to hear you, assuming they do. The answer may take awhile to come but I feel this questions puts us in touch with what we convey and what we feel an audience gets from what we communicate to them.

It’s humbling to look at how an audience benefits from hearing and/or experiencing us. Many times we feel that the mere fact we’re expressing ourselves artistically deserves merit alone. Sure it does but if that were all - we'd simply perform for ourselves - yet we want to be heard by others. Is the world truly waiting for your particular form of artistic expression? Probably yes and maybe no. Looking at this question once past the mere confrontation of it can help bridge the gaps between you and your current or potential listening audience.

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

Connection

Just recently I gave a workshop in New York City on confidence and connecting with an audience. During that workshop, a discussion erupted about putting a spell on an audience. How does that work? I offered that I had no clue and then I remembered a pivotal moment along the way where I confronted that same question. I participants that story...

Back in 2000, I got asked to do a festival curated by an agent in Germany and I could bring along my own pianist. I'd worked with this agent before but only with groups that featured me and they were more commercial than I was doing. This agent liked his music gutbucket and straight for these festivals so I wanted to make a good impression because the guy paid well and hooked you up: 4-star hotel, 1st class train fare and all the meals were on him. I thought if this works out he'd book me on more festivals with more opportunities to develop that side of my singing. So I asked pianist Curtis Clark to come along...one of the most delicate pianists around!

At the festival we were given a small stage off to the side of the main stages. Despite the leakage from the bigger groups close by, it was a cool spot for a duo with tons of space. We talked through what the first set would be, did our sound check during which I instructed Curtis how I wanted to "drive the music home to the people..." He didn't say anything. I was simply determined to do well and make those people like me and make that agent LOVE me.

We went out and did our 1st set. We had a big crowd and I went into overdrive to keep them there. Reaching and pushing out to the audience, looking at them in their eyes with yearning. Sometimes I heard Curtis but most times I was in my own world. The crowd stayed but the audience reaction was lukewarm. No-one hung around to even say "Danke". Scheisser.

After the set, Curtis and I go backstage. As soon as we're seated, he turned to me and said:

"What are you doing?"

"What do I mean 'what am I doing'?" I said.

"Why are you pushing the music so hard? Why are you fighting me?" he said.

I was stunned and speechless - not easy for me. After an awkward silence I asked him what he meant by that. He replied,

"You seem to be worried about keeping a big crowd and we're not together musically. It's not happening. If we get together and communicate with each other, the music will be stronger. If we do this you may lose some audience, sure, but the audience that stays will stay because they want to HEAR us."

This was a revelation. I knew that first set didn't work but I didn't think I did anything wrong. I pulled out every "performer" cliche I knew of. I worked HARD to get and keep the audience's attention. I had no clue...

So this was a revelation. I gave myself such a hard time for not being a strong performer in the sit-in-their-lap vein of entertainer. I saw it as a weakness for a longtime that I wouldn't, for example, jump into a mosh-pit from stage. I don't like to say too much and I want the music to speak for itself. I'd seen performers go to great lengths to pull the audience toward them: be funny, dress sexy, sing seductively, all these "extracurricular" activities that looked like overcompensation most of the time. and that's just what I did the first set. Here he's saying I can own that aspect of myself...

Curtis went on to suggest that for the next set we simply focus on getting together with the music. Communicate and respond with each other and see what happens. I agreed to give it a try. It couldn't be worse than what went before. I had nothing to lose.

That second set had a weird pause when we started out but it eased and we began to make...music. The audience had changed and quite a few walked away once we moved in unison more. That was hard at first. I did see that those who stayed had sweet smiles and enjoyed the music. They looked me in the eyes. It's the first time I recognized that I allowed me to be me - even if just for a moment - in all my vulnerability on stage and it felt GOOD. A profound moment.

I've taken that moment on that stage in Germany to heart. I now strive for more organic connection with an audience than ever. Learning more and more how the be the genuine me. How to extract the truth of myself into the music I sing. It's a fundamental part of my journey. Digging deeper as my psyche will allow. How lucky I feel. I owe Curtis because his honesty with me that day caused a tectonic shift in my outlook as a vocalist. It went on to inform the ensemble band-leading sound I've been developing. impacted my approach to music today. Thank you, Curtis.

If you love jazz and/or piano, check him out he has a number of recordings and he's a very special player and composer. Here's his myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/curtisclarkmusic

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

Questions for Your Artistic Self - #3

If you're a vocalist, how important are the lyrics to you?

To me - if you’re a vocalist performing the lyrics in the group – you have a great responsibility to communicate them so that whomever is listening can understand what the message is. The entire band has the music but only you have the words and those words are powerful. Someone wrote them, maybe even YOU wrote them. They communicate the message of what the music is trying to convey. The audience should at the very least…understand you. In addition, the audience wants to not only know what you’re talking about but also your point of view.

Show them you intention of choosing the particular piece you’re performing. Show them that you mean what you're singing about and audiences will believe in you. Think about how important lyrics are to you and make them even more important and your listening audience will want to take a small piece of you home.

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

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

Discovery

One of my favorite things about teaching voice is when the light finally goes off for the student and they get how the entire flow of the breathe works when they sing. When lungs, diaphragm and abdominals are working like a well-oiled machine. When their top note is theirs for taking today. When they start to FEEL it...consistently. Then I feel OK...

Questions for your Artistic Self - #1

This is the start of a series of questions I've posed to myself and some of my students. I believe these questions inquires us ask ourselves about our why and what we express creatively. Today is the first one and every week, a new question will be posted for you to ponder. Since this is a forum focused on the voice, some questions will have that as a starting point yet most of the questions could used by anyone involved in producing art of whatever sort. Feedback is welcome.

Why do you sing and/or play a musical instrument?

This is a simple question on the surface and look at it from as many angles as you can and feel your reaction to what comes up. The question is asking you to look at what drives you to create and your intentions as a creative person. It may help better inform artistic decisions down the road you. The answer can be what ever comes up and feel “right” to you. As you develop your craft/art/voice more, you surely will be tested on your beliefs and convictions…I believe it is a strong force in creative people to confront issues such as these and transform what they discover back in their art to show again, one more perspective on any given theme. It broadens and deepens the human experience.

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...