Archive for the 'Vocal Basics' Category

July - 2009 Newsletter - It’s Never Too Late to Be Great!!

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Hello Again, Singers!
 

Happy July!! Hard to believe that 2009 is half over…already! Harder than that though to believe is the fact that my son is turning 40 this month, and my granddaughter is turning Sweet 16! How can that be?
 

This month, I want to extend an invitation to each of you who read my newsletter, whether or not you are member of our Sing Your Life Community Singers Network,  to submit question to me about singing, performing, or music in general, and have me answer it for you either publicly or privately.
 

I’m doing this not merely to be nice, (which of course I am, I think…I hope), but because I have recently been reminded of the principle of “giving back�, and its power to heal, you know…like tithing.
 

For 9 years now, whether you are aware of it or not, you singers have given me reasons to get out of bed every day and look for ways to serve you and your singing goals.
 

You have provided me with endless moments of joy and satisfaction, and although our community of singers is growing every day, there are so many of you out there that I still need to reach, and to whom I want to be available for whatever is showing up in your life as a singer.
 

I had an absolutely lovely gift this past Sunday. A lady in my town, a senior, had asked around for a voice teacher because she secretly yearned to learn how to sing for most of her life, but was afraid and shy to ever try.
 

I was recommended to her, and when we met for the first session, she explained to me that she was being urged to enter this contest we have here in Corpus Christi called the “Miss Coastal Bend Senior� Pageant, and that she wanted her “talent� portion to be singing, but that she was afraid to sing in front of people.
 

We started working together immediately since there were only 6 weeks left before the pageant. Her voice was fairly weak and she was very nervous and insecure…at first. However slowly, over the next month and a half, she got stronger…better…more confident, and on Sunday, she WON THE CONTEST!!

Winner of Senior Pageantwinner2 She now goes to Dallas for the State pageant and may make it to the Nationals!  I’ve included these photos of my student who I’m so very proud of and let you guys SEE for yourselves what is possible when you ALLOW it to come into your life.
 

Read on…
 

It’s a human thing to want always to be right, and to feel secure with what we know. But let me tell you singers, that it is in the insecure moments, the weaker moments, the less certain positions we take, where the inner growth truly occurs.


I’ve been physically challenged since September of 2008 when I received some terrible news about a certain medical condition. Now let me tell you that I make it a point to steer clear of what I call MP’s, (no, not Military Police…Medical Professionals), for my entire adult life. I have never thought they knew anymore about the human body than any lat person could know, I never trusted a single MO to ever be straight with me, and I always said to anyone who would listen, “I live inside this body, and as long as I’m in here, nothing bad can happen to it�.
  A bold statement to be sure, and quite boastfully declared, but maybe not so certain have I always been of it, even as I said it.
 

So when my fiercely guarded OPINIONS were poked full of holes last Fall, I was scared to death at first, and over the subsequent months since, enormously humbled by the experience. And it IS, I have found, this HUMILITY, which has given me the chance to know more than I ever thought I knew before.
 

You’ve probably read it in the more recent newsletters…like when I have talked about not wanting to be so perfect, or letting go of your ego, and all that. This inner humility is where it’s been coming from, but also from a profound sense of love that I have for you singers, who have hung around for 9 years reading my stuff and offering your comments and encouragement. I don’t even know where to start with my thanks.
 

It IS however, why I decided to create the Sing Your Life Community site as a companion to the original website, and why I want to entertain your questions, whatever they may be.
 

I’ve started a Q&A Video Series and we’ve already covered questions like:

  • Is it okay to close my eyes when I sing?
  • Can I drastically change the sound of my singing voice?
  • How do control my breathing when I sing?
  • How do I get over my stage fright?

I’ve included a link to one of those sessions here for you to view as a sample of some of the things we do at our online community, and what a private session with me using Skype or Yahoo Messenger would look like.

http://singyourlife.ning.com/video/qa-session-2-breath-control 

Okay, so let’s get back to my original point! The one about the preconceived opinions we humans seem to have  a very difficult time letting go of sometimes.


If you will, even in your alone time, when there’s no one to impress with your knowledge and your abilities, admit that you don’t always have the answers to your life, your circumstances, your condition, and become humble enough to at least entertain another point of view from your own, some interesting and often wonderful things can occur, singers.


And this includes opportunities for going further than you ever thought possible, just like my student who won the Miss Coastal Bend Senior Pageant.
 

So, let me implore you singers to not be so stubborn about what you already know. Do you really know it ALL? Can you let go of your certainties, and allow your brain to take in new information that may not agree with your “already always� preconceived notions and opinions?
  There is always time for climbing to new heights as a singer, heck! As a person! Just by existing, we have that opportunity. And we don’t run out of them until we’re in the ground!

Please visit here to listen to my last performance, as the featured jazz singer in great demand here in Corpus Christi! 

http://singyourlife.ning.com/video/song-it-could-happen-to-you

http://singyourlife.ning.com/video/jazz-gig-water-street-walk-of

Over these last nine years, there have been moments when I just wanted to quit singing, quit teaching, quit writing newsletters that nobody read, and every single time, one of YOU, who I have never met, wrote to tell me of something wonderful that happened to you or something that you gained and attributed to some article I had written…and I was rejuvenated. So y’think I’m not profoundly grateful to you?? I AM!
 

You singers have, and always will have a significant place in my heart!
 

I want you guys to value yourselves as much I do by not giving up on your talent, and not quitting your dreams, okay???
 

I am working on coming to LA for my annual performance workshop that I conduct and I will notify you SoCal’ers of dates as soon as I have ‘em.
 

Keep singin’, people!!
 

Until next time…
 

Sin[g]cerely,
Chrys
 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Attitude, Performing, Vocal Basics, Motivation & Inspiration | No Comments »

News for June from Sing Your Life

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

June Newsletter – 2009
 

Our Singers’ Network is growing daily and from what I see, it’s becoming a real resource for our members. Let me encourage those of you who have been part of the Sing Your Life family by reading the newsletters to take that next step and join the community of singers we have created for you at www.singyourlife.ning.com
 

I think I have figured out why many of you are reluctant to join. I think as we mature, some of us become extremely private and do not wish to expose ourselves to the trivial chatting that comes with being part of a social network. Am I correct about that? Even my SoCal contingent, who have supported me for years have been laying back from coming into our “family� for fear of having unwelcome emails showing up in their inbox on a daily basis.
 

So let me once again, make this very clear. My Singers’ network is a safe and nurturing space, where YOU decide what messages you get in your inbox, YOU participate in whatever way you choose to:
·        you can read what your fellow singers are expressing about their singing lives,
·        or watch an instructional video by yours truly,
·        or post some music
·        or simply lay back and stay pretty much anonymous.
It’s totally up to you, singers!
 

So let me tell you what we’ve got coming up.
 

Coming in July, we are planning a “live� tele-class on performance issues, and we will be joined by a special guest whom I have coaxed into joining us. We will cover some of the issues you wanted addressed with the Q&A series of videos, but which require more in depth responses like:

  1. How to sing with Emotion
  2. Being totally comfortable on stage
  3. How to put together a show
  4. How to hold your audience for the duration of the performance

My special guest, and dear old friend has been a musical director who has worked with a gazillion singers, (including me), and has been a conductor for many famous artists. He will offer his unique perspective on what it takes to truly succeed on any stage.
 

We’re also continuing with the mini-lessons on vocal technique, and the Q&A series on video.
 

And we’re planning a “DUETS� Project for members ONLY! Two of you will join forces, (and voices) to create a duet. The song can be one that was written specifically designed for 2 people to sing, or it can be a song that was not written to be performed as a duet, but you want to sing it in that way.
 

Here’s how it’ll work:

  • Those who want to try it, will send me a list of songs they’d like to sing with another singer.
  • I will compare the lists I receive and suggest people who I think would sing well as a duo. Of course, you may always state your preference for a duet partner…this IS a collaboration after all!!
  • Together, we will arrange the songs, giving each singer their share of  lines to sing and their harmony parts if they want to sing harmony.
  • The individual parts will be recorded, and then
  • We’ll mix them together in a duet.

The tracks will be posted and voted on for which duet was the best, and the winners will be awarded a special prize to be announced at a later date.
 

I have already posted a duet that was created here by me and one of our members just to get the ball rolling. Naturally, our duet is not officially a part of the DUET project, just an example of how it can be done.
 

Okay! That does it for news from the Singers’ Network site! Please JOIN US!!
 

………
 

On with this month’s featured article!!
 

With the “hoop-lah� finally over with this season’s “American Idol�, I have become inspired to write another book as a companion to the “The Art of Singing� series, we’ve had on the market now for 7 years.
 

Those books have hit a resonant chord with singers of all ages, all skill levels, all genre preferences, and from all corners of the earth.
 

The first book teaches basic singing technique to give the singer the correct way to sing as an automatic cell memory so he/she cam perform without ever having to think about how to breathe, how to “attack� notes, but just concentrate on communicating with the audience.
 

Book # 2, on Stage Presence, which is offered on our singers’ network as our gift to our members, talks about the ego’s interference and other distractions when we get up onto a stage to perform.
 

The 3rd Book is all about musicality, and seeks to teach the singer how to understand the notes, rhythms, and

harmonies of the songs he/she sings, and how to know his/her range and keys he/she sings in, and how to count the beats of music.
 

And the 4th Book is all about Promotion, and how to navigate through the labyrinth of “come-ons� and move from the

hyped up salesman speak to controlling one’s own destiny with regard to a career in music if that is the desire.
 

And NOW, since watching this season’s American Idol, where it became pretty clear that the outcome had been planned to be exactly what it became, I decided upon a serious guide book of rules for the aspiring singer, which I am naming, �Get Off The Bandstand�. Generally speaking, this book is meant to keep you in a state of total gratitude for your talent, and in the mood to share it always, but with respect for it and for yourself!
 Have you ever been to a wedding where one of the guests approaches the bandstand to request that “Aunt Sally� be allowed to come up and sing for the happy couple? After many moments of Q & A with the band members, which might go somewhat like this:
“What would you like to sing?�
“Um…Gee, I can’t think of anything.�
“Well, how ‘bout a nice wedding song?�
“Uh, Yeah…I know um…the “Hawaiian Wedding song?�
“Okay, key?�
“Huh?�,
“What key do you sing it in?�.
“Oh! Dunno! Wait! Someone once told me I sing in C. Does that sound right?��
“whatever!�
Aunt Sally sings the song, in the wrong key and forgetting most of the words, but nevertheless, the wedding guests, wishing to be polite and supportive, enthusiastically applaud her efforts…which she reads as artistic approval, (wrong read…entirely), and so she decides to sing more songs. The problem is that Aunt Sally cannot really sing, doesn’t really know any song all the way through, and after the initial support from the crowd, they are restless, embarrassed, clearly uncomfortable, and the band doesn’t know how to graciously get rid of this person, as she has most assuredly worn out her welcome…big time!
 

My book will serve as a guide for aspiring artists who have the urge and desire to sing, but do not yet understand the correct protocol for doing so. Whether a professional singer or not, if you choose to perform, please know when you do, you represent an art form that celebrates personal expression of the deepest level and therefore MUST be treated with reverence and respect, even awe!
 

I suppose it was inevitable that mediocrity would eventually creep into the world of the Arts! And indeed, some would say, it has always been here…hiding in the shadows. I suppose that’s correct. And I can remember my parents absolutely despising the 50’s doo-op songs, but their disdain motivated them to take us kids to the opera and expose us to big bands, or insist that we listen to the Greek Hour every Sunday. And my parents’ parents probably thought Benny Goodman was as dangerous as Elvis, so sure…it’s a matter of personal taste, and I get that!
 

And it could also be said that although commerce dictates the “trends� in music, and that the bubble gum sounds of the Disney Channel represent a segment of the listening public who keep the music business’s economy running, this fact alone is not enough of a reason to relegate music into some insipid “entertainment� category, much the same as video games and gambling. Shouldn’t we be maintaining the importance of music in our lives as more than some superficial “feel-good� pill?  Especially for those of us who SING to express ourselves, it IS so much more than that, isn’t it?
 

“To sing is to love and affirm, to fly and to soar, to coast into the hearts of people who listen, to tell them that life is to live, that love is there, that nothing is a promise, but that beauty exists, and must be hunted for and found.�
Joan Baez - American Singer/Songwriter

 “When I am singing, I am inside of it…I feel, oh, like it feels when you’re first in love, when you’re touching someone–chills, things slipping all over me…A lot of times, when I get off the stage, I want to make love�
Janis Joplin - American Blues Singer 

 “Once I had a dream to live and love, and this dream became music. It touched all of the beautiful experiences I have searched for or known. Each sound was a color, and each color was a warm feeling, and my heart kept the tempo.�
Les McCann - American Jazz Pianist 

“He who lets his breath, hence his life force, flow consentingly as a willing sound sacrifice from the depths of his body, sings his life; for singing means to affirm life, to free oneself, and thereby to bring happiness and prosperity to oneself, and consequently to one’s fellow man.��

Marius Schneider – German Musicologist who found musical symbols in German Mythology

I know I’ve used these quotes before, but I write them down here again to remind you of the value of the gift you have been given of a singing voice. It’s a gift to be grateful for and to be cherished and treated with care and respect, always!

Note: I am gathering stories about experiences you may have had either as a singer singing with a band, or as a band member dealing with a singer on stage. Please send me whatever you have, funny, sad, outrageous, whatever. Feel free to change names so no one’s embarrassed, okay?
 

See ya next month, Singers!!
 

Sin[g]cerely,
Chrys
 

Posted in Attitude, Vocal Health, Performing, Vocal Basics, Motivation & Inspiration | 6 Comments »

Singers With Musicality

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Singers with Musicality 

I was overjoyed and totally delighted when I moved to Corpus Christi from Los Angeles to realize that I hadn’t left everything behind. I knew there were going to be enormous changes that I would have to adjust to, and there have been to be sure. But one thing I still have here in Texas is Ovation TV.

I know it doesn’t sound like much, and if you’ve never had the pleasure of watching this channel, you may not get what it means to me, but let me try and tell you anyway.

If you’re anything like me, and you truly believe in your heart that the salvation of the human race lies in its art, then maybe you can imagine what Ovation TV has to offer. Masterpieces of Art, Film, Literature, Poetry, Opera, Jazz, Singing, Plays, Sculpture, Photography, indeed creation of any and every kind of art imaginable are represented, celebrated and encouraged on this station.

You can watch a play, a symphony orchestra, an opera, a jazz concert on one day, and a film on Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker, Sylvia Plath or Martha Graham on another day. There is no end to to the glorification of art that goes from morning ’til night on this channel. And it was here that I encountered 30 minutes of this celebration last week on the life and music of Ella Fitzgerald.

Growing up in the canyons of New York City, my sisters and would often go up to the roof to escape the heat during the summer months, and I would always bring my transistor radio along to listen to my favorite station WNEW, where William B. Williams would teach me how to listen to singers, and not just listen…but analyze, appreciate… hear what the horns were doing, the bass lines, everything.

Frank and Ella were “IT” for me and were why I knew from very early on in my lfe, 5 or 6, that it would be my life’s work to sing like those 2.

The short film showing on Ovation took the time to trace the history of Ella’s rise to the top in the recording industry, but went further to explain, why she was adored and respected by her listeners and peers alike. One after another, musicians who had worked with her or just listened to her records, stepped in front of a camera and proudly boasted,

“It was her Musicianship”!

Now, Ella had a fluid, lush, pure, glorious voice, that warmed your heart when you heard it, and also could do anything on earth she wanted it to do, but here were these people saying, “It was her musicianship!”

Several of those interviewed from this film recalled that early on in her career, the bands she auditioned for didn’t really want her. “It wasn’t personal”, one tenor sax player said. “It was that the guys in the band didn’t hold too much respect for girl singers back then…well I guess it’s the same today. You know, girl singers just want to be the center of attention and more often than not, their talent doesn’t deserve that attention. But when Ella sang, not only could you tell instantly that she could hear every chord and every beat we were playing for her, she even made us look for better chords and beats to play just to keep up. She made us all better players!”

There were 2 current jazz singers in the film too, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Anita Wardell, who talked about what it means to sing when you know the music…ALL the music, not just the melody line, and how the whole band knows that you know it, and you know that they know that you now it.

That’s a ride on a magic carpet, singers and it’s woven from the golden thread of the singer’s musicality.

Now you know I’ve talked about this before, singers, and I’ve mentioned with regard to eliciting respect from your fellow musicians, but after watching this film, I realized there was something else…something more I wanted to express to you about musicianship, (or musicality if you prefer), and it’s this.

When you and your accompaniment (whether it’s a full big band or orchestra or YOU playing for yourself) are in total synchronization, the performance is MAGICAL! It infuses YOU and the band and every person sitting in the audience. And believe me, there is no greater satisfaction than singing with a bunch of musicians who are feeling you and playing the best they can to make the whole thing sound wonderful. And you find that singers with musicality don’t worry so much about drawing all the attention from the crowd. They are team players and every body knows it and respects it, just as all those guys respected Ella.

So when I try to encourage you singers to learn an instrument, at least enough of one to understand chordal structure and rhythms, I’m trying to show you that the more musicality you possess, the further you will progress with your singing.

Seriously singers, if you are dead on committed about working as a professional, you’re going to have to have a “live accompaniment”. You cannot rely on backing tracks indefinitely.

Posted in Performing, Vocal Basics, Motivation & Inspiration | 1 Comment »