Whilst working as Professor of Jazz Voice at Trinity College of Music in London for a number of years, I especially enjoyed working with ‘second study’ classical singers, they were superb musicians who wanted to explore jazz and popular styles. They knew their voices well and the value of practice but were somewhat flummoxed by the unfamiliar demands of singing jazz and pop styles.
I have been teaching at The BRIT School since it opened in 1991 and more recently, ELAM (East London Arts & Music) - these are the two top performing arts schools in London - along with various universities and colleges. I was also a vocal coach on tour with BBC Television’s The Voice UK. Singers range from musical theatre through jazz, pop, rap etc. to death metal and I (and hopefully my students) have learnt a lot about techniques for these diverse vocal styles along the way. This workshop is suitable for all (intermediate and above level) singers wishing to explore or improve jazz and popular styles.
Workshop Overview:
- Voice Analysis: Listening to the speaking voices of the singers to see what we notice about the ‘natural’ speaking tones.
- Range, Registers & Transitions.
- Bel Canto to Screamo: A look at techniques and exercises: What are they about? Are you doing them properly? Are they appropriate to your style? Are you wasting your time?
- Aural Skills and Development - Hearing the Blues: See prescribed song below. This includes practical interval, chord and scale familiarity, which facilitates ad-libs and improvisation (below).
- Phrasing: We will look at phrasing and rhythm patterns in everyday speech and apply these to a standard.
- Ad-Libs, Improvisation, Running & Riffing, Scat Singing, Rapping: Again, we observe natural speech rhythms for our inspiration.
- Microphones, Microphone Technique and PA: If you really want to get into it - www.themagicofthemicrophone.com
- Stagecraft: How you handle yourself, the accompanist and audience.
- Prescribed Standard: Now each individual can put this together using the prescribed song. Please prepare the blues song ‘Stormy Monday, there are examples below and we will explore keys, grooves and styles.
- Individual Standard: It’s time to apply the above to the individual songs. Please prepare two differing songs of your choice and bring the chord charts for accompaniment - if you have difficulty we can help.
- Question & Answer: A Q&A session and a final brush-up before…
- A Performance: To the class.
Things to be Aware of…
- Once we get down to it, you’ll discover there is a huge amount to explore. Depending on participants, we may not cover all of it and the timetable may change. If there’s a particular aspect you’d like to cover, please let me know.
- A Wi-Fi enabled device for recording and playing audio and or video is a useful tool (most current phones) but maybe make sure you know how to use it! And you have ample memory and sufficient charge.
- Solo singers by definition will be singing on their own, so please understand the need for patience as each singer goes through their song... more than once! It’s the nature of the beast.
- Clothing is entirely up to you but we might make a video of your performance - unless you don’t want that - so maybe bring something you’re happy to wear for that eventuality.
Ultimate Guitar is a good source of chords for pop songs - though sometimes wrong!
iReal Pro is a great app for chords - mostly jazz but increasingly other genres. It costs about £15 and takes a bit of getting used to. You have to download charts from the forum once purchased but once you get sorted it’s great. It will also play a cheesy backing in any key or tempo, for you to practice to.
Jazz & Pop Singing
Benslow Music Trust, Hitchin, UK. Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd September 2023
Benslow Info & Booking
Stormy Monday - T Bone Walker
Stormy Monday - Eva Cassidy
Stormy Monday - Lou Rawls
Stormy Monday - Dianne Reeves, David Peaston & David Sanborn
