Directors Notes Feb 4, 2022 This week at JazzVoice.com was a lot of fun. On Monday, after a day spent teaching at my alma mater William Paterson University, we had fellow alum, Kate Baker on to give a class about auditioning. It was fun to catch up with Kate before the class and talk about old times and hear how things are going for her in her career and teaching. She teaches at the New School, and also runs the website VocalMusician.org with fellow New School prof. Elisabeth Lohninger who will be coming on JazzVoice Feb 22 for a class on straight phrasing in Jazz. Kate’s class had lots of great advice that often transcended Auditioning. “Do something you’re confident about. Best to do something less complicated and flashy, something that you can sing inside and out.” “Know the form of your song, know what you want as an intro” “There should always be an arc in the song - where do you peak? What’s the story?” “If you can’t improvise, don’t do it. Don’t show them the stuff you Can’t Do.” “Know the REAL written melody of the song” “Pick the right key” “Speak it without the melody, so the lyrics can come out in a simple way.” “Greatness comes in the little things.” “Only make changes to the melody if the spirit leads you there.” “Pick your tempo, get metronome marking, then practice getting that tempo” “Know the composer and lyricist” “Practice with the straw in water and also Inhale and exhale thru straw to calm nerves” “All these things are so we can let go and just sing in an audition” “The mistakes are where the magic happens, Patti (Tuck and Patti)” It was a great and engaging workshop and at the end, all of our participants sang something and received feedback as if they had done their song in an audition. If you’d like to watch, the workshop is available in the Performer Workshop channels in Recordings. Tuesday and Wednesday I taught at my new college, Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) where I have private students, and for the first time, a Vocal Ensemble! We had our first rehearsal, and worked on the tune "Without You", written by Josh Nelson sung by Sara Gazarek arranged by Gerhard Guter, whose wife Christine runs the vocal jazz program at Cal State Long Beach, and was just on JazzVoice for a masterclass. It’s a beautiful piece. I printed out the lyrics and had the kids tell me what the song was about. It’s nice to have a connection to the people who made the music, as I have played and recorded with Josh, and we’ve had Sara and Christine on JazzVoice.com. Wednesday and Thursday I taught private students at SUNY Purchase, where I’m in my 8th year as the vocal professor. I have a bunch of new students in the studio which is unusual for mid year, and they were all great, and all young men, which is also not typical but welcome! Our recent alumnus Samara Joy ’21 will be singing on Jocelyn’s Jam Sunday. You mustn’t miss it! Now you can sign up for the jam right on JazzVoice.com/memberclasses.
Thanks to all the folks who came out last week for my performance on the Jam. I put together a show to celebrate the music of Marilyn Bergman who passed in January. It was fun to revisit all that incredible material she wrote with her husband Alan, and read some stories from an interview he gave with JazzVoice.com member Jerry Osterberg in Cabaret Scenes. You can view the concert and following jam on the recordings page at JazzVoice.com. Thursday night we had Jane Irving on for a Masterclass. She played and sang “East of the Sun” and “While We’re Young”, and we spoke a little about playing and singing, one of my favorite subjects. Then my student from SUNY Purchase, Emily Mazzella got the session kicked off with “What a Little Moonlight Can Do.” The main take away’s were to leave space and edit your ideas, so things have more punch when you change them. Next a great friend of the community Nich Anderson put himself in the hot seat, with “Crazy He Calls Me.” He is a self-proclaimed Jane Fanboy. Take away’s there were mainly about conversational style singing, and the freedom you get as a solo singer vs. a choral singer. Lastly, Brenda K Lee sang “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, which was a great choice for the start of Black History Month. Again a theme was about leaving space and conversational style. Everyone sounded great and got wonderful feedback from Jane. (View this recording in the Masterclass channels of Recordings.)
Starting this week off we have two Singer Workshops, The first tomorrow at 3pm with Michelle Mailhot, an overview of her beloved small group class Wake Up Your Ears, and then Brazilian Breakdown on Monday at 9pm where we learn to pronounce the Portuguese to some of our favorite Bossa Novas. Next Saturday we’ll have our next masterclass with John Proulx! And looking ahead we have masterclasses with Cyrille Aimée and Sheila Jordan! Of course if you haven’t bought your ticket yet for the Virginia Beach Vocal Jazz Summit, now's a good time! Have a great weekend everyone! See you on JazzVoice.com!
Here's a pic of my new school - The Visual and Performing Arts Building at Western Connecticut State University!