In Today’s Blog:
Class recaps: Sanna and Anna
Last week of Free Trial
West Side Story Remake - Amazing
Hacked/Porn/Data Privacy Day
Kate McGarry Masterclass - Today
JazzVoice.com personnel
This past week at JazzVoice.com was as usual, varied and informative. We had Sanna Van Vliet from Amsterdam discuss some of the building blocks of harmony in her Vocal Improvisation class. We practiced singing some scales with note names, up and down, in 3rds and 4ths. We learned about the different types of minor scales and listened to the cool sound you can get when you use them in your improvisation. Thursday night we had Anna M. Sala join us for an Ask a Pro (View Class Video) from Miami Beach where she moved just in time for the pandemic! She fielded questions from our great group of pro and semi pro singers who are releasing CDs, and really out there doing it. Throughout the class there was a thruline which I think she actually encapsulated best in a text to me after the class “We can’t divorce what we do from who we are and singers need to be, more than anyone out here, really authentic and not try to be someone else. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ." She said it’s important to be passionate about what you choose to do. She advised us when self-managing, to go out and be an audience member, talk with people, meet them, and to observe and learn from artists that you admire, looking at their career trajectory. It was a really inspiring and spirited conversation, one of our best Ask a Pro sessions ever! We look forward to having Anna back to discuss her favorite book All You Need To Know About the Music Business by Donald S. Passman, which she said later in our texts, that I should encourage everyone to read. This is the last week to sign up for our 30 day Free Trial of the Performer Membership, so please spread the word to your friends! It ends Jan 31.
This past week was also my birthday, 46, and partner Paul and my 11 month anniversary, (we’re gonna celebrate months til we get to two years) which we celebrated participating in Anna’s Ask a Pro after seeing an amazing matinee of the West Side Story movie. Please try to catch it in theaters, it’s definitely best viewed on the big screen. (How to see it) It was amazing, bringing a deeper exploration of plot and character, and Rita Moreno who played Anita in the 1961 version plays Valentina, a mother figure to Tony and as a Puerto Rican but also an ally of the Jet boys, it brings a very poignant, deep and blurry element, which reflects the actual world we live in. I read that she almost didn’t take the part, saying “I don’t do cameo’s.” I’m glad she changed her mind, as she was exceptional and I cried during her solo. It was also good to see her credited for Exe. Production along with Tony Kushner who wrote the script to be more like the original musical than the 1961 movie. Steven Spielberg dedicated the film to his father, who had introduced him to the music of West Side Story, and who passed during the filming, at the age of 103. Spielberg further explained why he felt the time had come for a new film adaptation of the musical, saying: "Divisions between un-likeminded people is as old as time itself. ... And the divisions between the Sharks and the Jets in 1957, which inspired the musical, were profound. But not as divided as we find ourselves today. It turned out in the middle of the development of the script, things widened, which I think in a sense, sadly, made the story of those racial divides – not just territorial divides – more relevant to today's audience than perhaps it even was in 1957.” The music was conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and played by the NY Philharmonic and LA Philharmonic. It was my first time back in a theater, and everyone was masked up and they are only selling 50% of their seats. It was very comfortable.
Celebrating my Birthday
Unfortunately on my birthday, I got an email from a hacker that had my email account password in the email, and threatened to blackmail me with the porn on my desktop over the last three months… hilarious as I only look at porn on my phone, and I don’t care who knows… But I had to spend the wee hours til noon changing all my passwords. So in honor of data privacy day, which falls on my birthday, I just want to encourage you to do the same.
Make sure you’re not using the same passwords across sites, and use a password generator from your browser or a third party one. Also enabling two factor authentication is a good idea when available. We went ice skating for my birthday, just in time before the big snow storm hit the NE, which I’m enjoying now out my office window in Ossining.
I’m excited about Kate McGarry’s masterclass today, she’s one of our favorite teachers on JazzVoice.com, and has been with us since the beginning. Don’t forget you can book private lessons with her and many more incredible teachers in the lessons tab on the menu. See you in a few hours for Kate! I’m also excited about a new series I’m going to be presenting on the building blocks of musical literacy. The new series “_____ Explained” will cover scales, key signatures, harmonic analysis, and other theoretical concepts right from zero, in small bites designed for people who don’t have a background in music. Keep an eye out for that starting in the Spring.
I’m also super excited to announce a new partnership between JazzVoice.com and Jocelyn Medina’s Sunday Vocal Jazz Jam! Now our members can sign up for the jam right from the JazzVoice.com website! We’re kicking off this partnership just in time for my appearance tomorrow as the featured artist! If you’ve never been to the jam before, please come by tomorrow and every Sunday. There’s a featured artist set from 6-7pm ET and then a jam from 7-8:30pm. It’s a truly wonderful virtual community. You can sing with a track or a cappella or play for yourself or just come and watch and support others. Sign up on the classes page.
This coming week marks my first week back as the Jazz Voice Professor at SUNY Purchase and William Paterson, and the first week of full in person classes at my new school Western Connecticut State University, where I’m leading a Vocal Jazz Ensemble for the first time. This was perfect timing, because I’ve been wanting to introduce a professional development track for ensemble directors, so how great to be a new one myself and be able to cultivate that part of the program from my own needs. Keep an eye out for these classes in the coming months.
Other things in the hopper are an asynchronous piano class designed by John Proulx, which you can take on your own time at your own pace! Coming soon! Also, a site redesign by actual professionals instead of moi. Much as I love doing everything, as we’ve grown, it’s important to delegate and invest in the site, doing everything we can to improve the user experience. You may have noticed some changes in personnel too. I’m back to hosting all the classes, and I’ve promoted Kira to Assistant Director, and put her in charge of Social Media! If you guys haven’t followed our social feeds at @jazzvoiceonline (facebook) (twitter) (IG) please do so now, as under her care, they’re super fun and engaging! We’ve also welcomed my partner Paul Wheelhouse officially as the Membership Director, helping to reach out to members and build relationships and improve our customer service while expanding our membership base. Paul’s also in charge of our store - which he helped build during our quarantine in S. Korea.
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment! Don't forget to peek at the Free Porn!