Masterclass at Phillips Exeter Academy

It appears that Exeter has done my work for me. Rather than me posting my notes on the masterclass, they posted a video.

http://www.exeter.edu/news_and_events/news_events_11013.aspx

Enjoy.

Classes at Springfield Central High School

Class at Springfield Central High

On Tuesday I had a delightful morning speaking to music students at Springfield Central High School. Some students were not able to attend, others suggested that the information I gave out be used as extra credit questions on the next exam. For that reason I will post notes from the presentation:

I am, as Mr. Dandurand introduced me an opera singer. And that means, as some of you cleverly deducted that I sing opera. I do not sing only opera, however. I sing several genres of music that fall under the category of "classical." (I don't like to categorize styles of music and I don't like to refer to what I do as classical music, but that is the term you are most familiar with.) These three genres are

opera: fully staged music dramas

concert pieces: presented with soloists standing on stage in front of the orchestra (and often a chorus behind the orchestra)

song: presented in recital - just myself and my pianist performing a program of songs of our chosing

My field is very competitive. There are a lot of singers my age and voice type going after the same few jobs. What is the best way to give myself the best chance of getting jobs over them? Practice? How much? About 3 hours every day. That's not including research, marketing, networking and other non-singing related activities.

I told you the story of how I got started in singing. There are no potential extra credit questions in this story so I'll tell you the 10 cent version:

I was a band geek in high school; I played several instruments in all of the instrumental ensembles, but I did not sing. Sophomore year the chorus director (Peter Glass) conned me into singing in chorus: he said I could just accompany the chorus on piano and would never have to sing. I showed up the first day and he said we wouldn't be using the piano today, so I should just sit in the back with the other guys. I never did play the piano for the chorus, and I loved singing. Going into college (UMass Amherst) I planned on majoring in Spanish or Physics or MusicEd and would join the choir as an extracurricular activity. The director there (E. Wayne Abercrombie) strongly encouraged me to take voice lessons. I said 'no. The next morning he called my dorm room at 8AM and again strongly encouraged me to sign up for voice lessons. I did. I took one 30 minute voice lesson, made more progress there than I did in 11 years of piano lessons and changed my major to voice performance and music Ed.

Here's a test question: "True or False: all musicians, including instrumentalists need to learn to sing." Answer: True. For extra points explain why. Some acceptable ansers

- sight-singing is a major component of musicianship

- all players need to learn to breath with the music, even string players

- the voice was the first instrument

- good playing is based on a cantabile or "singable" line. Even piano playing

- singing is a means to demonstrate to another musician how a phrase should be played (I'll bet you anything that Mr. Dandurand demonstrates phrases by singing every day in rehearsal)

- if you can't sing in tune, you can't really play in tune

Speaking of singing in tune, I worked with three gentlemen from the Madrigal Singers. A recap of what we worked"

"I'm Beginning to See the Light" this was sung with an intent to swing and inflect. Unfortunately, you can not swing or inflect notes that are not sung fully on the voice and are not in tune. The phrase "close enough for jazz," is an endearing joke. Jazzers say that to poke fun at those who think jazz is an imprecise art. I thank you, singer of of this tune, for taking my suggestions to sing legato and in tune before you try to "jazz it up." And if you saw The Music Man you will remember that singing is just speaking drawn out over long notes. In other words: don't change the way you enunciate your words and produce your sound in order to sing. AND speak clearly with breath support. All the time.

"Seven Soldiers" I heard a bass and a tenor sing their parts from this. Even when you are singing with a section, or especially when you are singing with a section, you have a soloist's responsibility to carry your part. The only major difference between singing solo and singing in a section is your choices of where to breathe and how to phrase. (In a section the conductor decides, in a solo you can decide some of that for yourself.)

For those of you who have not taken music theory: you do need it to be a professional musician. Even if you are not sure about pursuing music or music Ed professionally, it can't hurt to take music theory.

And while I'm at it, practice the piano.

Some of the music I sang for you:

Charles Gounod "Avant de Quitter ces Lieux" from Faust an opera aria

Gustav Mahler "Ich bin der Welt Abhanden Gekommen" from Fünf Rückert-Lieder - a song performed in recital with piano or with orchestra. Fünf Rückert-Lieder is a song cycle, a group of songs composed and performed together unified by a theme.

Giacomo Puccini "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot an opera aria

*This is a tenor aria (one of Pavarotti's most famous arias) I do not sing this in performance. I do sing the baritone role in the same opera.

Franz Schubert "An die Musik" ("Ode to Music) - a song performed in recital

"Poor Wayfaring Stranger" folk song arranged by Steven Mark Kohn – a song performed in recital *available on iTunes!

Gioachino Rossini "Largo al factotum" from The Barber of Seville ("Figaro, Figaro, Figaro") an opera aria

Charles Brown “A Song Without Words” – a song performed in recital

The third period class, madrigals and jazz band had a great discussion about what makes a great song, what makes a great performance and what is more important: the words or the music. The answer is both. When you get ready to go to school in the morning you don’t ask yourself “which shoe is more important to wear: the left or the right?”

Many of you said when you heard "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" you imagined a story taking place. A great song whispers it's secrets loudly into the listener's ear. (Paraphrasing my song idol, Steven Blier) And for each listener that secret is different.

Which brings me back to my original point: you had the experience of imagining a story during that performance because I chose a song that I love and I prepared it to the best of my ability. Do you remember how I demonstrated singing the song without dynamics and without the subtle and sophisticated arrangement? That did not create a profound listening experience. I have been practicing that song for 3 years. Because I practiced, notes were in tune, the dynamics and colors (in the voice and piano) were the way I wanted them. Had I not prepared those things, I wouldn't have been able to give you an enjoyable performance. You owe it to your audience to prepare your music to the best of your ability. How do you do that?

Practice.

Happy Holidays.

Acting in auditions

Some students have expressed interest in hearing more about auditions.

Below is a response to a comment posted by a brilliant and insightful audition pianist, Michael Baitzer.

"I don't understand why classical singers think "being an actor" is more important in an audition than the singing is.... You are in this career because people want to hear your voice. If you sing terribly, who [cares] if you can't act?

1. Bel canto is (among other things) acting with the voice 2. While there is a dearth of acting training and awareness for voice students, we don’t need to compensate for that by overacting. 3. Relaxation and freedom of movement are integral to vocal technique. From there you are free to move or not but you don’t appear awkward and stiff in your audition, which is just as bad as overacting; and both of which hurt your singing. 4. Acting is integrated into your performance. (Thank you, Joe L.) 5. Many of the U.S. regional companies want to see a performance. If you know that’s what they want, you can just dial up that drama – that integrated acting. For further reading: The Singing and Acting Handbook: Games and Exercises for the Performer - Paperback (Dec. 1999) by Thomas De Mallet Burgess and Nicholas Skilbeck and the Wolftrap Opera Blog. http://wolftrapopera.blogspot.com/

Other comments from the thread:

- The point should be as a young professional or professional you should be able to integrate both without sacrificing the other. It's sad that at this level we would have to think of them as separate and not equal. - Joe L.

- Joe-- I basically agree but I still think singing takes first... Acting can be learned.... If the goods aren't there, why spend all the money??

- If you don't know how to sing what the music is supposed to be saying, all the 'acting' in the world is pointless. Thank you, Michael

How about your comments?

Audition Season

Audition season is now in full swing. Many of my civilian friends ask me about auditions: how do they go? where are they? who are they for? when do they call? do you get nervous? what do you do in an audition? how do you get an audition? what do you wear? In this post I will answer all of those questions and more. (Not really.)

Who do you sing for? (For whom are you singing?)

This time of year most of the auditions are for regional opera companies - the A, AA, and AAA farm teams of opera.

What is an opera audition?

It is a chance for these companies to hear a larger number of singers in a concentrated period of time in order to cast future opera productions.

When do they take place?

U.S. regional companies hold auditions in New York City throughout the regular season (September to May.) Most of these auditions take place during a time known as audition season: from around the first week in November to the second week in December.

Where do the auditions take place?

These regional opera companies come to New York City and rent a studio or church hall. These are located all over Manhattan.

What kind of a job are you hoping to get?

I'm auditioning for a lead role in one of their opera productions for the next season. It's now November, I'll be auditioning for shows taking place in the September 2011 to May 2012 season. Some of these companies will be casting their 2012-2013 seasons, though fewer and fewer are doing this: because of the economy, their future budgets and therefore their future seasons are uncertain. They don't know which shows they can do that far in advance. (I do have engagements with one much larger company for 2013 and 2015.)

These regional companies put up between 2 and 5 productions a year. My involvement with them will be a total of 3 to 6 weeks: 2-3 weeks of rehearsal followed by 1-3 weeks of performances with a total number of 1-9 performances. Why are there so many days in between shows? Operas usually aren't performed on two consecutive days. This is because opera singers rarely are able to sing a performance full-out two nights in a row. (Just like starting MLB pitchers rest for 5-6 games.) Sometimes a show is double-cast: two different casts sing in the same production and alternate, allowing consecutive nightly performances. You get paid per performance, by the way. You've been there for 2-3 weeks of rehearsal and your first paycheck doesn't come in until opening night. And if you get sick or injured and can't do the show, you don't get paid for that show. But that's another blog entry for another day.

How do you get auditions?

I know of two basic ways to get opera auditions:

1.) If you are unmanaged (if you don't have an agent): You send your prepared list of materials - a resume, bio, list of repertoire, press reviews, maybe a recording to all of the opera companies you can find. Approximately 1 out of every 50 will respond. 1 out of every 2 will be favorable responses.

2.) If you are managed: You check your email, find an audition notice and reply 'yes.'

I exaggerate a bit: I had little experience with professional auditions before I got a manager. I did plenty of auditions for opera company apprenticeships before I signed with management and those were a matter of submitting an application - and often an application fee - and waiting to see if you would be granted an audition.

Some regional companies set aside time to hear unmanaged singers. I don't know much about this; comments on this subject would be helpful.

There is a third way of getting auditions: crashing. This is reserved for singers who are just starting out. I did this a few times early on. It is not recommended for singers who are a little more established because 1. you do have other opportunities 2. you understand how to target your auditions. If you sing Annie and they're only casting Daddy Warbucks, there's no job for you here. ( The hit musical Annie is not considered an opera, by the way. And neither is Phantom of the Opera.)

How does it go?

Each company conducts auditions differently, but in most auditions you will wait your turn outside the room, someone will call you in, you enter greet the auditor(s), hand them your materials, situate yourself where you will perform and wait for them to ask you to start. You sing one aria of your chosing, they may ask for a second, they signal you are done with a conclusive "thank you very much," you thank them and you leave. Variations on this theme have included the auditors asking you to sing excerpts from different arias, auditors asking you to sing the same song in a different way, and ina few extreme cases, auditors attempting to give you a voice lesson, auditors asking you about your life history and how you came into music. Companies designate 8 to 10 minute slots for each singer which usually is enough time to hear 2 arias. (Very often these get behind schedule and you need to consider that when scheduling your own appointments. You can not safely schedule an audition one hour after another audition cross town.) These are very unlike musical theater auditions which - I have heard - can be just 16 bars or 30 seconds long. This raises the question: if the opera people can discern in just 30 seconds that they don't need you, why do they let you keep singing? My guess is they are sympathetic to your plight: you traveled from far away and paid a pianist to be here, they owe you your eight to ten minutes.

What do you sing in the audition?

Companies hold two basic kinds of auditions. What you sing depends on what kind of audition they are holding. In most of the auditions this time of year companies are casting specific shows. You will simply sing the aria that your character sings in that show. Sometimes you might choose to sing an aria other than what your character sings, but one that is similar. You might choose to do this because you sing this aria better than the character's aria, or you feel that this aria shows you off better. This is a risk because while you may feel you are giving a better performance, you might not be helping the auditors decide if you are right for this particular role. When companies are not casting a specific show or shows, that is called a general audition. Here the company wants to hear you just to hear you. They will take notes and create a file for you. They are not necessarily casting you in the immediate future. For a general audition you have much more leeway in what to sing. You can sing your best stuff regardless of language, style, composer etc.

What do you use for musical accompaniment?

These auditions are conducted with live piano accompaniment. Usually you will have to hire your own accompanist to play for your audition. Sometimes the company provides their own accompanist, usually you have to pay that person. I have a roster of pianists I use for auditions. As soon as I get an audition notice, I ask these pianists if they are available for a particular time and place. I always use someone I know. There have been times where I arrived at an audition without an accompanist but found someone there that I knew and could use them. Good audition pianists are highly specialized: they can play any of your arias in the standard repertoire at any tempo and follow you in your own individual way of singing these arias without a rehearsal. Most of these don't play just for auditions, but they have done enough of them that they work extremely well in the audition setting. I would like to point out that often someone who has set aside his time to playing auditions this time of year will have a quite a time scheduling. I have seen pianists travel to 5 different studios over a range of 100 blocks in one day. There is always talk of coordinating pianists with audition venues, but because we are all artists we never quite get that done.

What's the end game? How do you follow up?

I simply write a thank-you note. This shows the company that I appreciated the opportunity to sing for them and to be considered for a future production. My agent has a meeting with casting representatives from the company and "sells" me for their production. Sometimes I might meet with my agent prior to his casting meeting to tell him something in particular he might need to know about a particular role. (This role requires the singer to play 2 tin whistles at the same time and I can do that. That's not true, but just to illustrate...)

How do you find out when you got the job?

"Don't call us, we'll call you." In my personal experience, the time from audition to job offer can range from three days to three years. It is always my agent who calls to let me know I have a job offer. Sometimes these come right out of the casting meeting, sometimes they come out of the blue based on an audition I gave three years prior. Most often - and this is not just in my experience - they don't come at all. Unlike auditions for apprenticeships, you don't get a rejection letter confirming that you did not get the position this year. They simply never call. When you're first starting out on the professional scene this actually softens the blow of rejection. Once I got a very nice letter from Robert Larsen of Des Moines Metro Opera letting me know that he particularly enjoyed my audition, unfortunately there was no role for me this year, but he would love to hear me again. Heart-warming. Speaking of rejection: the odds are roughly - very roughly - 50 to 1. For every 50 auditions you sing *for which you are qualified* you will get one job offer. That's if you're doing everything right: singing for the right roles at the right theaters at the right time and you are on top of your game every time. So if this year you sang a total of 25 auditions and got one job - you're doing twice as well as average!

What do I wear?

Audition attire has become slightly less formal in the last ten years. When I started it was suits and ties for the gentlemen, concert dresses for the ladies. Now I don't see many jackets or ties or elaborate dresses. I always wear a tight-fitting short-sleeve shirt and dress pants.

Any more questions?

Fall 2010 Newsletter

Fall 2010 Newsletter

Yesterday I left sunny 87 degree Atlanta. Today I’m splitting wood in 47 degree rainy Kingston and thinking of lighting a fire in the stove. Fall is here.

Atlanta was great. A beautiful production of La Bohème, great cast, great company and for the last week of the run, great weather. Did I mention Bobby & June’s Kountry Kitchen?

Amara celebrated her 2^nd birthday and started preschool. Both girls are enjoying taking care of our guinea fowl. We’ve been raising them since they were day-old chicks in May. Fully grown now, the guineas will have their own e-updates – which will not be appearing in your inbox.

South Shore residents: please come to the faculty recital at the South Shore Conservatory, Sunday, October 24 at 4PM at the Hingham campus. This is a rare opportunity for us to perform Tom Cipullo’s “The Husbands.” Then we have a piano/voice department recital on December 5. Now accepting repertoire suggestions for 3-4 voices and four hands piano.

Almost a year to the day I return to Amherst, this time for a concert Bohème with maestro Mark Lawson, Mark Panuccio and Jennifer Black - my beautiful Donna Anna from Opera New Jersey. December 11 at Amherst College.

Right after the new year I head off for my company and role debut as Ping in Turandot with Arizona Opera. The family will have a chance to visit there as well and enjoy the glorious weather.

A new variation on our Living American Composers program will take a small North American tour . First at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, then the Andre-Turp Musical society in Montreal, and a few other recital / masterclass residencies. (See, we can call it a ‘North American’ tour because one of the shows is in Canada.) See calendar for details.

March 11 I’ll be singing with the Dearborn Symphony in a program of some of opera’s greatest moments, compiled by Maestro Kypros Markou and yours truly.

In April (while celebrating my 34^th birthday) I will return for my fourth season at Boston Lyric Opera, this time as the rustic Starveling in their new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

May 22 I return to Dayton Opera for their 50th anniversary gala as part of the “impressive roster of recent stars of the Dayton Opera.” (!)

This summer I’ll return to the Duxbury Music Festival to reprise The Husbands and some other great chamber music. Speaking of great chamber music, I’ll be returning to Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, NY to sing the Notturno of Othmar Schoeck. Last Summer I sang Dover Beach with the Amernet Quartet. The unimaginable happened that rainy afternoon out in the woods: the audience asked for an encore of Dover Beach.

Then in October another company and role debut: Papageno with…well you’ll just have to wait.

There’s always more news, the 2011 Pan Mass Challenge, more recitals, more great music.

And don’t forget to vote for Florence Henderson on Dancing with the Stars.

Kat Von D, $8 Million iPhone, Katy Perry, Spider-Man The Lizard, Stimulus Funds, Top Gun Sequel, Snooki Polizzi, Chevy Impala, Tiffany Hartley, Flu Treatment, Mary-Louise Parker, Camille Grammer, Social Security, Katee, Liza Minelli, SAT Prep, Shia LaBeuf, Terrell Owens, Bruce Willis, Alicia Keys, Hoover Dam, Health Care Plans, Kat Von D, $8 Million iPhone, Katy Perry, Spider-Man The Lizard, Stimulus Funds, Top Gun Sequel, Snooki Polizzi, Chevy Impala, Tiffany Hartley, Flu Treatment, Mary-Louise Parker, Camille Grammer, Social Security, Katee, Liza Minelli, SAT Prep, Shia LaBeuf, Terrell Owens, Bruce Willis, Alicia Keys, Hoover Dam, Health Care Plans, Kat Von D, $8 Million iPhone, Katy Perry, Spider-Man The Lizard, Stimulus Funds, Top Gun Sequel, Snooki Polizzi, Chevy Impala, Tiffany Hartley, Flu Treatment, Mary-Louise Parker, Camille Grammer, Social Security, Katee, Liza Minelli, SAT Prep, Shia LaBeuf, Terrell Owens, Bruce Willis, Alicia Keys, Hoover Dam, Health Care Plans

4 for Facebook

Please help me in my fight against cancer.

This weekend I will be riding in the 2010 Pan Mass Challenge. Over 2 days (August 7 & 8) I will ride my 20-year-old Cannondale over 153 miles to raise funds for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. If your life has been affected by cancer, this is a chance for you to help find a cure.

My goal is to raise $3,400. Any contribution, no matter how small will be greatly appreciated. You conveniently and quickly make a donation on the Jimmy Fund's secure website.

*New this year: text PMCAG0007 to 20222 to donate $10 to my ride. You will have to reply "yes" to the confirmation text message. You can give up to four more times from the same phone number.

So why the subject line "Four for Facebook?" If each of my Facebook friends gave just $4, I would reach my goal. But thanks to the generous contributions already received, I need just $1/ friend. You can go to the secure website and make a $1 donation right now -OR- you can text the number above and then say to your friend "buy me a drink, I just gave to a good cause," - two drinks if it's happy hour. (Also, it is not necessary to be my friend on Facebook in order to donate.)

Thanks to those who have already given and those who soon will.

- andy

Masterclass at SSCM's Summer Vocal Institute

Congratulations to everyone who sang in this class. You were all "performance prepared" as requested. First a few general notes:

- Almost every time I give a masterclass I divulge the million dollar secret to my success: practice. Practice every day. To elaborate: practice every day under guidance of trusted teachers / mentors who will help develop a routine that keeps things fresh, efficient and enjoyable. "Never toil." Sometimes it can be a challenge to find a way to keep working on that same song or that same vocalise so that it's still gratifying. Just like they teach in acting school: "find the love." Sometimes it's hard to remember why you love this song, but when you do rediscover that thing that makes it so wonderful, you love it even more. It's the same way with people.

- Introductions: good job everyone:

1.) Enter smiling as if you are happy to see us.

2.) Arrive at the place on stage where you will sing (it is especially helpful to wait until you've stopped walking if your shoes are really loud on stage.)

3.) Stick to the script "Good morning, my name is ________ and I would like to sing ______ ."

- The most important time in your life is now. When a trusted teacher gives you a new song and says "you'll sound awesome singing this song," when do you start singing that song? Now. When your teacher asks you to submit your song title to the master clinician, when do you do that? Now.

Notes on the songs performed today:

1.) "Don't Rain on My Parade" Well prepared, especially considering you've only been singing this for a month. The choreography is well-rehearsed, but needs now to be assimilated. You need to look like the moves are coming from you and your emotions, not the choreographer.

Changing points of focus. You have a great focus on one point throughout the song. Because this song is "all over the place," your focus has to go with it. Move focus with each new idea. Conveniently all your classmates were seated in a semi-circle and so you could sing each line to a different friend.

In addition to a new focus, each line needs a new intention. Chose an intransitive verb and/or action for each line. We came up with

"Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter" push arms out, palms forward ("shut up!")

"Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter" reach one arm our, palm up, fingers beckoning ("come on, it's fun!")

(How cool is it that in two phrases / six seconds you're moving from one action to the exact opposite!)

We also tried just speaking the opening line to a friend and discovered that if you look really strange talking a certain way, you will probably look strange singing that same way. Even if that's not the case, I think that line opening line is a direct confrontation and shoulders should be square to the person you are addressing.

If you haven't seen Barbara Streisand sing this, go and do it now.

2. "Lovliest of Trees" Good legato and solid stage presence. We took a long time to achieve one good [^] vowel but it was worth it. Practice achieving that big, resonant, open, supported and projected vowel again and again.

This is why we practice every day: so you don't forget the sensation of singing.

3. "I Could Have Danced All Night" Your first time through, you began to dance right at the beginning of the chorus. We went back and sang the song again, this time imagining you were dancing, rather than actually dancing. The performance was much more compelling; I believed you were musing about a wonderful time you just had. And after all, the title of the song is "I could have danced all night," not "I am currently in the process of dancing all night."

Changing focus points makes your performance even more engaging. Remember: first the thought happens, then you sing the new phrase.

4. "Adieu" - Faure A few ways to make the French sound more French without actually working on the French. Accents. Two examples: De clo se the more accent you put here, the cooler it sounds because the 'se' is higher than the 'clo.' Fu me e. The more accent you do here the cooler is sounds because of the reason above and because 'Fu' isn't really the accented of the word. For this reason, this is much harder at first. Accenting an initial unaccented syllable is called an 'accent d'insistance.'

5. "Apres un Reve" - Sing through the high note, not to it. Plan out your breaths and chose a tempo that allows you to complete the phrase. There should be virtually no rubato through the entire song. Ditto for "Adieu." When you grow up you can use a little rubato in one spot.

6. "I Enjoy Being a Girl" Diction. The great Broadway musicals of this era have carefully written lyrics that deserve the performers utmost attention. This hall makes it especially hard to get your words across. We tried the exercise of underlining one or two words per phrase and emphasizing those words (one of the 1,000's of tricks to do when you've hit a wall with your song). Emphasizing a word does not necessarily mean singing it louder. It could mean lengthening the initial consonant, hardening the initial consonant, separating the word from the previous word, singing the word softer than the previous, lengthening the word, shortening the word, any combination of the above or 1,000 other different devices. YouTube yielded two good, instructive recordings (and a lot of young singers, some under the age of 5). One from the 1961 film, one an audio of Idina Menzel. I prefer the latter, a great 21st century take on a song written by two men about being a woman.

7. "Someone to Watch Over Me" The student who performed this is a very accomplished singer-songwriter and has a unique, self-taught way of singing heavily influenced by contemporary pop and folk artists. This singer's rendering of this standard was exquisite, with varying subtle turns to each phrase. This singer also "staged" the song with blocking and gestures. For me, the visual worked against the music. I asked the singer to simply stand in the crook of the piano and sing the song. Everyone in the room liked this better.

If someday as you continue your voice studies 1. don't ever lose the way you sing your original songs, no matter what you do. 2. if you're interested in developing a mixed head voice and belt voice, you can then stage Broadway numbers like this and sing them out, if you want.

I searched youtube for folk-pop singers who took on this classic. Every voice is unique and so it is impossible to find someone who sings exactly like today's participant, I didn't find any folk singer-songwriters performing this song. *If you know of any, please share.

Amy Winehouse - a standard jazz approach, though it is a tribute to Ella, she makes this song her own,

Ella - everyone must hear

Allison Iraheta - pop/"white soul" singer another example of give-and-take with words but it's an undistinguished jazz attempt

Blossom Dearie - overwhelmingly beautiful simplicity

Chet Baker - also recommended for its simplicity, for those who don't know Baker, he also plays trumpet.

Traci Hines - very interesting, worth checking out. I thought she was famous but apparently not (yet).

Sting - (I sang a Sting song with our masterclass participant; that may be why I'm including him here.) Sting has branched out a bit ever since The Police broke up, but he hasn't become known as a hard-core jazz singer. You still hear his pop voice and his style in here - informative for any pop singer taking on a jazz standard.

8 "What I did for Love" In contrast to some of the other numbers heard today, this piece needs some real commitment in the body. I'm not talking about dancing or even moving around on stage, but the urgency of the song demands that you plead with your whole body. This could be an opportunity to try the trick of making a note with a part of your body. If you have a difficult note, pretend that putting your foot down makes that note happen, or clenching your fist, or extending your arm, palms down fingers spread and bent (baritones only).

9. "Mi Sueno" How wonderful that our singer speaks Spanish. There also was an intense dramatic commitment to the text. The problem was, that we say inner pain and were not invited to share in the experience. I suggested simply directing the face out (forward) and up and leaving more air between your elbows and ribs and under your arms. Also about gestures: they have a beginning, a middle and an end. At this stage in your performing career we typically have the beginning and middle pretty well practiced, but to paraphrase Charlie Wilson "we f--- up the endgame." A gesture needs a clear ending. You need to decide when the gesture will end and how. Quickly on the rest? Slowly as the phrase tapers? If you find yourself in the middle of a song with an arm hanging out in the air, whatever you do, don't ask yourself "what do I do now with this arm?" Try a.) checking in with your character - what is he/she feeling now? The arm will do what's natural. b.) just do something that will look cool. Quickly clench a fist then slowly retract the arm back, or the reverse, or something else with two different speeds of movement. It may be totally against the music, but at least it will look cool. If it was the wrong thing to do, chalk it up as another learning experience.

Any questions? Feel free to contact me. Thanks for coming to SVI and keep up the good work.