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Positively Perfect Pitch
It’s true. I have perfect pitch. I can look at a piece of music and hear it playing in my head, in the correct key. In rehearsal you don’t have to play pitches for me, because I already know where to...
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Simple Dreams
The great American singer, Linda Ronstadt: The Lovely Linda Dorky Linda Ronstadt wanna-be No. 1: Dorky/adorkable Zooey Deschanel, often compared with Linda Ronstadt. (www.cheezburger.com) Dorky...
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Teaching Something or Otter
Balance your registers, singers! A story from a recent lesson: She is 10. To emulate her favorite country singer, she pinches her throat, squeezes her lips tightly, and tries to carry her chest voice...
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The “Babbino” Bunch
The small and lovely Salt Marsh Opera will present Puccini’s comic one-act opera Gianni Schicchi on May 16 at the Pequot Museum in Mashantucket, CT. You should go see it! The gorgeous aria “O Mio...
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My Sunken Chest
All of my voice students spend part of each lesson warming up the head voice register and the chest voice register. I learned this as part of my Somatic VoiceWork training. It’s not optional, it’s...
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Warmups for Choirs
Let’s make this go viral, but not Ebola viral My latest contribution to cyberspace: A video of warmups for the singers of The Chorus Of Westerly. Director Andrew Howell asked me to record some warmups...
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I Knew They Were Terrible Singers!
Michael W. Smith: Doesn’t it hurt? Back in the 1980s I listened to pop music just as much as any other teen. My favorite singers included Olivia Newton-John, Linda Ronstadt, Al Jarreau and the...
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I Knew They Were Terrible Singers! (Part Deux)
It’s time for another round of “I Knew They Were Terrible Singers!”, where I explain the bad vocal technique behind the songs I’ve never liked — and even some songs I do like. This week, I’m including...
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I Knew They Were Terrible Singers! Part 3
Lana Del Rey, cockeyed optimist And so we continue with I Knew They Were Terrible Singers!, where I explain the vocal sins committed by the singers you can’t stand to hear. One of my eight blog readers...
View ArticleUnaccompanied minors
“They want me to sing sixteen bars a cappella,” the student says as we start to prepare her for the audition. “What?” I ask. “No pianist?” “No music at all, just me singing,” she says. What I’m...
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