» voice

Train makes great music. Hip, edgy and hard driving. I’ve written before about the dangers of trying to imitate singers you hear in a music video or on the radio. In this post you’ll watch the official music video for ‘Hey Soul Sister’ and an acoustic version – no hocus-pocus of the recording studio. After watching the second video, see my comments to get a better un...

Yesterday’s post was about hearing jazz legend Bucky Pizzarelli, whom I saw a couple nights ago with his sons playing amazing music. Last night I saw Ellis Marsalis at the Apple store of all places, on the day he was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. There is such a grace and ease surrounding performers who are masters at their craft. With Ellis Marsalis, the piano bows to his gentle comm...

Last night at the 92nd Street Y here in NYC, for the Lyrics and Lyricists series, they did a tribute to Bucky Pizzarelli – master of the guitar. Bucky turned 85 yrs old yesterday and still did 2 shows at the Y – and he’ll do 2 more today. The show was written by his daughter in law, Jessica Molaskey, who also sang. John Pizzarelli, Bucky’s son and an amazing guitar player ...

A singer/songwriter student of mine came to a voice lesson wanting to work on a rap he was writing. Fortunately, we had the camera rolling so I can share clips from the singing lesson with all of you! Rap isn’t my favorite music, in fact lots of people don’t think of it as music. Working with my student on this amazing rap he wrote has given me a new insight into this art form. ItR...

Eric Whitacre is an accomplished composer, conductor and lecturer who has quickly become one of the most popular and performed composers of his generation. To date, Whitacre’s published works have received thousands of performances and have sold in excess of one million copies worldwide. Over the past few years, his loyal fans and supporters have moved online, spreading Eric’s popularity to an...

You want to sing higher. Yes, I hear you – all of you. You want it to sound great and you want singing high to be easy??? Of course you do! And why shouldn’t singing higher be easy? When you try to sing higher it becomes difficult because you think about the high note too much. High notes become like the monster in the closet that’s going to jump out and bite you right in the throat at t...

You can love her, you can hate her, but Amy Winehouse is a great singer. Here she is singing the classic ‘Teach Me Tonight.’ With so many pop singers out there who really can’t sing live without the help of a recording studio wizard, I have to say that Amy has learned to sing. Talk about a sexy voice – listen. ...

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 185 voices. 243 tracks. 12 countries. A choir unlike any other. What started as a simple social media experiment, has become a poetic metaphor of our shared humanity and the power of connection. Acclaimed composer and conductor Eric Whitacre offered the sheet music of his original composition, “Lux Aurumque”, as a free download and invited singers t...

Singers, keep your voices healthy! Most of the music you hear on your iPod or the radio has been produced – highly produced – in a recording studio. When you hear the music, especially a singer’s voice, you are not hearing their true sound. You are listening to an electronically altered sound. If you try to imitate your favorite singer, you are really trying to imitate a sound th...

Imogen Heap is truly one of the best young singers on the scene. She is not only a ‘singer’, she’s also is an amazing musician. Yes, she sings and very well – without the aid of auto tune or any other tricks of the studio. She also is a songwriter and keyboard player. When I speak with groups of kids who want to go into the music business I ask them what they want from a c...