The world had changed a great deal since I started the Sing Your Life website back in 1999. There seems to be an unspoken mandate which hovers above my head, and more or less demands that I change to keep up with the rest of the world…And I’ve resisted...but no more…not this time.
I think that as we get older, we need more stability in our environs and tend to get pretty stubborn about changing with the times. I was talking to a dear friend the other day, a piano player who I work with here in town, and he said something that rang so true for me. He said, “…my lady friend complains a lot that I live in the past too much, but ya know? It was better then, dammit!”
We both laughed.
I’m not so sure it really WAS better then. I think now that it’s in the past, whatever it is, and we know it well and it’s familiar and has become comfortable, it may seem better. God knows, as we get older, the future becomes more and more ominous, so the past, even if it really stunk, does provide some comfort….the “devil you know” kind of thing.
The truth is, in my view, that NOW is all we ever really get, and to embrace NOW is to reduce the fears and anxieties of that which has not yet happened, and to calm the sorrows of our past mistakes…so that’s where I am steering my boat. And I invite you to come with me into 2010, singers!!
I feel the urge to complete a whole lotta projects this year:
“Close Enough For Jazz” – A memoir- (pecking at it, but very slowly.)
The Complete Video Vocal Performance Course – (start looking for new videos in January)
Development of an ongoing Performance Workshop, including the art of Cabaret, the art of Auditioning, and more… (done with local students and we’re looking to video the process for all of you to see)
The completion of “Get Off The Bandstand” – Last installment coming in February.)
The completion of a short story I’ve been writing for 40 years. (Obviously, I have severe writers’ block on this. Ha ha!)
The completion of the final CD, (working title: “The Delights & Distresses of Growing Old” – just gotta call Barney and BEGIN!)
Completion of the Backing Track Project – (to sell off entire remaining inventory)
I believe I need to finish these things not because I may be getting ready to depart the earth or anything dramatic like that. No! I seem to want to finish these things so I can get them all out of my head, and I can then sit on the beach and watch the boats go by, or the flight of a blue heron, or the gentle kiss of the waves against the rocks along the bayfront here in Corpus Christi, and to simply exhale a sigh…and enjoy the view.
And at the same time, even as I write that, I recognize all too well that sitting on the beach with nothing to do is the very worse thing that I could do, ha ha!
Staying youthful and vital for as long as possible requires constant engagement with Life on a moment-by-moment basis, so while I yearn for leisure as most aging working people tend to do, the projects are really my fuel for staying active and engaged. Kinda funny, huh? Or maybe just ironic??
Like I keep telling my sister when she sighs and says she’s so tired, “Be careful what you wish for, Doll! The Universe is always listening and if you want a rest, you might just get one…and then really hate it.”
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UPDATE!
For those of you who may be interested, I have recently completed the Standards and Jazz BT list and have posted it on the Members Only Page of my website…and to end any confusion, when I say “MY website”, I am speaking of www.singyourlife.com/
When I say “OUR website”, or “the COMMUNITY Singers’ site”, or “the Singers’ Network page”, I am speaking of www.singyourlife.ning.com.
I guess I shoulda named our community a little differently ‘cause many of you have gotten somewhat lost looking for things. Forgive me. Hope I’ve made things a little clearer for ya now.
Anyway, since my niche group of singers is mainly interested in Standards and Broadway tracks, everything from those categories is now posted and you may browse the lists at your leisure and send me your requests whenever. REMEMBER! I have reduced the cost to 75¢ per track, so get ‘em while you can.
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Here is Installment #6 of “Get Off The Bandstand”
This month’s section is extra long to make up for the month I missed in November. The final section shall come to you in February, 2010.
(previously, I spoke of what it means to SHARE the stage with other musicians, and the nuances of hand signals in the unspoken language of jazz… we continue now with the rules for the vocalist…)
Here is an excerpt of what is contained in this installment?
“Can you just imagine saving all your pennies to go see a Broadway show and because the performance you are viewing happens to be the 200th time the performers have sung this music? Can you just imagine what it would sound and look like to you, the listener if the actors and singers were bored to tears with this show?
You would leave that theater, feeling empty inside but not really understanding why. You might comment that you were disappointed and felt that it lacked a certain energy that you were expecting, and you might think it was the failure of the voices, or the acoustics in the theater, or the band was too loud, or the dancing was amateurish, but what really was the root of your displeasure was the simple fact that the players on the stage were bored…and so…you were too.”
Moving to the Side
In the world of Jazz, it’s considered rude to stand in the center of the stage, hogging audience attention that should be on the band. It shows a lack of regard for the musicians, and for their participation in the music itself. It also shows a lack of professionalism on the part of the singer. Instrumentalists refer to singers like that as “clueless”.
I was on a job once where the singer stood smack in the middle of the stage after she had sung the first time through the song, and she actually hummed along with the instrumentalists’ solos. Another time, that same singer talked OVER the solos, telling stories to the audience. As you can imagine, that singer was NOT asked to sit in with that band ever again. She didn’t understand and had to be told that the gig was NOT her personal showcase, and while her stories might work in a Cabaret setting, they amount to a lack of considersation on a Jazz gig.
The correct and respectful move is to stand on the side, either left or right, and allow the band to play…as long as they want to.
In college I was privileged to sing with a great band called “The Jazz Explorers”, and we worked all over the college town of Ithaca, New York. One night we were in an exclusive jazz club, where elite jazz fans only were admitted!
I sang “Night in Tunisia”, by Dizzy Gillespie, moved to the edge of the bandstand and let the saxophone take it. He was in rare form that night and having recognized that he had the audience with him, he kept playing…and playing…and playing. He must’ve played 10 choruses or more. The crowd was in a frenzy of delight listening to him. Can you even imagine, what would’ve happened if I had interrupted that?
When they were ready to give it back to me, they let me know with a nod.
Jazz musicians depend on intercommunication to achieve and maintain a sense of spontaneity. They encourage each other vocally or through their instruments to attain higher levels of performance. The connection with an audience is also vocal and visceral.
Because an original function of jazz was to accompany social dancers, a jazz audience's physical responses signaled the musicians to continue or heighten their level of intensity.
Among musicians themselves, the jam session exists as the central agency for communicating in a common musical language, in an atmosphere of collective
spontaneity. Parallels between the sense of community in a jam session and an open forum of discussants are clear --a successful session, like group conversation, depends on courtesy, decorum, and mutual respect as well as open-mindedness and willingness to listen. Thus, the connection between
music and language manifests itself in the jazz context.
[from "What Is Hip?" And Other Inquiries In Jazz Slang Lexicography by Rick McRae]
Listening, Appreciating, and Learning
Please remember, singers, it’s a collaboration, not a showcase! So what do you do as the vocalist when you’re over there on the edge of bandstand while the sax, and the trombone, and the piano and the bass and drum are taking solos?
You listen and applaud right along with the audience.
Because they ARE watching you! The audience I mean! They are watching…you, and the all of the artists on the stage. They want to see if the music is as appreciated by each of you who are creating it as it is by them, the listeners.
Does the sax player like the way the pianist takes his solo? Does the trombone player smile when the bass player is taking his?
It’s an secret language of sorts that give jazz it’s ethereal mysterious, quality that allows an audience to imagine and picture scenarios of its own.
If you, or any other musician on stage were to look disinterested while someone is soloing, that would interrupt the mood and take much of the magic out of the overall performance.
(This next section is pretty technical, so feel free to bypass it and go straight to “Continuing Your Musical Education”)
Learn and Understand “Trading Fours”
There’s a particular feature of jazz playing that does not exist in any other genre of music, and it’s called “trading fours”.
This particular musical device is a technique in which the musicians alternate brief solos of four bars each, usually occurring after each musician has had a chance to play a solo, and often involves alternating four-bar segments with the drummer.
Most tunes played in a jazz setting are written in a 32 bar format. For example,
take the tune “Teach Me Tonight”. This song has 32 measures or bars. The first section, (“A”) contains 8 measures, which is then repeated, (2nd 8) with different words, followed by a “bridge” of 8 more bars with a different melody line and different words, and then what is called the “last 8” with the same melody as the 2nd 8, but with different words. This format is called AABA, or a “Standard” format.
When the musicians decide to trade 4’s to this tune, it could look like this, (although there are multiple varieties of trading 4’s which we’ll see later.):
Starting at the beginning of the song:
Saxophone improvises on melody: “Did you say I go a lot to learn. Well Don’t think I’m trying not to learn”. That’s 4 measures of music.
Drummer plays: “Since this is the perfect spot to learn. Teach me tonight”. 4 bars
Piano improvises on melody: “Starting with the abc of it, right down to the xyz of it” 4 bars
Drummer plays: “help me solve the mystery of it. Teach me Tonight”
Trombone improvises on bridge: “the sky’s a blackboard high above you. If a shooting star goes by”
Drummer: “I’ll use that star to write I love you, 1000 times across the sky”.
Bass: “One thing isn’t very clear my love. Should the teacher stand so near my love”
Drummer: “graduation’s almost here my love, teach me tonight.”
Now understand singers, I’ve written the words so that you can understand the way the song is divided up when trading 4’s. Naturally these musicians are NOT singing the words, they are improvising on the melody.
Furthermore, the song can be played over and over again in this trading 4’s arrangement so that it builds to a great dramatic cadence! Audiences absolutely adore this device cause it’s joyful and celebratory! And it gets everyone involved at once, and is just plain FUN!!
And let me say…If, as a singer you are ever invited to trade fours (4’s) during a piece, consider it the highest honor you will ever have bestowed upon you as a jazz singer. But learn to SCAT first!
Continuing Your Musical Education
Singers! If you should ever get to that place and time in your life where you feel you have learned all there is to know about the music you sing, do yourself a favor and everyone else as well…and QUIT!
And actually, this step is meant for all singers of every genre, style, and level.
In recent years, the majority of my students have been ladies over 50, who have not stopped learning, desiring, and expressing. In fact, these women enthusiastically drink in everything they can about singing and performing music.
When the market gurus tell you to find a niche you can love, I DO understand that, because, it is these women, with the energy of children, and the wide-eyed thrill of discovering their voices, that keeps me young and vital every day.
Can you just imagine saving all your pennies to go see a Broadway show and because the performance you are viewing happens to be the 200th time the performers have sung this music? Can you just imagine what it would sound and look like to you, the listener if the actors and singers were bored to tears with this show?
You would leave that theater, feeling empty inside but not really understanding why. You might comment that you were disappointed and felt that it lacked a certain energy that you were expecting, and you might think it was the failure of the voices, or the acoustics in the theater, or the band was too loud, or the dancing was amateurish, but what really was the root of your displeasure was the simple fact that the players on the stage were bored…and so…you were too.
A Broadway Show, especially a Broadway show, has to be played and sung with the exact same vitality on the last day of the run, that it had on Opening Night!
No, it’s not that easy, which is why many extremely successful and long-running musicals change cast members halfway through…to keep it fresh and exciting for the audience.
That being the case, can you just imagine what it can be like to have a singing gig in a supper club several nights a week and have regular customers who come in for a drink just to hear you sing their favorite song? How would it be for that customer if your singing was lazy and unenthused? Think he’d want to give you that $5. tip you were expecting? Think he’d continue to show up night after night?
I know these things singers, because as they say, “been there, done that”.
My point is this: As long as you are still growing musically, and still finding new and wonderful ways to express the music you are singing, it will always be fresh and exciting…always!
Remember when you were a small child and your Mom bought you your first box of crayons? There were 8 crayons in the box, right? And the colors were red, blue, green, yellow, orange, brown, white and black.
You drew pictures and colored in coloring books and spend countless hours of enjoyment with your colors…until those crayons were broken and in teeny pieces all over the floor, and then one day….your Mom came home with a big surprise for you.
A new box of crayons with twice the number of colors of your old box. Wow!!!
You opened the new box and saw all these NEW colors inside. You reached into the box to grab one and which one did you choose first?
I would wager that you chose a color from the first box…a color you knew. The familiar colors had a certain warmth and safety about them, and I’ll bet it took a little while to “get to know” those new colors in the box, so you were careful at first, using only the colors you knew. If you Mom was smart, she let you decide which colors to use and didn’t force any new ones on you, knowing that when you ready, you’d explore this new horizon on your own.
And that you did! One day you grabbed the purple crayon and drew a line.
WOWEEEWOW!! How great that looked!! Such a cool color! That was the beginning of your willingness to try all the rest of the colors in the box.
When I am teaching a student of mine how to put his or her own stamp on a song, it’s very similar to a kid with a box of crayons. The singer will sing what he knows and feels comfortable with until there comes a time when he feels an urge to stretch himself and try something knew. Many…many students of jazz singing will suppress that urge for sometimes…well…years. Why?
The simple answer is FEAR! Fear of making a mistake, fear of sounding off key or cracking, fear of the unknown…plain and simple!
But here’s the thing! Once the student overcomes that fear and allows himself to try something knew and pushes himself to keep trying in spite of what he may hear as unpleasant, he is growing and learning and getting better and better with each attempt.
The Purple Crayon
It starts with a single note. Instead of singing that line exactly the way you did the first time, change just ONE single note….just one. The first time my students do this, there appears a smile that begins at the corners of each mouth, like they just did something really great, and it grows and grows with each move they make in the song.
RULE! You never let the music get old, boring, or flat. You look for and find anything at all, even just a single note that will change a line or change a mood, and change YOUR OWN ATTITUDE about the song.
And remember please, it’s not about impressing others, it’s always about Expressing YOU!
In the 70’s I was fortunate enough to have a steady singing gig in NYC. My partner Lenny and I worked in some of New York’s classiest clubs and we did so, 6 nights a week with Sundays off.
We had a loyal clientele, including some of New York’s most famous, or shall I say INFAMOUS mobsters. They loved us…mainly ‘cause we sang a lot of Sinatra, but they were extremely generous when it came to showing their appreciation.
One guy, Louie, loved the song, “Help Me Make it Through the Night”, so whenever he came in to the club, I‘d sing it for him.
Now, I’m not a big fan of Country, but let’s face it, when Louie, who was a hit-man for one of the illustrious Italian families of New York, requests a song, you sing and you sing it with gusto! And the more gusto, (emotion, feeling, drama) you sing it with, the bigger the appreciation.
So an attitude change for Country music was definitely in order for me. And I actually learned to love that song, the more I sang it and changed it, here and there, differently every time. And I made a ton of money with it as well.
RULE: If you’re a jazz singer, you cannot sing a song the same way twice.
If you do, there is no spontaneity and without that…well, it ain’t Jazz, see?
And as a Jazz singer, singing other genres for the jobs you go on becomes a fun experience for you because you find little ways to alter the songs so that you never tire of them or get bored with them.
Keep learning…keep growing…always…always, singers!
(To be completed next month with the final chapter, “IS JAZZ just about the MUSIC?”)
‘til next time, Singers!!
Chrys
