Jake Engel: Thousand Years/ National Anthem (week 1)

This week:


We vocalized on:
Mah-mah, be-be, nay-yay, yah-yah
We worked on:
1. Pop Ballad Style
2. National Anthem

 Pop Ballad Style
Today we introduced a new placement! Our Pop Ballad placement! We will continue to work on our baseline forward placement at every lesson, but as we continue to explore specific genres - we will expand upon this baseline placement, emphasizing different parts of it for different genres and songs to customize our voice and cater to each song and performance a little bit differently (like we did with musical theater with "empty chairs"). With pop ballads, we shift our placement a little bit more forward, taking more bass out of it to further thin out our vocal cords to make them more agile for quicker scats and thinner style choices like texture and breath (versus heavy vibrato). We worked on simplifying our style and moving to a more conversational talking place to make our song sound more natural, and to make it easier to manipulate and control.


National Anthem
Today we also worked on the national anthem for Jake's performance on Saturday!


A few things right off the bat:
1. You'll want to get a pitch pipe so that Jake can consistently start on his song on the same note. Here are a few links to order one on Amazon (they range from $15-$20). Or you can go into any music store (including Guitar Center) and ask for a C-C pitch pipe and they will give you exactly what you need. If you want to make sure it's the right kind, you can look at the Amazon pictures.
Amazon Pitch pipe 1

Amazon Pitch Pipe 2

2. We start on A. On a C-C pitch pipe, it will be an octave higher than you will start - but it will be just great. You can find it on a piano to practice as well.

3. You'll want to bring water to the performance (even just a small cup or bottle) to make sure you feel like you have a clear throat and you are all ready to go when you sing!

4. Smile! Have the time of your LIFE!!

We vocalized on:
Mah-mah, lip buzz, Nay-yay, big light scales to relax all the way up and down on E, lip buzz, oh,oo, ah.
We worked on:
1. Singing forward/ through our teeth
2. Cadence/pacing/
3. Finding pitch when singing a-cappella
4. Performance routines


Singing forward/ through our teeth
We worked on moving our new song into our forward placement, making sure that our voice doesn't fall back, sound muffled, or nasal.
With each word, we practiced starting the word by pushing it against our teeth and then finishing the word like a water fall - or throwing the words at the flag in front of us, up and over the microphone to brighten the sound, help with pitch, and make it easier to control.

Cadence/pacing
Because the National Anthem is a-cappella, timing and pitch get a little bit crazy because there is no music behind us to take cues from. Because of this, it helps to have something to help keep us from falling behind, or making our timing inconsistent. (I always tap my heel). We worked on keep the rhythm consistent and steady so that our song doesn't speed up and slow down at random times. We also worked on starting with blowing in our pitch pipe and counting "1..2..3" to start us off in a great cadence.

Finding pitch when singing a-cappella
Again, because our song is a-cappella, pitch can be something that tends to wander without the background music guiding us through the song. Because of this, starting on the same note every time (using a pitch pipe), gives our brain some consistency so that it can learn to remember the pitch and octave skips - and how they fit within the particular key of a song. We worked on keeping as many things consistent in our song as possible so that the more we sing it, the more good, consistent habits are formed.

Performance routines
We also worked on what to do right before you sing. Having a routine will help keep things consistent so that when other inconsistent variables are added to the day, that Jake feels calm and ready to go no matter what.
The performance routine that we talked about and practiced today was very simple - 
1. Take a sip of water right before
2. Walk out with your mic in one hand and pitch pipe in the other
3. Blow into the pitch pipe to get your note - hum the note for a second
4. Raise Microphone, smile, and sing! Aiming each word at that flag.


Here are our videos from today!

Before/End of our lesson:

Great job Jake! See you soon!

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