There were a few things that I wanted to work on since my last solo performance. Connecting with a song and singing it with the right emotion is one of the things that I find quite difficult to do. Another thing that I also find quite hard is singing with a backing track. Therefore, I decided to look for a song that would challenge me, putting me out of my comfort zone and allowing me to work on those things.

One of the artists that crossed my mind was Damien Rice as I think he is an artist that is quite emotive. I started learning Blower’s daughter but somehow it didn’t feel like I was connecting with the song. I though of picking a different song, maybe something that I could identify myself and connect with. Trouble by Ray Lamontagne was my next choice. It was a song that would allow me to work on all the points that I wanted to and would also challenge me in terms of timing and diction. Trouble is in 6/8 and there is quite a lot of syncopation in the vocals.

The next step was getting the right backing track. There was a karaoke version on YouTube but it didn’t follow the normal structure of the song. I kept on looking for a backing track and ended up buying a backing track from Karaoke-version.com.

Ray Lamontagne was one of six children (from various fathers) and when he was a kid his mum travelled from Utah to Maine, taking her children with her and stopping wherever she could find a room. Trouble includes themes and references such as vulnerability, heartbreak, love and trouble in various ways. In order to be able to sing this song with the right emotion I tried to link the words to previous experiences that I’ve had in my life as well as put myself in Lamontagne’s shoes. This allowed me to connect a bit better with the song.

I think my performance could have been better in terms of diction but the verses are quite fast and the sentences are a bit long. I also want to improve in terms of intonation and placement. 

In the 1960s, African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic and danceable form of music. This new genre was called Funk. Although, the adjective “funky” was applied to gospel-influenced jazz in the 1950s and started appearing in song titles in 1967, it didn’t become widespread as a term for a specific genre until the mid 1970s. The use of the term increased in the late 1960s, which coincided with a change in African-American politics from the integrationist stance of the Civil Rights, associated to the rise of Soul Music, to the more radical attitude of the Black Power Movement. A sign of this change is James Brown’s recording Say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud (1968).

James Brown is one of the icons that developed what became known as funk. However, elements of it can be found in recordings of the 50s: Professor Longhair’s Tipitina (1953) and the Hawkettes’ Mardi Gras Mambo (1954)  blended Latin rhythms with the texture and harmonic patterns of rhythm and blues, while Ray Charles presented an innovative synthesis of Latin rhythms, blues-based harmonic progressions and gospel vocal techniques in What’d I say (1959).

Brown brought rapid tempos and aggressive cross rhythms into his music, intensifying the polyrhythmic implications of the earlier funk recordings. By the mid 1960s, Brown had developed his signature groove that emphasized the downbeat, with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every bar.  He often cued his band with the command “On the one!”. As mentioned in The Funkmasters-the Great James Brown Rhythm Sections, Brown changed the percussion emphasis from the one-two-three-four backbeat of traditional soul music to the one-two-three-four downbeat, with an even-note syncopated guitar rhythm (on quarter notes two and four), featuring a hard-driving, repetitive brassy swing.  This change in Brown’s style started with the single Out of Sight (1964) and Papa’s got a brand new bag (1965). Brown’s innovations have pushed the Funk music style further and led him and his band to the forefront with releases such as Cold Sweat (1967), Mother Popcorn (1969) and Get Up (I Feel like Being A) Sex Machine (1970).  

Other bands created their own forms of funky soul music. The first ones to absorb Brown’s rhythmic approach and extend it was Sly and the Family Stone, who added a fragmented doo-wop vocal style featuring rapidly alternating voices as well as aspects of psychedelic rock. This fusion with Brown’s rhythmic innovations was evident in their first successful single, Dance to the Music (1967). The psychedelic influence, particularly that of Jimi Hendrix, was felt by other bands, most notably Funkadelic and the Isley Brothers.

The early 1970s witnessed a further spread, refinement and diversification of Funk. The role of the bass expanded with Brown’s new bass player, William ‘Bootsy’ Collins, in songs recorded in songs such as Sex Machine and Superbad. Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone created an innovative thumb-popping bass guitar technique particularly evident in, Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin. The band War added a prominent Latin element to the funk  sound (Slippin’ into Darkness, 1971), while Tower of Power brought syncopated horn lines to a new level of complexity.

A good way to analyze Funk’s vocal style is by analyzing Brown’s music.  His vocal style was overlaid with catchy, anthemic vocals based on extensive vamps. He also used his voice as "a percussive instrument with frequent rhythmic grunts and with rhythm-section patterns that resemble West African polyrhythms – a tradition evident in African American work songs and chants. The vocal parts in Funk are quite diverse and are always related to the mood and feel of the song. There are quite a lot of backing vocals, performed sometimes by female singers.

I wish I was Stealing Watermelons

Chambers Brothers’ Stealing Watermelons and I wish by Stevie Wonder were the two songs we decided to play in this genre. In Stealing Watermelons we changed the instrumentation. We replaced the harmonica with the trumpet and introduced piano. There are a lot of vocal parts in this song and it was hard to do them like in the original song. In I wish I was doing backing vocals while Leslie was singing the main part. We always had the songs with us in the rehearsal room so that we could listen to them and pick the elements of this genre.

 

When we go for a run or we decide to do some kind of exercise, we always start by warming up some of the most important muscles in our body, for the activity we are about to perform. Singing is exactly the same thing as exercising, therefore an effective warming up routine is required for a better performance.

It is essential for a singer to prepare his body and mind to the task of singing. The vocal chords, used for singing, are muscles and we should try to preserve them and avoid injuries. In the act of warming up, not only should we warm up the vocal chords, but also the muscles in other areas of our body that are involved in the act of singing such as shoulders, neck, jaw, tongue and lips. The muscles in these areas should feel free and loose. In the act of breathing for singing, other muscles are used such as the pelvis, belly and abdominal muscles.

In order to “wake up” your body and make you feel energized, a good idea is to run on the spot for about one minute. This exercise will make the blood flow through your body and as the airflow increases when you breathe, the oral cavity will naturally open.

Once you have run on the spot or have done some exercise with a similar effect, it is important to warm-up your shoulders by rolling them back and forth. So that you loosen your shoulder muscles you can move your shoulders up and drop them for a few times. Shaking other parts of your body such as your arms and legs will also help you feel more relaxed.

After you have performed these exercises, it is important to slow down and gain control of the circle of your breath. This will help you relaxing the pelvis and abdominal muscles.  While you take control of your breathing, you can start warming up your jaw. A good way to do this is by massaging the muscles in your face. In order to loosen and freeing your jaw there are a few exercises you can do (please watch the video).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2V3ha2WD0o
A good exercise to warm up your lips is lip rolls (Please watch the following video about lip rolls). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lR2S1G-g0c

Finally, we can warm-up the vocal chords. A good way to start doing this is by humming triads and gradually going higher in pitch. Performing some descending or ascending scales is also a good exercise, or taking a pattern of notes from a song we are going to sing or practice.

Once we have done our warm up we are ready to start singing. Warming up the voice before singing is vital to protect the singer’s voice, preserve it and avoid severe injuries. Vocal warm-ups also help obtaining a better vocal timbre.

The rhythm style known as Reggae is used in a wide range of musical styles. Some of the most influent and successful reggae bands include Aswad, Toots and the Maytals, and Bob Marley and the Wailers. Some famous British artists, such as The Police, The Clash and UB40 have been influenced by this musical genre.

Reggae is either played in 4/4 time or swing time, because the symmetrical rhythmic pattern does not lend itself to other time signatures such as 3/4.The rhythmic emphasis of reggae revolves around the bass-line which is often more predominant than in other genres. The guitar part consists of very sparse chord chops (known to reggae musicians as skanks or drops), which are played on beats two and four rather than the main beats of the bar. The aim is to create a very steady, even rhythm, with the bass and guitar parts complementing each other. Click here to learn more about how to play guitar and bass in Reggae.

The chord drops are usually played using down-strokes. In order to get a crisp sound, they should be played staccato. Long guitar solos are not normally a feature of Reggae, with most guitar lines in reggae music consisting of short licks or improvisation based on the melody line.

It is very common for reggae to be sung in Jamaican Patois, Jamaican English and lyaric dialects. Vocal harmony parts are often used throughout the melody (with vocal groups), and as a counterpoint to the main vocal line (backing vocals). Many singers use tremolo (volume oscillation) instead of vibrato (pitch oscillation). In Reggae, effects such as reverb and delay are often used. Another characteristic of reggae is the toasting vocal style, which is the act of talking or chanting over a rhythm or beat. It differs from rap mainly in that it is generally melodic, while rap is more a spoken form without melodic content.

Lyrically, Reggae usually relates to social criticism, social gossip, personal subjects and socio-political content that include Black Nationalism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism. Many Reggae songs promote the use of cannabis, considered a sacrament in the Rastafari movement. Some artists also utilize religious themes in their music. 

We decided to play Three Little Birds by Bob Marley because Marley was one of the main icons of Reggae. It was great learning this style and understanding the feel in this genre. The other song that we played was Sweat by Inner Circle as it is a different with a different feel. Lesley sang the harmonies in both songs and we used reverb and a bit of delay in the vocals.

According to Oxford Music Online, Rock and Roll is a musical genre original from the USA, which became established in the mid-1950s and is usually used to refer to the popular music of the 1960s and 70s. The term “rocking and rolling” originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean, but it can be found in blues lyrics from the 1930s, serving as a euphemism for sex. Although some historians defend that rock and roll began when white teenagers started listening and dancing to rhythm and blues, it is often described as an amalgam of black rhythm and blues and white country music, with a bigger contribution of black musicians.

In the earliest rock and roll of the late 1940s and early 1950s, the instruments used as the lead instrument were either the piano or the saxophone. In the middle 1950s, these instruments started being replaced by the guitar. Classic rock and roll is usually played with one or two electric guitars (one rhythm and one lead), a double bass or an electric bass and a drum kit.

Musically, Rock and Roll combined boogie-woogie rhythms; the 12-bar blues chord structure; vocal styles from the blues and country music, the euphoric shouts of gospel and the innovatory rhythmic treatment of lyrics introduced by Elvis Presley. There is a strong rhythmic drive provided by straight quaver rhythms and solos on the electric guitar, as well as an accentuated backbeat (syncopated accentuation on the ‘off’ beat) usually provided by a snare drum.

The migrations of black and white southerners to urban areas in the north and west of the USA, the post-war prosperity, the break-up of the large swing bands after the war, the rise of independent local record labels and the growth of mass-mediated culture contributed for the development of this genre. Rock and Roll crossed racial boundaries as radio, recordings and television facilitated cultural interactions, with white teenagers acquiring new idols in black musicians. Chuck Berry was one of the pioneers of this musical genre and is considered by many the father of Rock and Roll.

Rock and Roll songs dealt with issues of cars, school, dating, clothing, events and conflicts that most listeners could somehow relate to, and introduced topics that were considered taboo, such as sex. This new kind of music also tried to break boundaries and express the real emotions that people were feeling but didn’t talk about.  

Soon this genre would spread around the globe influencing young musicians especially in Britain. American rock and roll artists such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Buddy Holly became major forces in the British charts influencing a new generation of musicians.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the interest in Rock and Roll was decreasing in America and increasing in Britain. Groups in major urban areas like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London began to arise. About the same time, a British blues scene developed initially led by blues followers who were inspired by American musicians such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

Many groups moved towards the beat music of rock and roll and rhythm and blues. A new form of Rock and Roll created by The Beatles and other bands would mark the history of music. British bands would achieve national and international success and a new wave of rock roll would invade America (the British Invasion). Other groups followed The Beatles like Freddie and The Dreamers, the Dave Clark Five, and the more blues-influenced The Animals, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Yardbirds.

Rock and Roll was more than a musical genre. It influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes and language. It also helped the cause of the civil rights movement as both African American teenagers and white American teens enjoyed the music.