The Wild Voice

Don't Take It Personally

Are you a singer who has a hard time hearing less than positive comments about your work?

Do you want feedback but tend to spiral into self-doubt if that feedback means you may not be as hot as you thought?

I just posted an entry on my personal blog Nancy Out Loud that you may find interesting. Sometimes, when you take a class you learn more about yourself than you bargained for!

Feedblitz on the Fritz?

I recently moved the "Wild Voice" blog to Typepad from Moveable Type blogging service. As a result, Feedblitz is sending my subscribers weird messages. I'm not sure what this means but I'm looking into it and I will fix it. Promise!

Sorry for the strangeness.

When You're Asked to Sit In

What to sing, what to sing?

When you have the opportunity to sit in at someone else’s gig and sing a tune, or if you're at an open mic where there’s a jazz trio or a pianist, what criteria do you use to choose which song you will sing?

Last night, I was at Wanda Stafford’s gig at the Panama Hotel in San Rafael. It was a special night because Wanda was celebrating her birthday (I'm not sure which one and I wasn't going to ask her) so there was a slew of singers there, singers who knew and loved Wanda and wanted to join the celebration. Almost every single one of them got up to sing a song that night.

Everyone except me.

Why? Well, this is what I realized. I didn't really have a song that fit the spirit of the evening AND was charted well enough for the band to play easily. I didn't have a song I was really dying to sing. I didn't have a song that would allow me to contribute positively to what was being created by these other singers or allow me to represent what I do well. So, I took photos instead.

But it made me realize, I want to be better prepared for such occasions. I need to have 2-3 songs, each one representing a different mood, tempo and energy, that are well charted and ready to go any time I want to sit in.

When I go to open mics, I usually just sing whatever I am working on at the time. Open mics, for me, are a chance to work on new material, a chance to perform songs I've never performed before or songs I'm still needing to work through in some way.

But last night was a different deal. It was Wanda’s gig, Wanda’s show, and what I noticed was that as different singers sat in, there was a party energy and up-beat mood of aliveness that was being created, a jazzy high of up-tempo music. I wasn't going to get up there and kill the buzz by singing “The Nearness of You.” I mean, it would have been fine, but it wouldn't have added to what was being created.

My friend Terese Genecco was there with me. She, too, was trying to decide what to sing. Luckily, she has charts that are very well written, charts from her great show, “Drunk With Love — a Tribute to Francis Faye.” As we were discussing which song she should sing, there was one song we decided she shouldn't do because it felt too big for the room and the refined, sassy style of Wanda’s singing.

But after several different singers got up to sing, that all changed. I could feel the energy build in the room as singer after singer got up to sing songs of different genres and styles. The singer before Terese sang “Won’t You Come Home, Bill Baily,” with this full-out, fun, wise-woman gusto. She set a mood that was perfect for that song of Terese’s we had previously nixed.

So, we changed our minds, again. I told Terese to go for it, sing “Unchain My Heart” and she blew the audience away with her huge, full-out vocal power and charisma. It was the perfect choice.

The way I see it, the trick is to have 2-3 songs, at least, that you can throw in front of a band or pianist and sing really well. Each song should fit a certain mood or genre. If I'm in a jazz club, I'm not going to sing some power ballad from “Dream Girls” (not that I'd ever sing a song from “Dream Girls”, but you get what I mean).

If you only get to sing one song all evening, pick one that:

1. Fits or complements the mood, energy and atmosphere that has been created by the singer or musician whose gig it is.
   

2. Can be easily read and played by the band or pianist (don't show up with some Sondheim 25-page long mini-aria and throw that in front of a pianist and expect him or her to play well. Or at all.)
   

3. Allows you to shine and show off the best of what you can do.

Now, sometimes, you just want to sing a song because you want to sing it and you don't care if it fits the mood or energy of what’s happening. You just want to perform it because you do. And that’s okay, too. I'm just saying that, for myself, I'm going to clean up a few charts so that in the future I have 2-3 songs that can kick ass next time I'm asking to sit in.

Tags: singer, music, performance, song

Patti, I Love You!

It's every singer's worst nightmare.
To have an important gig and be feeling at your worst.

Patti LaBelle had one of those awful, heartbreaking gigs in Florida this past weekend at the Riviera Beach Jazz & Blues Festival. She was feeling poorly, it was getting cold, and she went on at midnight only to end up weeping and apologizing in front of her audience.

Now, I've only seen Patti perform when she's been on T.V. One of the most memorable times was when she was on the Ellen Degeneres show. I was floored by her steam, her ferocity, her fire on stage. And her ease. I fell in love!

Patti, you had a bad night. It's okay, sweetie. You got it, girl. Just keep on!

Tags: singer, music, Patti Labelle, Ellen Degeneres

"Take Off Your Emotional Clothes and Sing"

This is a fabulous article written by Charles Isherwood, forwarded to me by Mike Duffy.

I am so grateful to Mike for letting me know about this, because I adore Barbara Cook.
Not only as a singer but as a Master Teacher. I would love to be in her master class one day.

This article is a personal account of the author's attendance in one of Ms. Cook's classes at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Juilliard.

Here's a snippet:

"Ms. Cook, who gives several master classes a year around the country, opened the session with a brief, informal speech emphasizing that the key to good singing is making a real investment of feeling in each note. "Your own humanity," she said, "is your pathway to artistry."

What To Do When Your Drummer Hates You

Sometimes, I'm really stupid.

Earlier this month, I performed at an absolutely wonderful, glamorous fund raising event. This gig was important to me because of my love and respect for the people were putting it together, so I hired the best musicians to be in my jazz trio. Unfortunately, my favorite drummer wasn't available, so I did something really stupid.

I hired one of the most talented drummers I've ever heard. In fact, every time I hear him I am blown away by the exquisite underlying subtlety and nuance he creates within every beat and his ability to really listen.

But this guy is a jerk. I wasn’t positive until now, but, yep, he’s a real jerk.

The last time we worked together, before this most recent gig, he was dark, moody and he treated me as if I was some kind of moldy fungus. No matter how much I tried to work with him, he just radiated a huge “you bug me” vibe. Hence, my experience of singing with him absolutely miserable.

So, I know you are asking, “Why in the heck did you hire him again?”

Because I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot who loves to think positively and believes that everyone can have a snarly prima donna moment in which they treat people badly but don’t really mean to. Maybe we had just gotten off on the wrong foot. And, hey, we’re both professionals. Let’s give it another try!

Boy, was I WRONG!

Singing Rats

Hey, we're not the only ones who get excited about singing.

Check it out:
http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1058991.php/Study_Romantic_male_mice_enjoy_singing

Singing Sick

I had been fighting for two days, but yesterday, it hit me like a train wreck.
I got sick. Coughing, sore throat, and tons and tons of mucus attacked me, and I had a gig that night.

Luckily, it wasn't a huge gig. I was one of three singers performing for a benefit for Restorative Resources (if you haven't heard of them, check them out! Great work!). I only had to open the show with three rousing tunes.

Nevertheless, I felt like shit and while I could sing, my voice was unpredictable. I would be in the middle of a sustained note and it would just quit, shut down, stop, as if it had a limit as to how long it would be willing to sing one note. "I get a kick out of youuuuuu -ackk!

When Your Coke Goes Flat

I was backstage at a local theater last Tuesday, waiting to go on with my band. We were about to perform for a small audience made up of people who had made major contributions to a local non-profit agency.

There was a small kitchen backstage with a sink and refrigerator. There was a handwritten note on the refrigerator that said something like this:

“I drank the last of coke that was in the refrigerator, and guess what?
It was flat. Just like tonight’s audience.”

I cracked up laughing! This was obviously left by one of the actors in the current production running at this theater.

This note became less amusing after I performed my show. Guess what? My audience was flat, too.

We’ve all been there. Those nights when we’re giving it our all, when we think we’ve got a great show, when we’ve worked hard to pull it off, and the audience just isn’t as excited as we are. For whatever reason.

But the question is, what can we do, when we feel an audience’s distance, when they just aren’t digging it?

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