May 17, 2014 In Uncategorized

Joe Lovano played my composition!

Screen Shot 2014-05-13 at 5.52.39 PMWith my private instructor Joanne Brackeen I’ve been working on phrasing this semester. And, how do instrumentalists and vocalists speak their melodies. In earlier blogs I’ve mentioned that I like to approach music as a language, and if you can phrase your melodies as if you where speaking them, they will sound natural.

Anyway, this week we worked on one of my compositions and she suggested me to ask some saxophone players to play my melody, and then to transcribe it. A day later, with this assignment in mind I ran into Joe Lovano, who was working with us in the Global Jazz classes. I told him about my assignment and he told me that we could meet the next day. Then he played my composition, my melodies, and he even improvised on it! He sounded amazing 🙂 …

Now I have to sit down and transcribe it, difficult but wow. This was one of the most amazing moments of the semester.

February 5, 2014 In Uncategorized

Taking a breath with Danilo Perez and Joe Lovano

What I’ve been working on these days? – Air 🙂

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A while ago I had class – with Danilo Perez and Joe Lovano (!!!). And I had to sing a song with the band. After the song Joe commented that the sound could be deeper. I needed more air…And one of the exercises they made me do in class was lying on the floor with a computer on my belly, sing and take air… Of course is singing for these two big jazz peeps slightly nerve wrecking and in those moments you’ll always loose more air than you want to. That said, its very important for a singer to have a well trained breath support system.

Here a couple of exercises I work on to strengthen my abdominal muscles, support my diaphragm and posture while singing.

First of all, I work with the Gayam Ball – as you see it on the picture. When you sit on it, there is no way of bad posture because you have to keep your balance on the bal. Also its an easy way to do simple workouts. The dvd’s you can find online are actually quite funny too! Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 11.26.09 AM

Another way to control breathing and posture is by doing Yoga or Tai-chi. Meditation and focus on long and deep breaths will

The third way of training breath support is in the pictures below, the exercise consists of three steps that are build up from another three steps. Combining inhaling, exhaling, singing, hissing and sipping air will result in a more controlled way of taking and giving air. Strengthening the diaphragm and the muscles around your core.