SONGWRITING

I did some math today. Since November 1 of 2014, I have written 845 songs. How many did I write, prior to that? 468 from 1997 until Nov. 1, 2014. It adds up to 1313 since 1997. Before that? Maybe 20, maybe more. A famous songwriter said to "write for the waste basket". Does that sound crazy? Not if you think about it. If you set out for perfection or even to write a hit or a masterpiece, you set yourself up for self-criticism, self-judgement and maybe even self-loathing. "Perfection" is just a word. What is the opposite of perfection? That's a difficult thing to conceive. This is where we can become more aware by exploring the subjective qualities and the wide ranges of "imperfection". It lies in judgement. It is very subjective. 

So, have I been "writing for the waste basket"? No. I have been writing for the joy of writing. I've been exploring and experimenting with rhythms and chords and the rhythm of chords as they lie in a single measure and multiple measures of songs. My bottom line, I learned from Pat Pattison of Berklee School of Music. Prosody. It was a new word for me. I have distilled it for myself to where a song, the lyrics, the arrangement have to have the qualities of aesthetics and integrity, working together to make it work with the quality of making sense and having some level of beauty. The emotion can be any emotion but the aesthetics of the music are like a carrier wave in radio broadcasting. The aesthetics sit on top and float along. It has to stay on topic, make musical sense, and maybe take you to a place you haven't been before. Finding interesting twists and turns along the way and discovering new "sights" just make the adventure come to life. 

Even with my standards, they are not rules. The breakout occurred when I decided to just see if I could write a bad song. I failed. The first one on Nov. 1st wasn't bad. Some days I have written 20 songs in a single day. It is like a game. The oddest thing is no 2 songs of mine are alike. The chords are different, the melodic lines are different from each other. Many days after breakfast, I head for my studio and play. Notice I said play. Sometimes I start with the melody and sometimes I start with chords. Some days I write 4 bars of chords and then write the melody. I repeat it until I have a song that makes some sense. I do not listen to them. I do not tweak. that's for later. Write and save. 

If you are a singer and you know one song, how good will you be? If you are a singer and you know 2000 sings, might you be a little better than if it were just one? If you are a songwriter and you have written one song or 10 or 20, you could be great but would you learn more by doing more? Maybe.

REALITY

REALITY. What is it? Is this too profound for a Friday? No. You have the whole long weekend to contemplate this. Visual reality is acquired through your eyes, but what do your eyes NOT see? You don't see anything microscopic or telescopic, but it is there! Have you ever looked at blood cells through a microscope? I have. Have you looked at the rings of Saturn through a telescope? I have. Without a telescope, Saturn looks like a bright star-no rings. Without a microscope you can see blood, but not the cells. You can't even see germs with the naked eye, but we know they are there. You cannot train your eyes to see what they cannot see. If you haven't looked through the scopes mentioned, your reality of microscopic and macroscopic is merely objective, NOT subjective. "Things" are there, whether seen, felt or heard. We have evidence.

Eyes are wonderful but ears are amazing, if they are trained.

You can listen to a band and a singer doing a song and take it all in as a whole. With training and practice, you can not only hear one specific instrument in that band, but you also can write down perfectly every note played by that instrument. You can hand the manuscript to a true professional and it will be pretty much identical. I have transcribed entire arrangements, so I have subjective reality on this. What else? You can hear all the chords in a song and you can even hear the voicing of chords with experience. What's more is you can choose how to hear as a whole, OR: individual parts, chords, voicings, rhythms, and more. What's more? Form. You can hear and understand the entire piece in verses, choruses, bridges, or movements. There are even forms in lyrics and other devices, such as those you hear in poetry or prose. Ears+mind can equal a very profound and analytical understanding of music. OR if you can do all those things, you can also do another thing. You can sit back and just listen and enjoy. Over time, however, you hear without analysis--you just get it and it transcends thought.

Put Up

Try putting people "up", instead of putting people down.  The most progress is made in the shortest period of time when the good, the right, and the excellent are acknowledged.  You can only build on success.  

You cannot build on failure, but if you pay careful attention, you'll notice that the most successful people usually have also failed many more times than unsuccessful people are willing to fail.  The phrase "trial and error" didn't come into existence by chance.  

It is the wash, rinse, repeat method to success.  You see what is working and do more of that.  You see what is not working and avoid that.  You'll get farther faster by putting yourself "up".  Acknowledge the good, dwell on the good, focus on the good.  Acknowledge the bad for a few seconds and move on.  Learn from mistakes; that is all the significance they have--a learning tool.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR VOICE?

Do you want higher notes?

If your voice cracks or breaks as you go up in pitch, there is something very wrong.  Can you sing high notes with strength  AND with ease?  You could if you would have been trained correctly.  

I can help with this and it can start as early as today.  Unless you have physical injury, swelling, or damage to your voice, range is safely expandable.

Do you need and want more endurance?

Does your voice get tired or give out on you after you sing for a half hour or an hour?  Concerts, gigs and recording your voice require better endurance than that.  You have to have great endurance and strength.

Your endurance and power can safely be improved when you discover the safe and effective way to do this.

Do you want to sing in tune?

How you hear and what you hear have everything to do with being able to sing in tune.  You can hear perfectly and still sing out of tune if you haven't connected your singing to your musicianship.  

It doesn't have to take a long time to sing in tune, once you are shown how to listen and what to listen to.  Some practice will get your pitch better from the very first day.

Do you want better time and rhythm?

Do you hear time as it is or are you missing something?  Why do some drummers have excellent time and others don't?  This also applies to singers.

Rhythm and time are very mathematical, but you don't have to know very much math to improve.  If you can count to four and if you can count to sixteen, your time and rhythm can get better.

Do you want better tone quality?

Can your tone actually be improved?  If you don't have scar tissue on your vocal folds (vocal cords), you can improve your tone.  No one wants to hear your voice if you don't sound good and that includes yourself.

Effective exercises can help improve your tone quality.  This is one area of technique, which can and does involve proper use of breathing.  Every singer and every player of wind instruments, who are professional, know the importance of breath control.

Is this all?

Not even close, but improvements in these categories alone, can make huge improvements in how you sound.

Online Singing Lessons

Online singing lessons can be every bit as effective as singing lessons in person.  To qualify this more, singing lessons using Skype, Google, or FaceTime can be as effective as the teacher or vocal coach is effective.  Granted, the quality of sound is slightly less than in person, but it is better than a phone by a long shot.

What does the vocal coach need to hear?  EVERYTHING, but it is not necessarily dependent upon sound quality, per se.  Everyone does not perceive pitch the same way.  Everyone does not hear at the same "depth and breadth" of sound, either.  A vocal coach with a developed relative pitch can be very good.  A vocal coach with perfect pitch has an excellent level of sound and pitch perception.

Knowing what was sung and knowing precisely what is heard is totally necessary for helping identify the source of a singer's pitch problems.  Is it incorrect melodic intervals or is it a weak "harmonic ear" causing a singer to sing out of tune?  Singers who also play a piano or guitar oftentimes have a more highly developed "ear" but not always.

Most singers seem to not want to spend the time and effort with ear training--except for the excellent ones.  Ear training especially for singers is almost nonexistent, which is why I have taken the time to develop singer-specific exercises.

Whether online or in person, the exercises I have developed are as effective equally.  The much neglected musical "ear" is the key factor in singers singing out of tune (Pitchy, off key).  It isn't hard to handle and also doesn't require months to make it better.

Online singing lessons can be used for the various other factors for better singing, if the vocal coach is competent.

vocaleasy.de is my newest website.

chustew@gmail.com is my email address to contact me.

IS A VOCAL COACH WHAT I NEED?

IS A VOCAL COACH WHAT I NEED?

 The answer depends on two things: 1) What does the vocal coach know and 2) What can the vocal coach do?

Some vocal coaches only work with vocal technique and to the exclusion of musicianship.  Some vocal coaches work with vocal technique but exclude anything having to do with style.  If you want help with style, you may have to hire a separate person for that.

What if your musicianship is weak and it manifests that by your singing out of tune (or "pitchy").  All the vocal exercises in the world will not necessarily improve your "ear".  I've heard singers who have studied with the most expensive vocal coaches in the world and they still cannot sing in tune.  If you cannot sing in tune, you will not be hired.  You can blame a thousand other things but you will not be hired if you sing out of tune.

At $500 an hour, would you expect a vocal coach to be able to assist you with style and musicianship? You would think so but it is not necessary the case.  How about $450 an hour?  $300 an hour?   WAKE UP AND SMELL THE B.S. !     (Bad Singing)  I refuse to tell you the names of those vocal coaches but remember those prices and you might get a clue.

Some vocal coaches brag and drop names of the singing stars with whom they have worked.  If you don't know better, you might think that a coach made the career for those singers.  Not so.  They might have helped with an issue but don't be so naive as to think that a career was made by a vocal coach.  Professional working recording and concert artists look for help when they need it.  Most were already working before finding the coach.  To take full credit for a singer's success is a little (or a lot) egotistical.  Even if you teach someone proper technique, the singer has to practice and USE it.  Many more hours are spent in practice and performance than in lessons.  That is simply reality.

Do you need a vocal coach?  You probably do, since you are reading this.  Select one who is familiar with singing mastery and knows how to achieve it.  If you're feeling especially strong, have your prospective coach take a little test.

SINGING MASTERY                             TEST

FIND OUT HOW TO HANDLE STAGE FRIGHT

STAGE FRIGHT VIDEO

Obliterate Stage Fright

Why Is Your Stage Fright Still Here?

Does any of the following sound familiar to you?

• Your hands shake every time you get in front of an audience.
• Your voice shakes every time you have to speak or sing to an audience.  
• You practice and rehearse and you feel you are ready, but you have no confidence.
• You want to run away, instead of stand and let people stare at you.

• You know there are lots of people who look comfortable on stage.  They look like the love it and are having a great time.  Not you, though. 
• If any of the above sounds like you… then you're most likely in the right place.

People who have never been on stage will give you all kinds of suggestions, but probably never used any of them, themselves.  They have not felt what you feel.   They know to not get on a stage because they would probably just run off the stage.  They also think that your stage fright is funny.  Is it?

It's NOT your fault! This is what doesn't work!

• You try to picture people in their underwear, but your imagination is broken or something.  You can see they are all dressed.
• You take a drug or you drink.  You see a video of yourself and are embarrassed out of your mind.

• You get counseling or hypnosis but it doesn't work for you and you run off stage and cry.

• You talk to other performers and they say they don't have stage fright.  You know they are lying and they don't want to help you.  They tell you to "will it away".
• You look over peoples' heads and they feel excluded.  You feel disconnected from the audience.

There Are THREE Kinds Of Stage Fright

There are actually three stages of stage fright and they are related, but each is different from the other. 

What's The Next Step? 

GOODBYE STAGE FRIGHT

Obliterate Stage Fright (BLOG)

YOUR HIGHER SELF

When you see a beautiful painting, sculpture, or other work of art, and you feel a certain feeling about it, how does it make you feel?  Does it actually MAKE you feel, or, do YOU make that feeling?  When you hear a song, watch a dancing performance, or see someone, whom you find beautiful, and you feel something, that feeling was already in you and you relaxed enough to allow that feeling to be felt.  When you love someone and you know they love you, there are some "extra" feelings there and you relax and you not only love the person, but also, you love your love and you love her/his love all the more.

It's letting down the barriers, releasing the inhibitions, knowing that it is safe to love and to be loved, that allow us to be elevated to our true selves, our honest selves, our pure selves.  When we've stopped blocking others, we transcend and ascend to our higher selves and therein we reconnect to our own true power and potential.

There is a place of peace inside us all.  How do we get there?  Relax, let go, and trust.  When you find your unique self, you also find that you have something to contribute to others, which no one else can ever do.  Your unique "you" is as good as, as talented as, as perfect as anyone you have ever met.  When you admire another person, you are also seeing the good in yourself, that you maybe forgot was there.  It is there.  It is always there.  You can ignore it, cover it up, pretend, lie, or walk away from it, but it is there.

Interview With Ronnie Fabre

Chuck Stewart: When did you start singing?

Ronnie Fabre: I started singing when I was 13, when my parents gave me a guitar. I started taking lessons,

and by the time I was 15 had my first paying gigs. My dad drove me to the Troubador in Hollywood every Monday night for Hoot Night, and I was hooked. no one ever asked me how old i was..!!! 

Chuck Stewart: I first heard you in Las Vegas in a production show we were both in.  Your singing sounded amazing EVERY night, yet quite effortless.  Do you or have you ever done breathing exercises and do they help?

Ronnie Fabre: Breathing for singing is a very relaxed process for me. I was a scuba diver for many years as a teen, and I think that, and trying to sing without a mic. helped a lot.  I think breathing for singing should be a personal choice, and i never had to practice breathing technique, as it came naturally for my needs as a singer.

Chuck Stewart: Who were some of your influences, as you were growing up?  Also, have you studied voice?

Ronnie Fabre: My first influences were mainly folk artists, like: Joan Beaz, Joni Mitchell, Linda Rondstadt, grahm nash, JD Souther, Glen Frey, Niel young, James Taylor. Most of them I saw all the time at the Troubador.  Richie Havens even talked to me when I asked his advice whether I should go on tour as a singer to Vietnam with the USO. He was a big influence on me and such a powerhouse talent. I met some greats when I was just a kid. Then it was Aretha, Patti Labelle,Chaka Kahn, et al. Then I went in Legends In Concert as Ethel Merman, then morphed into Judy Garland.  My first voice lesson was with Seth Riggs when I was 43. Wow! It changed my muscled up way of singing!  I felt I had found true vocal freedom. I was with Seth for 12 years.  It was difficult at first, but i was very glad I did it.  My mom made her debut singing at Carnagie Hall when she was 18 years old. Mom never gave me singing tips, I had to do it all on my own, but I am very happy to have done what I did, and would change nothing.

Chuck Stewart: Do you practice singing every day?  How much time do you put in?

Ronnie Fabre: I do practice every day, vocalise with students, learning new songs, etc. I teach beginning guitar, and ukelele, and learning new songs is a must. I am having so much fun on uke.  I just love it, and so do my students. a really fun, happy, beautiful instrument!!!  So yes, I practice every day, and it's very important to sing every day. Bob hopes' wife Delores, recorded a cd when she was 86, and it was wounderful.  You snooze, you lose...really true!!

Chuck Stewart: Do you play piano and if so, would you say that has contributed to your awesome musicianship?  

Ronnie Fabre: i  can play the vocalises, on piano, but the guitar and uke are my instruments.  And yes, it's great to accompany yourself. It makes your time better, and you can have it just the way you like it!!

Chuck Stewart: Where have you worked and with whom?

Ronnie Fabre: I started working in Orange County (California) at various clubs, and then married my first husband Ed "too tall" Grell . He  became Bill Medley's drummer, and I sang backup, among other gigs, from 1971, till about 1976. We worked in Vegas starting in around 71', and had many gigs here. I worked in many bands, including many big bands: Nelson Riddle, Guy Lombardo and the Royal Ranadians, many R&B  bands, including The Checkmates, the Lon Bronson all star band, the first 14 pc funk  horn band here in Vegas, and lots of others.  I started in "Legends in Concert", in 1989, as Ethel Merman, and also do Judy Garland.  I still work as a "legend",  occasionally, and have a jazz band, and a second line dixieland band, and in it, I play a tricked out washboard, and sing.  I've never had so much fun!  I just love music, no matter what the venue.  My husband, Steve Golden, is a very accomplished sax player, plays 10 instruments, and has 2 degrees in music from Berklee College of Music in Boston.  We have a great time making music together.

Chuck Stewart: Where are you performing now? 

Ronnie Fabre: I do casuals, still do "legends", occasionally, and have got to work with some of the great Vegas legends, like Joe Darro, a beyond belief piano player and singer, my husband Steve Golden, and if I went on this would never end...

Chuck Stewart: Aren't you also a painter?

Ronnie Fabre: I am a stone carver and bronze caster.  You never want to see me paint, besides my house...I  won first prize  and second, in the Las Vegas Native American Competition for the Las Vegas Art Museum.  My life size bronze, "Moon Shaman" is my favorite piece of artwork, as I had to travel to Saskatoon Canada to do it,then my teacher Bill Epp, the Prof. at the University of Saskatoon, drove it all the way down here for me! What an honor it was!

Chuck Stewart: Do you have an album out currently?   Where can people buy your music?

Ronnie Fabre: I have always given out my cd, to my students, and the people who have liked my music.  I will be on a new compilation cd, with a video, coming out in late December.  It's about many musicians who have been in Vegas for a long while. It should be interesting. I will be singing Billy Strayhorn's "Lush LIfe", my favorite song of all.

Chuck Stewart:  I have had several of my students learn that song.  It is truly a learning experience, mastering it.

Thank you so much for doing this interview. Is there anything you would like to add, regarding being a singer?

Ronnie Fabre: It has been a wonderful life, one I would not have traded for anything, although Marine Biology was at the top of my list in the beginning. Seeing the look on the faces of the GI's in Vietnam changed my life forever.  Today is Veterans Day, and a day near and dear to my heart.  When as a 17 year old kid, still in high school, I took a chance to go to a war zone, and that forever changed my life as a person.

Wow!!  I sang with the Safaris' of "Wipeout", and Surfer Joe fame, from my hometown in Glendora Calif.!  I have been so blessed to be so very lucky, in my chosen field, to be a real singer, to have known so many greats, to have been a part of "old Vegas", and a part of "new Vegas", as the song goes,"Everything Must Change". Goodnight for now, and thanks for asking....!!!!  Love, Ronnie.

 It is an honor and a privilege to have you share these things.   Thank you!

Interview With Kelly Conelly

I recently interviewed Kelly Conelly Eisenhour.  I knew her in Las Vegas and was so impressed, her being able to sing R&B and jazz unbelievably well.  She is a consummate professional, as you will discover as you read.

An Interview With Kelly Conelly Eisenhour

It's October 30th, 2013, almost Halloween.

Chuck Stewart:  Do you do anything special for Halloween?


Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: No, nothing more than the usual handing out candy and getting my daughter ready for trick or treating. She is 12 now and wanting to go with her big group of friends and not mom anymore. Haha so I'm relegated to pass out candy. But it's fun and it always reminds me of my own childhood and the great memories of the excitement of Halloween.

Chuck Stewart: When did you start singing?

Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: I started singing at a young age. I would say about 8 years old when I first started piano lessons (that I continued until age 18) I discovered that I could sing and had a little more control over my voice than my friends. I remember in 2nd grade doing a full play where we made a "road" out of a long piece from a spool of poster paper my teacher had, and we made little stops along the way where we sang specific songs (pop songs of the day). I sang a lot of the songs and I was hooked! I also had a father who was a jazz aficionado and listened to jazz in our home hours and hours a day, so I grew up listening to jazz. Quite an education.

Chuck Stewart: I first heard you in Las Vegas, where we met.  Where did you perform there?  Weren't you singing with a group prior to that?  Who was that?


Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: Yes, I started singing professionally in jazz clubs at 19 in my hometown of Tucson. I remember learning a couple of jazz standards and then going to an audition for a piano bar gig. The pianist used different singers each night of the weekend. It was a Tuesday, and I did the audition singing the two standards I knew. He said great! You start on Friday. Have about 30 songs ready to go with a list of your keys. I was panicked! I ended up learning about 25 songs in 3 days (you can only do that when you are young) and made it through the first gig okay! I continued to sing Friday nights for about a year. I was also going to school and in the jazz choir at the University of Arizona. The director of that group was a well respected pianist, and I worked with him on occasion. He allowed me to be featured quite often in jazz choir and gave me fake books so I was able to learn lots of jazz standards. I was very much a jazz "snob" at the time, and was immersed in jazz, not wanting to listen to or sing anything else. I opened up a little more to other music later on, but am glad that I did this "immersion" of jazz in the beginning. It was great for my creativity and musicality in all music genres I would sing later.

Chuck Stewart: You sing R&B as well as anyone I've heard.  How did you get so good at that?


Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: I can only attribute it to my jazz background. When I started singing pop or top 40 music at about 22 (mostly because I could make more money!) I was able to sing that style immediately but also made it my own. I loved many singers who were iconic, such as Aretha and Chaka Khan, and listened to them. They interested me because they also had a jazz background. Later, when I sang back up with Gladys Knight and had to "prove" myself with the all African-American band in those first rehearsals, they later told me that what was different about me is that I didn't sound like I was white TRYING to sound black, that I had a very authentic sound that came from the heart. That was a great compliment. I just had that soulful style in me, and I'm not sure how it got there. I grew up in a very middle class mostly white area in Tucson, Arizona. But again, I had an extensive jazz "education" so I can only attribute it to that (or something more mystical was going on!)

Chuck Stewart: Do you practice singing every day?  How much time do you put in?


Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: Currently I'm doing much more teaching than singing, and so I'm not as active in my practice either. I tended to practice over the years more out of necessity (learning tunes, working songs to "fit" in my voice meaning getting comfortable with a song, practice for shows or concerts) and didn't really have a more structured daily practice. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had a really good vocal teacher when I was young to guide me in that. I never had a solid voice teacher who really knew what they were doing (particularly with contemporary music) and it wasn't until I was in my 30's that I took a couple lessons from a teacher that turned my head around. As I have gained more knowledge in this area over the years since, I am determined to help young singers understand what I didn't. That it is so important to have knowledge of how the voice works and to be training to keep your voice from taking a left and creating limitations at the least and real damage at the most.

Chuck Stewart: I have heard you sing several styles of music and they are all quite phenomenal.  How did you learn to do that or was it from listening to many singers and being able to capture a style, so to speak?


Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: Again, I would say that it is from my jazz background that I'm able to do that. Jazz music requires you to be your own singer and not an imitation of others, so you have to really think outside of the box. It also gives you more control and musicality. Singing as a studio session singer for many years also helped me to have more control and be a vocal "technician," doing what was required for that session quickly. I would say the hardest style I had to master was country. That was so out of my norm. It was a great experience to learn how to do it because I've been able to use the experience to help others learn styles that they may be unfamiliar with. What I discovered is that if you get the "feel" of the music, or the overall style begins to seep into your bones (through much listening), you begin to be able to imitate it without having to think of every nuance and ornament. Those just come out naturally because you have the overall "feel" right. So, to answer your question, I really try to understand the music first. What is that style trying to "say?" What is it's authenticity? And then really studying or listening until I "get" it.


Chuck Stewart: What have you been doing with music in the last few years?



Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: As you know, I moved to the Seattle area after I finished my masters degree in jazz studies, performance and composition, and took a job at Green River Community College in Auburn, Wa. I began my position in 2008 and so am in my 6th year as Choral Director and Music Instructor. I have received tenure and absolutely love my job. I direct two choirs, Concert Choir and Jazz Voices, and teach music theory, music appreciation, piano class, and others, depending on the quarter. Jazz Voices is my "baby." I hire a professional rhythm section to play for them and they do some pretty difficult music and grow immensely musically. I also like to write for them. I get a lot of satisfaction out of my work with the students. In my personal career, my last album came out in 2007 and went to number 14 on the national jazz charts. It was very well received by the jazz community and that gave me a lot of satisfaction as well. We all want to feel like we are contributing and what we do is valid. I was able to get that through this album. I have been singing periodically in Seattle jazz clubs, with a highlight of winning the Seattle-Kobe Vocal Jazz Competition and getting a trip to Kobe, Japan to sing there in 2010. I also sang with the award winning vocal group Groove For Thought for a year (you may have seen them on the second season of NBC's "The Sing Off" before I joined the group). Though the pace of that group was a little more than I was ready to do on a permanent basis, I learned a lot about group singing that I apply to my teaching. It's great to be on the other side as the singer in a group rather than the director, and I learned a lot about what my student singers need as I direct my groups. I am interested in recording another album soon, but I admit that I am a little less involved with my personal singing and am more involved with my students. I also am very active in my daughter's life, and there is only so much time! So for now I am content to do more teaching and parenting, and will do things with my singing as they come along. I've had a long career of singing already and am content with that.

Chuck Stewart: You went to Berklee School of Music?  Did I get that right?  What was that like?


Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: Yes, I got my undergrad degree from Berklee back in 1986. Berklee was an amazing experience that I treasure. I went there after being disillusioned with the music program at the University of Arizona. Back then there was not much for a jazz singer to be able to study! Berklee was the right place for me and I really appreciated all that it had to offer and took advantage of it in a big way. It is so expensive today though, that I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others. If you want to go there, really weigh out what it will cost particularly if you have to take out student loans, and what you will get in return for that investment. But it is a fantastic school and experience if you can afford to go (it was much more affordable back then!).

Chuck Stewart: Do you have an album out currently?   Where can people buy your music?


Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: I have two albums, Kelly Eisenhour, Now You Know, and Kelly Eisenhour Seek and Find, featuring Bob Mintzer. Both are available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, and other similar sites. There are also other albums that I'm featured on that are not my own. Albums by the group Q'd Up, the BYU faculty jazz band. Also, Steve Lindeman's Day After Yesterday. This one just won the first round of the Grammy award voting for best large ensemble album and best vocal arrangement and performance of the song I sang and co-wrote "Maravillas, Take Me To Wonderland Right Away." Not sure if it will go much farther but that was exciting.

Chuck Stewart:  Thank you so much for doing this interview. Is there anything you would like to add, regarding being a singer?

Kelly Conelly Eisenhour: I think that what students of singing should know is that it is important to study your instrument and study music just as instrumentalists do. There are many singers out there who give singers a bad name among instrumentalists because they don't take their craft seriously. Yes, we have the advantage of being able to get up and running and sing by ear in the way instrumentalists can't do. But to really be a professional and be respected amongst your peers, put time into developing your craft, including how to read music. All singers should be able to at least play the piano, not necessarily to perform as a pianist, but to have musical knowledge.

INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSIONAL SINGER, KAREN NELSON BELL

An Interview With Karen Nelson Bell

It's October 30th, 2013, almost Halloween.

Chuck Stewart:  Do you do anything special for Halloween?

Karen Nelson Bell:

Nada!  I live in a condo where no one goes trick or treating, but when I'm at home in Vegas, I stand on my second-floor balcony in a black cape and tall witch's hat, and I make the kids perform something to persuade me to throw down their treats for them to catch.  It's quite fun to see them become extroverted in the process.  If they don't sing or dance, they'll usually tell me a joke!

Chuck Stewart: When did you start singing?

Karen Nelson Bell:  

When I was a very, very young child, my parents and I would sing 3-part harmonies while driving in the car.

Chuck Stewart: I first heard you in Las Vegas in a fabulous group, which played on The Barge at Caesar's Palace.  Your singing sounded stylistically amazing, yet quite effortless.  Do you or have you ever done breathing exercises and do they help?

Karen Nelson Bell:

At that point in time, I hadn't studied speech level singing yet.  I did exercises I learned from an old Hollywood studio voice coach, Irene Blades. I would see how long I could blow out a tiny stream of breath as I drove over the Hollywood Hills to her studio.  I think it helped.  These days, I don't think about it... it just happens... I always have enough breath.

Chuck Stewart: I heard you do a fabulous rendition of "Lush Life" on several occasions.    How were you introduced to jazz originally?

Karen Nelson Bell:

I was a classical pianist and cellist until I met a fellow at the university with whom I fell madly in love.  He liked jazz, so I pretended to like it too.  The first thing he ever played for me was some Coltrane, whichI thought it was quite mad!  But I'm from Kansas City, so when we started talking blues, it all fell into place.  My tastes developed after that!

Chuck Stewart: Do you practice singing every day?  How much time do you put in?

Karen Nelson Bell:

Yes, I play and sing every day... the time spent depends on business commitments.

Chuck Stewart: I have heard you sing several styles of music and they are all quite phenomenal.  How did you learn to do that or was it from listening to many singers and being able to capture a style, so to speak?

Karen Nelson Bell:

My chameleon approach to styles was based on economic necessity.  I had to learn different genres to stay employed!  I've sung classical, theater, oldies rock, pop, disco, country, yodeling, and jazz!

Chuck Stewart: You were the producer of a show called "Country Tonite".  Was it in several locations?  Do you still enjoy country music? 

Karen Nelson Bell: 

I completely fell in love with country music while I was researching for the show. Classical musicians look down upon jazzers for the most part, and jazzers look down on most everything, so I was told I was selling out.  Thing is, country music has a rich history of extremely gifted musicians that you might not notice at first brush. Yes, I still enjoy it to the maximum!

Chuck Stewart: You also are a gifted pianist.  Did that come easy for you and did you have to practice much?  You played piano for Paul Anka, didn't you?

Karen Nelson Bell: 

I think the reason piano came easy is that my mom and dad both played, and it seemed to me as a 2-year-old that everyone in the universe played piano.  My mom was my first teacher.  I still have the piano she taught me on.  When I finally got a "real" teacher, Mrs. Wilson told my mom and dad that I'd never be any good.  Fortunately for me, my parents immediately switched me to Mr. Canterbury, who taught me music theory, sight reading, transposing, everything good, plus all about life, through my several decades of study with him. Did I have to practice much?  I don't know any artist who gets anything good done who didn't practice, practice, practice!  And yes, I played for Paul Anka for 2 years... I was one of the very few first females to perform with a superstar. What an education!

Chuck Stewart: Do you have an album out currently?   Where can people buy your music?

Karen Nelson Bell:

I'll let you know! 

Chuck Stewart:  Thank you so much for doing this interview. Is there anything you would like to add, regarding being a singer?

Karen Nelson Bell:

I believe everyone can sing!  Singing is a joyful expression of the spirit, and there is simply nothing like it to lift you up!

And Chuck, I think your wisdom and guidance as you dispense it today is the only true source for a person looking to understand and improve their voice.  Congrats and big thanks to you on the impressive work you do!

Chuck Stewart: It is an honor and a privilege to have you share these things.  I look forward to hearing you for years to come,  Thank you!

END

Singing Out Of Tune

I sometimes watch The X Factor, The Voice, American Idol, and America's Got Talent. I've seen way too many "singers", who sing out of tune. You can call it "pitchy", if you want. Why don't we call it what it is? It is having a condition called "amusical". Without music. Without musicianship. There is a mathematical relationship between intervals. If you sing it too wide or too narrow, within a very small margin of error, then you need to WORK on your interval accuracy. You have to use your hearing in conjunction with your voice and it takes PRACTICE to be good at it and LOTS OF PRACTICE to be professional at it. Some of the best musical ears will be those of trombonists, fretless stringed instrumentalists, and some singers. There is no getting around the practice to develop accurate interval singing. There is not a trick or a formula or a meter to accomplish this. Look at it this way: do you want to be a good singer or do you want to be a bad joke? Most people (including friends and family) either cannot hear your badness or they are just being polite or loving and not wanting to hurt you.

What does a professional hear, when someone sings out of tune? They hear laziness or incompetency or a person who was not born with it and has refused to do the work. You cannot fool a pro. So, if you haven't done the work, you may just be fooling yourself, or you don't have the pride or integrity or artistry to improve.

Two things you HAVE to hear and do: 1) Sing intervals accurately and 2) HEAR the accompaniment and yourself in relationship to the accompaniment and be in tune with it. These things are obvious to a professional.

I don't find bad singers to be funny. I think of them as sad or pitiful or in dire need of help. If they continue to sing poorly or severely out of tune, they have either done the work or they haven't. If a person has brain damage, singing in tune may not be possible. Most people who sing out of tune simply need training. I find the TV shows making fun of non-artists to be about as intellectually stimulating as bad slapstick comedy.

The more a person can hear in music, the better the singer, the person will be. If you can sing all major and minor intervals, up to 13ths and if you can hear all chords and identify and name them up through 13ths (including all altered tones, if any) you will have the musicianship to handle the melodic and harmonic interval issues, providing you can sing what you hear in intervals and in chords.

What if you don't have the time to do the work? You will be as good of a singer as you find the time to do the work.

What are you going to do about it?

A TEST FOR VOCAL COACHES

1. Where is the hyoid bone?
2. Which muscles, connected to the larynx, contract when you yawn? How can you exercise them?
3. Which muscles pull the larynx up, when you swallow?
4. What is the function of the oblique arytenoid muscles? How can you exercise them?
5. When the diaphragm contracts, does it ascend or descend?
6. Name the muscles of "forced expiration".
7. Why are the vocal folds no longer called vocal cords?
8. Is it possible to "place your sound" and what muscles would be involved in that?
9. Define "falsetto".
10. Is head voice a tone quality or vocal range?
11. Why is chest voice called "chest voice"?
12. What causes a break, or crack, in the voice?
13. What do you do to sing from the diaphragm?
14. How do you feel where your diaphragm is?
15. What muscles are used to open the throat?
16. Draw the anterior view of the larynx, showing the thyroid cartilage, the hyoglossus muscle, the cricoid cartilage, the sterno-thyroid and sterno-hyoid muscles, and the hyoid bone.
17. Draw the top view of the larynx, showing the arytenoid cartilages, the thyroid and cricoid cartilages, and the oblique arytenoid muscles.
18. Why does the lower abdomen expand slightly when you inhale? Does air go in there?
19. When does liquid, that you swallow, make contact with your vocal cords?
20. How can you prevent excessive muscle tension in the neck or the jaw when you sing?
21. How do you improve pitch problems in a singer?
22. What are the notes in a D major 9th chord?
23. Name the seven modes of a major scale. Sing them.
24. Sing a Phrygian tetrachord up and down.
25. Establish a starting note (Use A flat.) and, using a major scale, sing the scale steps 6-5-4-3-2-1. The 6 will be the A flat.
26. Sing a Dorian mode, starting on a C.
27. What is a bridge in a song?
28. What is a bridge in the voice?
29. How would you notate (as literally as possible) a swing rhythm for a musician or singer who is unfamiliar with a swing rhythm?
30. Sing a one octave chromatic scale.
31. Sing a pentatonic scale.
32. Sing a whole tone scale.
33. Sing an Aeolian mode.
34. Sing an ascending augmented 4th.
35. Sing an ascending minor 6th.
36. Sing an arpeggiated major seventh chord, ascending.
37. Sing a descending minor 6th.
38. Sing all the major scales in the circle of fifths.
39. Sing the notes of a sus4 chord.
40. Sing the notes of a sus2 chord.
41. What scales are used for embellishments in most R&B and pop music?
42. What is a fry tone?
43. What is the Bogart-Bacall Syndrome?
44. What are the ten most common problems of singers?
45. What is "middle voice"?
46. Should the jaw be opened the same on the "e" as in "bee" as on the "a", as in "bat"?
47. What is the difference between front vowels and back vowels?
48. Which back vowel has the highest tongue position?
49. Which front vowel has the lowest tongue position?
50. How do you determine the cause of intonation problems?

UNSOLICITED Success Story

This makes me know that I am doing something worthwhile and was unsolicited:

Success Story from

Chuck Stewart's Singer Training

A professional singer friend of mine noticed that I was unsuccessfully trying to sing without pain in my throat and she recommended that I work with her friend Chuck. She set it up for us to meet in Skype session. 

Chuck asked me what was going on. 18 years ago I lost my voice completely after speaking for 2 days to a steady stream of prospects at an art festival. I couldn't even whisper for the following 2 days and couldn't call anyone for another 2 days. Then 13 years ago I was in a choir singing soprano for 2 years but had to numb my throat by sucking on ginger to keep it from hurting. Then 7 years ago I needed to do a bit of public speaking but couldn't speak loudly enough and developed pain quickly so I went to an Ear Nose & Throat doctor who examined and told me I had 

“Muscle Tension Dysphonia”  [dys < Gk bad + phone < Gk voice, sound ] which is “a voice disorder characterized by strained, effortful phonation (utterance) using a type of vocalizing or speaking in which the muscles in the neck are tense”.

He gave me a prescription to get Speech Therapy at the local hospital which I did for 9 months. There I learned exercises to project sound from the front of my mouth (which was explained to me is normal) instead of from my throat (which was explained as putting a strain on it that it was not intended for). By doing that I was able to do some public speaking on a limited basis. Then when I wanted to join a choir 2 years ago I found couldn't sing in my natural Soprano range so I switched to Alto which was easier on the throat and even then I had to do what I could to protect my throat by not singing strongly and by spacing out the days when I sang. Also, for years and years I have not been able to yell to a person a distance away and my dogs only know my call of "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

Chuck explained to me that the voice box in the throat is the source point of sound, no matter what else you might try to do as far as projecting your voice. He told me: 

"If you are feeling pain that means that you are getting some friction and that the lubrication of your vocal cords, or vocal folds as the doctors are calling it these days, isn’t sufficient to keep you from having pain. It sounds also like what I call hyper-adduction: the vocal cords or folds are coming together too hard when they vibrate."

 

He said that we can't just tell these cords to relax, we have to change the way that we use them and also do some exercises to train them not to come together so hard.

He told me the way to change the way I use them and gave me 2 exercises to do  and I've been doing these for a few weeks now. During this time I have noticed that I can sing for longer periods without pain and I am gradually singing more and more strongly. 

Then 2 days ago I gave an audition to get into a showcase choir and shocked my socks off with the strength of my voice! I found myself belting out lyrics—something I haven't been able to do since I was a kid—and I didn't go home with a sore throat! And—I passed the audition—I could not have done that 2 months ago!

Thank you so much, Chuck—from the bottom of my heart!!! You have performed a miracle for me. I know that what you did is backed up by science—but who knew it? Not anyone that I have run into. My hat is definitely off to you, and I want more!

Jessica Rockwell.

On Performing...

Make it sound easy, when you sing. Make it sound like it takes no effort and no thought. Make it sound like pure feeling and as if the words were written by you. Don't break character. Have most of your attention on the audience, not on how you sound or how you look or how you move.

 If you don't perform like that, the audience feels ignored, neglected, and even cheated. They feel as if they have been lied to. Are you there for them or for yourself? That sounds simple, but if you are not there for the audience, why are you there?

 Bare your soul. Drop your inhibitions and tear down your walls. You are just singing to people. You have nothing to hide. Your past doesn't matter. You can't change anything about the past. Future hasn't happened yet. The only thing that matters about the future is what you do in the present. That will directly affect your future. You should have learned from the past. Keep you attention on the audience and on the present moment.

 Do you know what the past is for? It is the place to make your mistakes, learn from them, and to get ready for the "now". The past is part of preparation. It is why you are who you are. You are not your mistakes. When would be a good time to let go of the past? Next week? Tomorrow? How about now?

If (while performing) you make a mistake, instantly let go of it and make the rest awesome. Make the next part better or prettier or more intense, if appropriate. Most people remember the awesome parts. The critics, who hang on to the mistakes, should just stay at home and keep out of our way, if and until they learn to be artists. So, if your attention is on what others are thinking, it is actually on yourself and your anxiety about that. Give all you have, as if everyone is NOT a critic. The truth is that very few people are critics. Most people go out to have fun and enjoy, instead of trying to destroy others. The critics can go out and fight the wars while we make our art.

 If you think everyone is critical, maybe you are critical. It takes no special talent or hard work to notice what is wrong. It takes very special talent to be great.

When the effort is put forth and added to the talent, the magic begins. Prepare to deliver. Deliver. There is joy in performing, unlike any other joy. Don't let others take that away from you. Others need to find their own. It is not about proving anything. It is not about showing off. It is not about being ignored when you were a little kid, so now you are making up for it. It is not about competition. It is about the best of you, unmitigated, unadulterated, and your bare soul is shining through while people bask in its light.

 There will never be an absolutely perfect performance, but there are performances which are absolutely artistic.

MOMENTUM- GET IT, THEN DON'T LOSE IT

MOMENTUM! P=mv The product of mass versus velocity. What does physics have to do with the motion toward a goal? Only mostly everything. Let's say you are not practicing very much. You can expect that the reaction to your action will roughly be equal. Not practicing very much=not advancing very much. Do you have any power? What is power? It is the rate at which work is performed. The slower you go, the longer it takes to get somewhere. POWER is also the rate at which energy is converted. Where are you putting your energy? Since there is RATE in both parts of the definition of POWER, speed must be involved. It is possible to move so slowly toward a goal that you are dead before you reach it. Harsh? Physics is harsh. Physics is the observed motions, masses, and tendencies, not politically correct or incorrect. The laws of physics are immutable, but if they are used as guidelines, instead of barriers, they can put you at an advantage. In so-called "billiard ball mechanics", there is the law of inertia, stating that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force. As people, most of us resist or resent outside forces acting upon ourselves, much of the time. We could modify the word "outside" to "inside", thus arriving at a new equation. Picture yourself in a huge 10' diameter beach ball. You walk; it moves. Inside force. Your car has an engine or a motor and it is within the car and that is another example. An object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. OUTSIDE FORCES...hmmmmm Gravity? Friction? Time? Space? Resistance, such as air or water? How about your life? Gravity- Are you or somebody else holding you down, slowing you down, or stopping you? Friction- Are you getting along well with others? Time- Do you have enough time? Are you efficient with the time you do have? Space- Places to travel or too much distance involved? Is someone in your face, giving you no space in which to move? Resistance- that can come from you, friends, family, bosses, or anyone. You can find more examples of your own, if you wish. It takes more force to start moving than to keep moving. You may have to overcome your inertia and other forces. Once you are moving, it doesn't take much to keep moving as long as you keep moving. MOMENTUM is one of the keys to progress, perseverance, and accomplishment.

DOES YOUR VOICE CRACK?

Voice cracks or voice breaks are curable. If your voice is not fully developed, you may feel like you have a high voice, a low voice, and a space between where the sound abruptly changes. You can sing above the break. You can sing below the break but you cannot sing at the break. The break is not actually a break, or even a crack. It is the passageway between chest voice and head voice (and vice versa) but maybe you haven't learned to navigate that treacherous passageway. In the passageway you feel you have no control and you have to flip up or flip down to get to a place of stability and control. It can be really frustrating! I used to have that problem. I know how I felt. Hated it!!! So, if you yell or scream out the notes you might have so much swelling that you have no voice the next day or even in the same day. I had that happen once. It was terrifying. I couldn't make a sound. The following day, it still wasn't right. If you're real unlucky, you'll blister your vocal cords (vocal folds) and blisters can turn into callouses and those are called nodules. Those bumps keep your vocal cords from closing properly and then you have NO high notes and you sound raspy until you do something to handle the nodules. Some people call them "nodes", but that is not the correct word. Nodes are glands, such as those in the body's lymphatic system. If you do not retrain your voice, even after a long vocal rest (or surgery), the nodes can come back, so to speak. You actually just make new ones. Surgery may leave scar tissue and it does not vibrate the same way as normal tissue. So, you've been forewarned. There are some singers who have just sung through their cracks. (Not their butt cracks!) Or, they have sung "across" the break and they make it work. It's not my preferred sound, but they did okay with it. One is Phoebe Snow and the other is Sarah McLachlan. You'll hear some country singers do this, but if you try this in most other styles, goodbye! Yodeling is singing across the crack, back and forth. When you have learned some coordination and control, you can control your voice so that it feels and sounds like you have one voice, not two or three! I paid $175 an hour to learn to stop the break in my voice, comfortably and effortlessly. How many hours? It was about 100 lessons. In the 70th or 80th, it was obvious it was going to work. Stability took a little more time. These were not weekly lessons. Many were every day. There is a man in Hollywood, who is said to be charging $400 an hour. Is it worth it? To go from a lame voice to one which can leap and dance about a song, it could be worth it. To have a professional career that lasts for a lifetime it could be worth it. One lesson won't get you there, unless you are an Italian man, but that is a whole different story. Maybe next time.

BREATHING!

BREATHING! There has been a huge amount of emphasis put on breathing, as regards singing. Why? It's obvious that you MUST breathe in order to sing. It takes life to sing. It takes breathing to keep alive, having carbon-oxygen "machines" for bodies. Why might breathing be an issue? If a person has little or no effective lung capacity, singing will be difficult as far as doing long phrases or sustaining notes. If a person is hyper-adducting the vocal folds (smashing them together too tightly, in effort to not crack), that person will have to increase air pressure to even make a sound. Otherwise the vocal folds would pinch together so tightly that NO air can pass through. Your air, at a molecular level, is analogous to a violin bow. You vocal folds (vocal cords) are analogous to violin strings. The air molecules set the vocal folds into vibration. Air is important, there is no disputing that face; but, it is not ALL important. Some people over-breathe. They fill up completely and then, of necessity, do something unnatural to hold back the air pressure. This can cause unwanted tension in the body or can cause the person to hyper-adduct using the vocal folds as a valve, so to speak. Some people under-breathe and that results in being short of air or having to take many short breaths. Most of the time, you do not want to split a phrase. You almost NEVER want to split a word and grab a breath or you will sound like a rank amateur. Exceptions? If you choke on saliva in the middle of a word, you have to do what you have to do. I have breathing exercises I recommend that are good for two issues: 1) breath control and 2) lung capacity. If your air comes out jerky, your tone quality will be jerky. If you can't get through a phrase, you might consider improving your lung capacity. I cover these things in lessons.

TONE DEAF?

I keep hearing singers on American Idol who are singing flat. For those who do not know what that means, they are singing under or below the note they are trying to sing OR SHOULD BE TRYING TO SING!!!!! For some reason it is even more irritating to hear a singer sing sharp (above the pitch) and this is, fortunately, more rare. Back to the flat-ness. Why are they singing flat? Can they not hear themselves? Can they not hear, in the musical sense, the relationship between the accompaniment and their own voices? Are they staying under the pitch to avoid the passaggio, where the untrained voice will crack? Some trained, or should I say mis-trained voices crack. I have been cursed with a condition called "perfect pitch" and knowing that a person will sing flat, to avoid cracking, doesn't help the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard affect that this has on me. I can sympathize, but the feeling of sympathy does not ameliorate the frustration of knowing how they could be better with just one little PHYSICAL adjustment. That adjustment is NOT using more air, or "pushing" or flexing the abdominal muscles. Then there are those with, shall we say, under-developed musicianship. In teaching a few thousand singers, I have discovered that there are those who can match pitch with a voice but NOT with an instrument, such as a piano. Some of them can match pitch with a saxophone, however. This gets into the ability, or lack thereof, of being able to differentiate one pitch from another. Some people would say such a person is tone deaf. I've discovered, through experience, that it "Ain't Necessarily So". (That is a song, for the uninitiated) There is a condition called atonality. It ranges from absolute inability to match pitch at all to being able to get very close, but not on the pitch. Some people have called atonal singers "tone deaf". Although the term tone deaf is descriptive as to the singer's response to a pitch generated outside of him/herself, being atonal is not the same as being truly tone deaf. A study from Harvard gets into this. There have been several studies at other universities regarding atonality and tone deafness. One done at Stanford University suggested that the truly tone deaf are those who have had brain damage. This may be further substantiated by the conclusion of the Harvard study on the subject. http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/08/18/neural.pathway.missing.tone.deaf.people In the meantime, American Idol is on my TV, I hear the intonation, the judges praise the singers (most of them) and I get exhausted from cringing and running out of the room to regurgitate. Neural pathway missing in tone-deaf people | e! Science News esciencenews.com Nerve fibers that link perception and motor regions of the brain are disconnected in tone-deaf people, according to new research in the August 19 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Experts estimate that at least 10 percent of the population may be tone deaf – unable to sing in tune. The… Neural pathway missing in tone-deaf people | e! Science News esciencenews.com Nerve fibers that link perception and motor regions of the brain are disconnected in tone-deaf people, according to new research in the August 19 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Experts estimate that at least 10 percent of the population may be tone deaf – unable to sing in tune. The…