Life is a Cabaret

Last Thursday was the first class of the next round of Vocal Technique classes with Patrick DeGennaro.   It’s another really good group of talented women, too.  I’m definitely looking forward to watching everyone advance and grow within the next few weeks.

The exciting thing about this round though is the performance at the end - each of us will get to do two songs for the public (or adoring fans, as I like to call them).   As soon as I find out dates, times, etc. I will let you know.

Here’s the thing…I have a new voice that’s trying to emerge and each week Patrick tells me I’m on the verge, just a page turn away from this glorious new sound.  That’s all well and good, but WHEN?  When am I going to turn that page?  When is this glorious new belt sound going to finally settle down and just BE instead of hovering in this spot just out of reach?  Yeah, I’m being impatient, like a small child, but I can see what the new voice is going to be and I just want it…NOW!   I’m working like crazy at home to help the process along, but I have a feeling it will take as long as it needs to take.   I mean, rehearsals at home are always good and keep me occupied, but I don’t think I can hurry along the process or “make” my new voice just happen.

Right now in class I’m working on too older songs that will be in my show (at least, as of right now they are on the song list for my show - things can and will most likely change in the following few weeks).  The issue is, I learned them and started working on them in my old voice and my new voice wants to take over, but it’s not quite sure yet exactly what it’s doing.  It’s fun, exciting, scary, and slightly dangerous. HA  Okay, not really dangerous, but it feels dangerous as I have no idea what’s going to come out of my mouth some Thursdays.    It’s definitely interesting.  I’ll keep you posted as to what happens next.

Hello!!!   I know, it’s been forever and a day, and I apologize for letting this blog slide for as long as I did.   Let’s recap what’s been going on with me as far as my two classes are concerned.

First - Lennie’s CabLab.  The last set of classes I was in with Lennie saw all of us students getting ready for solo shows of our own (in fact, two people have already had their shows go up — so exciting to see the process as both a performer and an observer - very interesting).   This class really helped me get some solid work done on song selection - as of right now I have 14 including my medley - and getting my butt moving on picking dates and talking with the booking manager of Don’t Tell Mama - which I did and have picked dates (more on that later), all I’m waiting for now is a contract to sign and I’m in business.   That set of classes is over and now I’m working with Lennie and Steven on my own to work on the aforementioned medley and other new songs that I’ve found since class.   I’m also started to work on my postcard design, picking a title, and all other marketing aspects.   A blog post all on it’s own about Marketing will be written in the next few weeks (promise!).

Next - Patrick’s Vocal Technique Class.  Ahhh….this has been an on-going class with few breaks for us.  The class has shifted people somewhat, but mostly it’s the same lovely ladies and I love it!  We all get along super well, seem to have similiar issues (which is fun and helpful watching others struggle and overcome the same things each week, we get to really help each other out and celebrate each other’s wins each Thursday night), and I just love going to class every week.   My voice has really grown - in fact, Patrick calls it my “new voice” - I’m really exploring a new belt voice actually which is exciting and scary all at the same time as each new song brings challenges to face while trying to find my way with this “new voice” — I’m having a wonderful time though as I feel more confident and secure each and every week with Patrick guiding me and supporting me.

So, that’s where I’ve been with classes.  In about three weeks I’ll be attending Summer in the City with Lennie and Lina for the fourth summer!!!  I’ve come a long way Baby and it’s just the beginning!

Stay tuned for Part 2 - My Show (where I’ll be writing about rehearsals and my medley, Don’t Tell Mama and the dates of my show, and Marketing!)

Well, another round of Vocal Technique classes have started up already - this time, a short four-class schedule to tide us over into the new year when another full round of Eight Plus A Showcase will start back up.

First, though, let me quickly discuss our Showcase from a few weeks ago - it was amazing!  I had so much fun, and enjoyed myself immensely.    Everyone did such a great job and the room was packed!  Thank you everyone who attended, you made the whole thing just wonderful - the energy in the room was great.  I love having a good audience, people who really want to be there to listen to you, and who seem to be enjoying themselves.  It’s very satisfying as a performer to see that and get that kind of energy back from the crowd. I sang “Fine, Fine Line” and “Unwritten” and just had the best time doing so, it was a real treat for me!   And I can’t wait to perform again (which will be on Dec. 6th - more details to follow).

Now, the new class with Patrick.   There were six of us last Thursday night, and it’s people I already know and love, so that was fun, almost like a reunion of sorts.   And this class is going to be really great - everyone who’s in the class wants to be there and wants to work hard and have a good time doing it, so we’re going to see some amazing stuff.

For me, I worked on Pop songs, mostly Cher’s “Strong Enough” because the Pop stuff is the one thing I don’t necessarily have a firm grasp of.  I’ve been singing musical theatre for a very long time, and only sing Pop stuff in Karaoke Bars and along with the radio in the privacy of my own home (or, back when I lived in St. Louis, the car)…but now I want to explore that sound and see how it works on my voice and in my body.   It’s fun, but challenging.   I tried a few other songs, but they weren’t really working for me.   I think for the next class I’m going to take in “Love Song” which I sang once in Lennie’s Class, but decided it was really long, but I think part of it will work great for exploratory work in Patrick’s class.   And I think Cher’s song will be making a comeback.

We have a break for Thanksgiving, then we come back to three more classes before the Holiday Break, then Patrick will start up with his normal schedule sometime in Mid-January.  I’ll keep you posted.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Last night was the last class of this 8-week session.  Again, so sad.  I really do hate when classes have to end.  The good news - we have our performance next Tuesday and it’s going to ROCK!

Lina Koutrakos, one of my teacher’s from this past summer’s Summer in the City cabaret workshop, was on hand to help tweak the show.  She didn’t say much (shocking if you know Lina at all) but did set up our order and help us all feel really confidant in our ability.

I, personally, feel amazing after last night’s class.  I went first last night (but will ultimately go 2nd in the show), and worked on my two songs - “Fine, Fine Line” from Avenue Q and “Unwritten” by Natasha Beddingfield - and they were amazing and my voice sounded really good and I had a deep connection, both to the songs and to my audience.  It felt just great and I can’t wait to get up on that stage next week and entertain the audience.    I know that performing is in my blood, it’s in my bones, and I’ll never get away from that - nor do I want to anymore.  I want to get up on that stage and share my gifts with the people (whoever those people happen to be!).

I feel so much closer to my goal of Confidence in my Singing and Performing Abilities that I am gearing up for the short 4-week inner-session that Patrick will be holding in mid-November to mid-December.  I’m going to be organizing my music and pickings some hard songs to work on for the next round.  Any suggestions?

Second to last class, two weeks from the performance (see post right before this for info about the performance!).

I decided to take a small break from my “performance” songs to sing something different.   I knew I had one more class to work on my songs, and felt like trying my hand at some oldies, but goodies - other songs that were difficult in similar ways to my two performance songs.  So, I sang through “Best of my Love” (the Eagles song) and “Hold On” from the musical The Secret Garden.

For Best of My Love, we tried to find the rhythm of the song, the inner beat as it were, again this is extremely important in pop songs, especially a pop song that on the radio has multiple singers and some harmony added.  When you’re singing one of these songs, they can sometimes seem boring, even if you, the singer, are not, because we’re used to hearing it a certain way.  I wanted to work on this song for that reason alone, finding the inner rhythms and beats of pop songs is still new to me, even after working on some.  I think this is because each pop song is slightly different, and I sometimes carry my feelings from one song to the next.

For Hold On, we worked on finding the pace.  This is a very long Musical Theatre song, with some repetition.  Also, this song is right in my break, where my head voice and my check voice meet and (at least try to) blend.    Last week, I was having some slight issues of blending, but kept at it and by the second time going through this song, I was sounding much better.

I’m glad I chose to work on something other than the performance songs as I have this week’s class (the final class) to work on some last minute things, as well as Patter, before next week’s performance.  I gave myself a small break, and got to sing some songs that I hadn’t sung in class either ever or in awhile.  It was nice.

Here’s the 411 on our Vocal Technique Performance:

Tuesday, November 11th @ 7pm

Don’t Tell Mama - 343 West 46th Street

$15, plus two-drink minimum/cover

For reservations, please call 212-757-0788 (after 4pm) or visit their website: www.donttellmamanyc.com

*Also, please note that Don’t Tell Mama is a cash-only establishment!

Unfortunately, my sickness returned, and I had to miss this class.   

With only three more classes we talked again about our show - which is Tuesday, Nov. 11th at Don’t Tell Mama — I’m not sure of the time, but I assume 7pm.  We are each doing two songs, that hopefully will show our progress to those who know us well. 

Singing was so much FUN during class - so much FUN!  I was just having a blast singing - I wasn’t worried about how my voice was going to sound, or what was going to happen, I just thought of my story (or saw the video in my mind) and I just sang - for the pure joy of it!   So awesome!

I worked on three things - although we didn’t do much work as they were all pretty good (I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but sometimes it’s necessary - I totally rocked it out on Tuesday - which was nice, as I really have worked hard the last two or so years with Patrick really getting to that juicy mix with my voice - and it’s showing, which is delightful for me!).    I first sang, I’m Not that Girl from the musical Wicked, then came There’s a Fine, Fine Line from the musical Avenue Q (which I have worked on in Lennie’s class and is a definite for my solo show - but haven’t really sung it through in awhile and wanted a refresher), and then went into Unwritten (my pop tune from last week).    And we did have a bit of work here as I was rushing, clamping down on the words - and it is a wordy song and the chorus is repeated about a million times - so we did work on that a bit, but even with that - it felt more like tweaking than fixing.   Again, I’m impressed with myself - which doesn’t happen very often.

I know for sure that Unwritten is going into November’s show, but not sure about my 2nd choice.   Next week I’m going to be pulling some older stuff and going back over - things like I’m Not Afraid of Anything (Jason Robert Brown) and Disneyland (Alan Menken) - they are also very long, wordy songs - so probably not a good match as a 2nd piece for the show, but fun to work on none the less - and it’s been awhile since I’ve sung both of them.    I’m going to have to look through my stack of stuff and see what else I’d like to work on the next few weeks before the end of class (sad face).

These weeks have really flown by, but it’s so much fun, not only to see my own process of growth, but to watch it in others - people I either didn’t know at all, or barely knew - and to see the progress in them in just a few weeks is amazing!   I think that’s the best part about doing these classes as apposed to one-on-one with Patrick.  I think the one-on-one training really helped me with a lot of my singing issues, but really watching him work with others brings home the point more often than not of what I myself am working on.   Amazing!

This class is now full - we have a total of 7 people!

I wasn’t really feeling well last Tuesday, so I didn’t take a ton of notes - so this blog post will be short and sweet.

• Practice and “doing your homework” really does make perfect
• When your voice is honest, when you’re singing from a very real place, it’s compelling

I don’t really remember singing much either, but I re-listened to my iPod and I did!   I sang New York State of Mind and really worked on the rhythm of the piece.  Pop music has a completely different feel to it than musical theatre songs - a different weight.   So we worked on giving the song it’s proper rhythm and giving the song somewhere to go - someplace interesting for both me the singer and for the audience.  Very interesting.   I then sang my other pop tune, Unwritten, that I started re-working in Lennie’s class the week before.   Again - each pop tune has a different feeling, a different sense of urgency - NY State of Mind is more laid back and Unwritten is very pulsing.    Patrick really liked Unwirten and thought it would be good for our show in November.

Again, since I wasn’t feeling well, I listened to everyone and went along on everyone’s journey, but didn’t take many notes, either written or mentally.  Sorry about that folks!   This week I’m much healthier so tonight’s class should be better.

Week #3 - Patrick mentions “The Show”

This class is doing a small Performance at the end of the 8 weeks and Patrick mentioned that we should start thinking about what two songs we want to really work on and perform.   Hm?   I definitely want to work on “Good Morning Baltimore” - but not entirely sure of the second song.    Decisions, decisions.

We started class off with my “Singers Who Rock My World” CD which included:

• Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow”
• Sting/The Police singing “Roxanne”
• Bette Midler singing “Miss Otis Regrets”
• Jason Mraz singing “Life is Wonderful”

I gave my two cents about why these were my faves and then we all discussed the merits of each one.  I really like Judy’s smoothness and the way you can feel what she’s singing about, even off of a CD.  Sting has that raw power behind him without needing to scream at you.   Bette’s just full of brashness and vitality.  And Jason Mraz is a cool cucumber - he slinks into a melody and makes me feel warm and cozy.

Then class got down to the singing business.   This week I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to work on so I went with some old stuff that I haven’t really sung through in a few weeks - Disneyland (from the musical Smile) and Frank Mills (from HAIR)….and my voice sounded pretty amazing (if I do say so myself!).  I was actually surprised that I sounded so free and clear and that the high notes weren’t being pushed from an odd place.    After being pretty content with where I was, I busted out two new pieces that I’m slowly starting to work on - Sooner or Later (from the movie Dick Tracy, and written by Sondheim) and Love Song (by Sara Bareilles - it’s currently being played all over the radio and VH1).    Patrick thought Sooner or Later was too low.    I basically just sang through them and got some other suggestions from the crowd.

All in all - a good class. I got to see others really improve and push themselves and that always makes me a bit braver in trying things and putting myself out there - so thank you, fellow classmates on Tuesday night!

Oh, Patrick gave us more homework - an interview type sheet with questions regarding our past training and how we currently feel about our voice.   Yikes - this will definitely take some time to think about and answer.

And - one final note - Patrick’s interview for Backstage is here!  Check out the September 25th Edition of Backstage East (page 19!) for the Vocal Ease interview - entitled, “A World Full Of Yes” — it’s good!