Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Vocal Approach Challenge: Style Time

Did someone say challenge?😁
As a student in Christina Aguilera's Singing Masterclass, we had the option to participate in an inaugural vocal challenge - a challenge I happily accepted! The first week's challenge involved working on our vocal approach with a song of our own choosing. The vocal approach also involved re-conceptualizing our chosen song into a new genre.

Adaptability is a must.
Once again, I learned that you have to adapt and adjust your goals. I initially wanted to a pop rendition of Sarah Vaughan's "Tenderly" However, I realized that some of the notes of the song didn't blend nicely with the pop rendition that I envisioned. I then proceeded into trying a jazzy version of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly". However, I quickly realized that I wouldn't have been able to whip up a piano jazz tune in time for the November 21 deadline.

Then I suddenly remembered some song loops a professor created for students to use from a Coursera songwriting course I'm currently enrolled in. Ahh yes! One. step. closer. to. my. goal.😊

Time to get funky.
For the vocal approach I decided to do a funk version of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" I must say that I felt excited and "anxy" as this was the first time that I've "uploaded my voice" in an online, social media community. I initially recorded a pop version with one of the pop loops but I didn't like the resulting sound. I then tried one of the funk loops and it was a match made in musical heaven! You can take a listen to the funk version here.

4 comments:

  1. Agreed. Always have to activate your adaptation neurons!

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  2. Thx for posting this blog Naomi. Sounds like you're learning and discovering a lot about the training/vocal aspects in singing world.

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  3. Oh yes Trayelle. I'm learning a lot from the class.

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