MDEW

I liked that alot. Very good.

"White Rabbit" Tribute!
I am proud to share a performance and production of Jefferson Airplane's classic, "White Rabbit". SaraEllen has been training with TVS for about two years. Excellent job SaraEllen! LOVE the curbing vowel resonance, steady embouchure, and "snappy" glottal attacks on the vowels, apart from the interpretation that captures the nuances we coached and discussed. Sounds great, looks great, a kick ass production and worthy achievement! Coach.
 

If you have ever been in a situation where you were pissed off but had to be quiet and calm you will understand.
That is why I always suggest to read the lyrics and find out what the song is really about. Put yourself in that situation. Tell the story with the emotions. It is easier to remember the lyrics that way also. Dynamics are easier to control. Each verse or phrase May have it's own underlying emotion to it.

Hi Collin. Your voice sounds pretty good. I have found that confidence and some sort of emotional connection to the song helps. What I mean by that is, read the words and find out what sort of message it is supposed to present and present it with the emotion intended. Usually when expressing a strong emotion you feel the energy of the emotion even if the volume is quiet there is a force behind it.
"For all the times that you rain on my parade And all the clubs you get in using my name You think you broke my heart, oh, girl for goodness' sake You think I'm crying on my own. Well, I ain't   And I didn't wanna write a song 'Cause I didn't want anyone thinking I still care. I don't, But you still hit my phone up And, baby, I be movin' on And I think you should be somethin' I don't wanna hold back, Maybe you should know that"   There is a lot of pent up emotion in this........ It seems this girl is using you and you know it. It gets kind of frustrating in that kind of situation........ Even if you don't get loud, there is usually an energy that you are trying to hold back so you don't get to loud. In a situation like this you would be Pissed off and holding yourself back from yelling..........Use that energy....... it will come through in the song and maybe even ground you for pitch stability also.

... do you think?
In regards to rhythm... here is the best firkin advise I can give you... listen up.
Stop counting music in quarter note tempo / meter... and start counting all music into 8ths.  "1&2&3&4&..."   Add the "&"... Without 8th notes, you have no syncopation and without syncopation, you have NO GROOVE!  Students that count only in quarter notes, have shitty rhythm and cues. Students that learn to sub-divide into 8ths and accent the syncopated, upbeat 8th, begin to get their rhythm tight and groove on... try it... you'll see... great rhythm starts by... locking in upbeat 8ths.

Hi Collin. Your voice sounds pretty good. I have found that confidence and some sort of emotional connection to the song helps. What I mean by that is, read the words and find out what sort of message it is supposed to present and present it with the emotion intended. Usually when expressing a strong emotion you feel the energy of the emotion even if the volume is quiet there is a force behind it.
"For all the times that you rain on my parade And all the clubs you get in using my name You think you broke my heart, oh, girl for goodness' sake You think I'm crying on my own. Well, I ain't   And I didn't wanna write a song 'Cause I didn't want anyone thinking I still care. I don't, But you still hit my phone up And, baby, I be movin' on And I think you should be somethin' I don't wanna hold back, Maybe you should know that"   There is a lot of pent up emotion in this........ It seems this girl is using you and you know it. It gets kind of frustrating in that kind of situation........ Even if you don't get loud, there is usually an energy that you are trying to hold back so you don't get to loud. In a situation like this you would be Pissed off and holding yourself back from yelling..........Use that energy....... it will come through in the song and maybe even ground you for pitch stability also.

Hi Collin. Your voice sounds pretty good. I have found that confidence and some sort of emotional connection to the song helps. What I mean by that is, read the words and find out what sort of message it is supposed to present and present it with the emotion intended. Usually when expressing a strong emotion you feel the energy of the emotion even if the volume is quiet there is a force behind it.
"For all the times that you rain on my parade And all the clubs you get in using my name You think you broke my heart, oh, girl for goodness' sake You think I'm crying on my own. Well, I ain't   And I didn't wanna write a song 'Cause I didn't want anyone thinking I still care. I don't, But you still hit my phone up And, baby, I be movin' on And I think you should be somethin' I don't wanna hold back, Maybe you should know that"   There is a lot of pent up emotion in this........ It seems this girl is using you and you know it. It gets kind of frustrating in that kind of situation........ Even if you don't get loud, there is usually an energy that you are trying to hold back so you don't get to loud. In a situation like this you would be Pissed off and holding yourself back from yelling..........Use that energy....... it will come through in the song and maybe even ground you for pitch stability also.

If you have ever been in a situation where you were pissed off but had to be quiet and calm you will understand.
That is why I always suggest to read the lyrics and find out what the song is really about. Put yourself in that situation. Tell the story with the emotions. It is easier to remember the lyrics that way also. Dynamics are easier to control. Each verse or phrase May have it's own underlying emotion to it.

And sharp.
Most of the time for most people... pitch issues are mostly due to a lack of attention or focus on it. There is a subconscious misunderstanding that "close is close enough"... when it comes to what we call "the constant" in TVS,... there is no "close enough" with frequency. Frequency HAS to be on. It is either 100% on or a 100% off... no exceptions, no creative license like other elements of music.
Wake up, pay more attention.
Working on your parts slowly with a keyboard... one note at a time for just a few minutes is often all it takes.
 

I think it is a product of your accent more than anything, That does not mean it is bad. I like to hear natural accents. But if you want to straighten it out a little sing a little closer to the Ah vowel instead of the i vowel. Just a little bit, too much and you get into other problems.

Pretty Cool Dennis, Good to see you again.
    In the very beginning you were just a tad too twangy. Once you settled into the song it went away and you started sounding better and more relaxed. Otherwise it sounded pretty good to me.

Margaritaville is easy, I could have it ready to perform in 10 minutes.   

Hi Kimberly, Sorry it took so long for a comment. If you could use some file sharing site like Box. net or soundcloud or Youtube that would be better. As it is we have to download your file to play it.
     Is that you Jamming on guitar also on Rescue Me? Sounds pretty cool. On the singing there is a bit too much delay and reverb to really hear your voice. Sound pretty good though.
 Anyway......... Welcome to the forum.

I have a computer program that qualifies as "Air Time" for grounded Pilots. If you give me the Type and model of Jet I can practice and be ready in a week or two.  I already have half of a successful flight logged. Hard landing.........( I did hurt my thumb when I fell off my chair. )

Singing in the original key is good for when you will be singing with random bands, Karaoke, or training. When you are the singer of your own group or playing the accompaniment yourself on Guitar or piano, go with the key that makes your voice shine or fits your personality.
      When thinking about covering a song I will find the "original" version or the one I am most familiar with and also look for other covers, by other famous singers and with unknowns......... Then go with the one that best fits me and my" Style"(if you can call it that)

I have a computer program that qualifies as "Air Time" for grounded Pilots. If you give me the Type and model of Jet I can practice and be ready in a week or two.  I already have half of a successful flight logged. Hard landing.........( I did hurt my thumb when I fell off my chair. )

Welcome to the forum Bevin. I agree with her Jeremy. I did not know the song either and you sang it pretty much like T.Rex, BUT if you put your own spin on this and make it yours it will sound much better.

Sounds Good Jeremy.

I see that BZean liked these posts. I vote we invite him also. And Adolph................Good thing I am not much of a talker, Just get Ronws talking and kick back.

I see that BZean liked these posts. I vote we invite him also. And Adolph................Good thing I am not much of a talker, Just get Ronws talking and kick back.

Cool, 2 songs in one day. Somebody's working hard(Or playing hard). Sounds pretty good. It seems in this on as in the other...you have the notes but not confident in them. Perhaps practicing this one a half step higher for a little while and then bringing it back down to the key you are now playing in.
 It still sounds pretty good but you asked for tips on improving it.

I see that BZean liked these posts. I vote we invite him also. And Adolph................Good thing I am not much of a talker, Just get Ronws talking and kick back.

Hi gnee!
I think there are many things working well, and some very simple mistakes that are taking away quality.
- You are oversinging it. Listen to the original and you will notice there are a lot more pauses, right on the begining, "Here"... "I AM"... , specially on I Am, don't sustain so much. This breakes the rhythm flow of the song.
- Your phrasing is in odds with the beat. Listen to the pattern of the snare on the song, right from the start. You will notice there is an accent first on the downbeat, and then the snare accents on the upbeat. Pretty much the whole song goes by this idea. On "I AM" you are close to it, but the accent didnt work so well, when you are on "SHE is sound". You are already drifting. Its a 4/4 but its irregular, common kind of irregular, but still irregular.
These two little things make a huge difference, really!
Then the points of the higher areas. When you do "high" the Ah is sounding good, perhaps relax more if you can. The higher phrases are on the midway between going into head voice, and belting, and that's the problem. Either you open it and blast it out, or, round more the vowels into UH and use a half volume. You went open with a half volume, that's just too hard and really unnecessary.
Open as you did and shout it, and you will go on the same direction of what he did. Or round more and still go strong. Whatever you do don't let the energy fall back from what you are doing on the lower area, go stronger.
Not oversinging the lows will also help on giving you more headroom for these notes.

Hahahah man you are crazy.  All this talk of Greyhound buses and road trips is unnecessary.  Surely an event that included two TMV moderators would justify the use of the official Modern Vocalist Private Jet.  We'll just have Adolph leave us the keys for the weekend.  We can all get together and back home in under 12 hours.  

We'll be a southern version of "two and half men" with ages approximately close to the actors. Actually, Charlie Sheen is a few years younger than I am and Ashton Kutcher is a few years younger than that And MDEW is one year older than I am. You are probably around the same age as the young-un, though a whole lot smarter, which is not saying much. That is, not much effort is needed to be a whole lot smarter than the kid in the show. Kind of backsided compliment, sorry about that.
The only trick is transportation. I live in a little town with 1 stop sign and 4 or 5 churches (I lose count) about 60 miles north of Dallas, a few towns south of Oklahoma. As I like to brag, if I sneeze to the north, it is raining in Oklahoma. Actually, Ok is a beautiful state with a widely varied scenery from a rain forest in the east to high desert in the west, home of the majority of tornados in the world (partially due to trade winds that create this varied topography, more on that later.)
Greyhound does make stops in Sherman, the biggest town nearest to me. Actually close to the border of Denison. You can catch a taxi to my place but there are no bus stops. But the nearest airport for transcontinental is DFW Intl or Love Field. I mean, here in Grayson county Perrin Field is big enough and Air Force One landed there last year so the pres could visit the Choctaw Nation near Durant, Ok. But that was a military op and it just does not get a lot of long distance traffic. It is used mainly for military training exercises.
But I live close enough to DFW and everything here. With minimal traffic and my cruise control set at 80, it would take just about an hour to get to DFW Intl. That's because Rayburn Tollway (sh 121) goes right into DFW. Love Field, near Mockingbird and Inwood takes more time because of traffic and lights. Love Field is only about a mile or so from where I work.
So, now, we're talking what? Plane tickets or bus tickets or train tickets? Union Station is in the downtown Dallas area but is accessible.
It's either that or we get skype and I have to ship my wonderful smoked brisket. Brisket so good it would tempt the faith of a vegan. Yes, being a vegan is a faith and I would be tempting that faith with brisket that nearly melts in your mouth.
Talk me in to it and I will make the homemade barbecue sauce, though I have some store-bought that is pretty good. Then I can do something with shredded slaw, and steamed corn on the cob. I get the unshucked and break them in half for easier eating. I'll cut mine off the cob when ready. Any choice of spices. Seriously, we have spices everywhere. A cabinet I bought, just to house the spices and mixes. On of the few shelf places in the house not loaded down with cook books.
Still, you really need to be here to smell the burning of mesquite wood chunks in a true smoke. Get a snootful of smoke, choke a little, grab a Shiner Bock to clear the palate.