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complete seth riggs/michael jackson lesson

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Matt

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There are spots where Seth tells Michael to keep the vibrato in the scale and to me, those notes actually sound better. His vibrato is really distracting and definitely unique. Funny how at the very end, you hear Michael turn off the recorder, then start beat boxing the Billie Jean beat as the tape fades out. Kinda like you're watching this, then you see MJ put on the red jacket and glove and walk out. cool post.

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matt, thanks for posting this. this is what i've been trying to point out.

how much you need to lean into the voice at times.

it certainly shows the work that's going into this. no lightening up at all...in several exercises he's working chest voice musculature as high as possible before handing it off. but the handing off comes automatically after a couple of years.

the one at 14:30 is exactly what frisell had me doing. that's a tough one.

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I like the fact that you can really hear the mechanics of his voice here, bridging and all. There was a time when I thought that for no reason he just has a super high singing instrument, but clearly his bridges are where they are with everyone else too, his development and technique makes this happen.

Also he modifies vowels very much sometimes there. And damn I never knew he could reach those low notes, lowest was F2. Although I love the fact that his voice sits and functions best so high.. Something I'm working to make happen for myself too.

Also I think I should pick some of these exercises for myself lol.

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matt, thanks for posting this. this is what i've been trying to point out.

how much you need to lean into the voice at times.

it certainly shows the work that's going into this. no lightening up at all...in several exercises he's working chest voice musculature as high as possible before handing it off. but the handing off comes automatically after a couple of years.

the one at 14:30 is exactly what frisell had me doing. that's a tough one.

Yeah I tried to go along with him on some of the exercises and it's hard to keep it connected without flipping or forcing into falsetto or even head voice.

Sometimes I find myself grinding not in a nice way. I did persist and felt a burning sensation below my sternum as I tried to control the flipping and connection. Felt my neck muscles work more, tension rather than strain. Very hard.

It's kinda of hard to workout with Michael simply because he has a lighter voice so with my voice being darker in tone, Seth has the scale set up differently.

I do have Seth's singing program but I'm always in two minds as to whether I should run with it. I use Mastering Mix by Brett for warming up the chest and head. It's mainly the mums and Nays that mess me up I think I twang too much.

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More Michael Jackson voice training videos are here:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2878509-Michael-Jackson-s-Vocal-Training-over-the-phone-with-Seth-Riggs-(his-vocal-coach)

They're all featured in that above video.

Michael's voice amazes me. So light yet so connected.

I have so much muscularity in my voice with it being deeper, it's harder to learn to connect and not be TOO strong with the sound.

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I think theyre really interesting to listen to. Im not sure about the ethical side, though. I wonder if MJ knew Riggs was taping the calls or whether he would have liked for the world to hear them? Great PR for riggs though

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Excellent question, Matt. How does such a private thing as a phone call get recorded and u/l'd to youtube? MJ was such a private person that I cannot imagine him letting anything about his voice lessons be public. I think he liked maintaining mystery.

But I could be wrong.

And also, did Seth Riggs get permission from the MJ estate to record and upload this?

Or is it name-dropping? A few times, I have met Dave Clark from the Dave Clark 5 ("the Name of the Place is I like it like that") a few times. But that doesn't make me his best buddy or a rock star. It just means that he was living in Dallas 20 something years ago.

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As long as MJ was OK with it, isn't recording vocal lessons a good thing?

I'm sure it helps Seth figured out what to do for the next lesson.

He can archive all the lessons and hear Michael's voice change over time.

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