my 1st try of Junebug by Robert Francis

[Nik]

Hey all!

In another thread Videohere suggested me to make a post about this song here.

This is my 1st try of Junebug, originally by Robert Francis, it's available on my TMV profile and also on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gak_E5cMTE&hd=1

While trying to cover this song (and I didn't exercise this song much before I made the 1st try public, that's why the question was asked not long before I finished my video) I noticed a problem with my voice.

I went to the Vocal Technique section and opened a thread about it:

http://www.punbb-hosting.com/forums/themodernvocalist/viewtopic.php?pid=10857#p10857

Maybe anyone of you knows what's up and how I could get rid of my problem :)

[chele1000]

Hi,

I'm going to say that you have great tone, and good pitch and I would like to hear you sing in your mother tongue.

For the English song, I would recommend you work on your accent and vowel pronounciation. I couldn't really understand what you were singing.

cheers!

[ronws]

I really liked it, even the accent but then I'm a fan of Klause Meine partly because of his german accent and phrasing. The Scorpions song "I want to belong for you" is a literal english translation of how one could say it in german (Ich wuensche fur dich belongen, sorry, I don't have a font that does umlauts). So, I dig your accent. And you have a good stage or screen presence, reminding me of the energy and motion of Michael from Faith No More. I also like how you incorporate different energy levels in this song. It's not all one mono level of energy. You have soft, reflective parts and bright and shiny energetic parts.

This is well done, Nik.

[Nik]

Thanks Michele and Ron

I suppost Michele is talking about the 2nd verse mainly. I still have some trouble because this one is kinda fast. though I manage to sing through all of it, it kinda still prevents me from adding more expression to certain words.

The accent - it's really hard. I myself don't notice it. If I try to "copy" how people from the states or britain talk I totally fail. I don't know where to start or where to "attack" ... lol

my other problem is, I only write English, I have no practical exercise except singing. And singing is different from talking.

My last time actually talking English was around 9-10 years ago. Half a year ago I once talked to a friend from UK and I had to think so much about what to say and how to pronounce it that there wasn't a real flow in that conversation. And I didn't know what to say on the other hand ... lol. That time I noticed my accent really badly.

I try to get rid of it but not noticing my accent makes it even harder.

You know, I concentrate on singing so much that I don't really have time to think about how I might look in front of a camera. I manage to look into the cam now and then but I would rather sing with eyes closed. I usually do that if I don't have to look at the lyrics.

I think sitting in front of a cam singing looks totally stupid and I guess it's one of the hardest things that everyone has to overcome after the decision was made to record a vid for youtube etc.

I stopped thinking about this more or less.

[ronws]

As for the accent, you might approach it the way I do with golf. If I concentrate and try to line up on the ball, I will miss, dig turf, or top roll the ball a few feet. When I relax and just let my body do its thing, I really get ahold of it and send one flying. Same with your accent. I think concentrating on it is messing you up. Instead, let the emotion of the song form your sound. Relax and sing instinctively.