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Sydney Van Camp
Past Notes
June 28th, 2016
June 28th, 2016
Sydney emailed me to let me know she wouldn't be able to come today.
The poor girl has missed a lot of lessons - I will make a couple of them up for her if you wish... I feel bad about taking your money when she is often away.
June 21st, 2016
June 21st, 2016
Sydney and I recorded "The Book of Love" tonight.
http://yourlisten.com/rockandroll101/sydney-van-camp-book-of-love-session-2016-06-21
I think she sound great!
June 14th, 2016
June 14th, 2016
Sydney felt like pulling out the guitar this week - she said she was too tired to play drums.
So we used an electric, and I showed her a beginning pentatonic scale which I call "the home row" scale.
We talked about how melodies are made, through careful use of repetition and patterns. We did some of this using the following forms:
A B A C
A A B A'
A B C A
June 7th, 2016
June 7th, 2016
May 31st, 2016
May 31st, 2016
Sydney came a bit late, and instead of continuing with UpTown Funk, she wanted me to record a piano part for the drama at the school.
May 24th, 2016
May 24th, 2016
We started with reviewing the two songs from last week- Back in Black and 7 Nation Army.
We had a bit of problem with the bridge of Back in Black, and she wanted a break from it.
We worked through some of the rudiments we'd been talking about, and added a "rim shot" to the tool box.
We then added a new song, a good beginner song:
Mark Ronson, Uptown Funk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ya2U8XN_Zw
May 17th, 2016
May 17th, 2016
Sydney worked through two songs - first Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY
then ACDC Back in Black:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kiq9HDUkNxg
She's doing really well on drums!
May 10th, 2016
May 10th, 2016
Sydney was away today.
May 3rd, 2016
May 3rd, 2016
Sydney is all over the drums! I'm quite impressed with her natural instinct of what to do with the drums to make it sound musical.
We played through a LOT of different types of beats, including Kick / Closed Hat, sideshot, full snare, flam, flam on beat four followed by crash, etc.
April 26th, 2016
April 26th, 2016
Sydney was in a mood to do something different today, so we learned four drum beats.
THe first was a quarter note 4/4 beat, the second an eighth note 4/4 beat. The third was adding a kick on the and of 2, and the last was opening the high hat on the and of 1 and 3.
April 19th, 2016
April 19th, 2016
Sydney wanted to do something else for a change, and wanted to look through YouTube for other songs she could try.
She settled on "On The Street Where You Live," from My Fair Lady. We found a couple of versions of a woman singing it, and learned it and sang it. At the end of the lesson she decided she didn't really like that one after all! LOL
Next week come with a song you'd like to work on, to make the most of your time. :)
April 12th, 2016
April 12th, 2016
Sydney came a tad late so we went over a few minutes.
We went through the two songs we've been working on last week, then looked at some others from my repertoire list like
All I've Got to Do is Dream
Danny's Boy
Good Night Irene
As Time Goes By
April 5th, 2016
April 5th, 2016
In Sydney's lesson we started with collecting an exhaustive list of every song we recorded.
After that we looked for some other songs to add to the list.
She liked these two:
Frances Langford, Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDJb_LHV2Ws
Ella Fitzgerald, I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTk7mWp24mo
March 29th, 2016
March 29th, 2016
March 22nd, 2016
March 22nd, 2016
We sang through The Ruth Etting song, Dancing in the Moonlight, and I pulled out my new autotuner toy to sing through. It has a visual and aural feedback feature so that you can more easily see and hear when you're out of tune.
We worked on certain trouble spots together using this pedal, and Sydney was able to more easily see the places where she struggles with tuning.
We then took a listen to a few other Ruth Etting songs, and also reviewed some of the recordings Sydney has done, which we haven't completed.
March 15th, 2016
March 15th, 2016
March 8th, 2016
March 8th, 2016
Sydney added a new song today called Dancing in the Moonlight, by Ruth Etting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrPWxkdumQo
A really pretty old song, and we're going to make it sound awesome.
I also suggested she contact Bob Abrams about singing for seniors at the monthly lunches they hold throughout the year.
March 1st, 2016
March 1st, 2016
Sydney and I started with warm up, and then worked through some older songs at the piano. She says she's still working on a set-list for our 'concert.'
She took a photo of one song that she'd like to use.
February 23rd, 2016
February 23rd, 2016
Sydney wants to try La Vie en Rose again, (apparently we'd tried it before), so we determined the best key to be E.
We found the French words to the original song, and she's going to try to extend the length of the song as done by English singers by sticking in some French as well.
We rehearsed it this way a few times, but she says she's going to formalize the lyrics and order this week to look at again next week.
February 16th, 2016
February 16th, 2016
February 9th, 2016
February 9th, 2016
Sydney felt like vocals tonight, and so we went over about twenty songs together from the Reader's Digest book and the Fake Book.
We talked about how fun it would be to do a concert, I suggested she set aside about 10 or 15 songs to do and invite friends to -- I'd play piano, we could do it here or anywhere she wants.
February 2nd, 2016
February 2nd, 2016
January 26th, 2016
January 26th, 2016
January 19th, 2016
January 19th, 2016
Sydney played a new song for me that she's been teaching herself on piano, and we talked about a strategy for learning it and then recording it... she's going to continue to learn it on her own, and then we'll work on the vocals together before recording it.
We then went through some songs on the piano, playing hits from the 30s and 40s. We both love those old songs!
January 12th, 2016
January 12th, 2016
January 5th, 2016
January 5th, 2016
December 29th, 2015
December 29th, 2015
December 22nd, 2015
December 22nd, 2015
December 15th, 2015
December 15th, 2015
Sydney and I worked on piano today because her voice was gone-- so we added a song from Cats, called Memory. We got through the main part without any problems, but half way through it's a bit more challenging, so we can work on that more in the future.
If you want (Sydney), I can scan that page in for you and email it.
December 8th, 2015
December 8th, 2015
Sydney and I started with a good 30 minutes of vocal warm ups, then looked at some Christmas songs, like the Huron Carol. We played it through with the guitar and tried some harmony as well.
We looked at a couple of other Christmas songs, like "The Angel Gabriel," by Sting, etc, but couldn't find another one we loved.
December 1st, 2015
December 1st, 2015
I missed Sydney today!
November 24th, 2015
November 24th, 2015
Sydney and I added a couple of Christmas songs, first "Let it Snow," then "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole.
Here are the chords (I also wrote them on a paper for her):
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/n/nat_king_cole/the_christmas_song_crd.htm
We're doing it in F, (first chord is F6)
We'll try recording it with her singing and playing piano when she's got it ready.
November 17th, 2015
November 17th, 2015
Sydney is home sick today.
November 10th, 2015
November 10th, 2015
Sydney wanted to learn some basics on the accordion for a project she's working on, so I loaned her my big accordion, and worked through the basics of how it works.
We worked out some chords to go with her melody,and I suggested a different section to the song.
She also took my sweater along to fix a pull in the knitting for me! Thanks Sydney! :)
November 3rd, 2015
November 3rd, 2015
Sydney and I worked again on the downstairs grand piano. She's coming along well with "I've Got You Under My Skin". We played it through a number of times, and decided to focus next week on the Ab minor section onwards, where she's a little shaky.
October 27th, 2015
October 27th, 2015
Sydney and I went to the grand piano for this lesson, just for the fun of it!
She's doing really well with recalling the way the chords are formed, such as Aminor7, or E7flat9, etc... just needs to practice the changes a bit more so she can switch chords faster... but the hard part is out of the way. The rest is just training muscle memory.
We went over Fly Me to the Moon, then added I've Got You Under My Skin.
She played a song for me that she's writing. I asked her to bring the lyrics next week.
She left three minutes early to make a hair appointment.
October 20th, 2015
October 20th, 2015
Sydney continued on the piano this week, working first on How to Save a Life, then adding "Yesterday" by the Beatles and Fly Me to the Moon.
She took a couple of photos of the music with her phone, and I shared the Google charts with her.
October 13th, 2015
October 13th, 2015
Sydney was sick today.
October 6th, 2015
October 6th, 2015
Sydney wanted to work on the piano more, so we spent the first half of the lesson on The Book of Love, just working on getting it smooth and singing along at the same time.
We then grabbed a song from my pile of sheet music, called How to Save a Life. It is in the same key, so it was easy to take it as the next song, and we talked about the slash chords and playing that with the left hand, as well as the timing change where the D goes to D/F# on beat four.
September 29th, 2015
September 29th, 2015
Sydney's voice was a little scratchy... we warmed up for 20 minutes but I thought it would be better for us to work on something else.
We pulled out the guitar, and she was able to play and sing the song we're working on-- we then went to the piano for the last 20 minutes and did the same thing there.
She picked up the piano parts very quickly.
September 22nd, 2015
September 22nd, 2015
Sydney was home sick today.
September 15th, 2015
September 15th, 2015
We spent the first 25 minutes warming up, and did some ear training-- she's developing a good ear-- the fifths were much easier than other times we've done it.
The book of love has a Karoke version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PtI6uqHqnU
We wrote a better last chorus:
"And I
I hope you like this song I bring,
And you,
You are in every song I sing
You're in every song I sing."
September 8th, 2015
September 8th, 2015
Sydney and I started with a good warmup, taking our time between each scale to get her back into it.
We spent extra time on the ahh to ee sound -- when she does ee straight off, it tends to be harsh, but with the ah to ee, it's more breathy, which is what we want to see in all of her singing.
We then added a new song, Book of Love, by Peter Gabriel which is very pretty-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmnDXRJ7btE
This song is a tad high for her, if she does the octave jump for the chorus and end of verses. We settled on doing it in E, which seemed to work quite well.
The issue with pronouncing some vowels in a breathy soft way was a bit of a problem, so we worked on that especially. She described it well when she said she sings with a bit of an accent. That's it exactly. Sing like you're British and the vowels will sound very pleasant.
June 23rd, 2015
Sydney and Nickie are away today.
June 16th, 2015
Sydney and I worked on Broken Together a few times-- she mentioned that she would not be here next week.
June 9th, 2015
Sydney and I went over Hanging Tree once, then added a new song by Casting Crowns called Broken Together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhxELo-uD3c
Nice song!
June 2nd, 2015
We took Nicole's spot today, and started with a good 15 minute warm-up.
We then sang through Hanging Tree a couple of times on the piano, and then with the guitar, then recorded it twice.
I'll try to upload the recording today.
May 26th, 2015
We recorded a couple of tracks of her song, but her voice was really sore and tired today.
We decided to add another song, and listened to a couple of Hunger Games songs. We settled on Hanging Tree.
We took Nicole's spot and played it through on the piano a couple of times.
May 19th, 2015
Sydney forgot today, and took the bus home.
May 12th, 2015
Sydney was sick today, her mom came in with a USB stick of photos to edit.
May 5th, 2015
Sydney and Nicole are away today.
April 28th, 2015
Sydney and I started with warm ups, then recorded a couple of takes of the song.
Sounding good!
April 21st, 2015
Sydney is in Ottawa today.
April 14th, 2015
We warmed up the voice, then went over the song Only Girl.
She found it especially high today, so we lowered it first to A, then to G.
When you belt Sydney, try not to swoop into the note.
April 7th, 2015
We worked on the Only Boy song some more, and Sydney showed me how she could belt it-- we talked about control of this strong singing, and keeping the voice and diaphragm muscles involved. She left in Nic's slot because she wanted to go to the township office to see about a job.
March 31st, 2015
Sydney was sick today.
March 24th, 2015
Sydney took both spots today.
We added a new song, "If you were the only boy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozvBHC1SA9I
If You Were The Only Boy In The World"
Bb / Dm / | Eb / F / | Bb / Dm / | Eb / F / |
Bb / Gm / | Cm / / / |
If I were the only girl in the world
Eb/F / / / | Bb / F / |
And you were the only boy
Bb Dm Cm F
Nothing else would matter in the world today
F /// | Bb / / / /|
We could go on loving in the same old way
Bb / Gm / | Cm / / / |
A Garden of Eden, hmm, just made for two
Eb/F / / / | Bb / /F / |
With nothing to harm our joy
Gm / / / | Dm / / / |
I would say such wonderful things to you
Eb / /F / | Bb / G /
There would be such wonderful things to do
Cm / / / | Dm / G / |
If you were the only girl in the world
Cm / F / | Bb / / / |
And you were the only boy
Gm / / / | Dm / / / |
I would say such wonderful things to you
Eb / /F / | Bb / G /
There would be such wonderful things to do
Cm / / / | Dm / G / |
If you were the only girl in the world
Cm / F / | Bb / / / |
And you were the only boy
March 17th, 2015
March 10th, 2015
Sydney warmed up first, then reviewed the Bass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2BW9_NDCYA
Then we looked for other songs to learn whle we wait for her finger to heal. We considered some 1930s songs, but decided she would pick one this week.
March 3rd, 2015
Sydney and I did warm up exercises for the first 15 or 20 minutes, then worked on "It's All About the Bass" -- we went over it a few times with vocals, but her finger was sliced, so she couldn't play bass this week.
After going through that, we went into Nickie's time slot.
February 24th, 2015
Sydney and I started with some vocal warm ups, and then learned the basic patterns for the bass part of "It's all about the bass".
This week, work on playing and singing the part at the same time.
February 17th, 2015
Sydney and I went over vocal warm ups for the first 10 or 15 minutes, and then the remained of the time we worked on "All About that Bass," which she did for her audition.
We focused on a few problem areas pitch-wise. Careful attention to pitch will help her continue to improve as a singer... she can do it, just needs to concentrate a teeny bit more on the notes she's singing.
February 10th, 2015
Sydney was sick today, so Nicole took her spot.
February 3rd, 2015
Sydney took Nicole's spot again today.
We worked on the song "All About That Bass" -- and used Kate Davis' version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyTTX6Wlf1Y
She may do this for the audition.
Work on the high part where it goes up in the middle, especially on getting the right notes coming back down.
January 27th, 2015
Syndey took Nicole's spot today. We worked on the recording of Fly Me to the Moon, and finished.
I forgot to remind her to pick another song for next week.
January 20th, 2015
Sydney wasn't well today.
January 13th, 2015
Sydney was home sick today.
January 6th, 2015
Sydney and I recorded Shine On Harvest Moon, and then during Nicole's lesson we worked on Fly Me to the Moon, and recorded a couple of versions of it-- which we'll try again, because Sydney wasn't in the right frame of mind :)
December 30th, 2014
December 23rd, 2014
December 16th, 2014
Sydney and I went over Shine On Harvest Moon, and then took a bit of break from it and reviewed the other songs we've been planning.
The last one was Fly Me to the Moon by Doris Day, and it probably went the best of the three of them. I think we'll move on to that one next.
December 9th, 2014
Sydney and I worked on Shine On Harvest Moon, and worked out the second verse (which isn't recorded on other versions we could find).
Here's the lyric page which includes the second verse:
http://www.moonlightsys.com/themoon/shine-on-harvest.html
December 2nd, 2014
Sydney and I recorded the bass on her new song, and started working on the next one- Shine On Harvest Moon- an old 1930s style song!
November 25th, 2014
Sydney is home sick today.
November 18th, 2014
Today Sydney and I worked on her recording, and used Nicole's time slot to add some extra work on it.
We re-recorded the accompaniment to put it in an actual key, lol, and then she resang three tracks. We used Nic's time slot to pick the best of each track, so we're very close to done.
I'd like to get her to record the bass parts next.
November 11th, 2014
Sydney and I started working on Moon River today, and also began recording, since we had the extra space from Nicki's lesson.
It's a short little song, but so beautiful. We did three separate takes of the song, and will try a couple more next week, but without singing along with the track -- the original is a little out of true pitch anyway, and it's hard to know when to come in because the time is so variant.
November 4th, 2014
Sydney and I recorded four takes of "No Moon At All," trying a few different techniques.
We noticed that she tends to fade out at the end of notes, instead of holding it strong through out.
October 28th, 2014
Syd and I went through No Moon At All a few times-- she almost has it memorized! LOL
We did it with and without the recording, and think it's ready to try recording next week.
October 21st, 2014
We recorded a couple of more takes of her song, then learned "No Moon At All"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GxvSALRLzM
We'll work on it some more next week, then try recording it maybe the following week.
Sing it with the PitchLab tuner in front of you. :)
October 14th, 2014
Today we spent only the first few minutes warming up, and then right to recording.
The recording sounds pretty good,... work on singing in tune, by using that tuning app, "PitchLab"
October 7th, 2014
Sydney and I did some warm-ups with the tuner app in front of us so we could work on intonation. She could continue to do this in practice at home.
We had some trouble with a lower D, and a higher G flat.
Then we reviewed Blue Moon again, and worked on some tuning aspects of it.
I think we could record next week... you're very close.
September 30th, 2014
Sydney and I warmed up, then practiced Blue Moom -- let's focus on this one for the next couple of weeks before we record it.
When you practice, try to keep the support strong in your diaphragm, even when you're singing softly. Use lots of breathiness to dissipate the air, so you can still have support.
September 23rd, 2014
Sydney is home with a headache today.
September 16th, 2014
Sentimental Journey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ycj2SwFG3w
Moon River - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_jgIezosVA
Blue Moon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqwSde_eEv4
Shine on Harvest Moon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Mu9fh23dY
Let Me Call You Sweetheart - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tOEjhrZak
Fly me to the Moon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7bfudsfZjw
I Only Have Eyes for You - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeiXoSa3RY
September 9th, 2014
Yay, a new year!
Sydney and I sang through warms ups for the first 15 minutes, and then looked for some big-band music that she could learn and work on this year.
We tried some Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong... we're thinking that it would be fun to record some big band / jazz style music over the year.
Sydney should look for some songs to learn -- maybe 6 on her own. Then we can be more proactive in what we are doing in the lessons.
It might be fun to do La Vie en Rose:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=la vie en rose
However, it's hard.
August 27th, 2014
August 20th, 2014
August 13th, 2014
August 6th, 2014
July 30th, 2014
July 23rd, 2014
July 16th, 2014
July 9th, 2014
July 2nd, 2014
June 25th, 2014
June 18th, 2014
June 17th, 2014
Sydney and I sang today, starting with warm-up, and then did a couple of old Doris Day songs like "Sentimental Journey."
June 11th, 2014
June 10th, 2014
Sydney and I did vocals tonight. We focused on singing on pitch, and I had her sing and resing scales until she was singing them in tune.
June 4th, 2014
June 3rd, 2014
Sydney was feeling tired and overwhelmed this afternoon. We decided to do something just for fun. We pulled out the ukulele and I taught her about 6 chords (they are very similar to guitar chords) and how to figure out chords.
May 28th, 2014
May 27th, 2014
Sydney needed her trumpet repaired (a valve was in wrong) so we did that, then I tutored her in trumpet for the remainder of the lesson.
We talked about proper placement of the embouchure to get higher notes, about staying relaxed when she plays, and other practical tips.
She should try practicing the songs without the trumpet (just the mouthpiece) and working on getting the pitches that way. It will make it much easier to play these notes.
Also, practice holding notes as long as you can to work in that diaphragm.
May 21st, 2014
May 20th, 2014
Sydney wanted to try drums today, so we learned the "boom chuck" beat, along with the names of the various parts of the kit.
Sydney, at home, you can practice when any song is playing by using your knee as your snare, and your foot on the floor as the kick. Try to get that highhat in (the other knee).
May 14th, 2014
May 13th, 2014
Sydney and I worked on vocals today, with the first half of the lesson warm ups and ear work, and the second half working on Elton John's song, Candle in the Wind.
I moved it from E to A, so that she could sing the higher notes.
May 7th, 2014
May 6th, 2014
Sydney and I did vocals and ear training again today. I used the tuner with her, after our usual exercises and asked her to sing a third above notes or a fifth above notes. She could see visual feedback as to whether she was in tune.
I'd really recommend that she download this application (pitch lab-- it's free). It's in the Android store.
April 30th, 2014
April 29th, 2014
Sydney worked on vocals today.
We warmed up with scales, and then focused again on ear training. Again, she's doing really well.
We started with 5ths, then 3rds, then 6ths, and then we did 1 5 4 1. It was challenging for her to get back to the 1 from the four but after a few times through she got much better at it.
April 23rd, 2014
April 22nd, 2014
Sydney wanted to work on vocals tonight, so we focused on ear training after our basic warm up.
I was REALLY impressed with how far she's come since we used to do this. Her ear is really accurate, especially in the lower portion of her range.
We started with 5ths, then 3rds, then 6ths, then 1 5 4.
Sydney, you can further improve on this by using a guitar tuner such as "Pitch Lab" on your iphone or android. It's a free app which really helps.
April 16th, 2014
April 15th, 2014
Sydney and I continued working on Ray Charles songs. She's going to work on the 1-5 chessmove thing.
April 9th, 2014
April 8th, 2014
Sydney was away today.
April 2nd, 2014
April 1st, 2014
Sydney brought her new bass! It sounds very nice.
We went over the songs we've been workking on, and added a couple of Ray Charles songs as well:
What I'd Say:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPP8w0wMRgQ
Georgia On My Mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgWBN8yt_E
March 26th, 2014
March 25th, 2014
Sydney came in today with a repaired bass guitar! We added Sarah Bareilles, "Brave" and worked through adding leading notes between the chords etc, like we've been working on in the past few weeks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAfjUHlFSM
March 19th, 2014
March 18th, 2014
Sydney and I added some more details to the leading notes, including slower (quarter note) lead ins, and adding octaves.
We played through a bunch of different songs, talking about the use of 1-5 (fifths) in songs like Sentimental Journey.
We also started to move away from numbers, using note-names to switch. She's really getting good!
March 12th, 2014
March 11th, 2014
March 5th, 2014
March 4th, 2014
Sydney and I worked on 'leading notes' on the bass.
For example, moving between a 4 and a 6, you can put a 5 note in between them.
We did "7-1," "5-6", "4-5," and a bunch of others too.
February 26th, 2014
February 25th, 2014
Sydney isn't coming this evening.
February 19th, 2014
February 18th, 2014
Sydney is sick today.
February 12th, 2014
February 11th, 2014
Sydney wanted to record "Sisters of Mercy" for something she's doing at school.
February 5th, 2014
February 4th, 2014
Sydney and I worked on bass again, and instead of calling out numbers, I called out note names.
The trick is to translate the note name into a number, and she got quite good at this.
We played some songs in G, C, D, A, E, and F.
Then we reviewed "Say Something" again.
January 29th, 2014
January 28th, 2014
Sydney got an hour today, we went over a few songs with the bass again-- she's really getting good at bass!!
We did a few 50's songs, as well as a new song I've heard recently from a band called Great Big World.
January 22nd, 2014
January 21st, 2014
Sydney and I worked on the bass for an hour this week, going through Nicki's lesson.
We played a lot of songs and I called out numbers for her so she could play along.
I'd like to focus on alternative positions for various notes in future lessons.
January 15th, 2014
January 14th, 2014
Sydney worked on bass again this week, and we went over the number system together again.
She played along with me while I was on the kit, and I threw some complicated drum beats at her. She was able to play along with many of them.
Next we went over "Sentimental Journey" in A and in G. I showed her how to use the "chess move" to play the fifths on long holds of the same note.
January 8th, 2014
January 7th, 2014
Sydney is home sick today.
January 1st, 2014
December 31st, 2013
December 25th, 2013
December 18th, 2013
December 17th, 2013
Today Sydney wanted to learn bass, so we went over the basics, and played through some songs together.
For practicing, she should work through finding all the notes on each string for every note -- for example, find all the As you can find, all the A sharps you can find, the Bs, the Cs, etc.
Then use YouTube to practice playing along with the kick drum like we did in practice today.
December 11th, 2013
December 10th, 2013
Sydney and I worked on the guitar, and then the vocals of the Lady Antebellum song, "Compass," which we both hate. :)
It's similar to "Never Walk Alone" from the 70s, which we both like better.
December 4th, 2013
December 3rd, 2013
Sydney and I did vocal warm ups for nearly the whole lesson! She wanted to be ready for her singing this evening.
I showed her some additional warm ups and she showed me a couple she does at the rehearsals.
November 27th, 2013
November 26th, 2013
Sydney had a sore throat today.
November 20th, 2013
November 19th, 2013
Sydney and Nicky are doing a make-up on the 21st
November 13th, 2013
November 12th, 2013
Sydney must have been sick today, or forgot...
November 6th, 2013
November 5th, 2013
We started the lesson with reviewing Somebody that I Used to Know, which sounds good.
Sydney learned two Christmas carols on guitar today, Oh Christmas Tree and The Little Drummer Boy.
October 30th, 2013
October 29th, 2013
Sydney and I worked on Somebody That I used to Know some more, and then I went to the guitar and she sang it for me that way.
She should still try to sing the first verse the same way as the woman sings the 3rd, to help her with the key.
She was losing her voice after 20 minutes, so we spent the last 10 minutes talking about various topics. :)
October 23rd, 2013
October 22nd, 2013
(guitar song from last time was actually: Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks)
This week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4phH8xBurs
We worked on the vocals of Somebody that I Used to Know by "Walk Off the Earth"
Listen to the octave-- you're supposed to be singing one octave higher than the man who sings.
October 16th, 2013
October 15th, 2013
Sydney is out of town with school today.
October 9th, 2013
October 8th, 2013
Today we added "Somebody that I Used to Know" by "Walk off the Earth," and "Little Men":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghb6eDopW8I
October 2nd, 2013
October 1st, 2013
Sydney was sick today.
September 25th, 2013
September 24th, 2013
Sydney and I rehearsed the audition song a'cappela today, since that's how she'll have to do it for the audition. We covered some audition issues like:
1. Nerves - embrace them
2. Don't try to impress, but instead BE the character
3. Don't worry about what they're thinking, worry about being who you're trying to be
4. Stand tall, hands to side, not in front
5. Turn your head so we see the side of your face from time to time
6. Don't do the whole song with your eyebrows up, use varying facial expressions
7. Be prepared to be stopped before you're done, stay confident and self-assured, don't show them insecurity
September 18th, 2013
September 17th, 2013
Sydney worked on an audition song, my computer music wasn't working, so we used her phone. The song was Spoonful of Sugar. We sang through the first verse and first chorus, which is what she'll be doing for the audition.
September 11th, 2013
September 10th, 2013
Today Sydney and I went over her recording from last year, and finished it up... we added drums, and I showed her how to EQ parts.
I'll put it up tonight or tomorrow for her to hear.
September 4th, 2013
August 28th, 2013
August 21st, 2013
August 14th, 2013
August 7th, 2013
July 31st, 2013
July 24th, 2013
July 17th, 2013
July 10th, 2013
July 3rd, 2013
June 26th, 2013
June 25th, 2013
Sydney has a sore throat tonight. Get well soon!! :)
Maybe we can finish her song sometime this summer?
June 19th, 2013
June 18th, 2013
We recorded new bass and piano tracks to Sydney's song. She just needs a few lyrics and a drum beat.
June 12th, 2013
June 11th, 2013
Sydney and I recorded additional vocal parts for her song. She wants to rework the third verse some more, and we'll do that next week.
June 5th, 2013
June 4th, 2013
Sydney and I recorded her vocals on the song she's written. She also worked on an additional verse.
May 29th, 2013
May 28th, 2013
Sydney was home sick today.
May 23rd, 2013
May 22nd, 2013
May 15th, 2013
May 14th, 2013
Sydney wrote some more lyrics, but somehow they got deleted, so we spent the lesson today writing some more.
We sang through it a few times, and she is going to tweak the last verse a bit more.
Hopefully we can record her voice on in next week!
May 8th, 2013
May 7th, 2013
Today we recorded the piano part for Sydney's song to help her come up with additional verses, and I talked about metaphors, and keeping the song theme in metaphor. We looked on a thesaurus for words that might help with ideas.
May 1st, 2013
April 30th, 2013
Today we put chords to Sydney's song, and it's going to be awesome!
I'm really excited about this... remind her to write the other verses.
April 24th, 2013
April 23rd, 2013
This week we went over How to Save a Life on last time, and Sydney decided not to record it.
Then she sang a song she wrote last night, and we recorded the melody and what she was hearing in the background.
Next week we'll try to take her new verses, and put some music to it.
April 17th, 2013
April 16th, 2013
April 11th, 2013
April 10th, 2013
April 3rd, 2013
April 2nd, 2013
Sydney added "How to Save a Life" this week (pausing on Stompa and Dead Seas), and we worked on breathing.
We did it in the key of E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAIs3tUYOi4
March 27th, 2013
March 26th, 2013
We added two songs today:
Stompa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz7jCY1cpHk
Dead Seas by the Lumineers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oueb2P_k-NY
March 20th, 2013
March 19th, 2013
Tonight we worked on her audition for the crystal ball.
March 13th, 2013
March 12th, 2013
March 6th, 2013
March 5th, 2013
We did Turning Tables tonight,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQhz0YQEkpc
Please sing the I vowels as Ahhh as you can.... save the E transition at the end of the vowel to just a touch.
February 27th, 2013
February 26th, 2013
Sydney and I are going to start a new song, by Fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7yCLn-O-Y0
Carry On.
She's decided Trouble is done, and I agree it sounds great. The accuracy of the song improved once we slowed it down and she worked out the notes.
February 20th, 2013
February 19th, 2013
Today we added Trouble by Taylor Swift.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0DfyAIkGw0
Sing it slowly at home, really concentrating on the intonation. As you speed up, you'll find the intonation goes with you.
February 13th, 2013
February 12th, 2013
Today Sydney and I recorded three or four more takes of her vocal part. I have asked her to pick a new song to begin learning for next week.
February 6th, 2013
February 5th, 2013
Sydney and I recorded Eleanor Rigby and did a few takes, working out little pitch issues she was having. We'll try to finish it next week.
Practice, Sydney! :D
January 30th, 2013
January 29th, 2013
Today we added a new song, Eleanor Rigby:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beatles/eleanor rigby_10026674.html
Sydney is going to memorize the vocals this week, so we can work on giving the song some "texture," and "dynamics" next week.
January 23rd, 2013
January 22nd, 2013
January 16th, 2013
January 15th, 2013
Sydney didn't bring her guitar in today, so we worked on vocals. I did some new exercises with her to focus on accuracy.
After 15 minutes of exercises, we picked a couple of songs to learn, to go with a project she's doing in Challenge.
The first is one she is considering, "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins. The second is for a friend's play, which is a Michael Jackson called Smooth Criminal.
It seems like a little hard for her, but if she continues to practice her accuracy in pitch, she will be able to do it.
January 9th, 2013
January 8th, 2013
Sydney left her phone and picks here today!
We learned "I feel Good" by James Brown. I also showed her the D7 chord which she had either forgotten or I had failed to teach her. :)
January 2nd, 2013
December 26th, 2012
December 19th, 2012
December 18th, 2012
Sydney and I did some new scale systems today to further improve her ear, and we sang through a few Christmas Carols.
She is sounding fantastic!
December 12th, 2012
December 11th, 2012
December 5th, 2012
December 4th, 2012
Today we did the "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch," and "I'm Dreaming Of a White Christmas," which Sydney wants to do for the concert.
I wrote out the chords for Uncle Clair, in case he wants to practice with her.
November 28th, 2012
November 27th, 2012
Sydney is sick today so no lesson.
November 21st, 2012
November 20th, 2012
Great job today, I was really impressed with your singing in tune.
Keep doing the octaves, and try to add the fourths and fifths on your own like we did today.
When you sing the song, keep in mind the sentences, not to break them up with breaths, or pauses.
November 14th, 2012
November 13th, 2012
We started out eating muffins.
THEN, we did fifths up the keyboard, and then octaves up the keyboard.
I would like Sydney to practice octaves at the piano, and also dropping her note in a swoop to go as low as she can.... this to help her from getting stuck when she's trying to drop her tone.
November 7th, 2012
November 6th, 2012
Sydney and I did "How to Save a Life" today, by the Fray. She should practice this song, singing and playing at the same time.
Good job, Syd!
October 31st, 2012
October 30th, 2012
Today Sydney and I went over vocals again, and worked on her song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I don't know whether she's been practicing singing much, but I can tell her ear is getting much better.
Some of the higher notes in the song are still a little flat, but this will improve with more breath support.
Good job Sydney! I think we should record this one.
October 24th, 2012
October 23rd, 2012
Today Sydney and I did something different-- we learned the first guitar pentatonic scale -- and practiced making up melodies using this scale.
The pattern I use to describe this scale is 3-3, 4-4, 3-3 (she knows what this means).
She should practice going up and down this week, and making it as smooth as she can.
Also, she should try to make up patterns and use repetition to make the patterns sound like melodies.
Good job Sydney!
October 17th, 2012
October 16th, 2012
Sydney and I looked at the trombone today, and I helped her with positions, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
We played the scale C D E F G with positions 6, 4, 2, 1, and 4.
We played happy birthday with the mouthpiece alone, and I suggested she do that lots... to build up her lip muscles.
http://readsheetmusic.info
The above link is on reading sheet music. She should read it through.
October 10th, 2012
October 9th, 2012
October 3rd, 2012
October 2nd, 2012
We did scales, and practiced singing without the piano helping with the notes. Especially, she did C E G E C | D F# A F# D | and 1 5 1, with me only playing the first note or chord.
Her ear is really coming along well.
Today Sydney and I worked on the Rainbow song the most-- we went over the parts that she needed help with, especially the middle bridgey part. We defined the melody for sure-- because Sydney wasn't sure how it went there, or didn't like how it went there. So we solidified that and worked on it.
Next week, we're going to record this song, so she should practice ist a lot to work on the tuning issues here and there.
September 26th, 2012
September 25th, 2012
We started with warm ups, as usual, then talked about head voice, and watched a head voice video.
When she sings with chest voice, she can go much lower.
We used the tuner to monitor what note she is singing, and she should practice with that tuner to improve her tuning ability.
We worked on Somewhere Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU
We went over the song in G, but then moved it to C, where it was more fitting her voice. The high note especially sounds great-- she needs to keep lots of air.
September 19th, 2012
September 18th, 2012
September 12th, 2012
September 11th, 2012
Today Sydney and I worked on a song she's writing. I gave her some chord suggestions. We talked too much again.
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