I’ve been looking for a way to use this blog to help me work on my spontaneous singing skills more directly. A way to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

A few weeks ago, I thought “What better way to practice what I preach than to post a daily recording? Brilliant!”
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Then I got worried.

• I worried that I would fail to post every day.
• I worried about what to record
• I worried that what I did record would be boring, too similar, too weird, too … (you get the idea *smile*)
• I worried that I would send too many posts and all my readers would unsubscribe.

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Fortunately(?), everyone to whom I mentioned the idea was excited about (or at least intrigued by) it.

So I haven’t figured out all the details or reasons, but I will just start moving (or stop stopping *smile*) and adjust as I go.

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Knowing that it’s best (for me) to undertake a journey with at least some reason for traveling (if not a destination) in mind, here are some things I hope to accomplish.

• Post a 3-minute recording for each day of the month in November
• Interact with you as a singer (instead of just as a writer)
• Observe my art half-way through my year-long vocal improv class
• Learn something *smile*

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I don’t know yet if I’ll post daily or record daily and post weekly or if I’ll share what went into these recordings. I know identifying some things to try and whether or not they’re working could be useful as I make these recordings, but I don’t want to set up too many barriers to making the recordings. (i.e. I don’t want to chicken out. *smile*)

(Speaking of being brave,)  I won’t edit any of the recordings, but I am giving myself permission to record more than one “piece” a day (if I choose) and to post the one I like.

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So let me know what you think about my experiment. I’d love to hear your responses, questions and ideas. You can comment below or email me.

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Spontaneous Song #1

Some of the most fun during my time in Italy was the “musical entertainment” between courses at dinner. Of course, we sang for each other. One night, Henk brought his guitar and we had an actual sing-along, but most nights we just improvised pieces and taught each other songs.

Following is a (very poorly lit) video of an improvised piece near the end of the week. True, you can’t really see us, but you can hear us. *smile*

[flv:http://songtaneous.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/2010_atwi_JJSSN.flv 450 337]

By the way, I’m singing with my friends Jurg (to my left), “guest director” Lorenzo, my roommate Sarah (to my right) and Noemi (to Sarah’s right, heard but never seen *smile*).

Lots of stuff happened in May (as you’ll soon see) and I didn’t have time to blog about all of the cool stuff going on at the time. So … my blog, my prerogative. *smile* (Besides, I just got all these cool pics … what better excuse for a trip down memory lane?)

 

With Friends Like These …

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a member of TCCAN – the Twin Cities Cabaret Artists’ Network. In May, we held our premier cabaret event directed by Timm Homly and featuring several of our group members.

The evening was comprised of a songs and stories presented by eight of TCCAN’s members – Dorothy Doring, Erin Duffy, Connie Dussl, Jennifer Eckes, Judi Gronseth, Timm Homly, Kevin Werner and Heidi Ziman — and took place at CAMP in St. Paul.

The show’s theme was friendship, or rather, how friendship has changed in our highly social, highly digitized world. Songs and stories ranged in topic from mix tapes to body image, and from the silly to the sensitive.

 

As The Rhythm Changes

I was so excited and honored to be a part of this improvised show. I’ve been wanting to work with composer/creator Mankwe Ndosi for some time. Imagine my delight when she called me about joining her project. Below are some more pics and a short audio excerpt.

We spent the week before the show in rehearsal. On the day of our photo shoot, we met at the home of our instrument creator — Douglas Eiwart to try out some instruments and continue to build “our troupe of griots.”

The shows themselves were incredible — a really fun, supportive environment for a spontaneous singer such as yours truly. But even though pics are great (see below), you can’t really get a sense of the show without hearing it. So I made you a short audio excerpt.

[audio:http://songtaneous.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ATRC_excerpt.mp3]