Happy Birthday MMVS!

Happy Birthday to MMVS and congratulations to all MMVSers on their amazing accomplishments this year.  You might find yourself and your friends in this collection of outtakes and memorable moments :) I can't wait to create more magical, musical, dude awesome memories with you all!  <3 XOXO

Marc Iwanicki ~ September Student of the Month

If you don't know Marc yet, I bet you will soon.  He's an ambitious, talented, hard-working 17 year old singer from CT who expects the best from himself.  Check out this little interview that Mike Falzone filmed during one of Marc's lessons.

The best part about teaching Marc is how excited he gets by his own improvement.  He's very passionate about singing as a form of self expression and doesn't take even the smallest tip for granted.

Congratulations, Marc!

Stepping Stones: Battle of the Bands

Marc Iwanicki & Chris Kelley

Roberto Muniz

Emma Converse

MMVS'ers Roberto Muniz, Marc Iwanicki, Katie Hodes, Jordan Kellogg, Emma Converse, Chelsea Fuller and Nicole Thompson (Reverie) performed at Stepping Stones Wednesday night, competing in the Battle of the Bands. Congratulations to Marc Iwanicki for landing first place and Roberto Muniz for taking 3rd place! Marc's first place prize includes a recording session at The Carriage House, a photo shoot, and a free voice lesson at MMVS.

Great job everyone, so proud of you :)

Congratulations, Chelsea!

Congrats to July's MMVS Student of the Month, Chelsea Fuller!  Chelsea is a 19 year old singer/songwriter from Shelton, CT.  She started vocal training with me a few years ago, took about a year off after high school graduation and is making a strong comeback this summer.    This video also features Epic Eric Barbin and music from MMVSers Katie & Jordan of NEVER4GET.

Enjoy!

MMVS Level 2 (From Emma)

Take Zero is recording in the studio and sounding great!!

Hey everyone! So many of us are now onto Level 2, having totally crushed Level 1. But this time it's not a race. All we have to do is complete Level 2 before the end of the year. Then one MMVSr will be chosen to be Artist of the Year, and will receive all kinds of dude awesome prizes. The prizes are as follows:

ALL STUDENTS WHO COMPLETE LEVEL 2 IN 2011 WILL RECEIVE : 

• Participation in Level 2 showcase (date TBA)
• $50 MMVS money
• MMVS video feature
• Framed certificate of dude awesomeness

ONE ARTIST OF THE YEAR WILL RECEIVE: drum roll please...

• Headlining set at Level 2 showcase
• $50 MMVS money
• $100 at Red School of Music for guitar, piano, bass or drum lessons
• Photo shoot with Rob Staub (professional concert and promotional photographer)
• One song demo recorded at The Zone in Norwalk, CT
• Video by Mike Falzone
• Promotion on the Kicking Daisies facebook page

Emma 

Sounds pretty awesome to me. Good luck to you all, I'll see you at MMVS!

~Emma~

It's Emma again

I've been sorting pictures and videos into folders today. I now have a folder for each of you, I've got all your stuff in there. It took me quite a long time. Mel takes too many photos. There are some videos here that are quite funny, Mel should make an MMVS blooper reel...     

And now some advice from me... Don't wear jeans on a hot day, no matter how cool your house is, or how thin the jeans are. Just don't. You will be hot.

~Emma~ 

Hello (from Emma)... and I firmly believe Mike Falzone is...

Hi there MMVS! I'm Emma Converse, Mel's personal assistant for the summer :P Wassuppp. I'm gonna be here at MMVS once a week or so, pretty much all day, so I'll probably see most of you at least once :)

...and I firmly believe that Mike Falzone is a fantastic person. With dude-awesome advice. I wonder how many people pay their way on? That kinda sucks...

~Emma~

Hello!

Hi there MMVS! I'm Emma Converse, Mel's personal assistant for the summer :P Wassuppp. I'm gonna be here at MMVS once a week or so, pretty much all day, so I'll probably see most of you at least once :)

MMVS Mash-Up

The MMVS Spring Showcase was, of course, dude awesome.  You all showed the world your talent, your composure, your professionalism and your great personalities.  As always, I'm honored to be a part of your musical journey!

For those of you who weren't there, or those (like me) who can't get enough of it, there are several videos of MMVS showcase performances on my youtube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/melmmvs

The best moment for us all was paying tribute to two of our favorite MMVSers with this surprise mash-up in the grand finale!  

MMVS Mash-Up: "California" by Brian Dolzani & "Famous" by Mike Falzone

Mad Mint Showcase Prep!

Showcase preparation is on!  I love it.  I love seeing your faces light up when you realize how awesome the other singer is next to you... this person whom you barely know who is suddenly your partner in this experience.  The duets and trios that are coming together for this show are so dude awesome... I don't know what we would have called it if "dude awesome" didn't become a thing.  I guess we'd have to go with "mad mint, yo."

SHOWCASE DATE / TIME / LOCATION

Saturday, May 21, 2011, 1pm (singers must arrive by 12pm) @ Daniel Street Club, Milford, CT.  Performers should plan to be there the entire show, sitting/standing toward the front of the room with the other singers.  All MMVSers will participate in a group song at the end.

SHOWCASE TICKETS

There is NO LIMIT to the number of tickets per family.  Invite your friends and neighbors!  I will have some tickets at MMVS for sale as soon as they are printed by the venue.  Daniel Street will also be selling them directly.  Tickets are $8 each.  Singers do need tickets, along with friends and family.  

SHOWCASE REHEARSALS

Everyone should sign up for one of the following rehearsals (not both), to go over the group song we'll sing at the end of the show:

Saturday, May 14, 3:30pm - 5pm (at MMVS)

or

Wednesday, May 18, 6pm - 7:30pm (at MMVS)

In other news...  Please help me congratulate the MMVS student of the month, Michael Orent!

You Change Lives

As we prepare for the MMVS "Mad Mint" Spring Showcase, I'd like you all to think about the songs, musicians and bands that provide the soundtrack to your life.  And then realize (because it's true) that you are providing the soundtrack to others' lives every time you sing.   Our January showcase touched many people and changed many people's lives for the better.   I know you sometimes feel like you have more work in front of you than you know how to handle.  But I'm telling you, you are already creating the change in the world that you wish to see.  I couldn't be prouder.
XO,
Mel



Here is live concert footage of me singing one of my favorite songs, "Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac, with friend and MMVSer Brian Dolzani.  Enjoy.

MMVS throughout the U.S.

Are you ready??!?!

MMVS "Mad Mint" Spring Showcase

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Doors 12pm / Show 1pm

DANIEL STREET 

Milford, CT

Daniel Street Club in Milford Center

Our goal for this show is to make it entertaining and surprising for our audience.  Don't expect there to be 40 solo performances, one after the other.  We're going to change things up a bit with duets, trios, small groups, and an exciting group of songs.   

Please RSVP as soon as possible to confirm that you are performing!

In other news...

Well now, if y'all aren't taking over the world these days?!?!    Proving that hard work really pays off, MMVS artists are ramping up their performance dates this spring.

Kicking Daisies plays up and down the East Coast all Spring, including BAMBOOZLE

Mike Falzone is performing in Orlando, FL at Playlist Live (with all your favorite YouTube celebs!)

Brian Dolzani wraps up his Northeast tour then spends April in Nashville, TN

King for a Day plays throughout CT all spring and gets ready to play Gathering of the Vibes

Cole Murphy is starring in High School Musical

Take Zero is in the final Warped Tour Battle of the Bands on April 10

NEVER4GET is at the town green in Fairfield May 1st (as part of a benefit for the Arthritis Foundation)

What else ya got goin on, MMVS?

Thanks Meghan Tonjes! From "Ellen" to MMVS.

Yesterday a group of highly dedicated singers nestled in to MMVS to talk to Mike Falzone about how to build a fan base with today's social networking platforms: youtube, facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc.   One of the biggest lessons he gave us was how to interact with others through these platforms.  What seems like common sense can be terribly enlightening when you realize how many opportunities to connect with others pass us by on a regular basis.  It's hard to imagine how to actually get thousands of people to care about whatever content we put "out there."

Then Mike said "I have a surprise for you."

The next thing we knew, we were Skyping with youtube celebrity Meghan Tonjes, who was recently flown out to the Ellen Degeneres show TWICE.  The first time was for an interview/live performance on Ellen's show.  The second time was to meet her idol, Adele, and listen to her soundcheck.

Meghan had great advice for everyone who is just starting out, and it relaxed us to learn that she didn't get started with a bunch of fancy cameras and film editing software.   Meghan has more than 100,000 youtube subscribers and her channel has something like five million views.  We can't thank her enough for taking the time to talk to us and give us words of inspiration.

She reiterated Mike's #1 lesson:  If you respect your fans and show people that you are a real person, you will have fans (and friends) for life.

Meghan + MMVS = friends for life.   We <3 you!

Watch Meghan on Ellen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDxAleXXYrc

Your Life is Not a Game Show

Stop trying to think of the quickest way to get people to know who you are.  There is nothing worse than having everyone's attention and having nothing meaningful prepared to say to them.
-Melissa Mulligan (MMVS)

How many times have you heard "Like, oh my gosh you should be on American Idol!!'"  If you have a decent singing voice, chances are you hear it every other time you open your mouth.  I am still told I should be on that show, which is funny... maybe as a judge?    

Brian Dolzani - excellent songwriter, excellent person

The best application of your talent, passion, and hard work is not a TV game show.  Telling a good singer she should be on American Idol is like telling a brilliant science student that she should be on Jeopardy instead of going to medical school.  A producer friend of mine says it's like deciding you want to be a millionaire... and then just playing the lottery.


I think most people associate American Idol with the way to "make it big" because it's the most highly publicized entry point into the music business and the rest of it seems like a big mystery.  But I'm pretty sure the career that you want goes beyond being on TV for a few months and then vanishing when the season is ends.   Out of the estimated one million people who have auditioned for the show in the last ten years, perhaps six true stars have emerged.    

The truth is that the path to success in music requires excellence at what you do and the ability to make fans along the way.    As for fame - there is no path to fame.  Fame requires a funny combination of timing, luck, and excellence that you can prepare for but can't dictate.  Most of the finalists on American Idol aren't famous, and they met a lot of "important" people along the way, so it's not just about who you know.  The fact is there are always way more talented people than the public can be interested in at one time.

Frank, Cole, and Shelby.  We're a community at MMVS.

In short, nothing guarantees fame.  You can't be in this for the fame.  You must be in this for the love of music, the enjoyment of sharing your music with lots of people, and the desire to be excellent at all of it.

Five Steps on the Path to Excellence

1. If you want to be a performer, you need amazing songs.
2. Focus on becoming the best version of your most unique self.
3. Create a show that is fun, engaging, and musically enjoyable.
4. If you want to make music for a living, you need to work at it like it's your job.  Starting now.  That's right, before anyone pays you to do it.  It's your education prior to graduating to the real world.
5. Stop trying to think of the quickest way to get people to know who you are.  Because there is nothing worse than having everyone's attention and having nothing meaningful prepared to say to them.

I Front a Loud Band - "WHAT?!?!"

Where do you sing the best - with great pitch, tone, flexibility, range and emotion?

Home alone?  At lessons?  When your best friend is singing with you?  In the car?  In the shower?

For most people the answer is not "With a live rock band in an unfamiliar venue, with very little control over the soundboard and very little vocals in the monitor, while trying to win over a noisy crowd."

Duran and Ben know how to give energetic live performances that are played and sung under control.

I work with professional musicians who perform with full bands.  In their lessons they have been progressing tremendously well; expanding their range, learning how to blend their lower and upper registers and breaking bad singing habits.  Their lessons and acoustic performances are wonderfully improved.

But performing with a band is completely different.  The singer often can't hear himself well, which leads to shouting over the guitar, bass and drums.  This leads to pitch problems and throaty singing.  The singer also now has the job of fronting the band, which requires a level of energy similar to that of doing sprints in a sauna.  There goes breath control!  

Many frontmen and women say they don't want to have to think about singing when they're on stage - they just want to feel the music and go with it.  My answer to that is "so... practice a lot."  

Here are my recommendations for anyone who plans to maintain pitch, tone, power and vocal health while fronting a band:

1. Learn how to sing with POWER without straining
2. Utilize more movement while vocalizing in lessons and rehearsals
3. Redefine what it means to vocally "bring it" on stage - there are ways to cut through the sound of the band without shouting.
4. TURN DOWN YOUR INSTRUMENTS AND TURN UP THE MONITORS.
5. Redefine what it means to bring the energy level up while keeping your vocal performance under control.
6. If you don't exercise regularly, get on an exercise program.

Peace, love and power,
M

MMVS Showcase Video

Enjoy this video (produced and edited by Mike Falzone), about the recent MMVS Winter Showcase and the preparation it takes to put on such a dude awesome event.  Featuring: Kicking Daisies, Mike Falzone, Brian Dolzani, NEVER4GET, Take Zero, Emma Converse, and roughly twenty other MMVS superstars.  XOXO

HEY MMVSers - What should our group songs be for the Spring Showcase?

Level 2 Requirements & Prizes

Level 2 Requirements and prizes are posted in the margin on the right of this page.  Guys... they are dude awesome.

A couple of things:

1. Every student who reaches Level 2 in 2011 gets a $50 MMVS money and gets to be in the Epic Level 2 showcase.  So get your Level 1 and then get on the road to Level 2!!
2. The Level 2 MMVS Artist of the Year receives a prize package worth approximately $1,000.  And it's not about who gets there first.  So check the requirements link and get pumped!
3. There are smaller prizes along the way for those who move quickly.  Check it out and let me know if you have any questions.

I'm editing a video now with some additional info.  Should be up tomorrow.

Be fierce!

MM

LEVEL 1 CONTEST STARTS TODAY!

POST TO COMMENTS: Level 1 Contest - who is in?  Road to Level 2 - who's on it?

MMVS SHOWCASE 1/23/11 - DUDE AWESOME! 

LEVEL 1 CONTEST!  1/24/11 - 3/31/11

It's that time again!  The first student to reach MMVS Level 1 will receive:

*$100 MMVS Money (for lessons and/or workshops)

*Video feature on MMVS blog, web site and youtube channel

*Extra song at the Spring Showcase

*Mad bragging rights

Ties for first place are possible if students reach Level 1 the same week.  

2nd and 3rd prizes will be given at my discretion IF the competition is close and the effort is enormous!

See the "Level 1 Requirements" link on the upper righthand side of the blog, print out your checklist and bring it to your lesson EVERY week.  

LEVEL 2 REQUIREMENTS COMING LATER THIS WEEK :)

Emma vs Singamajig

Recently my student, Luis, ran into my studio with a singing purple bear named Singamajig.  He exclaimed "Please tell me you don't already have one of these!!!"   I did not already have one of those. And that's surprising, really, because now I don't know how I lived without him.

Better late than never, Singamajig is an important part of vocal instruction at MMVS.

Other teachers go back to that same, tired list of "great" singers like Freddie Mercury and Mariah Carey to help students improve their tone and vocal stamina.    But let's get with the times, people.  Singamajig is where it's at.

Emma Converse took her first Singamajig lesson yesterday.  She kind of got schooled.  Just sayin.

Get Ricky to the Dude Awesome Showcase of Epicness

Hi everyone!

I had a great time on Sunday at our rehearsal.  If you haven't yet signed up for this Sunday, please post to comments so I know you're coming.  Final Rehearsal Workshop:  Sunday, 1/16/11, 1pm - 3pm $10 ~ @MMVS

Also, please note there are NO LESSONS on Saturday, January 22.   This is the day before our big event, so if you are a Saturday student, talk to me about making other arrangements for you that week.

Rumor has it that singer/songwriter Ricky Manning (my Skype student from Florida - I teach him to sing, not Skype) might just be able to make it to our showcase and sing with us!   So this is the kick-off to my public "Get Ricky to the Show" campaign.

Get Ricky to the Show!

Please post your predictions of what awesome things will occur at our dude awesome showcase of epicness so that Ricky is convinced he can't miss it!

****************************************************

MMVS Dude Awesome Showcase of Epicness:

Sunday, January 23, 2011, 3pm @ Chef's Table, Fairfield CT

SHOWCASE TICKETS: $5 Limited to 4 (or 5) per student.  Tickets must be purchased in advance (through me).  There will not be tickets available at the door. 

PERFORMERS DON'T NEED TICKETS BUT EVERYONE ELSE DOES, INCLUDING FAMILY OF BAND MATES WHO ARE PLAYING WITH YOU.

****************************************************

Some of my thoughts and gentle reminders as we get closer to the show:

*Remember to introduce the song you're about to sing.  And if you wrote it, say so - CLEARLY!
*Joke around with the audience, get them singing and clapping along.
*Loosen up.  Don't keep your hands in the same place the entire time (don't grip the mic like it's keeping you from falling out of an airplane).
*Be GREAT audience members for each other.  Please hang out close to the performance area during the show so you can sing along, interact with the singers and dance to my Slayer / Katy Perry medley.

Just one question for you: What are you telling yourself to keep in mind for your performance?  Are you flooded with a dozen singing technique tips or is your mind clear?

2011 = BEST YEAR EVER!

Frank Concepcion told me last week "2011 is gonna be my break out year."  Is that true for you?  Whaddayagonnado?

I can tell you what I'm gonna do in January alone:

*Start a "Vocal Student of the Month" award ~ student of the month will get 10% off the following month's lessons and a feature on the blog.
* MMVS Showcase, January 23rd ~ we might need to change the venue due to overwhelming participation and estimated attendance.  Please stay tuned.
* Another round of the LEVEL 1 Contest!

Eric earning his Level 1 Status at MMVS in December.  Congrats!

* Announce Level 2 requirements!
* Add MMVS student gigs to the MMVS events page
* Plan the next workshop for early this year
* Post all videos/interviews with the November Level 1 contest winners.  I had some camera issues and other unforeseen delays, sorry!

I'm starting the year off right, how about you?