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!

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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.

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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?