Going Deeper into the Style They Sing

If you truly aim for fun in your teaching, you have to get involved with style.

Let us take this beautiful well known jazz standard by Joseph Kosma, “The Autumn Leaves”. Having successfully found a balance and a comfortable key in the voice of your student, begin to explore the possibilities this song offers. The fun factor. The endless amount of music in it.

Take 3 or 4 available versions of the song. Use Spotify or You Tube or any other source of material you like and find 3 or 4 versions. I love the one by Chet Baker, by Seal (yes!) and by Miles Davis. Listen to them.

Name the sound you hear. Soft/bright/funny/sad/transparent/dark/loud/peaceful/hard/unpleasant/sad/relaxing. I find using emotional descriptions very helpful.

Name the energy you hear, such as: vibrant, low, sexy, relaxing, peaceful, loud, strong, weak.

Name what you and your student like about this.

Now the fun part begins: experiment with sound of the voice and try and find this energy in your voice. Take one phrase and play with the sound.

Risk going out of balance.

Go back to your balance.

Listen.

Try again.

Experiment with different keys.

Try again.

Listen again.

Record your student.

Listen to the chosen artists again.

Your student needs to practice this on their own. It is like going to our own atelier and trying different options when we want to paint a picture. This time your student paints a picture using their own voice. Be prepared that the approach and the favorite ideas are going to change in time. The better your student gets to know the song, the more they explore the sound options, and the more confident they will get with their voice and with the process. Implementing this approach into your teaching develops and strengthens musicianship skills and the musical personality of your student.

Agata Pisko is an IVTOM mentor teacher. She is a fabulous jazz singer, vocal coach and music teacher. She holds degrees in voice, vocal jazz performance and pedagogy, as well as journalism and public relations. She is a sought-after lecturer internationally, and founded the very first Summer Jazz Academies in Krakow Poland. Agata performs with the Agata Pisko Trio, Quintet, and DIVA. She runs Agata Pisko Vocal Corner in Graz and teaches at the State Music School in St. Stefan in Rosental, Austria.