“Kiss Them Now” – Nonbinary Love Ballad From Richard Klinger

Grief is a beast. Loss affects all of us at some time in our lives and the loss of a loved one can affect us for the entirety of our lives. Richard Klinger lost his wife Janis several years ago and has battled with grief ever since. Richard created the Jane Fonda workout series, once served as Assistant Attorney General in Montana, was Clive Davis’ West Coast Head of Business Affairs for Columbia Records, headed up a major music publishing house and was at the forefront of the home video revolution – but nothing prepared him for the continual agony of grief. Being an ardent researcher, Richard read books and articles on grief, attended grief groups and reached out to a variety of authors on the subject. His “The Art of Grieving” album was released last month. It is comfort music meant for all grievers. Below is the track “Kiss Them Now.”

Truuman’s “Time To Leave” EP Out Now

Congratulations to Truman Chester and his amazing producer Aidan on delivery of their EP Truuman’s “Time To Leave.” It is 18 minutes and 24 seconds of next-level production from two 20-year old song designers who produce every second of the music; constructing and deconstructing powerful hooks, thoughts, ideas and gluing it all together with an emotional force not often heard this early in an artist’s career. It is fearless and it is heartfelt. Give it a listen.

Performance 101: The Tri-Force Of Performing

Performing with a busy brain is exhausting. Performing with worry or anxiety is, really, not performing at all. What kind of performance can an artist give if they’re stressing out whether the microphone will cut out or a wardrobe malfunction is about to happen or a set piece is about to fall over?

Problem is, much of the aforementioned is out of your control anyway, so you have to trust the others who actually control those aspects to do their jobs. And they will because they are almost as exposed in their job as you are in yours.

What you CAN control is much more important and the reason for everybody gathering together in the first place.

You are in control of the energy.

What you deliver is energy. Focused energy.

A busy, unfocused mind in performance is a torturous thing to watch.

How do we unbusy the mind?

“Energy, Attention, Awareness”

That is our performance mantra and it is fundamental to our work.

If you’re nervous before a performance, join the club, but why focus on nerves when you have a job to do (that you love)?

Focus on Energy, Attention, Awareness.

Take time to figure out what each of these words means to you before and during your performance and utilize these fundamental ideas to unbusy your mind and clarify your focus.

Technique 101: Barbra Streisand

Pre-recorded vocals on TV have fooled audiences for decades now. It’s really too bad because developing singers have lost out on witnessing (and emulating) that edge-of-your-seat/risk-it-all energy required to deliver a stunning live vocal…like Barbra Streisand’s knockout punch with Evergreen at The 1976 Academy Awards. No pre-recorded safety vocal on display here. This was live TV, broadcast to millions of viewers worldwide. Her voice was in beautiful shape (awe-inspiring, really) and fully under her command. She may have made it look easy, but the amount of preparation and hours/weeks/months of work that probably went into delivering this one performance would make an American Idol contestant quit and go into construction. Her fundamental technique is great. Watch how she pulls the corners of her mouth, presses the jaw down and then bites to create that seamless and glorious high belt. Then, because she completely trusts her instrument, the artist takes over and this is the gift we get. A legendary artist giving a master class on art, love and communication in motion. And, moment to moment, it sweeps you away. A vocal performance that clearly stands the test of time.

Singing 101: Whether Pop Style or Legit, Your Technique Stays The Same

Here is an example of me singing “Musical Theatre Legit” style:

Words and Music by Geoff Levin & Chris Many

And here’s an example of me singing in more of a pop style:

From Musical Beans: Animal Songs For Children

In both instances, these were three to four hour recording sessions. Actually, for “Follow The Dream,” I really didn’t like my vocal performance from the first session, so I called Geoff and offered to come back to get it right the next day. That took another couple of hours, but we all were much happier about the result.

Bottom line is, recording sessions can take hours, days, weeks, months. Whether you choose to sing in a big belt, legit or pop style is up to you, your instrument (meaning your entire body) and your artistic inclination. However, if the vocal instrument breaks down, the session ends right there. You don’t finish because the vocal sound is different than the sound you started with. In other words, you don’t want to start off with a clean sound only to end up all scratchy-sounding.

In both tracks, I sang with the exact same technique because as singers, we need to make sure we last for the entire session, whether it’s four minutes or four hours. The only thing I changed was the quality of sound I was going for. “Follow The Dream” required a much more Josh Grobin-type approach. With “I Wish We Didn’t Have To Say Goodnight,” I was the voice of a Teddy Bear.

Performance 101: Creative (Empty) Space In Your Brain

Great performers are like race car drivers; the idea being that, in order to win the race, one needs to stay in the moment, assume a calculated amount of risk and operate instinctively and creatively when the opportunity arises.

The simple goal of a pro race car driver is to win the race.

What are some of the “simple” goals of a singer in a performance?

Get all the words right?

Sing all the notes right?

Make a beautiful sound?

Truth is, those are the initial rehearsal goals achieved with hours of practice. “Getting the song into your body.” While these goals provide the basis of performance, if that is all you intend to give your audience, it’s definitely time to upgrade your approach.

Performance Goal: Creative Open Space In Your Brain

Basic: Be able to say the lyrics as fast as you can say the ABC’s – without thinking about the order of the letters and without singing the song. Say them in a monotone very quickly, do not accent or stretch out the words. Move your lips and mouth in an animated/exaggerated way. Be able to plunk out the melody – one note at a time – on a keyboard. Be able to use the same vocal tone (dark, warm, brassy, bright, light, etc.) throughout the entirety of the song. If you have to change your tonal quality to hit a high note or rumble a lower note, chances are you need to find a more suitable key for your song.

Advanced: Having set the muscle memory (remember, race car drivers drive in a circle for hours), now we let go of the worry and practice creative risk. Creative risk involves letting go of anxiousness, trusting that you have drilled the basics and are ready to live in the moment on stage. Thoughts and thought impulses beget words (for some, it’s the other way around, but we call those folks thoughtless anway). Your goal now is to live within the thoughts of the lyric and having/experiencing/expressing each thought before actually singing the lyric. Now your brain is full again, but it is focused and there is no room for anxiety. It takes energy, concentration and a whole lot of pretending to stay there, but by upgrading your performance approach, you can enjoy sharing a song as much as your audience can enjoy receiving it.