Lindsay Hannon (tutor)
(Review by Ann Alex).
About 18 of us,
mostly women, gathered at Gateshead
Old Town
Hall
These workshops
always begin with yawning, stretching and various odd vocal sounds, which must
sound very strange to those outside the room. We practised such things as keeping
to the beat over 4 beat bars, by doing this in turn without missing a beat,
much harder than it sounds. Many singers
can do this when singing something from the gasbook, but I find that actually
doing it as an exercise is something else.
Yet this is an essential skill for working with musicians, as the music
will continue regardless, the singer just has to keep to the time. We then sang variations on 1 note over 4
beats, and as the group by now felt comfortable with each other, we had musical
conversations, in pairs. This is great
fun, and you can’t help but interact and work with each other’s sounds. Try it at home sometime!
We sang repeated
riffs in groups, which I find quite moving, it reminds me of African village
music. We had built up to the final
task, which involved us in planning a short piece of improvised music. Our group based the piece on the idea of
beginning, middle and end, in 3 sections with a rich-sounding bass voice
introduction, and a lovely, lyrical solo from one of the women, Joanne. The other group did lively skilled vocal
variations with many solos, smashing to listen to. Many thanks to Lindsay, who
was hampered by having a nasty cold, so she produced some interesting vocal
sounds of her own!
So next time you
listen to a jazz singer, remember that we don’t just open our mouths hoping
something good will float out, there’s thought behind it, about bars etc, and
not just bars where you can get drinks!
Ann Alex
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