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Yesterday I had a conversation with a foreign student who is currently working with me on their voice, who did not know who Pavarotti was. While this seems unthinkable to many of us here in Britain, I can completely understand how those growing up overseas may well never have heard this incredible voice.
Pavarotti was a monster vocalist, not just of his generation, but in the over-arching story of great singers of the ages. He had an incredible voice, one with great agility and range, but also power and tenderness to boot. What is important to remember is that he also had to put a lot of work into his voice… it just goes to show how even gifted singers need to work on their voice. Good can become great in this way!
Check out this beautiful piece, Luciano Pavarotti Caro Mio Ben…
Elton John Philadelphia Freedom
In one of my practice sessions to further my piano playing, an obvious pitstop was to look at Elton John’s amazing piano work.
I grew up listening to a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Elton John. It’s amazing listening to this material now how I can hear so much of what I love to do mirrored in both of those artists’ back-catalogs.
Elton’s Songwriting
I remember watching a short video dissecting Elton John’s piano playing, and the comment someone made was that Elton always tries to write ‘hymns’. And he didn’t mean religious songs, it was more a reference to the incredibly simple chord progressions that he’d then tweak very subtly to turn them into an anthemic piece. Good hymns tend to do the same thing – they start out functionally very simple, then the odd harmony note starts to turn it on it’s head… Elton is a master of doing this.
Take this song, Philadelphia Freedom.
You may not hear it, but there’s two key changes back and forth every time they move from verse to chorus… and yet it’s so musical! He’s also got a load of smaller modulations/side-stepping to throw in chords that don’t belong in either of the two keys he moves between. I won’t bore you with the details, but he writes very differently to most artists… then or now!
And that’s all at the same time as having a pretty catchy melody. Love it.
Enjoy it! See if you can spot the subtle key changes!
Spectacular clinic by John Mayer on ‘making it’, and how to bring all your skills together to make a marketable whole – very helpful and worthwhile watching for anyone looking to develop their own voice, whether technically, artistically, or both.
Another AWESOME funk-laden masterpiece – Uptown Funk – from the master mixer Mark Ronson and legendary voice smith Bruno Mars. Things have been pretty quiet from Bruno in the intervening year since the amazing Superbowl half time show from Mr Mars, so it was great to hear him back.
If you didn’t know how to write a Hit Christmas Song already, then you will now!
Well, he’s done it again! This time he’s taken the magical fairy dust of cynical songwriting styling and applied it to Christmas songs…
It’s not quite up to his first video on writing a hit pop song, but it’s still pretty darn funny, as it sounds like so many ‘attempted’ hit Christmas songs… sleigh-bells. Classic.
I was working with one of my favourite students (Mike) on some guitar-y songs, and how to meld singing and guitar playing together, and we got talking about songwriters who do this really well.
John Mayer is a great one, Chris Cornell is pretty cool too, and there many others too numerous to mention, but today I wanted to highlight Ryan Adams.
Ryan Adams
Way back in the early 00s, I remember my Mum buying a copy of ‘Easy Tiger’, one of Ryan Adams’ earlier albums… and I didn’t ‘get it’ then. I Was more interested in heavy rock and intense guitar solos (rah!) at least at that time.
But now the songwriter scene is MASSIVE. EVERYONE and their Mum is a ‘singer-songwriter’… how many of your friends have ‘singer-songwriter’ on their Twitter account?
I’m not knocking it! It’s just what’s trendy right now.
A seminal singer-songwriter
Yet, despite it being a big thing now, Ryan Adams is (IMO) the earliest example of a true singer-songwriter. Someone who wrote lots of songs (good to great songs) and performed them… and he’s still going. To me, even though I didn’t appreciate him at the time, he is one of the earliest ‘seeds’ of the singer-songwriter ‘movement’ (if you can call it that). Someone who knew what he wanted to produce, didn’t say no, didn’t give up, and kept doing what he wanted. Now loads of others are doing that it’s not quite the pioneering genre it once was (every episode of Scrubs and House ended up having a singer-songwriter song playing it out… now every mobile and energy company advert has a singer-songwriter in the background), but cast your ear back 12-13 years, and you’ll find Ryan Adams doing it all from scratch even then.
As an artist, I think Ryan Adams is the real deal. Someone who knows what he wants, and spends time developing and crafting it.
See for yourself…
Just watch this fab video of his song ‘Lucky Now’. It’s not got the most incredible vocals in the world, it’s not ear-shredding guitar, but it hangs together as a complete piece… and he sells the piece. To me, this is the sign of a complete artist, and beginning singer-songwriters could do far worse than to learn from Ryan Adams and take a leaf out of his book.
I listen to a LOT of music. It’s part of my job. And one of the things that keeps me entertained is spotting similarities between different songs then trying to trawl my memory for which ones seem similar.
My wife played me Pharrell Williams Happy which is making radio rounds at the moment, and it instantly reminded me of another song called ‘Tightrope’ by Janelle Monae. Pharrell Williams Happy has catchy lyrics, catchy riffs, catchy harmonies… basically just all around catchy, though I definitely think the video version adds a certain something over the plain audio version.
Whilst not identical, I think they are both fun and groovy songs that I’d like you to have a listen to, enjoy, and let me know whether you think they sound similar.
Pharrell Williams Happy
I prefer the contrapuntal harmonies and interesting melodies in Pharrell Williams Happy compared to the slightly more hip-hop spoken word style lyrics of Tightrope…
Janelle Monae – ‘Tightrope’
… but I absolutely LOVE the bass movement in Tightrope! The video isn’t quite as eye-catching or as simple as Happy, but it’s certainly a lot of fun to watch. Incidentally, one of the dancers from this video is also one of Justin Timberlake’s backing dancers in the Saturday Night Live rendition of Suit and Tie… also a great video I plan to feature in a blog post sometime.
As an aside, I think that the visual element to these songs plays a big part in making them stand out over being just another catchy but ultimately repetitive style of song. I remember teaching a local student who used projected images and video clips as part of his performances to basically make his stage performances ‘live’ music videos – very cool! Many other acts out there are doing this, and certainly worth exploring if you’ve got the time and inclination (oh and the money!)
Anyway, have a watch/listen of these groovy songs, see what you think, and comment below to share!
In 2013, I got the chance to work (and continue working with!) some fantastic vocalists (like John Jeacock, who you’ll meet about below!). I’ve had the chance to help fix some issues for them, and often help them capitalise on some great things they are already doing. So I thought it would be fun to ‘meet’ some of these guys… so this week, it’s time for something a little different.
