Mark JW Graham: Singing Lessons Nottingham
Mark is the Midlands' leading Certified Voice Coach, providing professional singing lessons in Nottingham. Mark is known for getting BIG results in voices, fast. – 0115 871 7660 || admin@markjwgraham.co.uk
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.
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It’s so much like James Brown it’s unreal. 100% up to date, but also so retro – I love it. Check it out on repeat like I did
Many of you want to know how to improve your own voice, and little is as effective for inspiring this than hearing success stories about how others are doing with their voices!
This week I want to feature one of my lovely students: Claire. Continue reading “Success Story: Claire Vasey”
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 came across this band – From Indian lakes – a few months back and I’m really impressed with them. I’d describe them as soft rock, but I’m useless when it comes to sub-genres!
I really like the softer and lighter vocals scattered across the tracks, and I love the soundscape that flows by underneath them. From Indian Lakes is definitely a sound that is growing in popularity at the moment, and well worth checking out if you like the intensity of rock but also want something a bit softer to go along with it.
Check out this video and their whole album, and enjoy!
As an aside, one of the things that troubles me about today’s music is how much we focus on having the SAME sound as everyone else. As a voice coach I get a lot of people in wanting to sound like X, Y or Z, which leads to frustration when they don’t sound EXACTLY like that person.
However the reality is that no two instruments sound alike. As such, you simply can’t expect your own voice to be the same or even in the same ballpark as your favourite singers. That’s not to say that you sound BAD, simply that you will have a beautiful but different tone once a certain amount of training has been undergone.
What I love about this growing genre is that it celebrates a desire (in my opinion) to make music irrespective of whether an existing vocal sound already subsists in the audiosphere. From Indian Lakes has relatively light vocals. They are not jamming their voices as hard as they can ala hard rock, Zeppelin/Cornell style vocals. They are also not singing super low or dark ala Vedder or the like. Equally so, despite singing soft they are not going for the crooner sound ala Michael Buble. Instead there’s a sound that’s wholly different, so we have no preconceived notion of what they should or should not sound like.
Now, with today’s music being what it is, this could easily lead to us dismissing such music. However I feel they’ve managed to write something that grabs your ear and makes you want to pay attention to the whole song. This is critical to good artistry, and something I deeply respect.
I hope that’s made you think a little more deeply about songwriting and what you hear on the radio today. Til next time! Enjoy!
Those of you who are in for lessons regularly know about my love for a songwriting guru called Ralph Murphy, but I’m also a big fan of Brett Domino and his hilarious satire on hit songwriting.
While this is not quite the same sort of intellectual level of that sort of songwriting advice, this video by Brett on ‘How to Write a Hit Pop Song’ is VERY funny.. and remarkably catchy… maybe it says something about the pop industry?
Check it out and enjoy!
It’s been another mad week here at the studio, with people in every day and some other crazy things kicking off. I hope you’re all managing to stave off those coldy coughs that seem to be going round!
This week I was working with a lovely singer called Bethan, and the success she experienced in a very particular area of her voice was something I wanted to share with all of you. Continue reading “Success Story: Bethan”