Moment's Notice Practice of 11-25-2017

Our band had a practice yesterday, in preparation for a gig on December 3rd.  We are using Jay of "Ship of Fools" as our keys man, since our regular keys man, Raf, is out of town.

If you wish, have a listen at this link:  www.soundcloud.com/gwaltrip.

A White Sport Coat

I love this old tune by Marty Robbins.  He recorded it in 1957 and it became a big hit.  It reminds me of when I took Jacky Palmer to the Senior Ball, on March 31, 1962.  Next March will make 50 years since that night.  I don't know where Jacky is today, but I hope she is well and happy.

I continue to experiment with singing in order to learn what works and what does not.  Lately I am trying to sing in a more natural, relaxed style and not try to force it.  It seems to have improved my singing.  I recorded this song several times and always hated the result, but tonight I finally got a recording that I am happy with.  Here it is.

My First Song in Spanish: "Besame Mucho"

I am taking Spanish at the local community college and getting the highest grade in the class. I love learning new languages. In any case, I have recorded my version of "Besame Mucho" in Spanish and it is embedded below.

I posted another version previously, but was very unsatisfied with it.  So today I tried again and discovered something important:  don't force it!  I was trying too hard before; on this version I focused on relaxing and singing in a more natural voice.  I think it improved my singing considerably.  However, that worked on this ballad/love song, it might not work on belt songs.

"C'est Si Bon" Ow, Cela fait mal à mes oreilles! Sauve qui peut!

Anyone can make a fool of himself on the internet, but how many can make a fool out of himself in French?  Only the coolest of the cool, that's who.  Below I sing "C'est Si Bon."  The key is very much within my range, so I guess I have no excuses this time.

I Sing "That's All Right Mama," a High Key Elvis Tune

I've been practicing singing exercises for about two weeks now and I can feel my voice getting stronger.  My latest challenge was to sing Elvis's great hit "That's All Right Mama."  This song is in a high key, but I wanted to be able to sing it and hit all the right notes without my voice cracking or changing radically from one register to another.  I think I succeeded.

At first I was hitting the highest notes all wrong -- going up a whole octave when such a jump was clumsy and unnecessary and produced a harsh, strained sound.  Finally, I listened to the actual Elvis recording and studied how he sang these most difficult parts, and then I copied him.  It worked.  Of course, I can't sing like Elvis, but listening to his singing certainly helped me in hitting the high notes properly.

This recording was made through the built-in computer microphone and the quality is only so-so.  I have ordered a soundblaster sound card for my laptop  that should allow me to both play and record simultaneously from the sound card, thus eliminating the noise you get by recording from the built-in computer microphone.  It should result in significant improvement in the quality of the recordings:  better balance, clarity and consistency.

Have a listen:



Self-evaluation:  Roger Love in his book "Set Your Voice Free" talks about commanding your middle voice, and indicates it's tricky to get just the right sound.  I think my voice in this recording needs to be brought down just a bit more towards chest voice.  Right now it is a tad too much in the direction of head voice.  I am not talking about changing the key, I am talking about changing the timbre:  a slightly lower voice (but in the same key) would add warmth and resonance.  I will work on it.