Shades Lessons

My sole tenor in GRCC Shades of Blue was home sick today with stomach flu – unable to come to our final concert of the semester tonight.

Here are the lessons I learned along the way today.

  1. Vocal jazz singers are resilient. They’ve worked so hard to master their very challenging repertoire that an extra challenge doesn’t faze them too much.
  2. I’m willing to just about anything for my students. I spent significant time today mastering the tenor part to New York Voices’ “In A Mellow Tone” so that we didn’t have to cut it from the program.
  3. Even distant work pays off. I hadn’t sung close harmony on a mic for a long time – let alone one-on-a-part. But the work I did years ago in singing this repertoire, combined with the work I’ve done leading rehearsals this semester, meant that I was more ready for the job than I expected.
  4. I definitely need to hold those auditions this week. We are seeking to add a few new members to Shades of Blue for next semester. Auditions are this Thursday or by appointment. (Click here for details.)