One of the kids in my college chorus was finding it really challenging to get up into her head voice last week. I asked her what she had been listening to lately, and she said, "Johnny Cash."
So I put her on a strict No-Johnny-Cash diet until the concert is over tomorrow, but to give her some good stuff to listen to, I also made her a head-voice mix, assembled out of the collective wisdom of my Facebook community. Here's what I ended up with:
1.) Samson by Regina Spektor
2.) Angel by Sarah McLachlan
3.) Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush
4.) Mushaboom by Feist
5.) Kiss the Flame by Jewel
6.) When You Say Nothing At All by Alison Krauss
7.) One Voice by The Wailin' Jennys
8.) Walk or Ride by The Ditty Bops
9.) Lovin' You by Minnie Riperton
10.) Heart of Glass by Blondie
11.) Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John
12.) Emotions by Mariah Carey
This was a very interesting project, as I hardly ever listen to most of these artists, but analyzing them from a vocal technique standpoint gave me a new appreciation for a lot of them. Especially Mariah Carey!
Yeah!!! I love this list. I'm going to have to listen to the ones I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy them, Pauline (although you probably need less practice in head voice than anyone else I can think of!)
ReplyDeleteI love 'One Voice' -- and don't know ANY of the others. It's a big world!
ReplyDelete#10 prompts me to ask whether you have heard the Puppini Sisters version?
ReplyDelete@ iwonderandiwander:
ReplyDeleteNope! I barely even knew the original song; who are the Puppini Sisters? Maybe I'll go look on Youtube.
That's a really interesting way to approach voice technique. And, actually, an inspired question to start with. Will you post back some time to report how your singer got on?
ReplyDeletethanks,
liz
@ Liz:
ReplyDeleteThanks! I will, although since this semester's concert is over, I won't see her until late January. Also, now that our concert is over, the Johnny Cash ban is lifted. :)