Welcome back to the new Vocademy Term. I hope you all had good Easter holidays and did plenty of singing!

A big welcome to any new Vocademy Singers – this is the place where you can learn new skills and make new friends and get to sing sing sing every single week!

This month I’d like to take the opportunity to give you some tips and tricks about singing with a live band.

The amazing thing about the Vocademy experience is that the end of term show is performed with a live band. In week 8 or 9 the band will come to your session so you can practice before the show.

Singing with a band can be a little different to singing to a backing track.

This means that as the singer, you need to be confident on your part – both with the lyrics, the structure and melody. If you’re singing backing vocals – you also need to make sure you can confidently pitch and sing your part.

« Make sure you understand the structure of the song you are singing.

« How many bars do you need to count for the INTRODUCTION (or INTRO)?

« How many VERSES and CHORUS’ are there in the song?

« Is there a BRIDGE?

« Start learning your songs in this way as you go through your parts with your tutors each week. You will all be given your colour-coded parts in week 1. Have a go at singing and learning the backing vocal parts straight away as well. This will also help you understand the structure and pitching of the songs.

« This will help you to give the best performance! But remember the nerves and adrenalin of live performing always kick in on the day, but if you’re prepared – you will be able to handle anything :0)

This term I’d like to work on LISTENING with my singers. It’s important to listen to the lead vocalist if you are singing backing and you need to listen to the band to make sure you are all working well together and sounding great!

Sound at live shows can be really tricky to get right. There are lots of factors for the sound engineer to think about – but always make sure that you can hear yourself on stage.

If you struggle to hear what you are doing, you will be tempted to sing louder and this might cause strain on your vocal cords. Don’t be afraid to ask if you want to hear more ‘vocals in the monitor’.  It is your right as the singer – to hear what you are doing!

By approaching your songs in this way, and understanding this – you will be able to put more into your performance on stage!

Remember to sing well, you need to be able to use your diaphragm for breath support and control your tone by shaping the melody. You’ll need a good posture and technique to sing at your best. I’ll give you more tips in the coming months on how you can really give the best performance – including tips on stage movement, dance moves and auditions!

Don’t forget to read over any tips from previous months – and ask your tutor about anything you’d like to know or feel you don’t understand about singing.

There’s always something to learn.

Good luck and happy singing everyone!

Bubsie :0)