Open Day with Joett: How to Get FREE 30 Minute Voice Assessments

I have been running free voice assessments all along, but I think this time around I’ve gotten just a little louder about it... of sorts, what with Instagram configured artwork in a variety of shades created especially.

But here’s what the free voice assessments are all about.

The reason for the assessments from the get-go was to get to assess new pupils before I accept them for my vocal training course.

I basically wanted to hear the voice; run them through a breathing exercise; and then some scales on piano to establish whether or not they're able to work with music. (In all honesty, I wouldn’t want to admit someone who is tone deaf... for example).

NEXT STEP

If they qualified, I would pencil them into my weekly vocal training schedule. That is primarily the purpose of this exercise.

However, since creating and availing my training programs for download on Mkito, pupils all around the country now have access to my training modules and from time to time would request for in-studio vocal training sessions with me. Well, here’s where, again, the free assessments come in to play. But with a slight twist this time around, as this tends to attract mainly, pupils who have already downloaded my vocal training programs, but want a one-on-one consultation nonetheless, just to be sure of what they’re doing... which can be done over the phone or by sending me voice notes via WhatsApp.

If you’re in the latter group, my recommendation is that at the very least, you take my Quick Start 3 Hour Course (TZS 90,000) so that you get to LEARN something. And I will give you a recording of your sessions with me (the good runs), so you can continue to practice at home. It’s a very small investment to a comprehensive long-term home learning program thereafter. Think about it!

I hope you've enjoyed this post today, and I thank you for visiting.


JOETT
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UK Top 40 Singles Chart: Spanish Song "Despacito" Tops UK & Billboard Charts, Busts Through the Language Barrier

I have ALWAYS wanted an opportunity to write on how music is SO damned universal, that when UK Top 40 Singles Chart topper Despacito (Remix) (feat. Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber) by Luis Fonsi came along and I was preparing to begin reviewing the weekly chart for my blog, I just had to go grab it!

I must admit, when I first heard the song on BBC Radio One a couple of weeks ago, I was immediately drawn to it.

The song is SO catchy. It didn’t surprise me at all when in the following week Despacito remained at number one after being 12 weeks in the UK chart.

The song is the first mostly Spanish language top 10 since "Macarena" in 1996-97. "This is great for Latin music!" Fonsi told Billboard, where it also graced the #1 position in the singles chart that same week. Driven by a new remix featuring Justin Bieber, for the first time in more than 20 years a mostly Spanish-language song ranks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. But what is SO refreshing about this particular song is that it sounds REALLY good. A good song transcends language, by all means, confirming yet again, that good music is good music, and that language is absolutely irrelevant.

Bieber, meanwhile, doubles his longest Hot 100 Billboard reign. Of his four prior No. 1s, he had ruled the longest with "Sorry," for three weeks in early 2016.

The rest of the tracks in the UK Top 40 Singles Chart  are also ‘good music’ across the board, with Ariana Grande’s soaring vocals in One More Time at #2; and the utterly infectious Unforgettable (feat. Swae Lee) by French Montana at #3; and at number 4 Strip That Down (feat. Quavo) by Liam Payne adding a more quirky R&B vibe which I quite like; and brand new entry 2U (feat. Justin Bieber) by David Guetta breaks into the chart in the number 5 position; with the rest of the Top 10 looking like this: #6 Mama (feat. William Singe) - Jonas Blue; #7 I'm The One (feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne) - DJ Khaled; #8 There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back - Shawn Mendes; #9 Slow Hands-  Niall Horan; #10 Attention - Charlie Puth.

With such good music being released at the moment, overall, the UK Chart Show is sounding better and better week on week. That being said, I couldn’t help but mention how utterly insane I am for up-tempo old-school-esq vibe That's What I Like by Bruno Mars, sitting at #27 this week… mind you, it’s been in the UK Top 4o Singles Chart for 19 weeks.

Meanwhile, Stateside, Bruno Mars' "That's What I Like" drops 2-3 on the Hot 100, following six weeks at No. 2 after it topped the May 13-dated chart. Still, it paces Radio Songs for a seventh week, with 154 million in audience (down 7 percent), tying his longest command as a lead artist with "Just the Way You Are" (2010) and "Locked Out of Heaven" (2013); he's led longer only as featured on Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk!" (12 weeks, 2015). "Like" also leads Hot R&B Songs for an 18th week.

To get the complete run down of the UK Top 40 Singles Chart this week before the next 1800 GMT Chart Show Friday 23rd June updates the chart, click here. 

I hope you've enjoyed my very first Chart review. Catch up with you again when I review the next Chart rundown.

JOETT
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How Savvy Musicians Are Creating Supplemental Income Streams

Gone are the days when the music industry generated most of its revenue from record sales. The advent of the mp3 download brought about a gradual decline in physical product sales, namely, vinyl—currently going into revival, how times have changed—and the CD; which meant that more and more artists had to rely on touring and merchandising t-shirt, caps, and so forth, to generate the much needed revenue to sustain and grow their brands. This article will investigate the plight of the musician and that of the small business owner, in connection with creating supplemental income streams in a rapidly evolving retail marketplace.

Figuring it all out is quite a conundrum in itself, and so I’m going to cut to the chase to help you understand this in the quickest way possible. Ideally, this article is meant to help you get started with creating your very own supplemental income stream using other peoples’ platforms (that's the smart thing about it); and harnessing the immense prowess and savvy of experienced marketers at no cost to you. Yes, the best things in life are free. Believe or not.

Let’s assume you’re a musician, or small business owner who wants to find a fast way to get your physical products online (t-shirts, baseball caps, scarves, trainers, head bands, bracelets etc.), the thought of hiring a web designer to create a webpage for you can be quite daunting when you consider the cost implication, not to mention setting up an online shopping cart on YOUR platform to take orders. And we haven’t even touched on the marketing aspect. If you’re under the impression that when you build, they’ll come, then you’re in for a big surprise: it doesn’t work that way.

Now, what if I told you that you can have a superb online store, complete with shopping cart, and that on top of it… a team of online AND offline marketers to promote your products 365 days a year at absolutely no cost to you, would you be interested? Well, to be quite honest, I thought as much.

Sounds too good to be true, but here’s how it can work for you!

First and foremost, you register yourself as an affiliate marketer with one of the world’s largest affiliate marketing platforms, SFI Marketing Group. They have over one hundred thousand active affiliates on their network. This is the sales force that will push your products across the internet and furthermore, into retail outlets on the high street. But most importantly, the reason I recommend you join the affiliate network yourself is because, using this system—if you are a musician, fashion designer, artist or small business owner especially—you’ll be well placed to then incentivize your fans and followers to take on the task of promoting your products.

Why would they do that?

Because it stands to generate a supplemental income for THEM. They'll love you for it!

Once you’ve become an affiliate, you can then—through your back office, register as an E-Commerce Associate to upload the products you want to sell. I could’ve asked you to go directly in as ECA, but you stand to gain so much more by also becoming an affiliate. So many ECAs are also affiliates.

The Builder Bundle Advantage

Soon enough you’ll come to realize that in network marketing, perhaps the most challenging part is in GROWING your organization—those that join the program under you. But when that is taken care of for you with the Builder Bundle auto-delivery system for the cost $1.81 a day (the price of a cup of coffee), and you don’t even have to work to build a downline—as the system does it for you, then you have every reason to get stuck right in. So, do make sure you sign-up for the Builder Bundle once you come aboard. You’ll save yourself a bundle of time and energy in building your business… so you can focus on the more fun things. To get started straight away, click here!

Japhy Ross X Anthy Nane "Angejua" - Download Toleo Mpya Mkito

Japhy Ross mwenye umri wa miaka 24 na Anthy Nane miaka 23, ni wakazi wa Mwanza. Kama vijana wengine wengi hapa Tanzania, wanapenda sanaa ya mziki na wana malengo ya kufanya mziki kama ajira.

Katika harakati zao za kutaka kujiendeleza, waliamua kujiunga na kufanya rekodi yao ya kwanza pamoja, baada ya producer Chuma Nice Flavour kuwapa ofa ya kurekodi wimbo mmoja. Kutoka Pango Records, tunawaletea wasanii chipukizi Japhy Ross x Anthy Nane na wimbo Angejua. Ku-Download Angejua kutoka Mkito.com, Bofya hapa!

Kuangalia video ya Msanii Japhy Ross "Angejua" 

Kabla na Baada ya Mazoezi ya Sauti kwa Joett, Bofya hapa!

Ku-Download Joett Vocal Drills Vol. 1-7 Bofya hapa!

Demystifying the Limits of Your Vocal Range

You may have oftentimes wondered what your vocal range really is, or perhaps live in fear of attempting to sing certain notes because you simply feel that you cannot get there even if you tried. Whatever your misconceptions or insecurities, don’t allow any of that to dampen your resolve. Nothing is unachievable when you put your mind to it, and when you get specific training to help build your vocal range to something quite remarkable. And so before you begin to ask yourself too many questions, take a step back to look on the bright side. This article will aim to demystify what you may perceive to be the limits of your vocal range.

The common assumption in singing that the voice does not move smoothly and evenly from the lowest note to the highest, is just that—an assumption. You’ve probably experience a feeling that within your singing range, some areas operate differently than other regions. These areas are often referred to as “registers” of the voice. They basically sit adjacent to each other when laid out on a piano and will have a transition point located where we move from one register to the next. As for how many registers a voice has, there is no consensus, and nor is there a consensus on what to call them.

Most of us will have heard of the simple division into “chest voice” and “head voice,” with a section in-between called “middle voice” oftentimes referred to as the “mix voice”. Some industry professionals prefer a more expansive model that divides the voice into six ranges: extreme low, low, middle, high, very high and extreme high.

But there is what is termed our singing range, namely the range which is neither extreme low nor extreme high, give or take the limitations of gender, male or female in both extremes. Extreme registers therefore are characterized by, a) the inability to sing (whistle is not singing!), and b) the inability to articulate words. As such, they are part of our full vocal range, but not part of our singing range.

Having said that, registers for both male and female are divided up in areas called “passaggios” or “bridges”. In these specific areas, in all likelihood, you sense discomfort or a buildup of tension and pressure, requiring a change in singing posture. Proper vocal technique, however, allows us to eventually navigate these passages with ease. You’re going to be surprised to find how effective a few voice lessons will be for you.

Don’t try to run before you can walk, however. 

Sounds a bit cliché, I know, but I had to throw that into this article because, sadly, this industry is riddled with artists who will want to run at the first opportunity they get, without giving it a second thought. They’re in a hurry, so to speak. But I suppose it is understandable, what with computer software readily available in recording studios nowadays, to correct pitch and auto-tune outright bad vocals. But hey, if you’re the kind of person that takes pride in actually being able to hit the notes without a little bit of help from your producer, not to mention, IF you want to be able to perform your songs live in concert, without resorting to “playbacks or prerecorded vocals”, then this will be exactly what you’re looking for. Get the training to build your vocal range for both studio recording and performance on live sets. For more information on how to get started, be sure to get in touch with me.

Conclusion

I hope you got value from this article and learned something new. As always, you can send me any questions through the contact info in blog header. You are invited to share this page to Facebook or any other preferred social media site so that others can also benefit from this article. It will also help us spread the word of Joett Voice Studio, too. Thank you. Download Joett Vocal Drills Vol. 1-7 here!

How to Experiment with Different Singing Techniques in Pop Music

If you have wondered when we as humans began singing, then the answer to that question would be since we discovered that we had voices.  That being said, a lot about singing has changed over the thousands of years that we’ve been on this planet. Different cultures around the world have evolved over the centuries with each developing their own scales and modes, and henceforth different types of music and different singing techniques emerged.

Looking at this from an African perspective, the traditional African drum—which doesn’t really follow any form of scale—has over the centuries brought about the yelling and shouting style of singing that is well and truly synonymous with traditional African music.

Now, when you fast forward this to the 21st century and take into account modern musical instruments coming into the picture, look around you, and you’ll find that a lot of singers on the African continent still shout, and hence—thanks to the auto-tune—many an African singer will resort to excessive pitch correction software in the recording studio… which does sound incredibly awful, to say the least. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

You’re going to be amazed to discover how easy it is to re-balance your voice with specific vocal exercises; so that you’ll have the correct vocal posture that will enable you to freely experiment with different singing techniques with no pain and absolutely no strain in your voice. The more you experience the benefits of vocal training for the 21st century, the more you’ll want to stick with this.

And this is where your journey with experimenting with different singing techniques should begin… only whence you have your voice in order. For the simple fact that it will be so much easier to put into practice what you learn from the different styles in popular music. I’ve seen people try to sing songs by Adele, Rihanna, Beyonce and Justine Bieber and it sounds incredibly painful.

Musical styles and genres are very diverse and varied, as are the different cultures of the world. Each genre has its own unique characteristics that make it different from others, and each genre presents unique challenges for singers, but the one thing that is connected to all the genres is the human voice. South Africa’s Miriam Makeba is a shining example of an African export that truly appealed to a global audience for the quality of voice—remarkably so.

And so, you’ll want to learn how to control your vibrato without tension; experiment with different vocal sounds; and focus on improving your movement on stage and take dance lessons, if needs be, all of which will enhance your experience with different singing techniques and help you grow as a singer.

For information on my online vocal coaching program, read my article Affordable Vocal Coaching on Skype for Europe and North America.

You are the instrument, learn to sing like a pro!


JOETT

Vocal Coach & Author "Letters from a Vocal Coach"
Private Singing Lessons
Download Joett Vocal Drills 

A Quick Tip to Help Focus the Voice with Your Tongue Trills

If you’re having a bit of trouble focusing your tongue trills (I know trills can be a bit of twister at times), there is something very subtle and easy you can do to tweak that… by adding a little timbre to your notes as you practice with the trills.

The thing is, if your trills aren’t focused enough when you’re doing your vocal training, it will affect your progress.

This article will explore a little-known technique that is quite phenomenal in every sense of the word. So let’s take a closer look. First you have the standard tongue trills that may sound all too familiar now, but what is probably missing is that little extra timbre that makes all the difference and helps focus your voice when doing the trills even more.

Here’s the simple analogy, to begin with. When you are doing the trills (RRR) your tongue is lightly placed at the roof of your mouth in order to produce that sound. However, how refined that focus is will vary from person to person. That being said, there is a way to rapidly improve your focus. And here’s how.

When doing your vocal training exercises, begin your trill with an N, which means your tongue is placed at the roof of the mouth, but swiftly add a D to it so that you are producing an NND (notice how you extend that N just a little); and then you add your RRRs to this equation and you’ll notice how much more ‘focus’ your tongue trills will suddenly project with NNDRRR.  I’ve witnessed many pupils go through the bender with the tongue trills, but this little quick-fix trick should take care of the problem.

For more information on how to do the tongue trills with better focus, take a look at some of my pupils in my latest video clips on my YouTube channel. Click here!  

You are the instrument, learn to sing like a pro!

JOETT

Vocal Coach & Author "Letters from a Vocal Coach"

Private Singing Lessons

Download Joett Vocal Drills